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    Brand New Here and Ready to Get Started

    Hi all,

    Just a warning, I'm generally pretty concise, but this first post is going to be long. I just kind of need to share all of these things with someone, and I am not at all offended if it's just too long for most people. I promise that my subsequent posts will be shorter.

    I suppose I should admit that I'm not exactly brand new here. I have been lurking and benefiting from the wisdom and experience of all of you who post in these forums, and I already feel very grateful to have found a place where we can all be totally honest about our habits, our struggles...all of it. So thank you.

    A little bit about what brings me here: I'm 32 years old, and although I don't think I'm an alcoholic, I don't drink in a healthy way, and I know it. Alcoholism runs very strongly through one half of my family, and I am beginning to see that it runs through me too. I read "My Way Out" and so many posts here, and I recognize myself quite a bit. Every time I take one of those quizzes to determine whether you have a problem with alcohol (which of course you already kinda know before you take the quiz if you're honest--that's why you're taking the damn thing in the first place, but whatevs), I seem to answer enough yeses to qualify me as someone who is a "Problem Drinker" or has a potential alcohol problem.

    I know a lot of you will probably think the quantity I drink is nothing compared to what you did/do drink, and although the warning signals in my head begin to sound when I think about the quantity I drink, it's the WAY I drink that brings those bells to fever pitch. I usually drink 3-4 glasses of wine per night, sometimes a cocktail and 2-3 glasses of wine, but over the past few months that's become every evening, regardless of what I have to accomplish that night, or what I'm scheduled to do the next morning. I find myself drinking more and more quickly, and I have to make a concerted effort to not overdo it, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

    There are several clear indicators that my relationship to alcohol has become unhealthy--maybe considering it a relationship in the first place means something, come to think of it. Anyway, I definitely do not have the off switch that most people do when it comes to AL, and once I've had a few at a wedding, party, or other social event where everyone is imbibing, I just keeping going and going, getting drunker and drunker despite the promises I've made to myself that I won't. I sometimes sneak drinks or have a drink before an event that makes me anxious very quickly and surreptitiously--like someone slugging back medicine.

    During the holidays, during a particularly stressful few days, I began keeping those little mini wine bottles around, and I would sneak them past my family and then hide the bottles. So, yeah, I have a problem. I have a very distinct feeling that I am at an impasse, where I've been given the opportunity to either get this thing under control, or to watch it mushroom and escalate until I become a full blown alcoholic.

    I have far too many good things in my life to let this happen, including the most incredible little toddler you could ever imagine, a demanding job that I love (in addition to parenting, which is of course about the most demanding job there is), a creative mind (which I have been dulling with AL), amazing family and friends...you get the gist. There is so much I still want to do with my life, so many dreams and ideas I want to nurture for me and for my family.

    Over the past 6 weeks or so, I've begun to level with myself, to look in the mirror as honestly as I can, and I know that AL is beginning to bring me down. I know that if I'm not careful, I could end up being a burden and an embarrassment to my son, someone he tolerates but never admires, and I am not okay with that. That's not my story. It can't be. I won't let it. I refuse.

    Having been particularly inspired by the stories of Katie and UKBlonde, and having done more than my share of research and lurking, I feel like TSM with Naltrexone is the best way for me to go, and I took my first 1/2 pill right before I began this post. I am so ready to turn this corner...so, so ready. My hope is that I will eventually be feel indifferent to AL, and perhaps still enjoy a cocktail or glass of wine in a social setting. I know that I might find that being ALF is the way for me to go at that point, but one bridge at a time, k?

    No one knows I'm doing this, not even my husband or best friend. Just you guys. So thanks for letting me tell you what's going on, and thanks for sharing your stories. Here goes...
    With gratitude,
    NinaFaye


    :new:
    The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.
    Henry David Thoreau

    #2
    Brand New Here and Ready to Get Started

    Welcome Nina, you've come to a great place with lots of friendship, support and advice. XX:welcome:

    Comment


      #3
      Brand New Here and Ready to Get Started

      Hello & welcome NinaFaye

      Glad you decided to join us, this is a good place!
      You are very wise to get in control now before things get worse - they always get worse. Being honest with yourself is a tough thing to do but a necessary step on the road to recovery.
      I was in my mid-forties when I noticed myself losing control & finding it necessary to drink wine to keep functioning........not good. Took me years to get to the point where I just had to give up. I am grateful for my sober life, the support & friendship I've found here. Hope we can help you as well!

      Wishing you the best with your plan, drop in the Newbies Nest thread & let us know how you are doing. Taking back control of your life is something you will never regret.

      Lav
      AF since 03/26/09
      NF since 05/19/09
      Success comes one day at a time :thumbs:

      Comment


        #4
        Brand New Here and Ready to Get Started

        Welcome NinaFaye:welcome:. As Lav said, you are wise to come here now. I didn't seek help until February of this year, at 48. I wasn't drinking every night when I was your age, but I did binge on the weekends most of the time. As for the amount of AL you are consuming, I was right around that amount myself. I could hold it down to 3-4 big glasses of wine a night, but in a social setting, like you said, where everyone is imbibing, watch out.

        Anyway, I could go on and on, but you can read our posts and stories if you're interested. The good thing is, you're here. Hope to "see" you around here often!

        LG


        "I like people too much or not at all."
        Sylvia Plath

        Comment


          #5
          Brand New Here and Ready to Get Started

          Noodle, Lavande, and LibraryGirl, thank you all for your responses and your encouragement. You will definitely be seeing me around here.

          Happy to report that my first night of the Naltrexone went well. Took 25 mg, felt kind of tingly/funny in my hand and hands, but nothing unmanageable--almost a little high feeling (I also used to smoke pot too frequently, which I don't do anymore). Had a glass of wine 1 hour after taking the medication, and then a couple more after that with dinner.

          The nice thing was that, even after using about 1/2 c of the wine in the recipe I was making, and my husband having about 1 1/2 glasses, there were still a couple of inches left in the bottle this morning...and I wasn't hungover. Very sleepy, but not hungover. Normally, I would have just kept on going until that bottle was spent. True, part of it was just that I got very sleepy, but whatever works, right?

          Will keep you all posted. It's very hard to imagine myself in certain situations without a drink in my hand, but I'm trying not to worry about every possible future challenge and just focus on today. I tell myself that although the current me would have a really tough forgoing a glass of wine while cooking dinner, the future me won't even care. Fingers crossed.

          Hope everyone has a good (and sober, or mod) weekend.
          With gratitude,
          NinaFaye


          :new:
          The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.
          Henry David Thoreau

          Comment


            #6
            Brand New Here and Ready to Get Started

            :welcome: NinaFaye. I'm in the same boat as you, loving husband and daughter, just one problem....when I start drinking I don't stop. I will get so drunk and when asked how many did you have, I will always say 2 . That being said , at that time I'm slurring.

            I'm coming back here everyday , and it gives some comfort to know that there are people just like me, and is facing the same demons.

            Stay strong !

            Comment


              #7
              Brand New Here and Ready to Get Started

              Welcome Nina. You are in a good place. I am a bit older than you, but I also have children that I need to do this for. I don't know much about TSM. but I looked it over and thought that I would try just going AF first. I hope it works for you. I could identify with much of your story. Especially, the part about the glass of wine while making dinner. This is a good group of people here and will be here for you when you need help.

              Comment


                #8
                Brand New Here and Ready to Get Started

                Hi again Ninafaye. How are you doing? Just thinking about you.


                "I like people too much or not at all."
                Sylvia Plath

                Comment


                  #9
                  Brand New Here and Ready to Get Started

                  Welcome ninafaye!
                  Good luck on your journey
                  Today I chose to start living!

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Brand New Here and Ready to Get Started

                    Just wanted to welcome you, NF. Wish I'd come here when I was your age and not in my late fifties! This is a great place to be with so many caring people who really understand what you are going through.
                    :lTDN
                    "One day at a time."

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Brand New Here and Ready to Get Started

                      You guys are all so welcoming and supportive. Thank you, LibraryGirl, for checking in on me, and No More Beer, I think we could be a great help to one another. I am going to try to be better about checking in/posting more frequently. It's tough because since no one knows I'm doing this, I can't hop on the laptop in front of my husband to check in or ask for support.

                      Since I have decided to be totally honest here and not do my usual routine of saying the thing I think will please people, I will admit that I have been very lax in keeping up with my journal. I think I have been using the retraining my brain on Naltrexone (check out TSM to find out what I mean if you're not familiar with it) as an excuse to keep drinking too much. I know that drinking on the program is part of it, and of course for the most part it's a part I like, but I've been drinking without even enjoying it sometimes.

                      For most of the nights since I started, I have been able to stop at a reasonable amount, as in 2-3 glasses of wine. However, there have been 2 nights (and one in particular) where I have gone the whole-bottle-of-wine-plus-a-little-to-top-it-off route. Not good. On one of those nights, I woke up at 4:00 in the morning feeling ashamed and anxious, and wanting to cry. Why had I done this to myself? I needed to be up for work pretty early, and I knew I would be hungover. The other night was this past Monday.

                      It was a friend's birthday, and we got really boozy. I think I ended up drinking about 5 glasses of wine, and not over a very long period of time. I felt like hell the next day--way more hungover than I have in a long time. I think the Naltrexone does make hangovers worse. I had the kind of hangover where you feel dumb, like you can't quite get your words or your thoughts straight. Does that ever happen to you guys?

                      I spent all day wondering if food would make me feel better or worse, and wondering why I had been such a loser and had so much to drink the night before.

                      The good news is that I didn't have anything to drink last night, which is the first time in months I haven't. I woke up feeling clear-headed and happy, tired but just from lack of sleep, not from vino or vodka. I told myself to remember that feeling and think of it when I'm deciding whether to drink.

                      I am going to continue with the Naltrexone and TSM, but I am also going to try to make an effort to moderate. I really wasn't making an effort, thinking that somehow the Naltrexone would do it for me. Foolish, I know. I need to use it as a tool and not a crutch.

                      Funny thing is, I started out the day after my first AL free night in a long time feeling great, but as the day has worn on, I've felt kind of nauseous, almost a little hungover. I've never had any obvious withdrawal symptoms when I've gone without drinking for a while. Could that be what's happening? Have any of you experienced mild withdrawal symptoms like that?

                      Oh, one other thing: I've noticed since being on the Naltrexone for several days, wine doesn't taste as good as it usually does, and yet I have been taking bigger gulps and drinking it down more easily. Hmmm..not sure on that. Any Naltrexone users or TSM people, please chime in if you can.

                      Thanks for reading my posts and for your encouragement. You guys are all awesome, and I admire everyone on here for taking the first steps toward taking control of their lives again.
                      With gratitude,
                      NinaFaye


                      :new:
                      The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.
                      Henry David Thoreau

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Brand New Here and Ready to Get Started

                        You mentioned drinking wine in gulps, that's actually normal. The naltrexone blocks the endorphins our brains are expecting, so we try to drink more at points to get the rush. My early numbers show this pretty well.

                        Good luck!
                        Sinclair Method (50mg naltrexone one hour before drinking)

                        Pre TSM 80-90 Units Per Week, No Alc Free Days

                        After control: 3-6 units per month, 25+ alcohol free days!

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Brand New Here and Ready to Get Started

                          Hey Nina,

                          How you going? Are you still hanging in there? I could have written much of your post word for word.

                          Do come join us over in Newbies. It's a great group and you'll find lots of good support there.

                          Hope you haven't disappeared back down the rabbit hole..

                          Lilly

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