Abstinence Challenge

[Mandiekinz]

Abstinence Challenge

Funny, MissIndygo is the second one to retaliate your charm and humor in this thread! haha Well done!

It's like in Italy, they're brought up drinking wine and grappa with dinner since a young age. There's not much need to over indulge once you're "free" to drink. My American friends and I would hit the bars with them...we're thinking they're just as bad as alcoholics as us...come to think of it, every time we brought them a shot, they would cringe. They were happy with their Peroni and vino. Not once did I see one wasted. They did love the shit out of watching us do beer bongs in classy beach clubs and act like morons. Alcoholism exists there too, it's just not as prevalent as it is in the U.S.(and certain other countries) Oh, and Germany...Never have I seen such a beautiful, classy, older woman (might as well have been Audrey Hepburn) walk up in a bar in Germany, order a very tall beer and slam it in 7 seconds (we timed it)with such finesse without a tear in her eye and walk away. I've practiced that for yeeears. I'm still in awe. I'll be damned if I'm going to be an alcoholic, I wish I were a classy one. HAHAHAHA! But I lost my bitch stick one drunken night and it all went downhill from there...

Getting carried away...

6 days AF...or something.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Abstinence Challenge

Rock on with the AF, Mandie. :goodjob:

There are no lack of alcoholics in Germany or Italy. Or anywhere else regardless of their liberal (or conservative) ideas about drinking. Keep in mind we're a secretive bunch! But Germany has a pretty active baclofen forum. Italy is struggling mightily with what to do about treatment of this disease. (I've read about it in relation to Portugal, which has a wonderful and amazing new policy/program to help addicts. Italy, on the other hand, does not. Yet. And it's worth noting that Addolorato, who has done a lot of the studies about baclofen, is Italian and does his research there.)

Actually, that's not exactly true. Prohibition works! (It did to a certain extent in the US, anyway.) So there are probably fewer alcoholics in some of the countries that ban alcohol. Who knows? I could be totally wrong...Anyone speak Arabic?

Get back to work, Ne! Relatives in Tminus3. OOOOHNOOOOOO

[Alky]

Abstinence Challenge

Don't want to derail the thread, but I've been watching the Ken Burns documentary on Prohibition in the United States. Interesting stuff and a lot more politically to it than just being about banning booze. I don't think it would have ever happened had we not been fighting a war with Germany. The Germans ran all the breweries and were pushing back against the Prohibitionists, so it was the duty of every patriotic American NOT to drink.

By the way, as a country we drink a LOT less than the 19th century

[Mandiekinz]

Abstinence Challenge

Thank you.

Perhaps I wrote that wrong. I was stating Germany does have quite the drinking problem.

If Italy was struggling so hard with trying to find treatment for this disease...there would have been more than one AA meeting(at least three years ago there was only one) that was 45 minutes outside of Napoli, which is quite a large city. So either they are too naive to start up some AA meetings to begin to squash the problem...or they really must not care too much. Quite a stubborn culture, they are. But yes, the healthcare system out there is appalling. Many times I've taken someone to the ER and every one of them were terrified more so being there than on a mountain with a broken limb.

Weren't people dying and going blind with their bootleg alcohol back in the prohibition? Yukky...that probably would have been me. Kinda like the desperation going on with the heroin now...Krokodil.

[Lo0p]

Abstinence Challenge

Mandiekinz;1591058 wrote: Funny, MissIndygo is the second one to retaliate your charm and humor in this thread! haha Well done!

Bwahaha (or whatever it is you people say in Missouruh).

[Mandiekinz]

Abstinence Challenge

My "bahaha" is a Mandiekinz thing, not a Missouri thing.....I've yet to hear a Missourian bust out laughing like that.

I'll stake it as a Chicago thing...it happens often there.

Punk.

[skullbabyland]

Abstinence Challenge

Day 27 AF

[skullbabyland]

Abstinence Challenge

Juan BH;1589200 wrote: Skull-

Nice job of sticking with it! I like how you count the days because it gives the thread a heartbeat. Hope everything is going well and that you have a super holiday next week. We are going to do the whole Thanksgiving dinner thing with my family this afternoon and I'm already salivating. 4 months AF today too! I have so much to be thankful for this year and MWO is one of the blessings I'm reflecting on today. I can't believe how much better my life is now thanks to bac and everyone here.

Thanks Juan! I've sometimes wondered if I'm being annoying with the daily count, but I've received some encouragement from you and others to keep doing so, so that's what I'll do

As for TG-- I was out of town for an early friends/orphans weekend trip, for an early Thanksgiving celebration- thus my recent forum silence. While there, I did indulge in lots of sugary desserts (which was planned) but I also began smoking again (not planned) BOOOO. But, most importantly I have stayed AF and will do so through the whole holiday season... First sober holidays in maybe... 15 years? I am sooo much of a better person when sober, with a better life and hope for a better future. It's crazy... I'm very very thankful.

I'll post more in detail in my progress thread today.

So glad you've got 4 months! You seem to be doing so well, it's so great to hear it and thanks for posting.

[Ne/Neva Eva]

Abstinence Challenge

Alky;1591101 wrote:
By the way, as a country we drink a LOT less than the 19th century

I love that documentary! And it should be a must-see for anyone trying to understand the history of alcohol/alcoholism. It always amuses me when people long for the good ol' days, when things were much more innocent and nuclear families were the norm and women stayed home to take care of the kids so there wasn't this big rash of drug and alcohol abuse and crime and blah, blah, blah. And yes, I've heard that time and again from members of this very forum. (Edit to point out that the reason it's frustrating is because it is exactly the opposite of the reality. Addiction used to be much more rampant. Health was much worse. People died MUCH younger. Crime was MUCH higher. etc and on and on.) (Oh, not to mention the whole feminist movement that saved me from being dictated to about what I could and couldn't do. But that's a whole 'nother rant and I won't digress. oops.)

Gabriel Mate, the famed doctor, is a big fan of that way of thinking, btw. grrrr.

Anyhoo.

Skull, I think it's great that you keep count here, and I'm sorry I haven't said so recently. Rock on with your big ol' bad self. I LOVE sober holidays. (One of the commitments that Ed and I made to one another is that we would never celebrate another holiday or anniversary with a drink. So we don't! Which makes them so much more enjoyable, honestly.)

Cheers, peeps!

[skullbabyland]

Abstinence Challenge

Ne/Neva Eva;1591184 wrote:

Skull, I think it's great that you keep count here, and I'm sorry I haven't said so recently. Rock on with your big ol' bad self. I LOVE sober holidays. (One of the commitments that Ed and I made to one another is that we would never celebrate another holiday or anniversary with a drink. So we don't! Which makes them so much more enjoyable, honestly.)

Thanks Ne I totally agree about sober holidays... so much better, especially Christmas morning.

[Lo0p]

Abstinence Challenge

On November 23rd, 4 years and 4 days ago, I had my first AF day in as long as I could remember.

You can see it here in a snippet of my drinking graph:




You can see my whole graph if you click the link in my signature.

On Thanksgiving, 4 days later, at my aunt and uncle's house (like we do every year) I had a few sips of a strong drink that my cousin made and couldn't finish a third of it. And I raised a glass of a couple tablespoons of the finest red wine as a toast to "our family".

My aunt always told us that when she died to remember her by raising a glass of wine at sunset.

We never expected it. And this hurt me in a way that only you, the people I love and have devoted my life to, would understand. This was almost two years ago:

https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...ris-54734.html

I left MWO for 10 months. I felt like a total failure. Until Bill P. gave me a call and a chance at a brand new life. A chance to help again. I jumped:

I hadn't even been back to look at all of the heartfelt replies that all of you left me until here. MWO was full of brand new people so I felt I had to reintroduce myself.
https://www.mywayout.org/community/f2...yet-70817.html

I will not be AF for the next two days. I will be at my uncle's house and I will raise a glass of wine at sunset to remember her.

I have been lurking in the shadows as many of you know helping those I can. In one month I am going to step it up another notch. I will be moving halfway across the country to kickstart the non-profit I've established with a network of people with one singular goal: To bring knowledge of high dose baclofen treatment to the forefront of the American medical fraternity. Years probably, I don't care how long it takes.

Right after Thanksgiving (when I knew that going AF would be easy), on December 1st I hit the gym. This is what I always wanted and had been burning inside of me for years:

me circa 2010 wrote: My body is a reflection of what is in my heart, that is the way I always wanted it to be. I want people to look at me and say: “Wow…look at him! You can see that boy’s heart through his skin!”

When I had my disease everyone looked at me and at my acts and I was defined by them, not by what was in my heart. When it was gone I wanted to show the world my heart and hold it up high so that everybody could see.

And I did. :h

After tomorrow I will be going AF. On Monday I will be starting my fitness routine and will be detailing it as much as possible for the benefit of myself and for the others on this thread who've expressed interest. It'll be on our forums, I'll show you where to look. And it will be complete with pictures, nutritional breakdowns, exercise routines etc. Those of you who've checked it out have seen the results I can get in such a short amount of time. I studied fitness for years. As much as i have studied addiction. What I found is that most common and even "expert" knowledge about how to eat and how to exercise is complete and utter bullshit.

Hope those of you who are interested will enjoy.

AF Day #-1
Freedom From Addiction Day #1,466 (I think. It's hard to count that high. )

[Mandiekinz]

Abstinence Challenge

I made it through "Black Out Wednesday"....I just don't remember what I did exactly.

Soooo....Day 8? I don't know, I'm not a mathematician. I can only keep it at one hand, people. My pooch can add and count better than I. True story.

Sitting around the table with some drunk country folk for Thanksgiving wasn't all that difficult. Probably because I don't like Miller Light. Had they had some Three Floyd's...it'd be game on. Luckily, I had munchkinz to play hide and seek with.

I did notice...there was a plethora of hard booze in the bottom doorway of the fridge. Does anyone else notice that? It doesn't matter where the booze is hidden or tucked away in a strange house...Your eyes automatically find it. It's like the ultimate 'Where's Waldo' game. I can sense it, I KNOW where it's at. I always find it within 30 seconds. I should start directing my spidey senses somewhere else.

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!

[Juan BH]

Abstinence Challenge

Nice job Mandie! And yeah- gotta know where the booze is at or have a solid plan for how to get enough to finish the job. Priorities!

[skullbabyland]

Abstinence Challenge

Day 30 AF

[Lo0p]

Abstinence Challenge

Day 1 AF complete.

Program starts Monday.