Hi all,
I've been on bac for awhile now and doing very well on it. This drug is truly a miracle. My goal is to mod (no more than 1-2 glasses of wine per night no more than a few days per week). I'm at 100-125 mg/day.
I read awhile ago that some of the longer-term bac folks have noticed that, while everything is great (or SO much better) w/ the drinking, "life" gets in the way. So, stress from work, finances, spouses, girlfriends/boyfriends, kids, etc. is still there and our old coping strategy--i.e., drinking--is not an option anymore. And of course drinking is still just a habit for many of us even if the physical cravings aren't there.
One small example: I had to teach a 3-hour class today to a group of execs 20 years my senior. I'm an anxious person to start but the class topic was outside of my area of expertise, so I was STRESSED. I even had to take a benzo before getting up in front of these people. After it was over, I "wanted" a drink--but honestly I think both out of habit and a way to reward myself--it wasn't a physical craving really, just more of an obsession-- and not for the reasons I'm mod-ding now (i.e., b/c I genuinely like a good glass of wine w/ dinner w/ my husband, I like to fit in with the people I'm still friends with, my work culture is hard drinking and I don't want to be the only teetotaler, etc etc).
Maybe I should be posting on a different board, but I'd love to hear from the bac folks about what strategies you've used to make the choice not to drink when stressed, or not to drink out of habit, or not to drink to reward yourself for going through a hard time.
(Dr. A mentioned using cognitive behavioral techniques to aid in his bac progress. I know a lot of those strategies in theory (I learned them in my psych grad program) but don't really know how to use them in practice.)
Love,
Anna
I've been on bac for awhile now and doing very well on it. This drug is truly a miracle. My goal is to mod (no more than 1-2 glasses of wine per night no more than a few days per week). I'm at 100-125 mg/day.
I read awhile ago that some of the longer-term bac folks have noticed that, while everything is great (or SO much better) w/ the drinking, "life" gets in the way. So, stress from work, finances, spouses, girlfriends/boyfriends, kids, etc. is still there and our old coping strategy--i.e., drinking--is not an option anymore. And of course drinking is still just a habit for many of us even if the physical cravings aren't there.
One small example: I had to teach a 3-hour class today to a group of execs 20 years my senior. I'm an anxious person to start but the class topic was outside of my area of expertise, so I was STRESSED. I even had to take a benzo before getting up in front of these people. After it was over, I "wanted" a drink--but honestly I think both out of habit and a way to reward myself--it wasn't a physical craving really, just more of an obsession-- and not for the reasons I'm mod-ding now (i.e., b/c I genuinely like a good glass of wine w/ dinner w/ my husband, I like to fit in with the people I'm still friends with, my work culture is hard drinking and I don't want to be the only teetotaler, etc etc).
Maybe I should be posting on a different board, but I'd love to hear from the bac folks about what strategies you've used to make the choice not to drink when stressed, or not to drink out of habit, or not to drink to reward yourself for going through a hard time.
(Dr. A mentioned using cognitive behavioral techniques to aid in his bac progress. I know a lot of those strategies in theory (I learned them in my psych grad program) but don't really know how to use them in practice.)
Love,
Anna
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