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The Dry Dog Thread

Started by Tjm86, 28 June, 2021, 11:56:44 AM

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Jim_Campbell

Quote from: Tjm86 on 02 July, 2021, 10:35:00 AM
True, just wish I wasn't getting so much practice dealing with trials and tribulations.   :(

Here's the thing, though... you shouldn't beat yourself up over any of this. Any day you don't drink is a day you didn't drink — that alone is better for your physical and mental health, and your wallet.

I used to drink every day. Some weeks, I still do. Most weeks, though, I don't. What I've tried to do is eliminate the "just because" drinking. If you can knock it on the head three days a week, that's the equivalent of doing five months dry over a year. I don't drink Mondays, Tuesdays, go to the pub for (literally) a couple on a Wednesday to break up the week, dry on Thursday, and weekends are fair game.

As you reduce consumption, your tolerance falls, so you need less booze to get the same effect and once you break the every day/most days habit, you also break the psychological expectation. I now find that if we're not going to the pub on a Saturday, I can quite happily drink non-alcoholic stuff right through Saturday evening if I don't feel like it. Usually I do feel like it, but sometimes I don't, and that's another dry night to add to the tally.

Learn to recognise the wins, no matter how small, and build on them, rather than focussing on the 'failures' and feeling terrible about them.
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Dandontdare

#16
After being rushed to hospital with acute alcohol-induced pancreatitis in 2001, I had to stop drinking altogether for a while. Horrible condition, felt like my insides were on fire from neck to groin, and 1 in 20 people just go into shock and die. The only treatment is to shut down the digestive system completely (nil by mouth) and manage the pain, so I had 3 weeks in hospital with a nutrient drip in one arm, and a drugs drip in the other.

It was impossible to get a consistent answer from the docs at the hospital about future drinking- advice from different consultants ranged from "a pint a day would be fine" to "you must never touch alcohol again". The brush with death (and the fact that someone I knew died of the same condition) scared me teetotal for two or three years, but I did some research myself and the advice is to 'avoid alcohol abuse'. interestingly, the pancreas and liver are self-regenerating organs and so can deal with binges, but my habit of 2-3 pints a day after work was not giving it any chance to recover, so it went on strike. At first I tried to continue going to my local and not drinking, but I soon realised the difference between actual friends and drinking buddies, and came to appreciate just how much shit people talk later in the evening. I gradually stopped going and don't see most of those people at all now.

After a couple, of years total abstinence, I allowed myself a few drinks at special occasions such as Christmas, but gradually the "occasions" became less special - Friday is a special occasion isn't it?

Nowadays I drink quite a lot when I do, but drink nothing for 5-6 days a week, and I've been fine. Getting shitfaced on a Friday has become a weekly treat rather than a daily habit.

Dog Deever

If you've been drinking fairly heavily for a while, completely stopping is not advisable- there can be serious health issues arising from the bodies reaction to 'cold turkey'. Days 3-5 (apparently) are key days where people are more likely to suffer seizures, hallucinations and other health concerns (not to mention death, which can happen through withdrawal shock). Just enough to take the edge off withdrawal is good enough and in that context, falling off the wagon a few days here and there is less risky. Jim's strategy of gradual reduction holds water.

I'm no expert, but my wife is (though she's too modest to agree with me), she's an experienced addictions worker. She says the safest way is to get a home detox, though how you go about this will depend on where you are, as services differ from region to region and we're in Scotland, which would be entirely different to systems outside of Scotland as Health is devolved. However, this would usually involve local health services of some sort and might go on your medical record, so it depends on how you feel about that.

Anyway- good luck with reducing your intake everyone and I would reiterate what Jim says about thinking about the days you didn't drink rather than the days you did.
Just a little rough and tumble, Judge man.

Hawkmumbler

What a match. Easily the most exciting first half of the season.

Anyway I crumbled and had a beer. Just the one, so that's pretty good especially after what has been a pretty stressful week. Jim speaks wisdom.

SmallBlueThing(Reborn)

When I met my first wife, we soon fell into a routine that was horribly bad for my health- we'd shut the shop at 3pm and go straight to the pub... where we'd stay til closing time. This went on for a few years until she found she was carrying our first child. By which time the drinking had become a problem for both of us. She obviously stopped drinking- and I did likewise, to show willing. This was (I shudder at this...) nineteen years ago. When my eldest was born, I just... didn't start again.

Eventually, I fell into a 'pleasant routine' of 'only drinking on special occasions'- and when we split up five or so years ago, I guess I was drinking once a month, when my second wife and I went out to meet friends.

Now, I'm happy to say I haven't had any alcohol (except once, when I made rum and raisin chocolate) since Xmas 2019. And no cigarettes since Sept 2017.

I don't know where I'm going with this, except to say that it can be done- and despite being a chronic depressive with rampant anxiety and diagnosed morbid rumination- obsessive suicidalism to you and me- alcohol is one thing that I have absolutely no intention of ever having again. Well, unless it's a glass to be social once in a very odd while. My eldest turns 18 in a couple of weeks, and he has already made noises about "doing the dad thing for his first real pub trip", but has also told me he just can't be bothered with booze, so I think we may just have one pint for the sake of it and then go home. If that happens, I will be content.

SBT

Hawkmumbler

Had the absolute weekend from hell. Two 11 hour shifts, idiots abound, and nothing but more annoying housing bureaucracy to fight my way through courtesy of an unwelcome mortgage broker agency.

I'm only so strong, a small dram of whisky tonight.

Still, only drank probably the equivalent of 4 units in two weeks is a massive improvement, and had it not been such a miserable couple of days probably would have been just happy with the beer yesterday. Small wins.

Dandontdare

Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 04 July, 2021, 06:48:20 PMStill, only drank probably the equivalent of 4 units in two weeks

Good lord, who knew that Cruzcampo was alcohol free?  ;) :lol:

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: Dandontdare on 02 July, 2021, 02:18:20 PM
After being rushed to hospital with acute alcohol-induced pancreatitis in 2001, I had to stop drinking altogether for a while. Horrible condition, felt like my insides were on fire from neck to groin, and 1 in 20 people just go into shock and die. The only treatment is to shut down the digestive system completely (nil by mouth) and manage the pain, so I had 3 weeks in hospital with a nutrient drip in one arm, and a drugs drip in the other.

It was impossible to get a consistent answer from the docs at the hospital about future drinking- advice from different consultants ranged from "a pint a day would be fine" to "you must never touch alcohol again". The brush with death (and the fact that someone I knew died of the same condition) scared me teetotal for two or three years, but I did some research myself and the advice is to 'avoid alcohol abuse'. interestingly, the pancreas and liver are self-regenerating organs and so can deal with binges, but my habit of 2-3 pints a day after work was not giving it any chance to recover, so it went on strike. At first I tried to continue going to my local and not drinking, but I soon realised the difference between actual friends and drinking buddies, and came to appreciate just how much shit people talk later in the evening. I gradually stopped going and don't see most of those people at all now.

After a couple, of years total abstinence, I allowed myself a few drinks at special occasions such as Christmas, but gradually the "occasions" became less special - Friday is a special occasion isn't it?

Nowadays I drink quite a lot when I do, but drink nothing for 5-6 days a week, and I've been fine. Getting shitfaced on a Friday has become a weekly treat rather than a daily habit.

This post has inspired me to cut down / scared me into cutting down my booze intake, and this week I've had my first booze free days in months. And it wasn't really that hard - I just drank alcohol free beers instead of my usual IPAs. So thanks!

I'll have a bevvy tonight and I've no real intention of stopping but I'll be doing a few booze-free days a week from now on for purposes of organ repair.

I should point out things were getting a bit out of hand as lockdown went on, to the point where I never went to bed without feeling at least a bit tipsy. Time for a change.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"