cut down or give up?

freddystarr

Hi , very good group here btw ,
I cut down my drinking from a weekly binge and a few more here and there to max 2 or 3 pints at a time maybe once a week.

I was feeling grand about it ( ok , Ive often felt like ploughing on after the 2 or 3 but I stopped ) until i read Allen Carr's 'Easy way to control drinking' and he pretty clearly states that moderation is a no goer - give up is the only way!

Ive been a 'moderate' drinker for a few months now and hope to keep it this way - i am just wondering how others have fared trying moderation as opposed to abstinence ?

Irishpimpdude

Drink more????

Epic Tissue

Irishpimpdude wrote: »

Drink more????

How is that an appropriate response?

tuliphead

hey freddie starr,
thats a very good question. i'll just tell you my experience of tryin to drink in moderation ( i dunno if it will help?! )
i was a pretty average drinker since i started drinkin, for example only drank alot at the weekend with on a night out and maybe one or two here and there at other times durin the week but as a couple of years passed and the work became slacker i found my self drinking at first almost every day and then every day at sum point. when this happened i asked myself should i quit and said no as i was too young ( around 21 ) so i tried cutting down. this only ever worked for max one month and i would be back worse than ever after it. This had a kind of snowball effect and i ended up drinking first thing in the morning to get rid of my hangover so i could function etc etc. In the end things became so bad i entered a treatment center in wexford and learned in there the only way i could control drinking was not to drink at all as i was a chronic alcoholic. Im still amazed at how this crept up on me without me ever realising it and now i have to live with out another drink forever which at first was a bitter pill to swallow. I hope im not sounding preachy or anythin because i hate to be preached to myself but this is just my experience!

freddystarr

thanks for response tuliphead, i can see how giving up could be better.
i wish you good luck.

Seillejet

I am currently trying the giving up method. I binge drink in that one night of a weekend is an absolute write off and probably most of the following day due to hang over.

I dont think I have ever gone for a few social drinks ie three or four pints. It will always be eight to ten minimum :eek:

As I am now getting older this is just not for me anymore. Has never really affected my work life, I never drink on a work night but it has affected relationships and family with me in the past.

bohsboy

Im kind of similar to yourself, I just binged once every three to four weeks, Im talking fifteen pints. Over my younger years it never affected me too badly just a raging hangover on the sofa the next day, but in the last year I began to black out the previous night, waking up with bruises or waking up in different rooms in the house. The hangovers changed from 1 day to 4 days of depression with extremely paranoid thoughts....what did i say?, where was I? etc.

I decided in June after numerous attempts to cut down to just stop completely. Bit uncomfortable at the start and I thought some of my mates could have been a bit more supportive but I can honestly say, the best move I ever made.

I have'nt had one bad day or an alcohol induced negative thought since.

Noffles

I'm currently going through the "cut down" method and am finding it very easy to be honest. Previously almost every Friday and Saturday would involve huge amounts of alcohol, roughly 12-15 pints on both days and if possible whatever spirits I could manage...

Anyway both myself and the wife decided to cut right back as not only as it costing a small fortune it was also affecting my general usefulness in the office... as in I was useless for most of Monday and spent Tuesday trying to catch up.

So now we have a glass of wine in the eve and maybe a couple extra on the weekend, so it's not a total cutoff from drink but the binging has been pulled right in.

I have to say that I'm far more clear headed and lucid and able to complete my work much easier, I work in engineering so a clear logical brain is quite handy!!

So to be honest I think cutting down is my better route rather than none at all.

CatHerder

I'm trying to cut down. I was binging friday and saturday with about 6 pints on a sunday night to round off the weekend. I'm down to just binging on a saturday. Cant seem to just have a few pints. Tried sticking to Carlsberg shandys (half seven-up) for a while, thought I was great but my tolerance just fell and I would end up back on proper pints when I got drunk on shandys

Having a hard time admitting that the cutting down strategy's not looking to good.

tdv

Giving up still means that drink still has a control on you. Once you can sit down & have 1 or 2 drinks without going overboard from time to time thats when you know your in control.

Moderation or pacing if you will is the key.

zero_nine

tdv wrote: »

Giving up still means that drink still has a control on you. Once you can sit down & have 1 or 2 drinks without going overboard from time to time thats when you know your in control.

Moderation or pacing if you will is the key.

Kind of a skewed logic you've got there. The fact that you have to have 1 or 2 drinks at all surely means that drink is still controlling you, more so than giving up completely. Like, when people give up cigarettes noone says that the cigarettes still have control over them, I don't see that alcohol is any different.

Forest Fire

I am a drinker.
I have always drunk on weekends since I was 16.
I am trying to cut down, and always have been since I started having kids, 14 yrs ago.
My 'weekends have begun on Wednesdays with a few and ended Mondays to polish off the half bottle I'ld leave from the Sunday.
I would have the odd binge...once every 2 months...but was generally content with the drowsy comfort it gave me. Still am a bit.
I do not like getting pissed.
I have started to cut it out on week days and find that exercising late in the evening helps. 9pm say go for a game of 5aside or long walk with a friend or short jog, and have a nice diet drink or fruit juice to sip on when you come in, then bed. On weekends I afford myself a few but not to get drunk. It's working well, I feel good in the head and I'm losing weight and looking much better.
I'm nearly 47. I just hope I can keep it up long enough for it to 'stick'.
Forest Fire.

Drumpot

If a person has to put so much planning into their drinking behaviour , they should consider asking themselves why most people don't need to do this.

You don't need to post a response here because the only thing that matters is the answer you believe.

People wrongly presume a drinking problem is measures by the amount you consume. This is very misguided. It's about how it effects you.

One of the basic warning signs of a drinking problem is that you have to control your drinking in some way.

Some very poor advice given on this thread about experimenting with your drinking until it's balanced. Maybe it will balance itself out, but what if if gets worse? a simple solution is to give it up. If you find yourself comimg up with all sorts of reasons to continue drinking (eg I would have no social life) and alcohol is causing you problems, you have to consider that it could be more serious then you think.

hubba

Quit completely. Why stay tied to the thing that's taking up so much of your money, head space and energy? It may be tough initially but just like quitting smoking, you eventually forget (nearly) that you ever drank and you feel a great freedom (and more money, energy, clarity of thought, etc etc).

Don't waste a second longer!

Sunnyisland

The first issue is the the very word "Moderation".. to me it has has multiple meanings. here...depending on who you talk to. To many, it simply means not getting drunk on a daily or weekly basis. If one reads normal drinkers description of modding.....it is to treat alcohol as one would butter, enjoying it on some occasions on a casual basis. This process takes no hard work or planning, it just is.

I did not decided to live my life AF because I wanted to avoid hard work and planning. AF takes much hard work and planning. It is certainly not an easy way out. I realize that for the rest of my life, AF will continue to take hard work and planning and I am happy to accept those challenges that come my way. In my case, I see absolutely no reason to bring alcohol into my life because it adds nothing of value to my life.

I think it's so important to recognize that the decision to stop drinking entirely, at least for an addicted drinker, is a difficult one and one that requires more self-honesty than we even know we need. I *thought* I was being honest with myself in the beginning, but I can see now that I held something back - something for ALcohol,For many of us, it takes lots of bumps in the road before we are finally ready fully and completely accept the truth - that we cannot ever drink safely...ever. A bitter pill for me, that one. BUT...looking back, I am just grateful that I finally saw the truth, the full truth and nothing but the truth, 100%.