i now have plan!

[letgolaughing]

ok. So thanks to this community for getting my thought process going.
I now have a plan. here it is:

I plan to continue to cut back the Mon-Thurs drinks this week, to half of what I was drinking before. This means 1-2 drinks depending on the day. again, on Friday, i plan on 2 only, Saturday 3 only and sunday 2.
then NEXT monday, I want to do an AF day. so by next week, I want to have one AF day in the week. Then I'll add one AF day per week after that, til I'm up to 3-4 AF days in a week, while still continuing to mod my weekend drinking.

here's my fear. I'm so worried that I will have a seizure on my AF day. I'd really like some reassurance on this because I think this is my BIGGEST obstacle. I'm so scared about it.

Can someone please help me believe that the amount that I have been drinking is not enough to cause a seizure when I go AF?

[Popeye]

i now have plan!

Your plan seems a good one.
I don't know why you think you will have a seizure though.
Could you go and see a doctor to see if you have grounds for this fear?
I have no experience of this so I cannot advise.

[letgolaughing]

i now have plan!

HI. i have convinced myself that i will have such severe withdrawals if i don't have a drink that i will have a seizure from the withdrawals. I have OCD type anxiety which causes me to over-worry about things, especially medical things.

i have been laughed at by my dr for even thinking that i would have withdrawals, but just fear that he doesn't really know.

anyway...i guess someone's personal experience would be the reassurance that i'm looking for, not really a dr.'s view.

[Marshy]

i now have plan!

Hi letgo,

How much do you drink now?
I was a drink-until-I-pass-out kind of drunk. Say, three bottles of wine on a "good" day. And I quit cold turkey with no physical problems. Well, not in terms of seizures anyway.
Oh, and if your doctor laughs at your concerns - get another doctor!

[bloggy]

i now have plan!

Hi LGL. Welcome!

I just read your first p?st and I certainly don't think you should have any problems at all with the amount you drink.

However worrying and OCD in itself can certainly do some strange things, so I would suggest make sure you have access to a drink, even though for sure you won't need it, but just knowing that in the case of a bad scenario you COULD have it, would, I think calm your anxiety enough that it should be plain sailing for you.

[greeneyes]

i now have plan!

That sounds like a very reasonable plan. My 2 cents is that when you say "drink" that you ARE ACTUALLY MEASURING IT. I don't know what you drink but if it's wine, then 4 MEASURED ozs. Or booze, 1 MEASURED oz. You get the idea. Don't kid yourself thinking your AL brain won't try to weasle more. And write it down. I think you can do this and be safe with it. Good luck, I have confidence in you!

[franziasgone]

i now have plan!

LGL~Your plan sounds very similar to my plan. I was pretty much AF last week- only two glasses of wine on two seperate nights....I have to keep a written record because
my problem is what I "think" I'm drinking is different from what I'm really drinking- I like to "top off" my glass- therefore it ends up being much more than what it appears.
I know this because I can feel it this morning. I swear I only had 3 glasses last night!
I am curious also why you think you will have a seizure? Have you ever had one before?
I am under the impression one must drink a lot more than what you say you do in order to have a seizure....I could be wrong though. Do you have any baclofen? Possibly that would help.
Whatever happens- let's stick to our plans!

[letgolaughing]

i now have plan!

hi thanks y'all. to clarify:

I have had a drink pretty much every night for about the last 5 years. There have been a few days AF here and there, and last year, about a week AF because I had surgery.

i do measure my drinks(i'm very precise) So when I say a glass of wine it is a 5 oz glass(that's the standard US drink) of wine. I never top off. I always like to finish and then i get another. I like to know precisely how much i drank. So, in essence, I have already been moderating my drinking for some years now. It's just that I don't want to drink every day anymore.

So, having said that. I drink every night. during the week i may have 1.5 to 3, so I say, average 2 Mon-Thurs. Friday Saturday and Sunday, it's 3-4(occassionally 5, but that is always regrettable!). I don't drink until 6pm or so(unless i'm on the annual beach vacation, then I'll have 2 beers at lunch as well).

so, there it is. that's how much I drink. I know it's not a whole lot of alcohol, but i'm more worried that I've been doing it for SO long, ya know.

I have never had a seizure and the only reason i am scared about that is because of the horrible GOOGLE!!! google is not good for an obsessive worrier.

thanks for the support guys. I have been thinking and halfway trying to cut back, but all the websites i found before were preaching at me and telling me to admit to a problem and join AA. I think I do have a problem, a habit, but I don't think that I'm an alcoholic and that's ok. I but I also think that if I can stop the habit and change my routine, that I will be successful at having several AF days per week. I rarely overdo it already, so, I think this is good for me having found this place!! yea!!

[franziasgone]

i now have plan!

Good for you!

I admire you for thinking about your drinking now- I wish I had back when I had only been drinking every night for 5 years. I'm going on 20+ now.
I used to only have 2 glasses every night, and in the past few years it has increased to 3 or 4, so it is definitely progressive.
I too used to never drink before 6- around dinnertime. Now recently I have been starting at 5......sounds like you have it under control!:goodjob:

[Heavenly]

i now have plan!

Marshy;724262 wrote: Hi letgo,

How much do you drink now?
I was a drink-until-I-pass-out kind of drunk. Say, three bottles of wine on a "good" day. And I quit cold turkey with no physical problems. Well, not in terms of seizures anyway.
Oh, and if your doctor laughs at your concerns - get another doctor!

Me too, just like Marshy ... (and sometimes more) .... and I went cold turkey too and it was the best thing I ever did
(I didn't know at the time it could hurt me .... so I did it) ..... and here I am now ....

[Marshy]

i now have plan!

Letgo,

You'll be FINE. How did you feel when you didn't drink for a week last year? You were fine, right? You'll be FINE!

There are various herbal remedies for anxiety that you might want to try on your first day AF, just to give you a boost. Google those, don't google about seizures :H

Good luck!