Giving up....in a good way!

[redhead77]

Giving up....in a good way!

Hey T and everyone,

I've been under the weather with this throat thing for the last many days. I'm currently at work with a little downtime, and thought I'd say hi via my phone. I'm not sure about the bac or much else right now, well maybe except the eating and nutrition part. Eating regularly has always made a difference in how I crave alcohol. Congrats on the sober practice date and all the other sober time, Taw. I would imagine you'll be reunited with your son tonight. You won't have to worry about being hungover or feeling any guilt over the weekend. I think that will probably feel very nice. :l

[taw]

Giving up....in a good way!

Hey Red, thanks for checking in! Sorry to hear you are not feeling well! How are you doing otherwise?

Today was a good day, thus far. I sort of feel like Cybil, tho after having such a freak out yesterday and today I could not be happier about being sober. I guess having been drunk for the last 25 years, it is going to take longer than a few AF days for my braint to catch up!

Went to the grocercy store and go some apples, low fat yogurt and baby carrots to take to work. Got some potatoes to bake for dinners with cheese and broccolli and some salsa and corn and sour cream....yummy and healthy, well sort of! Better than processed frozen On-cor dinners we usually have!

I also went for another walk, and came home and did some situp and pushups. Weight loss is by no means my goal, getting healthy is. And I don't want to go back to that dark eating disorder place by trying to eat more during the day, so if I can get into a regular walking routine, I think I mite be ok. And if I can't walk before or after work, I can always walk on my lunch hour! Why is it just as hard to start a habit as it is to end one? How many times do you need to do something to make it stick? I know there is a proven number out there...anyone know what I am talking about?

I did take some bac today...I took 20 mg...intended to take 10, but took the 20 before I split it thinking it was my AB...oops. No harm, no foul....don't feel much different. So, I think I will try LDB and see if that helps at all with the cravings.

Not much success on the qutting smoking, and I told D yesterday that I had had some smokes. He said, "That's ok mom, just try and not smoke so much!" God, I love my son! Cannot wait to see him tomorrow!!!!

Hope everyone had a good weekend! And thanks Stuck and everyone for sticking with me this weekend!! I know they will get easier from here on out if I just keep doing the right thing!!

Onward and soberer!!! Yes, I just made that word up!

[redhead77]

Giving up....in a good way!

Thanks for asking, Taw. I'm doing alright. I'm very happy to be home at the moment. Today was the first day back to work after needing a couple of days off for my thoat. I could tell it was definitely time to go home when I was on my 10th or 11th hour. Anyway, I've had a number of days without drinking or craving, but I think that's most likely from being sick. It's hard to know. I just may keep going and see how many days I can do. I'm supposed to be heading up north tomorrow for my grandparent's 70th wedding anniversary. We will be celebrating at a cottage and all of the family will be there. It'll be like a family reunion, there will be relatives I haven't seen since my youth. This side of the family drinks very little, if at all, so I will have a signifigant number of days without booze. At least until I return home. Other than that, I'm still on HDB (120 mg) and doing TSM. My drinking is relatively controlled. I won't go into detail about that here, I think my thread is in need of updating soon. Maybe when I return from my trip.

I think the food you bought is healthy! Your body and cells will thank you for it. Potatoes are the perfect food (in my opinion) for we that are not drinking or newly sober. Good complex carbs to replace the sugar in your wine, and they say that baked potatoes (especially with the skin) help to increase serotonin-a calming neurotransmitter. Just what you might need. I don't think you need to worry about your weight at all, but I understand it's difficult, in that how we view ourselves and how others view us is not always the same. Just know that you're beautiful.

Ok, I'm out of here. I need to do laundry and start packing tonight. I haven't prepared anything yet, which I can blame on not feeling well, but the truth is, I always wait till the last minute for everything.

Love ya!

[taw]

Giving up....in a good way!

Hey Red! Glad you are feeling a bit better! Good luck on the continued AF days even with feeling better! And I hope you have a great time with your family. Nice that they are not big drinkers so it won't be the center of the festivities as it is with my family! I am glad you checked in here and welcome everything you have to say!! ALWAYS!!!

I slept thru my first alarm today, well, I guess I woke up and pressed snooze with out realizing so I did not get my walk in this morning!! After work was straight home to pick up the lad, dinner, now he is in the shower, and soon bed (we get up very early, like the craken)! I will walk tomorrow morning! It is so hard for me to do it at night between my son and dinner, etc. and when he is with is dad weeknights, I usually work late. So mornings it must be....or lunch hour if I can!

Feeling good today. Have a Dr. appt tomorrow....just a physical. Want to see how badly damaged I am from all these years of drinking. And I plan on being completely honest about the AB, bac, everything. This is a new doc so maybe, just maybe, he will be on board!!! Unlike the others who would not even give me Nal!! Who knows, maybe he will have some alternate ideas/advice....can't hurt right? And if he looks at me like I have 7 heads after explaining all this, I can always find a new doc!!

Anyhoo....hope everyone had a good Monday!!

Time for ice cream....well for my son anyway.....hopefully bac in a bit!

[Bruunhilde]

Giving up....in a good way!

Hello maties!

Met an accomplice to a multiple murder this week. So creaky. That was f not c, for the record. Sorry to pop in and change the subject but I had to tell you guys!!

Taw, I'm so happy to see you doing so damn well!! You are an inspiration.

Hi Red! Space, I thought of you while watching the opening ceremony and the NHS!!!! Lol what was with the big ole baby?
:l

[StuckinLA]

Giving up....in a good way!

That is freaky, Bruun. How you holding up in other matters?

Taw, since this is a brand new doc, and you can always find someone else, I say go for it. Be prepared for some resistance, though, and don't let it freak you out. Oh, wait, just double-checked your post. AB is probably cool, and you're not on HDB, right? So probably no worries there, either. I've always felt--though my experience is limited to the one doc I have now--once you're honest about the drinking every problem will be read through the lens of drinking.

That's how it was for me, anyway. I got my doc because she was the one I saw when I went in for an anxiety attack. Ever since then, in her eyes my anxiety is because of AL. Any random problems I might complain about? It's either AL, or anxiety, which is because of the AL. She simply won't look into other causes--though granted, this is a Student Health center, not a real hospital or anything. And she knows I'm on HDB, but she kinda ignores that. And of course total, long term abstinence is the only answer.

Sorry for making that all about me. Best of luck tomorrow, let us know how it goes! And it sounds like you're having a great time with your son, that's awesome.

[taw]

Giving up....in a good way!

Bruun!!! Who are you hanging out with that you met this person? My only claim to fame is I knew Jeffery Dhamer!! I lived im MKE and worked in the mall where he met all his, um, "friends"!v How are you doing otherwise? Back on the AB since you are done travelling?

I plan on telling my doc about having been on HDB and starting bac on LDB....But I get what you are saying Stuck...about everything coming back to AL....and since I have been drinking about as long as you have been alive, I am sure AL has something to do with everything. I have started on my multi vitamin and B-12, like I know a good alcholoic should do, and we will see what else needs to be done.

Clearly walking in the mornings is not going to work!! Again, slept right thru hitting snooze...maybe I will set an alarm across the room so I actually have to get up instead of just hitting my phone. Progress not perfection, right!

Have a great day all!!!

Oh, I just called my dad to make sure I knew where I was going for the doc. I was pretty sure I knew which building it was so I asked him if it was in the building where the peacock used to be? YEARS ago when I was little, my orthopedic doctor was in a building that had 2 peacocks in iit.
He said I cannot believe after all the brain cells you have killed you remember peacocks in a drs building from 35 years ago! I do still have some brain cells left!!

Have a good one all!

[StuckinLA]

Giving up....in a good way!

Superpower memory? I knew AL was really good for us all along...

Don't have much useful to say, except every time I go back to Chicago I somehow end up at the L&L. And with their whiskey selection it usually ends up being a loooooong night. (That's where Dahmer picked up most of his victims. And my friend just loves that place.)

I like the alarm-across-the-room idea. Or, if you're up for some morning sport, you could always get Roll-E (I think that's how you spell it). It's an alarm clock with wheels, and it lets you hit snooze once, but after that it jumps off the nighstand and starts running around the room in random patterns so you have to catch it. I just hope you don't have anything fragile in your bedroom. Or cats. :H

Anyway, good job with the vitamins. After the mandatory AL counseling for my first driving incident I became so freaking paranoid about drinking and my health I started popping milk thistle by the handful. And eating so many bananas it was like I was practicing to become gay...

Hope it goes well at the doc's!

[kathylady54]

Giving up....in a good way!

Bruunhilde;1352184 wrote: Heck yah I know that feeling. I have a box of AB but go on and off it. My advice is never go off it. Also, its a great time for you to read Jason Vale or Allen Carr books on quitting the drink easily.

Taw, we've been down in the shits together and I think we've been sober together too. I look forward to many more sober times together.

:l

Hi. I am pretty new here. What is AB? I am looking for a way to start going alcohol free but I am finding it very hard to start. With a few days, totally alcohol free, I think I could maintain but it is getting started that is soooo hard for me.
Thanks for any help and advice!:new::new::new::new:

[taw]

Giving up....in a good way!

Not a bad idea Stuck...no, no cats and minimal furniture in my room....might have to look into that!
L&L....not sure if I know that place....whiskey bar?? Going back in to the files but cannot think of it...I am sorry but the banana thing made me laugh coffee thru my nose! I think we most definitley know you are not gay! But thanks for the laugh! I needed it!

Hi Kathy! Welcome! AB is antabuse. It makes you sick if you drink on it. The more you have in your system and the more you drink the sicker it makes you. I order mine online without a scrip. Your doc may perscribe it for you tho. Read thru the threads, there are lots of different meds people opt to take for different reasons...Good luck to you and let us know how you are doing with whatever you decide!

[StuckinLA]

Giving up....in a good way!

:welcome:

Hi Kathy, glad you found us! AB is Anabuse (disulfuram). It's a pill that you take once every day, and it makes it so that if you have any alcohol (AL) you'll get really, really, really sick. Like going to the Emergency Room sick. And it stays in your body for a long time, so even if you stop taking the pill, you'll get sick if you have a drink in the next few, maybe even 5 days.

I never wanted to go down that road myself, but as you can see it works for a lot of people here.

But it does nothing for you cravings. Absolutely nothing. So those feelings like you NEED a drink will still be there, you just won't be able to have a drink. There are other medications, like Topamax (topa), naltrexone (nal), and baclofen (bac) that help with cravings. If you read around the threads there's a lot of information here about all these.

I'm on high dose bac (HDB), which is much different than the low dose (LDB), and it's working pretty well. Most doctors have never even heard of it, much less prescribe it. There's one doc in Chicago who will, if you're in the US.

I'll be around more later, but if you haven't already, check out Dr. Olivier Ameisen's book, Heal Thyself. And for nal, The Cure For Alcoholism by Dr. Roy Eskarpa.

And stick around, we're friendly!

~Stuck

Oh, and I tried to give most of the abbreviations that we use in parentheses, to make it a little easier to figure out what we're talking about.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Giving up....in a good way!

How 'bout going to bed earlier? Sleep is as or more important than exercise!

just sayin

gotta go! :l and stuff all the way around!

[taw]

Giving up....in a good way!

The earlier I go to bed, the more I want to sleep in!! I was asleep by 9:15 p.m. last night! Pathetic!!

[NoraC]

Giving up....in a good way!

I was asleep by 8:00 and turned off FOUR alarms this morning!!!

Back on the AB for me - day 3.

[taw]

Giving up....in a good way!

NORA!!!! How are you??? Long time no chat!!! Good job on the AB and day 3!!! Any good books lately?? So glad you popped in! Let me know how things are going for you!!