October Army 2016

[starty]

Dogging :turd2: and WAKING early :banana-computer: is definitely a good recipe. Adding a little jogging all helps. I have just watched the second part of the free coaching session on Recovery 2 which was very good. However if you sign up for the eight week course by Wednesday apparently you get a $500 discount. Dread to think what the course actually does cost. :shocked: Perhaps Ill just buy the book instead.

All is crossed for your temp Jax finding staff is such a difficult thing

[Guitarista]

https://soundcloud.com/user8434654/van-morrison-just-like-a-woman

[starty]

Love that choon Mr G

[Roadside]

New day, new start! I'm here and alive! Without a hangover, that's for sure!
Today is day 13, if that's what you mean by how long I have.

Hi Roady, yes that does seem really awful to deal with especially if it is not a one off. It must wear you down. It must be even worse with a hangover though. How long have you got ? The first few weeks are so challenging and can feel as if everyone is against us sometimes. Can you give yourself a break tonight? Perhaps the kids can go to friends so you could have some time to yourself?

I know for me that no matter how awful things were or how bad I felt, drinking never helped those situations but just added another dimension of awfulness but it did take a few weeks of sobriety to make me realise that.

Come and vent, chat or just share whenever you like, it really does help

[Roadside]

How do y'all get those fancy animated emoticons on here? Are they personal files or accessible through the website?

[starty]

New day, new start! I'm here and alive! Without a hangover, that's for sure!
Today is day 13, if that's what you mean by how long I have.

Day 13 is brilliant! How are you doing it? Just day by day or do you have a plan at all?

[starty]

How do y'all get those fancy animated emoticons on here? Are they personal files or accessible through the website?

When you do a reply you can see a menu on the top line. Click the smiley face and it will bring up emoticons

[Roadside]

Day 13 is brilliant! How are you doing it? Just day by day or do you have a plan at all?

Not really a plan. What does a plan look like? I know I cant drink therefore day by day I don't. Bilirubin levels were high last blood test and that completely flabbergasted me. I mean, I am physically healthy aside from the alcoholism and I know drinking affects one's liver but for mine to be affected is surreal. Like 'no way, I'm not an exception to the natural biological processes of life?' Actually, it has been easier for me to fall asleep lately because of this 'natural' medicine I have been takin and therefore don't lay in bed wide awake aching for something to knock me out.

Seriously, what does a plan 'look' like? Is a plan simply strategies to divert your attn from AL?

[starty]

Not really a plan. What does a plan look like? I know I cant drink therefore day by day I don't. Bilirubin levels were high last blood test and that completely flabbergasted me. I mean, I am physically healthy aside from the alcoholism and I know drinking affects one's liver but for mine to be affected is surreal. Like 'no way, I'm not an exception to the natural biological processes of life?' Actually, it has been easier for me to fall asleep lately because of this 'natural' medicine I have been takin and therefore don't lay in bed wide awake aching for something to knock me out.

Seriously, what does a plan 'look' like? Is a plan simply strategies to divert your attn from AL?

Liver function tests are scary, especially if they dont come back normal

I think all plans are different, and personal. Mine are just simple. Short term plan is to look after myself very carefully. That means going back to basics i.e make sure I am eating well, exercising a bit, I tend to keep myself to myself to give myself time to adjust and re-evaluate. Once I am bored with that I tend to expand a bit and look to how I would like my life to look. At least that is how my last stint went and it was good for 6 years so must have had some merit

[Mr Vervill]

First posted by Byrdie in the Newbies Nest
The plan

#1 Failure is not an option. When you think you are going to fail, guess what? You FAIL! Wrote this book on this one. Get your mind into a mode of THIS WILL BE DONE. Don't be willy-nilly, or your willy will get nillied. Your mind is your best friend and your biggest enemy. Control IT and you will win. Control your thoughts and you will win.

Get all of the AL out of your house/space. Yes...ALL of it. You don't need a safety net because you are not going to fail. I fought this one hard, but Iwasn't able to succeed until I did it. No, I was NOT different than everybody else, I could not resist it if it was in the house. GET IT OUT.

Get your story down as to why you're not drinking. This is important. Get a story together you can live with. I actually have ulcerative colitis, so I saythat my UC is 1000 times better if I don't drink. If you are a Type A Personality, you might enjoy using 'AL kills my ulcers'. If you are a health nut, "I'm detoxing"....religious nut? "I gave it up for Lent and felt so good I kept going".....you get the idea. Get your story and stick to it.

As Alkies, we aren't used to eating. This is the SILVER BULLET to succeeding.If you have a bad craving and The Voices are knocking, EAT! Eat until you are FULL! Remember those times when you've said, "I can't eat another bite of anything!" That's the full we're talking about. You will not want anything if you EAT!

You are gonna feel like dookey for a few days. I felt flu-like for the first couple weeks, so treat yourself well. Drink plenty of fluids and rest! Your body is changing over from an ethanol burning engine to a food/nutrient burning machine. Have patience as your body makes this transition.

Keep yourself out of temptation. STAY out of the wine aisle at the grocerystore. NO, you are not stronger than this thing, protect your young quit with everything you've got. Stay out of bars and avoid booze parties, especially the first 3 or 4 weeks. I don't care how strong you feel, this is a new thing for us and temptation is everywhere. Avoid it at all costs.

Change your mindset from one of deprivation to one of gratitude. Just look at the folks on here who have made C-changes in their lives!!! They are HAPPY and optimistic! Does this sound like someone who considers themselves deprived? It's all a matter of perspective. Thank God, you don't HAVE to drink today!!!Remember, to a worm, digging around in the hard old ground is a lot more relaxing than going fishing! Try not to throw, attend and participate in PityParties, they serve no good purpose.

Glue yourself to this site and learn everything you can about this condition we have. Knowledge is power. Nothing we do or think hasn't been done or thought before, so look back on the 7 years of experience here and you will find out what happens if you do such and such.

Let go of the past... don't look back. Let it go. ALL of it. Forgive yourself and move on....nothing to see here. There is NOTHING we can do to change what we've done, but we can start today and make things better for our future.

Did I mention gluing yourself here? Read and Post!!! This is key! Being part of a group is important. Like so many have said recently, we find that we actually don't have much of a life outside the bottle! So learning to trust others again is part of our emotional growth and healing. Yes, the Nest does move fast, but we are always on point. You just regained about 4-6 hours a day back,so spending 30 minutes catching up here should be no problem. Staying connected here is a real key to STAYING sober. The world out there is telling us to do something totally counter to what we know we must do. Staying connected with like-minded people is vital. We are swimming upstream on this one...it's nice to have fellow fish to make the journey with us.

I feared someone giving me a drink by mistake....if they ever do, I'm spitting it back in the glass. My quit is my foundation. No one can take it from me

[starty]

Thank you for posting that Mr V. I had read it but it is important to be reminded. Even at 4 weeks, I dont feel weak but my body is still recovering. Time is the best healer and its something I must remember always along with patience.

[aihfl]

Hi Roadside, a plan is just that - something to divert your attention from alcohol. Byrdie's plan is excellent, and here are a couple of other things I would add:

1. Support network OTHER than your family. Family is important, but the reason (at least according to my rehab therapist) why they should NOT be relied upon exclusively is that they are likely the people closest to you and just as wrapped up in your problems as you. It is difficult, if not impossible for them to maintain an objective perspective. I would ask yourself if your support network is adequate. If not, where can you find it? Just to share my own experience, in early sobriety, my alcoholism and addiction to pills and pretty much left me friendless, and my ex-wife wasn't speaking to me. I found the support I needed in AA, otherwise, I would have been quite alone in the world and for several months in early sobriety, the people in AA were pretty much my only contact with the outside world. This isn't meant to push AA, however, as there are other support groups, and even a solid group of friends can fill that need.

2. Psychological/psychiatric health - the reason the vast majority of addicts and alcoholics I know drink or use drugs comes down to one reason (after all the individual nuances are taken out): to tune out the world. It never occurred to me that I might have something psychologically/psychiatrically wrong with me. All I knew is that a slug of vodka or a beer made everything ok for about 45 minutes. When I was finally able to get sober and stay sober, it was because a psychiatrist finally dealt with my depression, anxiety and panic attacks and medicated those appropriately. I've been accused by people here, people in AA and an ex-girlfriend of "substituting one addiction for another," but my medication does not make me irresponsible and unable to live up to my obligations. I also have a diagnosis of PTSD stemming from very violent early childhood physical abuse, and my therapist used EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) therapy with me. Between the meds and therapy, I can't ever remember having peace of mind to the degree I have it today.

Between benders, I maintained what I thought was a healthy lifestyle. I hit the gym regularly and even went vegetarian for a couple of years. I blamed my anemia on vegetarianism, but it was really my alcoholism, because like most alcoholics, I was malnourished and Vitamin D deficient, and without Vitamin D, the body can't process iron effectively. I also ended up with fatty liver. The primary care physician in rehab said I wasn't at the point of no return and my liver can heal, but if I didn't stop drinking, I could expect to have cirrhosis in 1-2 years. So as long as one drinks alcoholically, there really is no such thing as living healthy. I should add that shortly after being admitted to rehab (I don't remember bilirubin), but both my AST and ALT levels were over 400, with ALT being slightly lower. After only a month they were back to normal (between 30 and 40).

Anyway, I hope sharing my experience can help. I'd better go ahead and post this before the power flickers again. I'm at close to ground zero with this hurricane hitting Florida.

[JackieClaire]

Evening,
Thanks for both those posts Mr V and Mr A.
In previous quits I took things far too fast.........I had to be busy, busy , busy. I planned on doing yoga, pilates, learning a new language and that was just in the first week . Second week was sorting out world peace............said with tongue very much in cheek. This time I slowed things down. Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day.
It dawned on me I didn't become an alcoholic overnight so it might take a while to get over it.

Most important thing to me was promising myself that I would not drink today as soon as I woke up. I may have had to grit my teeth, sit on my hands and there were times I wept........not just wept.............sobbed.

[JackieClaire]

oops pressed submit too soon,
Like Mr Aihfl, I was undernourished although I didn't each much at all...........perhaps a few crackers and cheese, I was the mistress of pushing food round my plate. Always saying I'd had a big lunch (just who was I kidding).

Roadie, Eat little and often if its uncomfortable with big meals, get your vitamins down you. B1 (thiamine), D, C, fish oils.

And water, water, water. Can you put a notification on your phone as a reminder...........funny I never forgot to slosh wine down my throat but when I stopped I forgot that I actually needed fluids.........shamed faced to say I still go long hours without fluids.

[starty]

Totally agree on the taking it very slowly...

Were you underweight Jax?