I've been near constantly drunk for several months now

[Tollbooth Willie]

I don't know how to stop. If anyone has been in my place before, I am ****ing pleading you to tell me how you got out of it, if you did. I am tired of coming home every day jst to poor several drinks and get shitfaced and pass out until I have to wake up for college or work. Zi nee

 

[ríomhaire]

I have absolutely no idea how to help but I just want to express my concern. I used to really like our chats and I don't enjoy the thought of you being miserable.

 

[kineaesth]

hey dude, booze is a fractious and difficult thing to deal with. I've been deeply embedded in drinking for years now, and honestly, the most helpful thing I've discovered is to have a keen sense of what is 'good' and 'bad' to drink. This doesn't mean that I don't still drink a lot, because I'm in a culture and occupation in which consumption of alcohol is a prerequisite, but I feel like having some sort of gauge of quality helps me a lot in my decision making. I treat almost every drink I have as important, whether it's for social or professional reasons. Therefore I drink when I want to learn, or I drink when I want to meet people in an environment that is only possible because of alcohol. I hope that this doesn't just translate to me having irreparably high standards for what is fit to drink, for I'm trying only to frame a significant part of life (anyone's, really, in a western culture) as something that should be justified and understood as such

 

[DEATHMASTER]

I pretty much have a system with my drinking, 2 beers each Saturday whilst hanging out with online people watching stuff on a stream. A sort of reward after a week of work.

 

[Ennui]

As someone who also has a tendency to overdrink I've found a few things that are helpful:

1) Just stop altogether. Easier said than done, right? But if you really can't stop drinking for a manageable amount of time (say a week or two) then you have a problem and need to get serious about it.

2) BEFORE you drink anything, give yourself a hard limit - I'm only going to have 3 beers tonight, or 3 mixed drinks or whatever. Don't go over that limit even though you'll want to once you finish that third drink.

3) Change lifestyle stuff. If you just come home and drink yourself to oblivion every day you probably have better things you could be doing. Go out for food or drinks with coworkers after work, catch a movie, get coffee, run errands or whatever.

Ultimately it just rests with you though, and your self-control. I find the whole "deciding a limit before I drink" thing to be effective most of the time though, if you can muster the willpower to tell yourself NO to another drink once you hit that limit.

 

[Omnomnick]

1) Just stop altogether. Easier said than done, right?

Not in my experience.

 

[Ennui]

Not in my experience.

Then your experience isn't typical and to imply that it is is rather insensitive. We're talking about one of the biggest monkeys that could ever climb onto someone's back here - if you don't have that particular demon to deal with good for you, but that doesn't mean it's not a life or death situation for other people less genetically fortunate.

 

[Omnomnick]

Then your experience isn't typical and to imply that it is is rather insensitive. We're talking about one of the biggest monkeys that could ever climb onto someone's back here - if you don't have that particular demon to deal with good for you, but that doesn't mean it's not a life or death situation for other people less genetically fortunate.

Of course not, I was just saying I've never, ever found it difficult to not drink (I don't drink at all, so I'm not just talking about controlling the amount you do drink).

 

[mooki]

do you see what you've done, valve?

 

[Lolcomputer]

I've always found it much easier to stop if someone else was there helping me stop. I've never had a long time alchohol problem, but speaking from my own experience; get a roommate or wing-buddy you can trust to actually not drink wtih you and tell him to make sure that you don't touch the smirnoff anymore.

I'd recommend trying Ennui's or kineaesth's advice first, though. It's much better if you're not actually dependant on others to stop your drinking, but it may serve as a good start if nothing else works.

Cheers mate. Good luck with your issues.

 

[kineaesth]

Of course not, I was just saying I've never, ever found it difficult to not drink (I don't drink at all, so I'm not just talking about controlling the amount you do drink).

This might not be the thread for you, then!

 

[-smash-]

I've been addicted to substance before and I was a smoker, and what got me to kick those bad habits was changing my lifestyle. Fortunately I found a path through school and career , and that ended up taking over my life instead of the substances. You said that you're in school and you work. How are you even able to find enough time to get hammered?

Try to get involved in something. Anything. Fitness, clubs, volunteer stuff, hobbies... Pick something and live by it. Speaking of fitness, I also go the gym every other day, and on my off days I run 5 miles. It's helped a lot with my life in general. And when you're physically fit, you feel a million times better about yourself and you won't even want to abuse alcohol. It's taken me a little over two years to get to where I am, and I still have a lot of room to improve, but you got to start somewhere and keep the end goal in mind constantly.

 

[Viperidae]

The only thing I can recommend in addition to the above is to try and focus on someone close to you. Just listen to them, spend time with them, engage with them so you can keep your mind off the part of your brain telling you to drink. Sharing the problem with someone else can give you support and encouragement.

 

[Stigmata]

Melatonin supplements.

Lesser, 5-HTP supplements.

I already told you Tollbooth Willie, but maybe this will help other people. It will offset the withdrawal of alcohol cessation, and poses little threat of habituation as long as you don't take tons of it for months at a time. You can get it over the counter and it's not very expensive. Stop drinking cold turkey, take melatonin, and you shouldn't experience anything like "the shakes" or severe nightmares or other typical side effects of alcohol cessation.

If you do experience those side effects, take melatonin alongside a slowly ramped-down intake of alcohol. If you drink x amount of alcohol per night, drink 80% one night with melatonin before bed, then the next night drink 70 or 60% plus melatonin before bed, and so on. Just ramp it down over a week or two and offset the side-effects with melatonin, and you'll be okay.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Not in my experience.

Dude, shut up--this isn't about you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey chase,

Please read this my dear chase, despite it's length and girth

You've actually just taken the first step towards realizing adult life can suck some dick. But you're beginning to desire change.

That scares people like us into indulging heavily because of all the introspection. That's great man, do you, but work on curbing the self-criticism.

I've been there and still am. I slip up a lot. You'll get drunk a lot more times but I'm confident you'll stop when you need to:

Dropping by to say I love you man and I hope you have the strength to get help soon. As a recovering addict I'll talk to you anytime of the day duder. Take care of yourself, love yourself, etc.

I think you're awesome when you're sober or drunk but I definitely prefer you when you're happy, which means it's time to take it easy for a while.

Start with this: do not hate yourself when you decide to get drunk, just think about why you do it at first. These painful phases come in most everyone's life in some way or another.

It seems hard to believe that life is OK sober, when I was using heavily I thought everyone liked me more high. It's a ****ing neverending-seeming cyclical hell for a while. Keep that chin up brother.

There will always be that pain and urge but eventually new life sets in and you start to want to know why you feel the need to hurt yourself--and realize you aren't a bad person for it.

Investigate why you feel the need to escape and talk to ash/me/chris/anyone. We think you're awesome.

I know you have the power to get out of this but don't get too down on yourself when you slip up, just do not give up on sobriety.

See if you can stop alcohol for a day or two and work from there. Do not stop immediately as that's very dangerous.

One cool thing to practice is just going to bed and giving up on that "one last nip" use your haze of tipsiness to sleep instead of polishing off that handle.

Start dwindling down and investigate a tapering plan through medications if possible with a doctor or social worker (i can help you find one even if you don't have insurance). There's a lot of folks who care a lot about you and shit.

You're one of the most brilliant people I know hands down, one of the only people who gets my idiotic humor. You were always nice to me when I was manic and taking pills. One of the only people.

Go kick some ass in life, the world deserves you

<3

 

[MFL]

Have you considered wearing a condom?

For real though, bananaman, I hope shit gets better for you soon.

 

[Solaris]

Hey dude, reddit.com/r/stopdrinking is a good place. Best wishes.

 

[OpticPotatOS]

Don't try and stop all together. There have been cases of people have serious enough withdrawal that it kills them. Just don't. Otherwise seek medical help.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

I appreciate the advice you guys. Update:

Taking Celexa, and wellbutrin as anti anxiety and depression shit and xanax for sleep, preventative. I'm down to going 4 nights a week without drinking, up from 1 to no days without after a few months. Whoever tells you it is too late, it is never too late.

 

[Higlac]

**** yeah, Willie!

 

[Rorschach120]

Awesome! I've had a routine sort of like DEATHMASTER's except I go out with friends and get blackout drunk. I've definitely been in a situation in the past where I was drinking a 5th of vodka every couple days, wasn't a good time for me.

You just have to keep the balance between stresses, releases, and vices. Alcohol isn't a release, it's a vice. Going for a walk for no reason other than to enjoy the fresh air is a release. Work and school are stresses. Being aware of how much there is of each can help you realize why you are holding onto vices and what you need to do to release.

And hey guys, still lurkin.