Help How to stop drinking?

[Ryan.s]

I can't stop drinking alcohol. How do you guys quit alcohol, if you have already?

 

[the box is empty]

I don't know if you've already considered it or you've tried it but the only success stories I've heard involve rehab.

 

[Beautiful_Disgrace]

I don't know if you've already considered it or you've tried it but the only success stories I've heard involve rehab.

Basically this. Or therapy, if you feel like your addiction hasn't gotten that bad. Alcohols Anonymous, specifically. Find a sponsor.

 

[toomuchtimetodie]

I think the guys above are setting people up to fail because they have no experience. You can tell in the carelessness Saying a rehab is absolutely necessary... because they've watched TV doctors making money off people's addiction.
I think first thing you need to truly want/be ready to do it. If it's completely taken over your life you may need a medical detox for ten days. Imo not everyone needs a 6 month rehab for alcohol. Unless you have an extremely weak will, no support network, ie terrible people around you that you can't get away from. Is only when you need such a long rehabilitation.
I loved the effect alcohol had on me, first couple years, then it stopped working when I had become chronically dependant and was trying to kill myself BY alcohol because it had turned me in to such a coward at the end. It's not like in the movies where it all looks flashy and you say in a charming voice "im drinking myself to death".
You lose any sense of respect you had for yourself before. You stink. Youre incontinent. You throw up constantly, you might feel physically strong with the drink confidence but you're weak as sloppy shit. You bleed from your arse hole.

Good luck.

 

[Beautiful_Disgrace]

I think the guys above are setting people up to fail because they have no experience. You can tell in the carelessness Saying a rehab is absolutely necessary... because they've watched TV doctors making money off people's addiction.
I think first thing you need to truly want/be ready to do it. If it's completely taken over your life you may need a medical detox for ten days. Imo not everyone needs a 6 month rehab for alcohol. Unless you have an extremely weak will, no support network, ie terrible people around you that you can't get away from. Is only when you need such a long rehabilitation.
I loved the effect alcohol had on me, first couple years, then it stopped working when I had become chronically dependant and was trying to kill myself BY alcohol because it had turned me in to such a coward at the end. It's not like in the movies where it all looks flashy and you say in a charming voice "im drinking myself to death".
You lose any sense of respect you had for yourself before. You stink. Youre incontinent. You throw up constantly, you might feel physically strong with the drink confidence but you're weak as sloppy shit. You bleed from your arse hole.

Good luck.

It is absolutely necessary when you get passed a certain point, in my own personal experience with my grandfather who was a war veteran suffering from PTSD. Alcohol can be as addicting as opiates in some cases. That's why I expanded Box's post by suggesting therapy or AA as other options, because not everyone can afford to go into a rehab program.

 

[toomuchtimetodie]

It is absolutely necessary when you get passed a certain point, in my own personal experience with my grandfather who was a war veteran suffering from PTSD. Alcohol can be as addicting as opiates in some cases. That's why I expanded Box's post by suggesting therapy or AA as other options, because not everyone can afford to go into a rehab program.

You're right to expand but giving such a sentencing answer to someone who asks the question so blandly, no information howling they've drank, do they drink round the clock, the amounts, their health, social situation etc. I think if it's someone whos only been drinking to the point they feel the need to ask the question. Or someone young like college age. I think such an approach is setting them up that rehab is the only answer, like you say if that's not in their financial means depending on their health system, or not what they want, they will just think "well I may as well keep drinking". When that could've been avoided.
Alcohol has the potential to be more addicting than opiates, it's certainly more dangerous, you can die from alcohol withdrawal for example not from opiates.
In my experiences and opinion once the withdrawal subsides you can come out a better person for it and have more will never to drink again. If you're wrapped in cotton wool, you'll quite happily go through rehabs again and again these same people tend to brag "they can do their rattle" really? Try going cold turkey.
I'm not one of these people. I had to have many detoxes before I finally stopped. And a long rehab would have helped me but because their so full with the ones who hop in and out who know how to play the system, I couldnt get one in time until my pancreas kept inflaming for months, liver was weeks from shutting down, still have cirrhosis now and liver function has barely returned, lost 70lbs off my lean frame, was seizuring none stop isolated for days till I was found and hospitalized and detoxed, that was the last.

I have way too much time on my hands this is a suicide forum after all, who knows who's genuine.
Leaving this thread.
Peace.

 

[Beautiful_Disgrace]

You're right to expand but giving such a sentencing answer to someone who asks the question so blandly, no information howling they've drank, do they drink round the clock, the amounts, their health, social situation etc. I think if it's someone whos only been drinking to the point they feel the need to ask the question. Or someone young like college age. I think such an approach is setting them up that rehab is the only answer, like you say if that's not in their financial means depending on their health system, or not what they want, they will just think "well I may as well keep drinking". When that could've been avoided.
Alcohol has the potential to be more addicting than opiates, it's certainly more dangerous, you can die from alcohol withdrawal for example not from opiates.
In my experiences and opinion once the withdrawal subsides you can come out a better person for it and have more will never to drink again. If you're wrapped in cotton wool, you'll quite happily go through rehabs again and again these same people tend to brag "they can do their rattle" really? Try going cold turkey.
I'm not one of these people. I had to have many detoxes before I finally stopped. And a long rehab would have helped me but because their so full with the ones who hop in and out who know how to play the system, I couldnt get one in time until my pancreas kept inflaming for months, liver was weeks from shutting down, still have cirrhosis now and liver function has barely returned, lost 70lbs off my lean frame, was seizuring none stop isolated for days till I was found and hospitalized and detoxed, that was the last.

I have way too much time on my hands this is a suicide forum after all, who knows who's genuine.
Leaving this thread.
Peace.

I think the weird part is there's nothing I disagree with in your post. I'm just on a phone and I like to talk to people with short, concise responses. I know some people here have a short attention span like me, so I didn't elaborate to include more words than "Pretty much this but there's also other things you can do." I'm sorry if it was taken the wrong way.

 

[All an illusion]

Drinking is the only way that gives me an escape from the madness we call this world. Was never into drugs or into any other physical or medicinal distraction. The relief and escape it gives me feels great for the most part although i know this is all a lie....i know this is all an illusion...but yet i still come back to vodka to sedate me....fking sad.

 

[ArtsyDrawer]

For me it was fear of seizures. Then again, I wasn't drinking much to begin with - some beer with the guys on a weekend. Went cold turkey.
It sucked for a short time, but not too much, at least that's how I remember it.

 

[Brink]

People manage to let go of all sorts of addictions - from alcohol to heroin to gambling - without medical intervention. Sometimes life events such as the death of a friend or the birth of a baby give people enough strength to overcome their addiction. You have to be ready and want to recover.

 

[MsMaudlin]

I used to have a real drink problem, drinking every day and indulging in risky behaviour.

I realised things were getting really out of hand, so I just stopped.

I do miss it, you realise that alcohol is EVERYWHERE once you stop drinking.

I haven't touched a drop for about 18 months, just thinking about it makes me feel weird.

Feel free to PM me
❤

 

[ArtsyDrawer]

People manage to let go of all sorts of addictions - from alcohol to heroin to gambling - without medical intervention. Sometimes life events such as the death of a friend or the birth of a baby give people enough strength to overcome their addiction. You have to be ready and want to recover.

Jesus fuck, are you right on that. I've developed a gambling habit. Not real money, just "tokens" that I can convert to Bitcoin. Well, Satoshi - the "cent" of Bitcoin. Lost roughly 30k in one sitting once, another 15k in another. Didn't do my math right - need 2^100+1 to be safe. That's a laaaarge number. So large, in fact, my calculator straight up refuses to display it right. Even Excell. No idea what it is, but I do know how to write it as an equation.
It just occurred to me that Wolfram Alpha exists, so I thought to feed the function into it and see what comes out.

x = 1267650600228229401496703205377

This is the dreaded number, and I do not know how to say it.

 

[Myforevercharlie]

My son checked himself in in an Emmaus. For him it worked.

 

[the box is empty]

I think the weird part is there's nothing I disagree with in your post. I'm just on a phone and I like to talk to people with short, concise responses. I know some people here have a short attention span like me, so I didn't elaborate to include more words than "Pretty much this but there's also other things you can do." I'm sorry if it was taken the wrong way.

Same. I don't can't have this site up on my screen at work. So I answer with short responses on my phone or just use a reaction.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

I quit because it gave me liver damage and the pain was horrible. I started again after three years abstinence. I never drank as much. I stopped finally when I became ill again. When I became ill, my body just refused to want filling with extra toxins.
I stopped smoking years ago, not for health reasons, but because a girl I liked told me I stank of cigs.
So I guess I had to have a genuine motivation to stop in each case. It wasn't enough to stop 'for my health' I needed another reason.

 

[Soulless_Angel]

Same. I don't can't have this site up on my screen at work. So I answer with short responses on my phone or just use a reaction.

change the heading so it looks liek you are on a car parts forum BOOM DONE
I drink, I can drnik all day, then not touch a drop for days, but I know going cold turkey is meant to be seriously bad for you, so I tend to have one a day, then some days just not give a fuck and drink a bottle,
It keeps my mood up 98% of the time, they state its a depressant, ha not for me! Someone said to me once, Just stop buying it, stop drinking, there you go, no longer drinking, OH my I didn't stop laughing for ages

For those of you here who do drink, can I ask how long this has been going on for you?

 

[Deleted member 1465]

Four years ago I gave up because i had to due to illness and cost. Yes, cold turkey is a bad call. And yes, I'd carry on drinking if I could because I actually believe it made me a better person. ALL my crap went away, depression, anxiety, OCD, everything gone and that only on a small amount of booze a week.

It WILL cause irreparable damage though, to your whole body, not just the liver. That's why I'm here.

 

[Soulless_Angel]

It WILL cause irreparable damage though, to your whole body, not just the liver. That's why I'm here.

Are you willing to elaborate on this?

 

[Deleted member 1465]

It's a poison. That's just a fact. It causes damage to your bodily organs that is cumulative and progressive. I was compensated for a long time but eventually it just floored me and I've never been the same since. It's destroyed my bowel and wrecked my metabolism. Oddly, my liver has recovered (livers are great at this).
I always thought I'd use my liver disease as an indicator as to if alcohol was poisoning me, by having regular LFTs to check it's health. My liver was fine but it was the rest of my body that fucked up. Also, alcohol abuse invariably goes hand in hand with bad diet and lack of exercise. It did with me - and I'm sure that has been a factor.
Alcohol is a euphoric disinhibitor in the short term, so is good for short term mental health. But the cumulative long term effects on mental health are invariably bad as your brain's biochemistry suffers from tolerance effects. You need more and more just to get the same effect and eventually you are drinking loads just to stay stable. Factor in the bad effects it has on your body which feed back into your mental health, so you drink more and more and more. It's a vicious cycle with only one realistic ending.

 

[the box is empty]

change the heading so it looks liek you are on a car parts forum BOOM DONE

haha I wish. I actually work in the automotive industry. My coworkers would see right through it

 

[Soulless_Angel]

haha I wish. I actually work in the automotive industry. My coworkers would see right through it

Oh shit.... Erm....
I have said before on this place that they need more then one option.... Im a run drinker not a car supplier searching sorta women....

 

[toomuchtimetodie]

I think the weird part is there's nothing I disagree with in your post. I'm just on a phone and I like to talk to people with short, concise responses. I know some people here have a short attention span like me, so I didn't elaborate to include more words than "Pretty much this but there's also other things you can do." I'm sorry if it was taken the wrong way.

I'm sorry if I sounded conceited or something, I just didn't want the person worrying it was rehab or they're doomed.

 

[s1mplem3]

I can't stop drinking alcohol. How do you guys quit alcohol, if you have already?

Sorry, but I only started drinking. I don't see any reason why would I stop.

 

[NonDefaultOption]

I know a reformed alcoholic very closely. He didn't really go to rehab, he went to AA though, anonymous alcoholics. It has kept him sober a decade or two now. I've had minor and major addictions too, not substances really, but stuff I really struggled quitting. The biggest turn of the tables for me, and for a lot of others, was to find people you can spend time consistently with and with whom you can feel a connection and all. As soon as you start having consistent social life not surrounded by people who drink, but by people who do some stuff you enjoy, it starts working out. But that's only if the reason you stuck with drinking was the feeling of loneliness.

You gotta find the reason why you started drinking in the first place and stuck with it, and find something else to fix that reason. If the reason was feeling powerless, like having no courage to approach who you were attracted to nor the courage to make decisions nor strength to get things done, then you need to find all that some other way. You can't just take out alcohol without filling that empty hole with something else, else you will suffer and just find something else to patch yourself up with even if you don't drink anymore.

If you're not sure why you drink, or even if you are, it's still a good idea to stop drinking for a while and see how that makes life more difficult. That will allow you to see why you really keep drinking now. Then brainstorm possible solutions to that reason in paper or notepad, make a list. And write down what do you want from that reason, like do you want it to be cheap because you're on a tight budget, or do you want it to be healthy, or just an easy fix, and how much you're willing to compromise with all these. Thinking the long-term consequences can be appropriate as well as considering how well you can even pull it off short-term.

Also when you stop drinking, it's a good idea to have a long-term goal, but a lot of times what people are missing is to just take one day at a time, one moment at a time and the little steps, when they keep gazing the end-goal of not drinking ever again. In the beginning you may want to take it step by step. This depends on whether you're the kind of person who gets things started easily but has trouble committing in the long run, or vice versa.