Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

[Running4life]

Hi:
I am starting this thread in the hope that there are others who are taking Antibuse and struggling to be accountable to taking it daily.
I have taken Antibuse off and on for the last couple of years and it really works when you take it but the old devil on my shoulder keeps convincing me to let it wear off so I can have a couple of drinks.
Last November I started seeing an Addiction Doctor and really stuck to the plan of taking it daily. I managed to get 5 months AF but then I had some family issues and let it wear off. I am still managing to stay mostly AF but have slipped a few times.
My doctor would like me to attend AA more regularly and find a sponsor but I have not been able to attend meetings regularly enough due to my schedule so have not found anybody.
I am hoping there are a few of you out there who would like to subscribe to this thread and help each other stay accountable to taking the Antibuse daily.
I succumbed to the monster last night so I plan to take my pills today once enough time has passed and it is safe to take them.
I know how good it feels to wake up feeling good and ready for the day! I really hate waking up with a hangover!
Looking forward to hearing from all you Antibusers out there!
R4L:rolleyesmonkey::rolleyesmonkey::rolleyesmonkey :

[rooniferd]

Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

Hey there, Running. Lolab in the newbie's nest just sent me a link to this thread. Yes, I want to join so we can hold each other accountable.

I started taking AB a couple of months ago, and I went 47 days AF. I decided to test the waters and drank after not taking the pill for two days. Well, that was a nightmare that I don't want to repeat. Then I took the pill for five more days. I had a event coming up, and I convinced myself that I could stop taking the pill for a week so I could have a couple of drinks at the event. I figured I would just take the pill the next day after the event and get back on track. One night, a couple of drinks, guaranteed to quit again the next day - how could that go wrong? Well, it did....

I am on day two AF after a five-day bender, and I'm crawling out of my skin. I am back on the AB, and I don't plan to miss a day anytime soon.

Lolab was right when she said it seemed like I was using the AB as a backup and not the solution - " I can drink some and then just easily quit because of the AB." That's exactly what I was thinking....

So I'm going to get back up on my sober horse and take this pill every day - regardless of who's coming to town and what events are coming up over the horizon. I want to be sober all the time, not just between benders.

We will get through this!

[paula]

Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

,Hi Running, I think this thread is a good idea. I took antabuse for a while and it did help, but then I developed a heart problem, which had nothing to do with the drug, just something I was born with. I had to stop taking it, and somehow managed to stop drinking. I have a friend who takes it and I know that sometimes she will miss it for a few days so that she can drink. I also attended AA, but never felt that I wanted a sponsor, in fact AA wasn't for me, but I honestly think it is an amazing place. I have seen people, who I thought would die, turn their lives around, and stay sober without the use of anything chemical. I am reading a book at the moment, which I'm finding really helpful, Rational recovery, by Jack Trimpey. I wish you well and as I said this is a good thread.

[autumn]

Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

Hi R4L, Roon & Paula,

AB has been a godsend this time round. I have taken it in the past, but messed around and stopped taking it when I wanted to engineer drinking. I used to take just half the dose and then miss a few. Always telling myself I was 'covered' just, and in control. But I wasn't.

I'd plan my drinking knowing I could easily stop taking it. Then I had one last binge and just thought about what I had done, again! I had read a post about AB, some said, stop messing around and take it daily, no half measures, no ifs nor buts, just take it!! Light bulb moment D'oh!! Did I really think I could control it?!? Well clearly I'd controlled Al just fine, ha not!

So I now take it daily, & no half doses, and its so far so good, nearly 4 months sober. I have managed a 2 week AI holiday & a wedding sober, with other boozy events looming on the horizon. But I will carry on taking my AB, as it stops the voices dead for a day and gives me breathing space! I am not even thinking about the boozy jolly where I am going to have make 101 excuses as to why I am not drinking!

I am petrified about staying sober with out them, but I am just so grateful that they have brought me 4 months of clarity and I am slowly picking this beast apart bit by bit. AB is buying me precious sober time, whilst being able to see the woods for the tree.

I have tried AA many a time, and so sorry to say it was just not for me. I really tried but I struggled with all the doom & gloom & retelling of pity stories. One guy just wheeled out the same story every night! He made me want to go home and drink heavily LOL!! And I hate that we have to be labelled 'recovering' Alcoholics!! With the emphasis on recovering!! Even Marion Keyes was quoted as saying recently "15 years & still recovering" Still recovering, blimey, thats negative! When do I become just some one who chooses not to drink anymore??

Sorry feel better now !!

[K9Lover]

Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

TTDP

Hi All!

I've been on Antabuse for a couple of years. I'm done messing around with it...no more "forgetting" to take it for a few days...

My daily mantra is: TTDP (Take The Damn Pill).

We can do this. Remember how GOOD you feel sober and how crappy a hangover is.

[nurdl]

Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

I'm in

Hi, R4L, Rooniferd, Paula, Autumn and K9,

Count me in on the Antabuse thread. It's gotten me to day 27 on my first (and hopefully my last) real full attempt at quitting. It is a relief to know that it's there because the decision is out of my hands other than to keep taking the pill. I haven't enjoyed the side effects: extreme tiredness like woah, headache every day and food now tastes like stainless steel. I like food but not right now. I need this pill until I develop my own strategies that I can rely on to not drink.

I take it every other day, always at night before bed on odd numbered days and that has helped with the side effects, plus I know there is enough in my system to still make me sick if I try to drink. I guess I'm a rule follower and I don't even think about not taking it. I was wondering if in the future if I do stop taking it, can I use it over the holidays or on vacations as an insurance policy. I'm not there yet so that can wait.

I'm attending AA meetings. I have only gone to Women Only meetings and I do enjoy being in a room with other people who have stopped drinking but it does feel like a downer reciting their stories after so many years of not drinking and hitting themselves over the head with the "I'm an alcoholic" frying pan every time they want to speak.

So count me in, stay sober and it's great to chat with other Antabuse users.
Be strong!!!
~nurdl~

[LadyLush]

Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

Hey,

Thanks R4L,

I am once again on day 18 with Antabuse. Day 17 was always a hurdle but I made it...again!
I did the playing and the planning with days and it only leads back to square 1!

I am staying in for the long haul this time. K9 is right, every morning with my vitamins and coffee before I run. I'm sticking with it this time!


:l
LL

[rooniferd]

Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

I'm right there with you, LadyLush. I learned my lesson trying to plan an event around Antabuse. If we just take the pill every day, there's no planning - no screwing up and going back to day one over and over again.

I guess it's pretty simple - JUST TAKE THE DAMN PILL every day.

[Greg]

Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

I'd be part of this thread except that I don't have Internet access daily.

Personally I have found that taking Antabuse daily is vital for me to get into the habit of taking it and also to avoid that subtle planning to stop taking it and start drinking again. For me it was never a case of stopping so I could have 2-3 drinks, it was a case of stopping in order to have a minimum of 10 beers per night. That's how bad my deliberate planning to drink had become.

I only take a half pill each morning now but that is more than enough to make me violently ill if I tried to drink. I find that, for me, the habit of taking the pill each morning is a very important part of it. I also get my family to supervise me taking it, to keep me honest.

I do think this thread is a great idea for those who want to have that extra bit of incentive to take the pill each day!

[autumn]

Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

Morning All,

this is a great thread, I will deff try to check in every day, as I know there is no other option other than TTDP!!

So, all done, AB & antihistamine taken!! That's it, no more voices today, the not drinking is wrapped up.

What I am hoping is that when the day comes that I have to go it alone, I will have built up a strong enough tools box and really see and hate this evilness for what it is and never want to try to go back.

I finally read Allen Carr, wow! It really shifted my thinking to see it for what it is. I have stopped feeling like I am missing out and grieving for a lost friend. I feel like I have shown it the door & signed the divorce papers!! Long may it last!!

Going to have a good day today :h

[autumn]

Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

Nurdle,

I love the alcoholic frying pan!! AA meetings just depressed the hell out me, same bloke every meeting, same damn story! Even if we had ran out of time he still got it in!!

That's why I love it here, we celebrate every day AL free, and encourage those that have slipped, heck we've all had a few!!

So today I am proud to be sober and looking forward, not backwards!!

[Destiniey]

Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

Hey everyone! Count me in on this thread! I have been taking AB for a couple of months and I am happy to say that I am celebrating 73 days AF today! I, as many of you know, have fallen flat on my face with so many day 1's. I would make it to 3 days....sometimes 7 days....and a record breaking 17 days only to land back at day 1. I was at my long time low when I went to my doctor...the one who I had lied to about my AL use in the past when doing routine check-ups...and layed it all out on the line. I was shocked at how amazing he was and how much he was willing to help me. He told me he would put me on the AB only if my husband watched me take it every morning and that I went to some sort of group to learn how to manage my life without AL and eventually without AB. I was grateful for the prescription but the whole group thing terrified me! I don't attend church and I don't believe in therapists and I don't like being in large groups of people. Everything else that I had tried to be AF in the past had failed terribly so I figured I would give the whole AA thing a shot. Let me tell you...I went in there scared as hell. I looked like a deer caught in the headlights. I sat in the back of the room in case I needed to make a quick exit to either leave or head to the bathroom to vomit. I surprised myself and stuck it out. After the meeting a little old lady came up to me..I had noticed her knitting during the meeting. She was so warm and kind, genuine and sincere. She was the type of person that you want to just go and bake cookies with on a Sunday afternoon. She could tell I was scared and that she understood what I was going through. She told me about her home group and how she felt comfortable there as she wasn't someone who had a church group to fall back on. I was handed a schedule of meetings in my area and I left.
Fast forward to now.....
After attending many AA rooms...so many that my daughter called me an "AA whore"(it was said in a loving manner...ha!) I found my "home" group. I find them to be very uplifting and it always seems as though they are speaking on a topic that I happen to be struggling with at that time. I also attend a womens meeting on Saturday mornings and one on Monday nights in addition to my home group meeting on Wednesdays.
OK...on to the moral of my story...ha. AB is wonderful because it takes away the inner battle we go through as to whether to drink or not. We still have the withdrawals and cravings that we have to face and endure every second of every day. While on the AB I am able to rack up AF time so that I can better focus on learning how to live my life without AL, how to deal with my emotions and situations that come up on a daily basis and I am grateful that I am learning all of this with people who know EXACTLY what I am going through and that is my AA family and all of you on MWO!
A big thank you to everyone here for all of your support and I wish you all a wonderful AF Wednesday!

[mama bear]

Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

DESTINEY..................I HAVE BEEN WONDERING WHERE YOU WERE!!
Excellent news hun!

[K9Lover]

Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

Hi Everyone!!!

Good to see you Dest (AA Whore! lol)

Well, another day and I TTDP! Let's keep it up everyone. Antabuse and MWO saved my life. Don't worry about "going off" Antabuse right now, I've been on it a loooong time and my Doctor says it's ok. Get some solid sober time together then you can decide if you want to stay on it or not.

Hope everyone has a great day!!!

K9

[nurdl]

Antibusers, lets help each other be accountable!

It's an Antabuse night for me. Don't forget to TTDP peeps! Have a terrific AF day tomorrow!

:goodjob:
~nurdl~