Haven't touched a drop in...

Mrs Garth Brooks

19 months and I will never ever drink again.

I was someone who could drink anything and be fine the day after.

But then I started getting migraines 8 years ago. They're like a hangover but without the drink.

Over the years, I got new triggers that set them off. And of course alcohol was one of them. Unless im getting old. I knew alcohol was a trigger when I couldnt even drink easy alcohol drink. I was always fine with Baileys but I couldnt even drink that.

I hate pubs now. I cant stand them. I am so limited to what I can drink. Sure, I cant even have soft drinks because of migraines. I seem to be ok on lucozade, orange juice, water and tea. It doesnt bother me, the last time I was out I was drinking orange juice and they thought I was drinking vodka and orange juice. Just cant let people get me drink incase I get vodka mixed in. But thats ok.

Diablo Verde

Do any of you dream about drinking?

I might need to rephrase this. I'm not dreaming about the joys of having a few drinks. It's nothing positive. I don't even see myself drinking in them. It's more that I suddenly become aware that I'm drunk and am annoyed at myself for starting again. Have had dimilar dreams the past two nights.

Thankfully, I've woken up both mornings to realise I don't drink anymore

Diablo Verde

Diablo Verde wrote: »

Do any of you dream about drinking?

I might need to rephrase this. I'm not dreaming about the joys of having a few drinks. It's nothing positive. I don't even see myself drinking in them. It's more that I suddenly become aware that I'm drunk and am annoyed at myself for starting again. Have had dimilar dreams the past two nights.

Thankfully, I've woken up both mornings to realise I don't drink anymore

Yes, in the first 6 months quite frequently. Not so much at all anymore

Diablo Verde

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes, in the first 6 months quite frequently. Not so much at all anymore

Glad to know I'm not a complete maniac

Amazingfun

Diablo Verde wrote: »

Glad to know I'm not a complete maniac

Ha! We may still be maniacs, but that's besides the point

I had a drinking dream, about 1 year in, I was drinking a full bottle of Johnny Walker Black. It was so real I woke up and almost cried thinking I had truly done it. Scared the crap out of me! Never had another one ....well, not yet anyways.

emmabrighton

Apparently it is pretty standard to have the "oh fcuk, I fell off the wagon dream"... I had a few. I put it down to the fact that I spent nearly every waking hour working on staying sober that I ended up dreaming about what I spent all day doing

beano345

Got them loads of times..the relief when you realise its just a dream..phew!

perfectisthe

Yeah I've had a few as well.

Serious feeling of relief when you wake up and realise that it was just a dream!

I don't think it's anything to worry about.

Sunnyisland

I had one just a few nights ago :-) it is some relief to wake up and realise that it is all a nightmare.

KeefF

realies wrote: »

I had one just a few nights ago :-) it is some relief to wake up and realise that it is all a nightmare.

I've been having them and being in a panic in my dreams. A real relief when I wake up and realise it was a dream/nightmare.

anon1900

9 months, have been really struggling the last few weeks but i wont touch it

xzanti

Diablo Verde wrote: »

Do any of you dream about drinking?

I might need to rephrase this. I'm not dreaming about the joys of having a few drinks. It's nothing positive. I don't even see myself drinking in them. It's more that I suddenly become aware that I'm drunk and am annoyed at myself for starting again. Have had dimilar dreams the past two nights.

Thankfully, I've woken up both mornings to realise I don't drink anymore

I have them all the time, and some are very very vivid.. sometimes it takes me a minute to realise it was a dream and I wake up feeling heartbroken.

This tells me that I will never drink again.. I welcome those dreams tbh.

KeefF

xzanti wrote: »

I have them all the time, and some are very very vivid.. sometimes it takes me a minute to realise it was a dream and I wake up feeling heartbroken.

This tells me that I will never drink again.. I welcome those dreams tbh.

Had one again last night. the dream involved not being able to get up for work & thinking of excuses.
fcuk that - I hope to never go back there - please god.

hedgehog2

The booze is a poison and when your off it you wonder how do people do that to themselves on a regular basis but when your caught up in the joke it seems ok to feel terrible the next day or make a twit of yourself.
Took me many battles to finally end my entrapment to the whole culture of getting messed ip on drink and rationalising it as normality.
Will never touch the devils nectar again,many months off it now and many friends lost as a result of not been the clown on a nite out anymore.

marienbad

hedgehog2 wrote: »

The booze is a poison and when your off it you wonder how do people do that to themselves on a regular basis but when your caught up in the joke it seems ok to feel terrible the next day or make a twit of yourself.
Took me many battles to finally end my entrapment to the whole culture of getting messed ip on drink and rationalising it as normality.
Will never touch the devils nectar again,many months off it now and many friends lost as a result of not been the clown on a nite out anymore.

They were not true friends then, at least not for now . The best of them will come round in time , at least such has been my experience.

Tramps Like Us

I'm not a non drinker but I've reduced the amount I drink drastically over the past year - I realized that my behavior, while "normal" among my friends (and Irish people in general) was really abusing alcohol. Four of five cans with the lads before going out and drinking a lot more, to stagger in at 4am, and be wrecked for at least the next two days before doing it all again. I sat down and had a long hard think about what drink gives me and I realized its nothing. I never really had much fun on nights out or getting drunk I just did it because my friends did and its the "done thing". Farcically I realized that I didnt even really like the taste of beer that much. So I said "no more" and decided to stop and see how I felt. I felt great, after a few months off the drink I felt healthier and happier.

The only thing is I lost a lot of my friends. I still went out but I drank only water. You'd think I was a criminal they way they interrogated me about it, after trying to explain I eventually decided to just tell them I was on medication and couldn't drink. For some reason me not drinking threatened them. Also those nights out are not anyway fun when you are sober. I had never realized just how offputting and in fact scary drunk people are. Anyway I started going out with them a bit less and before you know it the majority of them stopped contacting me. This upset me until I looked at their past texts in my phone, 99% of them were stuff like "out tonight?"

They weren't my friends, they were drinking buddies. Only in contact with two of them now who actually made any effort to remain friends and to hang out independent of drink and in fact if you asked me who I was better friends with last year I would not have said those two. Giving up drink has shown me who my true friends are. The only negative that has come out of it is that I've been a bit lonely and its harder to meet women - well to be honest its harder to become romantically involved with a woman cause previously the "dutch courage" was my crutch. But that'll change in time.

Well I haven't really given up drink - I'll have a couple of pints with my dad when I take him to the pub at Christmas and that will be it until the next special occasion, maybe his birthday and thats only cause he'll fret and think I dont want to go to the pub with him if I dont let him buy me a pint. Last few years I've stocked up with cases and cases of beer for Christmas - didn't buy any this year.

Whats frightening is how normaised alcohol abuse is in this country. This is why I'm against legalizing drugs cause the same will happen with them

Hope everyone has a safe, happy and sober christmas

What annoys me most about those people that are only want to hang out when booze is involved is I was one of them and one of the worst. I didn't like people that didn't drink years ago. The irony! I can deal with it haha

bootybouncer

figs666 wrote: »

Here's to a sober christmas everyone .

on a side note : I stopped drinking 7/8 years ago with the occasional slip here and there , lately I've been experimenting with moderation drinking . the other night I had ONE pint because I had a 30 minute drive home afterwards and I have to say I had probably one of the worst nights sleep ever . This brings me to the end of my experiment . I'm finished with problem drinking , finished with social drinking and finished with moderation drinking .

Happy Christmas everyone and a Peaceful new year

what a stupid post imo

emmabrighton

figs666 wrote: »

Here's to a sober christmas everyone .

on a side note : I stopped drinking 7/8 years ago with the occasional slip here and there , lately I've been experimenting with moderation drinking . the other night I had ONE pint because I had a 30 minute drive home afterwards and I have to say I had probably one of the worst nights sleep ever . This brings me to the end of my experiment . I'm finished with problem drinking , finished with social drinking and finished with moderation drinking .

Happy Christmas everyone and a Peaceful new year

Well one day at a time, just like the rest of us. Drinking is a mugs game - terrible nights sleep, wooly head in the mornings, poor concentration, bad moods the next day, no interest in doing fun stuff cos it gets in the way of going to the pub... mugs game I tell ya, well thats my opinion anyhoo... fair play for the honesty!

hubba

Getting really fed up with the non-drinker attention now. This negative attention we get makes it really obvious that there are a serious amount of folk out there determined not to think there's anything wrong with what they are doing. But I should know, I guess, I was one of the worst offenders for over 25 years.

Deep breaths and roll on January. :cool:

Carpet diem

bootybouncer wrote: »

what a stupid post imo

Grow up chap - unhelpful comments like that unwelcome here

bootybouncer

Carpet diem wrote: »

Grow up chap - unhelpful comments like that unwelcome here

hold on a minute there I contribute to this topic ok, Do you condone drink driving ?????????????

Wattle

hubba wrote: »

Getting really fed up with the non-drinker attention now. This negative attention we get makes it really obvious that there are a serious amount of folk out there determined not to think there's anything wrong with what they are doing. But I should know, I guess, I was one of the worst offenders for over 25 years.

Deep breaths and roll on January. :cool:

Yep some people see us as a threat alright. If it's not possible to completely avoid them maybe try and limit the amount of time you spend with folks like that? That kind of thing would do my head in.

Amazingfun

One of the most surreal moments in sobriety for me, was waking up sober on New Years Day.....it was like the drinking dream but in reverse, I woke up and couldn't believe it was real

Sunnyisland

hubba wrote: »

Getting really fed up with the non-drinker attention now. This negative attention we get makes it really obvious that there are a serious amount of folk out there determined not to think there's anything wrong with what they are doing. But I should know, I guess, I was one of the worst offenders for over 25 years.

Deep breaths and roll on January. :cool:

Hi Hubba

When I quit smoking everyone was so happy for me,but when I quit drinking it was a totally different matter,It was all so when are you going to have a drink, is this really a permanet thing,some saying it sarcastically.

I believe when you are a non drinker around a bunch of drinkers you make them feel uncomfortable. I remember when I was drinking and if there was someone not drinking, I thought there must be something wrong with them, instead I was the one with the problem.

In my experience the people who can take or leave Alcohol don't seem to pass much comment or really care what anyone else is drinking. It is the people who possibly feel that a look in the mirror in regard to their relationship with Alcohol is being brought a little to close for comfort by having a problem drinker in their midst decide to stop.
Alcohol is a complex demon but you would think people would be happy for us :)

Carpet diem

realies wrote: »

Hi Hubba

When I quit smoking everyone was so happy for me,but when I quit drinking it was a totally different matter,It was all so when are you going to have a drink, is this really a permanet thing,some saying it sarcastically.

I believe when you are a non drinker around a bunch of drinkers you make them feel uncomfortable. I remember when I was drinking and if there was someone not drinking, I thought there must be something wrong with them, instead I was the one with the problem.

In my experience the people who can take or leave Alcohol don't seem to pass much comment or really care what anyone else is drinking. It is the people who possibly feel that a look in the mirror in regard to their relationship with Alcohol is being brought a little to close for comfort by having a problem drinker in their midst decide to stop.
Alcohol is a complex demon but you would think people would be happy for us :)

Just my tuppence realies -

I think the the more you notice other people paying attention to you the worse it can get and a tiny bit of paranoia can kick in. Best thing is to laugh off what people say or give an expression of not giving a s%hit.

Someone advised me of that on here recently - it could have been you but its working a treat.

Carpet diem

bootybouncer wrote: »

hold on a minute there I contribute to this topic ok, Do you condone drink driving ?????????????

He had one drink. He still within the limit.

IrishSkyBoxer

Nobody likes being confronted with their own alcohol abuse. It's a drug, and the behaviour is being reinforced by 'everyone else doing it'. When someone stops engaging in that abusive behaviour people feel uncomfortable - if one member of the group is no longer drinking then it may force them to analyse their own relationship with alcohol.

A person who doesn't have a drink problem won't give a fuck about someone else not engaging.

It's the ones with the tempestuous relationships with alcohol who are bothered.

Carpet diem

KeefF wrote: »

Had one again last night. the dream involved not being able to get up for work & thinking of excuses.
fcuk that - I hope to never go back there - please god.

Nothing worse than it KeefF - it can actually torment you. And the thing is like all of us here we know we can do so much better - just need to get the confidence to say to yourself that you deserve better life than this and go for it.

enoughalready

I know it's only minor compared to most of you guys but I'm on Day 25 - every day I feel more alive and present. The fog has lifted and I have loads more money and energy. Looking forward to Day 90! I have been doing this without meetings and feel strong. I have NO DESIRE whatsoever to drink thankfully and when stressed I just redirect and cycle or read. This forum is really supportive and is helping me greatly. I also have bought Allen Carr's "The Easy Way to Control Alcohol" which I find so inspiring. I also have Melanie Farrell's "Boost Your Confidence" on the go to help me with my self esteem and anxiety issues. The sober life is the way forward....looking forward to the New Year and it's endless possibilities. Happy New Year everyone, albeit a few days early (",)