brown_thumb
Active member
Thanks for the warning, Water-. I'll use pot instead.
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Quit Alcohol - Support Thread
- Thread starter Young Trees
- Start date
No hangover since 5 weeks!
M
moose eater
Using (smoked or vaped) weed for anxiety can be challenging, as the results often end up lasting a relatively brief period, there's often munchies, and the wrong strain can temporarily increase anxiety, rather than decreasing it.
But Water's absolutely correct, in my opinion. Both alcohol and benzodiazepines are the two drugs I know of for which (medically) unsupervised cold-turkey withdrawal can be lethal.
And benzo's can have synergistic effects with other substances, especially opiates/pain killers.
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All y'all are making great strides from what I've read here. Not only for yourselves, but for those who care about or love you.
I've been fortunate to rarely struggle with addiction with nearly any substance. But I grew up knowing police intervention in our home, often as a result of my mother's inappropriate and deeply embarrassing behavior related to her alcohol use in improperly treating her own psychological issues, and my father's violence & infidelity that often incorporated his alcohol intake preceding his death in '68.
Keep stroking.
And Brown Thumb, pardon my judgment, but a person as selfish as your 'friend' may not be a friend at all. If he's willing to either put his need for social context and intoxication before the value of your life, or challenging your commitment, or some other need of his, then what he's saying is that your needs and goals are not even something he considers, and he's willing to contribute to your demise, in order to achieve what ever it is he's seeking.
Again, pardon my judgment. And I can be a judgmental guy beyond the average person's tendencies, but that doesn't sound like a friend to me.
But Water's absolutely correct, in my opinion. Both alcohol and benzodiazepines are the two drugs I know of for which (medically) unsupervised cold-turkey withdrawal can be lethal.
And benzo's can have synergistic effects with other substances, especially opiates/pain killers.
--------------------------------
All y'all are making great strides from what I've read here. Not only for yourselves, but for those who care about or love you.
I've been fortunate to rarely struggle with addiction with nearly any substance. But I grew up knowing police intervention in our home, often as a result of my mother's inappropriate and deeply embarrassing behavior related to her alcohol use in improperly treating her own psychological issues, and my father's violence & infidelity that often incorporated his alcohol intake preceding his death in '68.
Keep stroking.
And Brown Thumb, pardon my judgment, but a person as selfish as your 'friend' may not be a friend at all. If he's willing to either put his need for social context and intoxication before the value of your life, or challenging your commitment, or some other need of his, then what he's saying is that your needs and goals are not even something he considers, and he's willing to contribute to your demise, in order to achieve what ever it is he's seeking.
Again, pardon my judgment. And I can be a judgmental guy beyond the average person's tendencies, but that doesn't sound like a friend to me.
Thanks for the warning, Water-. I'll use pot instead.
G
Gr33nSanta
5 days without, I do not necessarily want to stop drinking altogether but this is the longest I've gone without in almost 15 years. I could not stop tobacco without stopping drinking but who knows maybe I ll never drink again. Time to clean up my act.
awesome
Just got out of detox.6 days in the hospital.I'm still drinking like a fish.doctor says I won't live to 40.I don't care.but good luck to you guys.alcohol can be one hell of a drug
That's really great, man. How do you feel?
Hello hawk, take it serious what the doc said! My mom and my oldest friend died with 52 yrs, on drinking alcohol lifelong and to much. I am not (more) a heavy drinker ( now bottle red wine an evening) but since I drink less, I woke up every mornig since 6-8 weeks without a hangover and it´s worth the lower fun in the evening before. My first periode since 25 years, that I drink less than more.
G
Gr33nSanta
Thanks everyone, So far so good. For the longest time I was drinking a 6pack of cider (6-7%) a night on average, or in recent months 400+ ml of vodka a night.
Not sure where that fits on the scale of alcoholism but I am not a big guy. For years I had this rule where I would never start drinking before 5pm, but I have been bending this rule and started to drink earlier and earlier in recent years.
Mixed with all the weed and rosin I puff on from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed, my productivity really suffered in the evening.
My ego got the best of me every single night. It's not like I am unhealthy, I wake up feeling great 99% of the time, very active.... that's what makes it even harder to quit. However I know how it will end if I do not take action now.
I have been running like mad this past week, feeling great.
M
moose eater
Good change of course GS.
It's not always a matter of what time you started drinking, or even having more than 2-3 in a day, but how many hours/minutes between. Does the alcohol get a chance to dissipate? That's a key in my experience.
Closest I came to a problem was clean coke in volume in the early 80s. But whether alcohol, or coke, or what ever, I remind myself when I have one stout drink, and the dopamine kicks in, resembling a lesser version of that 'Do some more" experience with the coke, that dopamine is a chemical reaction, and the sense that "if some felt good, then more/another will feel better," is not often true. The shorter version of self-confrontation with temptation for me, in the moment, has been, "Dopamine's a liar." And it surely can be.
That has helped me to hold my beverages to one drink and maybe later, a second one. Despite the temptation at times, as I have some fairly serious spinal deterioration, and I try not to eat many of the opiates from a 'scrip I've had here for years.
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'hawk, you show care and concern for others at times, yet you remain on a course where you've been told you're headed for a solid wall that will stop you cold. Don't devalue yourself or treat yourself so unkindly. There's clearly persons here who value your presence.
Liver and kidney failure are ugly ends, and they almost always incorporate the failure of the heart, etc. People that die that way often die in pain, writhing. I've cleaned up remnants of a family member's death following organ failure from other causes, though they were a heavy drinker during a part of their life.
While it's true that we're all going to die at some point, sometimes even when the magic seems gone from life, there can be a surprise down the road, maybe the next day, or the day after that, that brings back some of the sunshine.
It's not always a matter of what time you started drinking, or even having more than 2-3 in a day, but how many hours/minutes between. Does the alcohol get a chance to dissipate? That's a key in my experience.
Closest I came to a problem was clean coke in volume in the early 80s. But whether alcohol, or coke, or what ever, I remind myself when I have one stout drink, and the dopamine kicks in, resembling a lesser version of that 'Do some more" experience with the coke, that dopamine is a chemical reaction, and the sense that "if some felt good, then more/another will feel better," is not often true. The shorter version of self-confrontation with temptation for me, in the moment, has been, "Dopamine's a liar." And it surely can be.
That has helped me to hold my beverages to one drink and maybe later, a second one. Despite the temptation at times, as I have some fairly serious spinal deterioration, and I try not to eat many of the opiates from a 'scrip I've had here for years.
---------------------------------
'hawk, you show care and concern for others at times, yet you remain on a course where you've been told you're headed for a solid wall that will stop you cold. Don't devalue yourself or treat yourself so unkindly. There's clearly persons here who value your presence.
Liver and kidney failure are ugly ends, and they almost always incorporate the failure of the heart, etc. People that die that way often die in pain, writhing. I've cleaned up remnants of a family member's death following organ failure from other causes, though they were a heavy drinker during a part of their life.
While it's true that we're all going to die at some point, sometimes even when the magic seems gone from life, there can be a surprise down the road, maybe the next day, or the day after that, that brings back some of the sunshine.
I'm thinking of going to rehab but not having my phone or computer is really putting me off.I'm not gonna do it for me.I'll do it for my family
M
moose eater
I believe that doing it for your family can be indirectly doing it for you, 'hawk.. You value your relationship with them, and their feelings..
In the end it can still be about what you want, even if a part of that is wanting your family to be at peace with you. That's still a success on your part, isn't it? For you to feel better about things?
The whole thing loosely touched on of isolation, referenced by the phone and computer. I'll bet you a -good- pizza that if the place you choose is adept, they'll spend some time with you re. that sense of isolation.
I think pain comes in all shapes, types, and sizes. Many of the drugs we do are attempts to manage that pain, even if it's not a physical pain. Maybe it's low-grade pain like monotony or fatigue. Maybe it's an effort toward exercising control over our own life by changing the experiential channel some how, in response to trying to establish some sense of personal control... or simply relaxation.. Maybe it's serious physical pain, or perpetual low-grade pain that gnaws.
It's irony that sometimes in seeking to expand the mind/experience, we can imprison it, and in trying to manage what ever discomfort or pain, we can exacerbate it, too.
Best of luck to you, 'hawk, and to you too, GS.
In the end it can still be about what you want, even if a part of that is wanting your family to be at peace with you. That's still a success on your part, isn't it? For you to feel better about things?
The whole thing loosely touched on of isolation, referenced by the phone and computer. I'll bet you a -good- pizza that if the place you choose is adept, they'll spend some time with you re. that sense of isolation.
I think pain comes in all shapes, types, and sizes. Many of the drugs we do are attempts to manage that pain, even if it's not a physical pain. Maybe it's low-grade pain like monotony or fatigue. Maybe it's an effort toward exercising control over our own life by changing the experiential channel some how, in response to trying to establish some sense of personal control... or simply relaxation.. Maybe it's serious physical pain, or perpetual low-grade pain that gnaws.
It's irony that sometimes in seeking to expand the mind/experience, we can imprison it, and in trying to manage what ever discomfort or pain, we can exacerbate it, too.
Best of luck to you, 'hawk, and to you too, GS.
I believe that all addictions are rooted the same, I could NOT quit cocaine because my family or the law said I needed to. I quit because I woke up one morning after a long bender (8.5 years) and swore that I'd never wake that way again.
You've gotta quit for you bro.......
The last 3 years I quitted coke, amps, pharma opiods and smoking cigs.
I now only drink a single beer during weekdays after coming home from work and 3 to max 5 a day in weekends.
In the end I had became such a type of drinker that set the alarm clock, unscrewed the hard liquor bottle, said see you tomorrow to myself, drank the bottle as fast as I could, and whished not to wake up anymore (preferably) or that the alarm would wake me so I could go to work.
I even barely smoke any weed anymore. Less then a single gram a month (yes, a month). Being a grower which doesn't sell is given me now a luxury problem. So many jars...lol.
The hardest thing to kick for me where cigs. Damn nasty things. I smoked 50 or so a day. While quitting smoking at several moments I taught I was going to die...
During my lunch break at work I recently started doing a 2 mile long walk everyday which I try to complete in 30mins.
The last couple of months I'm really starting feeling better. I'm healthier and thinner then I ever was.
I even now barely feel any need for 'something' to make me feel better. Including food, candy and such.
I know that how I was doing in life I wouldn't reach the age of 40. And I know now that all the substances I used because I felt bad in life where actually the reason why I felt bad. Both the cure and cause...
I wish you guys all the best. I you ever need a listening ear or any advice or you are feeling lonely,..then have no fear and just PM me. We could talk about anything and nothing.
I now only drink a single beer during weekdays after coming home from work and 3 to max 5 a day in weekends.
In the end I had became such a type of drinker that set the alarm clock, unscrewed the hard liquor bottle, said see you tomorrow to myself, drank the bottle as fast as I could, and whished not to wake up anymore (preferably) or that the alarm would wake me so I could go to work.
I even barely smoke any weed anymore. Less then a single gram a month (yes, a month). Being a grower which doesn't sell is given me now a luxury problem. So many jars...lol.
The hardest thing to kick for me where cigs. Damn nasty things. I smoked 50 or so a day. While quitting smoking at several moments I taught I was going to die...
During my lunch break at work I recently started doing a 2 mile long walk everyday which I try to complete in 30mins.
The last couple of months I'm really starting feeling better. I'm healthier and thinner then I ever was.
I even now barely feel any need for 'something' to make me feel better. Including food, candy and such.
I know that how I was doing in life I wouldn't reach the age of 40. And I know now that all the substances I used because I felt bad in life where actually the reason why I felt bad. Both the cure and cause...
I wish you guys all the best. I you ever need a listening ear or any advice or you are feeling lonely,..then have no fear and just PM me. We could talk about anything and nothing.
Find a local Big Book Step Study. Ask a veteran big book person to sponsor you. It works if you work it and can save your life and make the rest of it whole.
I used to do a litre of 100prf Polish vodka a day in addition to beer, in addition to wine, in addition to any pills I could lay my hands on. Now 18 years sober and not a single time despite numerous horrible changes, have I had the urge to even have a cold one. Not one time. That's a miracle.
But the kick off requires the newby to do what they are told and follow directions .
I used to do a litre of 100prf Polish vodka a day in addition to beer, in addition to wine, in addition to any pills I could lay my hands on. Now 18 years sober and not a single time despite numerous horrible changes, have I had the urge to even have a cold one. Not one time. That's a miracle.
But the kick off requires the newby to do what they are told and follow directions .
mayorofthdesert
Active member
one week back on the antibuse, went & got a bunch of kratom from a headshop, been taking that & smoking weed at night. planning on that being temporary. went to a few meetings, planning on going to more. for you guys who go to meetings & smoke weed, how do you reconcile the two? i'd go ahead & get a sponsor if it weren't for that.
i went to AA and i dont buy that shit.used to see people come fucked up big time.doctor put me on klonapine benzos for withdrawl and now im going through benzo withdrawel and im drinking to help me with that!swear i was on deaths door.im calling rehabs everyday waiting to get me in.no luck.im a dead man.fuck the health system.i guess im not the liquor afterall
M
moose eater
Hang in there 'hawk. Sounds like you made the decision, and social services hasn't caught up to your process yet. They're not always as prevalent or on-step as they might otherwise be.
Don't let their missteps be your stumble.
Stay strong, 'cause it sounds to me now like you want to keep on keeping on. Sounds like the humor masking the fear is gone in this moment..
Tells me that you choose life.
When it gets real is when your work steps up a notch.
I want to believe you've got it in you to knuckle down. Change is hard sometimes. And this is one of several addictions that can bring challenges bigger than many.
I'm pulling for you.
Don't let their missteps be your stumble.
Stay strong, 'cause it sounds to me now like you want to keep on keeping on. Sounds like the humor masking the fear is gone in this moment..
Tells me that you choose life.
When it gets real is when your work steps up a notch.
I want to believe you've got it in you to knuckle down. Change is hard sometimes. And this is one of several addictions that can bring challenges bigger than many.
I'm pulling for you.
thank you so much moose.just got out of the ER 4 hours ago.withdrawing is very painful
