Experience quitting drinking?

In My Humble Opinion
1

A week ago I decided to give a shot at stopping drinking alcohol. (If you wish, we can go into reasons and such, but those aren’t my main purpose for this thread.)

So I haven’t had a drink for 7 days. I can’t remember another such period over the last 25 years other than a week or so when I was on medication several years ago. And whether or not I was/am an alcoholic, I drank pretty heavily pretty consistently over those 25 years. I drank often, and I drank to get drunk.

Well, one week into it, things are going pretty good. I am pleasantly surprised at how little I miss it. Of course I think about drinking all the time, but I have not had a single urge to drink. Not a single time when I thought, “Man, a beer would taste great right now.” Not a time when I thought, “Oh, I wish I had a buzz going.”

We had a couple over for dinner Sat, after I spent most of the day working in the yard. In years past I would have started putting down beers in the afternoon, and continued with beer and wine with mybe some gine or vodka tossed in until the guests left. Our guests and my wife polished off 3 bottles of red, and I drank water and OJ - and had a fine time with no urges for “just a taste.” One time one of our guests asked if I was drinking wine with dinner and I just said, “Not right now.” Other than that - it was a non-issue.

So I’m happy about that aspect of how things are going.

But I’m wondering about some other things. To be succinct, the last couple of days I’ve had the shits and have felt really tired. Napped for a couple of hours on Sunday. Maybe I just picked up some kind of bug, and the weather in Chi was prety dank and wet - good for napping. But I was wondering if any of you experienced or heard of any such “withdrawal” symptoms. I remember I was pretty out of it the week or so after I quit smoking.

Also, I assume different people have different experiences, but would you expect me to develop yearnings in the future? With regards to cigs, I know the yearnings became less frequent and more easy to deny as time passed. I hope the future will be as easy as the past week regarding alcohol.

I appreciate any input.

2

I’ve never heard of physical problems with alcohol “withdrawal”… but then again IANAD.

Well, you say you haven’t had an “urge” to drink yet but you think about it all the time. That would lead my admitedly uneducated mind to think you may have/have had a problem.

Good luck. If you relapse, remember that getting help is not a sign of weakness in these cases. :slight_smile:

3

Do a Google search on delirium tremens. Depending on how much and how often the person drinks, the withdrawal can vary. The worst-case scenario involves convulsions and death. Those suffering from alcohol withdrawal need medical attention, which usually involves large doses of benzodiazepines or barbiturates. (Oh, and IANAD.)

  • s.e.
4

First of all, congratulations.

As a recovering alcoholic (8 years dry), I can only tell you what I went through, but it may help. The first week I quit, I was definitely in no shape for dinner parties. The last thing you need at a dinner party is a hallucinating, vomiting, raving lunatic.

Please keep in mind I’m not including scott evil’s lesbian potluck parties in here…:smiley:

It’s entirely possible that you may have some degree of physical symptoms. After all, you are now denying your body something that it has gotten used to for 25 years. I understand that your liver will adapt somewhat to increased alcohol consumption by releasing more of a certain enzyme, and that when you quit drinking, these enzymes can disrupt your metabolism, since they now have nothing better to do (any MD’s care to comment, feel free. This was told to me by a nurse in AA).

Basically, expect the same sort of thing as when you quit smoking.

BTW, I haven’t had a butt for 5 weeks, and it’s WAY harder than quitting drinking, and similar to quitting drugs. So keep your chin up! This is the easiest one!!!

5

Man, I’m never going to live that one down, am I? :wink:

But seriously, if the OP was a heavy drinker for 25 years, I’d see a doctor regardless of whether withdrawal symptoms are present. Heavy drinking can rob the body of many nutrients (niacin, for example) and supplements might be needed for a while.

  • s.e.
6

I don’t know if what I had was alcoholism, or just a drinking problem, but the entire period from 1995-1997 was a drunken period for me. Mind you, I didn’t quit my job or lose my house or anything, but for those two years, I drank every night straight, for 365 days a year. There wasn’t a night where I drank less than 7 beers a night. As soon as I came home from work it was Miller time (with Coors Light, though…and sometimes JD if I felt so inclined).

When I went to the doctor for checkups and he asked me how much I drank, I lied and told him I drank about a case of beer a week and he freaked out. I wonder what his reaction would have been had I told him the truth (in reality it was like TWO cases of beer a week).

Then, I just started tapering down…no real reason for it. I quit altogether when I found out I was pregnant (along with cigarettes), but now that I’ve weaned him I have started up smoking and drinking again( though nowhere near where I used to).

I’ll drink maybe once a week (about 6 beers) if I’m lucky and smoke 4-5 cigarettes a day (whereas I was a pack a day smoker previously). I really don’t know what caused me to cut down so dramatically (even before my son was born). I wonder if what I had was alcoholism or even a drinking problem. :confused:

Good luck in your endeavor!

7

Diarrhea is a common symptom of alcohol withdrawal, however, it usually occurs 1-2 days after the last drink. The fatigue could very well be a byproduct of dehydration from the diarrhea. Or you could be coming down with a bug. I’m surprised you have had so few symptoms of withdrawal. Heavy daily drinkers usually get quite ill when they stop. Your experience sounds more like that of a binge pattern drinker.

In any case, I wish you the best in your endeavor. Alcohol in large quantities is not your friend. You have made a good decision that is certain to improve the quality of your life.

8

I quit drinking several weeks ago after getting really messed up and then making a fool of myself on a public message board my wife lurks on. I’ve wanted a drink a few times, which surprised me because I often went weeks between drinks before I officially quit with no problem.

9

Thanks for all the input.

ejrn - I think you probably hit my drinking pattern on the head when you suggest I was a “functional” binge pattern drinker - at least for the past ten years or so. In college I pretty much got drunk every day. There was also a period where I had a very stressful job, that I drank every day. Never lost a job, got arrested, etc., but I imagine I had social repercussions with people feeling they did not choose to socialize with me if I was always drunk.

I could bore you with the specifics of how my drinking habits evolved over the years, but for the past several years, I would estimate that I drank to excess at lest three, and more often four days a week. I do not think I ever had less than 4 beers at a sitting. At social gatherings, I would see who was drinking the most, and take that as license to drink that much. Can’t remamber many social gatherings where I did not drink to excess. I also regularly put down 6-8 beers, or several strong mixed drinks, while at home by myself. At my heaviest, I bought a case of beer a week. That was just my personal home drinking amount. It was supplemented by any that I bought on the train home, out at bars, or had at friends’ houses.

My 3 kids are 10-14, and I figure I don’t have to set this type of example for them. And I was irresponsible enough to drive them a few times when I definitely was legally drunk. Which is inexcusable.

I repeatedly proved myself unable or unwilling to drink in moderation. Anytime I would set limits - either regarding frequency or amount, I soon began treating those as minimums. Or looking for exceptions to get around the limits.

And as I passed my 40th biirthday, I got several other signs that my body wasn’t willing to tolerate the abuse it had put up with in the past. I wish I had never gotten into the habit of drinking so excessively. But I can look back at the past 25 years and convince myself that I drank AT LEAST a fair lifetime’s worth of booze. I know the story, lolababy, of minimizing the amount you drank, and having a doc say that is a phenomenal amount to drink.

I imagine this is TMI, but since you were kind enough to offer your input, I figured I’d give you a little more info.

10

I had a serious drinking problem for almost 20 years, and finally gave it up with only one relapse. It takes about a year to go from “What am I going to do if I can’t drink” to “Whatever I do, I won’t drink.” You have to make not drinking the most important thing in your life during that time.

Take all the money you don’t spend on booze and put it in a jar for a year. Prove to yourself you can not spend it, no matter how much the temptation. When you’re sure you’ve got the drinking thing licked, take the money and spend it on special things here and there. Every time you do, tell yourself “I can not spend money, so I can not drink.”

11

This has been a very interesting read. Thanks for starting it Dinsdale. I’m thinking quite seriously of doing the same thing… quitting. I used to for weeks or months at a time but that’s been several yeras since now. While it doesn’t seem to be a problem with work or home life, I can’t be sure of that if I’m still doing it.

My quandry now then is do I just quit outright or try and maintain my consumption in moderation. I don’t get out of hand often but when I do it’s embarassing and a hangover’s just no fun at all.

12

lieu, if you are going to do it, I would suggest the abstinence route over moderate drinking. I had a patient who insisted on taking the scenic route to recovery and it caused him a world of trouble. The problem seems to be that moderating your drinking is so much harder. You spend an incredible amount of psychic energy deciding how much is too much and how often is OK. Also, you reinforce the idea that drinking is necessary for your happiness.

Even the folks in Moderation Management recommend an alcohol free period before you try “social” drinking. The spokesperson for MM died in a drunk driving accident after she decided that MM was not right for her but failed at abstinence.

Hazelden did a study of people who seemed to be successful at moderating drinking after having a problem. These folks were in RUG (Responsible Use Groups). They surveyed the general level of satisfaction with various areas of their lives and compared them with those who were completely sober and those who were drinking alcoholically. The results showed that the moderate drinkers showed the same abysmally low levels of satisfaction as the heavy drinkers even though they were only drinkling socially by their own account and that of their significant others.

I’m not trying to make you quit - just trying to help you make an informed decision regarding your options.

13

I drank heavily for years.
Too many years.
The warning signs were there for me to see, but I chose to ignore them. My business suffered from my neglect, and like others who have posted here I was often drunk. In my mind the drinking began to occupy a place in my mind of a career. The cabinetmaking (my proffesion) was begining to take second place, and the drinking, first place.
I got a DUI.
I still drank after that, but wisely avoided drinking and driving.
One thing I noticed in the last phase of “drinking days” was a difficulty in mental function. Nothing horrible mind you, just a difficult time formulating the math and geometry calculations required to construct cabinets.
A few years ago, after a three day binge of drinking something in my mind said, “enough!”
It was a period of intoxication so complete that the lines of reality versus fantasy were altogether blurred. I didn’t know if the darkness outside signified early morning, or the approach of the night. I didn’t know what day it was, and believed it was possible that I had missed work. (my new job, lead cabt. maker in someone elses shop)
That point in time was when I chose to quit, and for me, fortunately, the thirst for alchohol was gone entirely. I had attempted moderation and quitting before, but those efforts were doomed to failure because I still had the desire to drink. This time was successful because I did not have any desire to renew my drinking habit at all.
It has been like this for me for almost two years.
I will not return to those foolish ways.

I mentioned the loss of mental function, and here I’ll expound. Working with numbers (for cutlists) and geometry (for layout) gave me an easy to see indicator that all was not well with me mentally. Ordinarily these basics are simple for me to formulate, and I’m actually a whiz at keeping lots of figures in my head and making adjustments for changing requirements of manufacturing cabinets. In the heavy drinking days, developing cutlists became more and more difficult, and there were days, when hung over, that I could barely accomplish more than a layman entirely unaquainted with the trade.
I’m back in the saddle again, and my layouts are dynamite!

Loss of mental clarity is tied to drinking.
Drink, and you can’t formulate even simple calculations.
Stay sober, and you’ll be your old self again.

I am very much in love with the mental clarity, and it takes a heck of a lot to befuddle me these days.

Having tried to quit before, I’ll share with you my analysis of how things went with a little role playing game. I may misuse terms, but the idea is correct nevertheless. IIRC Freud used the terms Id and superego to describe the constituants of human consciousness. When I tried to quit, insomnia was my problem.

**Superego:**Ah, at last, the end of the day…and I won’t drink.
Id:(unaware at this point)Okay, where’s my treat?
**Superego:**We’re not going to have that. Our new way is to be sober.
**Id:**What!!??
**Superego:**Yep, that’s right, no more drinking.
**Id:**Good idea. Gimmie a drink, and I’ll celebrate for ya. <chuckle>
**Superego:No, this will be good for us; see, I figure we’ve been drinking too much for too long and…
Id:(not paying attention)<whispers to self>How much of this st do I have to listen to before I get to have my treat I wonder?
Superego:…so in conclusion, I elect we not drink.
**Id:**Yeah sure. Let’s get bombed.
Superego;No. As I told you we’re not goin…
Id:(interrupting)WHAT!!! FK YOU AND ALL YOUR BULLST!! THERE’S NO WAY IN HL YOU’RE GOING TO SEND ME TO BED WITHOUT MY TREAT!! I WANT IT AND I WANT IT NOW!!!
**Superego;**Like I said, we’re not going to do that anymore…
Id:WELL, WE’LL JUST SEE HOW FKING LONG THIS BULLST WILL LAST. I WANT WHAT I WANT, AND I WANT IT NOW!!!
**Superego;**Well, that’s not going to happen anymore.
Id:(resolved)Okay. No treat, no sleep. And I can hold out longer than you.

It went on like that with me for a few well intentioned, but failed attempts to quit drinking. It really had the aspect of the old Star Trek episode with the dual good/evil capt Kirk. My mind was occupied with drinking just as much, if not more when I wasn’t drinking.

Mercifully, that’s all behind me now.

Good luck,
Peace out,
Forbin

14

What idiot posted that crap? I wonder if five minutes goes by without my thinking, “Man a beer, fill-in-the-blank drink would taste great right about now.” And I love having my subconscious playing myself for a sap. I find myself thinking, “Heck, I’ve whooped this thing. I’ve gone almost 2 weeks without drinking. Just one beer wouldn’t do any harm.” Giving how much I hate it when other people treat me like an idiot, I ain’t to thrilled about myself treating me that way!

My current approach has been to drink gallons of non-alcoholic liquids so that I’m always full to the brim, so the idea of ingesting more fluid is less appealing. And I reminnd myself that I am capable of controlling this and saying no.

So my day pretty much goes:
Wake up. Open eyes. Wanna beer? No!
Get outta bed. Turn on the shower. Wanna beer? No!
…
Leave work. Wanna beer? No!
…
Get ready for bed. Wanna beer? No!
Brush teeth. Go to sleep. Repeat.

Oh - and I’m glad to have found out I can be as big of a loudmouthed tactless jerk sober as I used to be drunk. Course, now I don’t have any excuse!

You’ll all be happy to know I’m pooping real nice now. So I have that going for me. Which is good.

Wanna beer?

15

Um, no thanks. :eek:

Congrats on the 2 weeks.

16

Man, I remember where I was at 2 weeks in. AA meetings every day, and JUST getting over the physical aspect of quitting. Of course, when you’re 5’9", 150 lbs. and drinking about 24 beers a day, you’ve got a wee problem. Sort of like that Fermat thing was a wee problem…

Wanna beer? Wanna beer? Wanna beer? I totally sympathize with you. Although my internal litany went something like “loveabeerloveabeerloveabeerloveabeerloveabeer”.

Hang in there, Dinsdale. You may not be able to see it yet, but every day it gets easier. And every time you say NO! is a victory.

I’m leery of preaching the AA thing, since I believe it’s substituting one addiction for another, but you may find it helpful. It helped me get over the initial hump.

We’re rooting for you!

17

Dinsdale, you are one of my favorite posters and I’m glad I actually read through the thread before replying with a great big “Bwa-ha-ha!”

It really is an interesting point. While I’m not sure I’ve had real problems, I do drink quite a bit. Though not nearly as much as others have mentioned. Maybe 2-3 night a week I like to haev a six-pakc with dinner and then on the weekends I pound it down like a fool. No prob … I’m working on a 12 right now.

I did have a bad experience recently, though.

During Easter, my wife and I were visitiing our families and friends back hom (in another state) I was a little out of control. I got into the whole “Woo-hoo, homewith friends! Lets party” thing.

Well, it kind of upset some folks when I drank my grandfather under the table the whole afternoon and he ended up puking in the bathroom all night. I blanked out for a little bit and when I sobered up I found out that I had also messed up a phone conversation then left my brother-in-law out of our loop for hours because I thought I was talking to someone else.

OTOH, when I drink, I make sure I have a designated driver or a place to crash in those few times I’m actually drinking heavily away from home. I never have any problems at work and if I know we don’t have cash to buy a couple brews, I go without.

The longest time I’ve gone without in the past several years was during basic training for the Army. Man, my two pals and I would sit there in the SC heat every day talking about how we couldn’t wait to get our hand on some beer. Three months of zero alcohol, and then only a couple breaks in AIT. That was pretty tough, but not so bad in all.

I reckon what I’m saying is I applaud your attempts to lay off the booze, because enough is enough.

Good luck.

18

I used to drink all the time, but two things occurred–I found that it wasn’t a drink I needed at the end of the day, but something to eat. On the rare occasion when I ignore this finding and settle down for a brewski or two, I get a reminder the next day right between my eyes that I had a brewski or two last evening. After this happened several hundred times, a stopped settling down for a brewski or two. And I eat something. Then I do something, as opposed to having something done to me (TV and such). Anyway, Dinsdale, we all have our stories, and I hope it all turns out okay for you. If you keep at it, your obsession will fade away, and you’ll look back at all those wonderful hours spent with the cause and cure of all of life problems and ask yourself, what was I thinking?

19

My dad stopped drinking about 8 months ago. I am very proud of him, and I am also proud of you Dinsdale. My dad would drink about 1- 1 and 1/2 bottles of wine or other hooch a night. After years of this, he had become accustomed to it. Kinda like a smoker needs to have a cigarette in his hand, my dad needed a glass full of something. He replaced it with diet caffeine free coke, which makes us all infinitely happier. If you feel the need for a drink, drink something like water or juice. It may just be the need to have something in your hands.

20

I forgot to add–and this is vital–start doing things with people who don’t drink. Not people who drink just little, for they are still playing that game–we all have our own individual versions of some kind of game, or role–but with people who don’t drink–people who do something where drinking just isn’t a part of it. Got nothing to do with it. Irrelevant. Uninteresting. Not worth thinking about. Umm, maybe later. Don’t call us, we’ll call you. And so on…