Hi Ilex

[Alice]

Hiya Ilex

Thanks for your message, I can't reply back with a PM as I haven't posted enough, so post me and I'll post you back a bit first. I have read some of your other posts and I think we are both in very similar situations, how much we drink but function fine, don't tell anyone bla bla bla. I read the book yesterday, if you do that you will have a clearer picture of how/when you want to start. I'm off to get the vitamins now.

[Ilex]

Hi Ilex

Hi Alice!

Great to hear from you - yes, I must really 'get round' to ordering the book - are you going for after the hols now - or starting straight away? Are you planning to mod or AF? Are you in the UK too? Was wondering how long the book takes to arrive - let me know how you are getting on!
I x

:thanks:

(sorry - that appears to be just a string of questions!!)

[Alice]

Hi Ilex

I tried to get the vitamins locally but had no luck, I live in rural France, so they're looking at me like I've got 2 heads, I mean this is France, EVERYBODY drinks too much here. Anyway, I've ordered them and the CD's on line, which will take about 2 weeks to Europe, which answers our question, because I'm not staring on Xmas day and I know I can't do this without them, have tried and failed far too many times before. At the moment I'm aiming to cut back but if that doesn't work for me, I'm quite prepared to go the whole way.

[Ilex]

Hi Ilex

Hi Alice

Hi Alice - shame about the vits; I guess it would be good to moderate - but this is what causes me problems I think. I don't mean to do it - but today went down to the pub to give someone back their phone that they had left at mine and have ONE beer - ended up having three; then 2 glasses of wine with dinner and house mate and now I'm writing this with a large whiskey night cap. Whilst this may not be too much in some people's eyes it is too much for me because I only intended to have a couple at the most and now I've had quite a few. Whilst I'm not pissed I feel really tired and just want to sleep and give my body a break and wake up feeling bright and sparky - but I know that I will probably do similar tomorrow, ESPECIALLY in the run up to Christmas.....

I feel that I need to understand my drinking and the drivers behind it; I know that I'm not taking full responsibility for it at the moment - but feel that in order to 'fix' the problem I need to understand it first...

Or maybe that's just another excuse and I'm just being crap......

Ix

[withhope]

Hi Ilex

Hi,

I'm new too and I'm feeling a mixture of hope that possibly this is going to be THE way to moderate or even quit. I ordered the book online and just hope it arrives before Christmas because I will be with my heavy drinking family in the UK, and that scares me.

My main worry is that if I get hold of the Topiramate, it will mess up my spelling. I'm a proofreader!

[Alice]

Hi Ilex

Hello you 2

I think sometimes you won't necessarily understand why you do. Other people are in the same situation with work and stress etc and don't feel the need to get hammered. For me, it is more than likely genetic, both my parents are problem drinkers, in fact most of my family are when I think about it, how scary is that. But whatever the reason, we drink too much and we can't slow down or stop on our own. I am in two minds about the Topiramate too, I'm going to try it without first and if I'm struggling, get some. Other people are doing it like that too, so you may not have to.