25yo female. why am I here?

[horseridinggirl]

Hello everyone. What is your recomendation? I can't sleep at night, this is why I started this habit. I was rotating alcohol with benedryl so that I would not become dependend on either one, but Ben. was to oexpensive, Vodka is a lot cheaper...
What did you do to stop? Do AA meetings help?
Thanks....

[Paddy]

25yo female. why am I here?

Welcome to the club! Well, for starters, I can't really give any advice on medication you could substitute for alcohol.

But one thing works to your advantage, you have the will to stop. And that's a great first step. Next step would be to make a list of goals so as to see where to go from here. Absolute abstinence is usually the best, if you can't control drinking. I found this to be the only real solution for myself - coming from a family where both parents have alcohol problems.

If you have a trusted friend, you might talk him/her through your goals as well.

Seek medical advice, too. I found that to be invaluable. There are no miracle cures, but a good physician can usually point you in a good direction, on what steps to take.

And do hang around here. It's a good learning curve to see how others found their way out.

Love,

[changemylife]

25yo female. why am I here?

Medical

I agree with getting medical help for your sleeping. there are a lot of sleep remedies out there. Some will work for you and others will not. The trick is to work closely with the doctor. As far as the Vodka, The doctor can help you with that also but you must be up front and honest with him/her. Take it from all of us, Alcohol as a sleep remedy is a short term fix. It leads us down a dark road where we get lost.

You are young and the earlier you set the goals and make the decision the better.

I wish you well and keep us posted.

Change

[horseridinggirl]

25yo female. why am I here?

thanks

Thanks for the encouragement

[Changeling]

25yo female. why am I here?

Sleeping

Hi horseriding girl
The sleeping thing gets easier - trust me.
Last year I managed 7 months without drinking and after a while I started to sleep like a baby
Furthermore - it was real quality deep sleep - like you did when you were a child.
I think when drinking it's more a kind of passing out & when the alcohol wears off I wake up in the middle of the night feeling really anxious & edgy.
Want so much to get back where I was - last year.

[lushy]

25yo female. why am I here?

Horse, it was nice to meet you in chat last night. I hope you will read the book and keep coming around here. Like I told you you are so smart to be addressing your problem at such a young age instead of letting 10-15 more years go by when it becomes more difficult to handle. Best of luck to you!!!

[surfer2]

25yo female. why am I here?

why am i here

firstly i can back up the sleeping normally..............i drank for years on a regular basis but not every day more like a lot on the weekend and then wondered why i had insomnia during the week --duh!


after being off alcohol for a month my sleep returned to normal,no night sweats,no anxiety just off to sleep.

however i just posted my recipe for when i did have insomnia and i will repost it here
1 phenibut 500mg
1 l-theanine 100mg
1 gravol
1 relax and sleep or a herbal mixture with a combo of valerian,chamomile,catnip and other traditional sleep aids

you can alternate the gravol with benadryl so as not to lose the effectiveness

take the phenibut and l-theanine 1 hour before bed and the rest 1/2 hour before bed.

i have not noticed any tolerance with the phenibut however if you dont take it every night it will continue to be effective

i hated insomnia and this recipe helped alot however we are all different but its worth a try

[Newstart]

25yo female. why am I here?

Hello HRG
Its good that you are recognizing this at an early age. I have been dtruggling with sleep for mnay years much like me father(God rest his soul) I agree that you should seek the advice of a doctor for your sleep problems. It would be a shame to get get addicted to alchohol for this reason, mst of us on this site have been on the dark path a alchoholism for a long time and it is an extremely difficult addiction to break free from. I take a prescription medicine called Lorazepam which works very well for me, it took several different precriptions until I found the one the worked for me. if the herbal remedy mentioned another member works, even better! This is a great place for questions and support. I have only been a member for one week but fel like this is the palce where I will finally break ny addiction to alchohol.
Welome
Newstart

[Tomcat]

25yo female. why am I here?

:new: I'm new, haven't stopped drinking yet, just read the book, order the holiday pack product & milk thistle, intend to make appointment with dr. looking for new one now.
I'm wondering if there are any Barrel Racers or other horse people out there? The reason I ask about the Barrel Racing because its reached a point that I drink to compete these days. It seems to be one of the triggers. I'm thinking other barrel racers or competitors will know what I mean.

[mikey008]

25yo female. why am I here?

I found this under research section

Hello Horseridinggirl,

And welcome. I found this under the research search section. I hope it helps you.

"Anxiety and Insomnia
44% of alcoholics suffer from anxiety. Anxiety and sleep disorders are closely related. Take GABA for anxiety. Serotonin is the main neurotransmitter that induces sleep. The amino acid L-tryptophan is the precursor to serotonin, so supplementation with L-tryptophan or 5-HTP (5-hydroxy-tryptophan) will help with sleep and anxiety. If you ever blacked out due to drinking, you have a tryptophan deficiency. Inositol, a B vitamin helps regulate serotonin and treats anxiety and panic disorder. You will also want to take P-5-P (pyridoxal-5-phosphate, the active form of Vitamin B-6), for L-tryptophan requires P-5-P to get converted into serotonin. Vitamin B-3 (niacin or niacinamide) helps with serotonin chemistry. Niacin can cause a brief but uncomfortable skin flush, but niacinamide (another form of B-3) won't do that. Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, became quite interested in nutritional approaches to treating alcoholism. In one study of 30 patients treated with Vitamin B-3, 20 were cured of all their symptoms in approximately two months. Bill Wilson was at the forefront of Orthomolecular Medicine. While his first huge contribution, AA, became widely accepted, the medical establishment did not support his claims about niacin, and so he continued his orthomolecular research outside of the mainstream."

The rest of the 2 part post titled "alcohol/fixing the brain" was the single most educational piece of material I've ever read on why I feel the way way I feel.

this link should work https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...-2-a-5137.html

Good Luck!!!

Mikey

[Owly]

25yo female. why am I here?

Wow, alcohol sure doesn't make me sleepy, it makes me want to party. But anyway I had sleep problems my whole life then took up meditation for three years, half an hour every morning and I have never had insomnia since even though I stopped the meditation many years ago now - it's something worth considering that is definitely better than vodka!

[Ids]

25yo female. why am I here?

Hi Horse,

I too am a horse person. I foxhunt, ride dressage horses and Jumpers. I have found that as my alcoholism has progressed, It takes away any energy and desire to ride and train. It has also made me forgetful and I have to memorize difficult patterns and courses.

Get off the booze or you'll be getting off the horse, sad to say but I know.

Good luck.

Ids