Binge Drinkers...I need you

[nowandzen11]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

Hi AP and happy birthday to Adian. What a beautiful name.

I am a binge drinker and not really on weekends. My profession requires lots of work on most weekends. I've gotten older and my body has tired and rebelled from the alcohol, so I don't drink when I have to work so hard. I can't. My problem is during the week and sounds like most of the other stories from the great people here. To reward myself for a hard day's work, boredom, lonliness, personal issues. I know that I go to therapy on Wednesdays and that is a big trigger for my drinking.

I too am like the others- Give me one and IT'S ON! I can't stop. It's like I'm on a mission. I hate it now. I am 3 days af and want to continue to 30 but this time I am not thinking about it as much. I am just trying to live in the moment and replace thoughts of alcohol with proacting to things that are positive. I feel that once I get back into working out, it will be easier for me.

You should be very proud of yourself for 10 days af. That is a big accomplishment. Stick around here. Magpie, you too. I found that this forum is wonderful and the people are the best. You will always find help, love and support here.

Good luck and looking forward to seeing you a lot.

n/z

[boozehag]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

Hi Aidan's Pappa
I am a binge drinker and I have posted before that IMHO I think this program is great for binge drinkers as we are used to AF time in between binges. My binge cycle was every 4 days or so but getting shorter. The cycle would be drink to black out, hungover, recover, and then on day 4 feeling invincible I would start all over again. There is no doubt that it is hard changing binge habits and managing the triggers but it is definitely doable.
BH

[j-vo]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

Hi AP,
Yes, lots of binge drinking here. Except my binge drinking on the weekends progressed to binge drinking "most" of the week, with one or two AL free days thrown in here and there.

Don't feel alone! On the contrary, most of us have the same issues, same cravings, why we drink . . .
And congrats on your 10 days! I'm 11 today, and have been through this "starting over" thing more than once. I'm not yet confident in myself and am having some struggles with the voice in my head.

Happy birthday to your son, Aiden. And enjoy the Fla. weather! I'll be visiting my parents at the beginning of Feb. and can't wait to get some sunshine on my face!

Take care, and visit this site a lot. You'll learn so much.

[ezzmae]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

I am also a weekend binge drinker. A few years back I was probably drinking more during the week and starting on a Friday night, but as my weeks got busier I cut back to the weekends only. It was a natural move as I really didn't have the time to drink during the week nights anymore. Recently I would start drinking late on a Saturday afternoon, drink till I passed out. Hungover on Sunday but would hang in there until Sunday afternoon where I would have another drink just to make myself feel better from the day before. I would finish around 9pm on Sunday but was always hungover on Monday.

I got so sick of the cycle, it became so boring, I was really desparate to change it when I stumbled across MWO. I am now onto my 17 day AF. I had only one weekend since I started when I became unstuck, it was over christmas but I have completed 4/5 sober weekends here since I started.

By the way, I only drank beer, rarely spirits. I can't stand the taste of anything else. Aidenspappa, happy birthday to your son, mine is also not long turned 4, and another one 5. They are my reason for not drinking and by not drinking I am living more.

[Guest]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

aidanspappa;518512 wrote: Hello,

I am new (Day 10) here to this site, relatively speaking towards the majority of MWO'ers, and need to know if I am the only one with a binge drinking problem.

Most of the posts I read [are wonderful] contain overcoming 'daily' drinks, which as a binge drinker I didn't suffer. My problem isn't during the week, or curbing cravings, rather the lifestyle I created to support getting sloppy drunk Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

During the week I would 'look forward to rewarding myself' with drinks at the end of a very hard week. In fact, one could call my accomplishments short of work-a-holism to off set my alcohol-ism.

I love all the posts here, and try my best with time allowing to let you know how much I appreciate you all. However, I feel (with the exception of one so far) alone with my problem and how to overcome it.

It is Tuesday morning here in Florida, the in-laws are in town, My son is 4 today (YEA Aidan, Pappa loves you!!), and the weekend is safely 3 days away...does anyone fear the weekend like I do right now.

Thank you for your attention and reading this request; regardless of response I appreciate you all very much.

Peace

Im with you on the weekend thing, sat nights in particular and I have spent so many years berating myself for RUINING the weekend by drinking.

[Sunbeam]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

AP,
Hooray! You have made it 10 days! And to your son's birthday. I too was a binge drinker, but I have fought the battle and won. I have my life back. You can do it too.

I will always wonder about the different dynamics of binge drinking. Certainly there is a bigger psychological piece than for the daily drinker, because the more days you go without drinking, the the more your body becomes de-toxified. In the end it doesn't matter, really. Please be assured that you are not alone. I used to binge on Sunday afternoons.

[aidanspappa]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

Wow, I've made it to day 11...

Thanks to everyone for sharing your stories. I can't tell you how good it feels to know you have friends with similar situations. I really thought it was my character which let me down. I thought I just wasn't supposed to be one of the "good" guys; that there would always be this hanging over my head in a major way and keep me from living a true and pure life. MWO taught me my chemicals were all off balance, and because of that my mind was working against me. After reading about the amino acids, and just how important they are for recovery, doing some light exercise and soon to be enjoying some relaxing hypnotic methods I found relief.

Now...can I make it through this weekend? Will this always be my question during the week? Always wondering if this is the weekend I blow it? I can't say. As most have said before, one day at a time...one day at a time.

Peace

[A Work in Progress]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

AP, you're doing great, and you will make it through the weekend IF you are determined to do so AND if you make and follow a plan! Visualize how the weekend will go, when and where will there be temptations, and what will you do and say (to yourself, and to others) when thoughts or urges begin to enter your mind? Have you gotten the alcohol out of the house? What do you anticipate will be your most difficult time?

[bestlifeldms]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

Aidans-

I wanted to add a thought. Alcohol abuse is progressive. And while you may be able to control your binges to the week end now, the long term outlook is not encouraging, based on fact. I was AF from 1987 - 1992 when my children were very small. Unfortunately, I began to drink again when that voice said, "You can have just one, or a couple" Unfortunately that lead to 16 years of alcohol abuse. At first it was controlled and isolated. The last 6 years it was habitual. I wish, I was where you are right now. Able to look ahead at the lives of my children, when they were the age of your sweet Aiden. I wish I would have been, the "Mom" that I am without alcohol, instead of the mom that I was. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow may never happen for us, this moment is really all we have. Focus on each of your "this moments" and be the very best that you can. You deserve it. Aiden deserves it. My thoughts now are, I wish I had lived as a shining example, rather than as an ugly warning. I realize that my days and interactions with my children are not over, by any means. But, my influence on a daily basis, is long past. One would think that watching a parent struggle with an addiction would send children in the opposite direction, but it does just as the specialists say. It perpetuates the cycle. Consequently some of my kids have had problems of their own. But unlike the Mom of days gone by, I now have my nose "in their business" like it should have been in their preteen and teen years. I care that they not struggle like I did because I love them as you love your son.

[ylfa]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

I am from Iceland

[mac_nz]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

I am a binger, have days, weeks sometimes month without a drink, but slowly I convince myself i can handle it. Just a beer at lunchtime will be right, a beer or 2 watching sport on TV, i don't have a problem i can drink whenever i want!

Then the lunchtime beer turns into a 2 day affair.

I am in jeopardy of losing my family and job, even my life after some of the places i have found myself while on the booze.

I hope what I find here at MWO helps me stay AF

thanks for listening

[aidanspappa]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

AWIP: Thanks, and yes I do have a plan or escape route planned for Tonight, and for Saturday...however Sunday is not planned out yet.

BestLife: I can't tell you how much I appreciate your thoughts and for sharing your story. You see, when I read you went 5 years AF when your children were small and then allowed AL back into your life...well, to be honest your story is exactly what I needed to hear. I wonder if or when AL will trickle back into my life. For now my focus is on my Son, however should he grow tired of my attention all the time (as kids do when they 'grow up') I have nightmares of him disowning me, not wanting to be with me, or just plain ol' "Drop me off at the corner Papa" dreams that have me so sad it hurts. I wonder, often, how I will dull that pain? Obviously I have more work to do on me; I just wanted to thank you for your story and for sharing it with me. I will remember it forever.

Mac: Your story is also a familiar day dream for me; the question now becomes "will it come true for me as well". We are all here for each other and that includes you and me too. Thank you for giving me some sense of sanity in what I thought was a different problem to those with daily addictions. I thought my problem was more serious as going days without AL was no problem...AL once on the lips, however, became a beast who would drive me to my death in the slowest most painful way possible. We have to beat this thing together...one...day....at....a....time.

Peace

[Montana Mommy]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

Im a binge drinker too. Right now Im going through my head of why can't I drink today. Yikes!!! Sunday through Thursday is no prob staying sober. Glad to read others are going through the same thing. Stay strong everyone.
MM

[weary]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

Hi AP.

I am a binge drinker who only does it once in a while. Two nights ago was one of those occasions and it resulted in me phoning my boyfriend who lives overseas while he was working and abusing him....unfortunately I cannot remember the conversation other than remembering he was (quite rightly) really really angry with me. It has taken the fact that I may now have lost the one person in my life I have ever loved to see that I need help.

But I am grateful too as now I have the clarity to see that I have some hard work ahead of me and I feel focused in concentrating on this task and becoming the person I want to be and will be able to hold my head high and say I am as good a person as I can be once I have achieved my goals.

Good luck with everything.

[Skinned Knees]

Binge Drinkers...I need you

Hi and belated Happy Birthday to Aidan. My little girl turned 10 on the 16th. Don't blink! They grow up quickly.

I started out drinking only on Fri and Sat nites to "reward" myself. I never got to enjoy the weekends because Sat and Sun I was too busy feeling lousy from my hangovers. Then I found out there was Ladies Nite on Wed. So I added that to my schedule. So now I drank Fri, Sat and Wed. Then I realized that THURS nite was just one nite away from the weekend. Well, hell, it's ALMOST the weekend, so I added Thurs nite to get a jump-start on my weekend. So now I drank Fri, Sat, Wed and Thurs. Well, then I really needed to get rid of my hangovers quicker on Sun so that I could clean the house and do the laundry before going back to work on Mon. So I bought some beer and started drinking on Sun. ETC ....

In other words, I too, started out binge drinking only on the weekends. But the addiction grabbed hold of me and before I knew it, I was drinking every day.

Oh, and I might add, that some of those nites that I was drinking every day, I would add a binge and then swear to never do THAT again, only to do it over and over again.

SK