Giving up drinking for 1 year

Good luck with everything. Do what works for you and ONLY you.

Quite awhile ago I was thinking I might be a alcoholic and I mean some 20 years ago. I figured in my head if I am a drunk I should not be drinking and if I am not a drunk it would not bother me not to drink so like Cheezy I decided to stop drinking for 6 months instead of a year. Well life grabbed me and before I knew it 10 years had passed and I had not drunk anything.

Funny thing is even though I am drinking now I do not drink near as much as I used to. I also think that if I continued to drink the way I did I would be a drunk for sure by now.

You will do fine Cheesy. It might be a year or ten years like myself but when or if you do drink again it will be with the knowledge you gained during the dry spell.

Thank you for the kind PM as well

Best part about not drinking is the 35 dollar or less dinner for two at restaurants.

I think you are making an awesome choice. Self reflection is a powerful tool. We all need to be our own barometer and make changes according to how see things. Your choice has made me look at my own consumption. Best of luck. I'm sorry that things are tough right now. In sure they will be brighter soon. Hang in there!

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."

Ralph Waldo Emerson
American poet
Born May 25 1803
Died April 27 1882

Good luck man. It gets easier. That is what the passage of time is for.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but thanks again to everyone.

I honestly thought i'd get a lot of "What??? You aint got a problem. My uncle Mike who wakes up with the shakes until he downs a pint of vodka before work is an alcoholic!"

This thread has been nothing like that!

And if you ever get the chance to hang out with Headbanger and his "old lady", take it. Great people.

I stopped "drinking" once, when I failed to time my kits properly. I was too cheap to buy anything, so I just waited for a few months till I had it down again! Good luck!

BTW, get a good water filter if you haven't already. Clean filtered water actually tastes great enough to drink on its own after you get used to the absence of flavor. I also find that my coffee intake spiked around the same time .

Well, I shall soon be picked up for abuse of the "like" button in this thread. In the big house, you don't get to drink....unless you want to die from spoiled potato vodka.

cheezydemon3 said:

And if you ever get the chance to hang out with Headbanger and his "old lady", take it. Great people.

Click to expand...

It was our pleasure Cheezy, let is know if you ever feel like doing it again or if you just want to get away to the country for a visit.

Cheers Bro!

God bless. I wish you well in your grasp at sanity when you have had such a rough year.

Best of luck Cheezy! You might be surprised at the health benefits especially the weight loss. Stay strong, and try to live healthy.

Good on ya. Cheering you on from AZ

headbanger said:

It was our pleasure Cheezy, let is know if you ever feel like doing it again or if you just want to get away to the country for a visit.

Cheers Bro!

Click to expand...

Will do!

Cheers brother

keep it up Cheezy, we're here to support you...

Although, the first week is the easiest, after you get a few months is when it gets hard. You get the "Well, I done good so far, I can treat myself to one." Then you are right back to where you started.

Good Luck
]

landshark said:

keep it up Cheezy, we're here to support you...

Although, the first week is the easiest, after you get a few months is when it gets hard. You get the "Well, I done good so far, I can treat myself to one." Then you are right back to where you started.

Good Luck
]

Click to expand...

I beg to differ. When I was sober I felt the first week was easy then it got really hard after the first month I had my issues licked, the best way I felt was to avoid party's use a different grocery store or just use a different route to the shopping mall your booze store is at. With home brewing I feel this is going to be a harder thing to kick, I really enjoy the whole process but I feel I might need to take a break once again.

bad things have happened, and you've lasted. good on ya. if you're going to stop for a year or so, this might be a good time to brew a barleywine or sour. that'll ease the brewing urge

More power to ya Cheezy ... changes like cutting back on drinking are not easy. But for me at least, they actually are a bit easier if I think of them as as a default way of living. It's a bit like the difference between going on a diet verses making permanent lifestyle changes to eating habits. Diets take energy to stick with ... lifestyle changes are just a way of being.

I really hope people will stick with this post and read it through.

I’ve found out the hard way that you do *not* have to get DUI’s, act out in public, wake up with unexplained head damage, or be an alcoholic to be suffering serious health problems associated with too much drinking.
I've had none of the former but do have the latter.

I know this post is a “downer”, but stick with me for a moment ...

Not to get into the details too deeply but, I just want to make a few points about Liver Disease ...

The internal changes start well before symptoms appear.

Variously Alcoholic Hepatitis, Alcoholic Liver Disease, Fatty Liver, and other correlative Liver Disease conditions are the issue ... and there’s lots of information online about what they are and the progression.

If you read around you will see that there are a host of other separate health, disease, and immune conditions and behaviors which affect the progression of liver disease ... things like undiagnosed Viral Hepatitis, the consumption of a broad range of drugs, and the exposure to a range of toxins.
These are things that very, very specifically affect the progression of the disease ... and your INability to continue to consume alcohol ... and besides the alcohol, will have an impact on whether you will lose the privilege to drink alcohol.

Medically this is not simple stuff. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that early moderation IS simple stuff.

I threw on the brakes hard about a year-and-a-half ago and now drink less than twice a month (actually on the average for the past four months, less than once a month - yes I track it along with my dietary behavior - and on paper)... and I do not drink more than a maximum of three to four regular drinks when I do drink (usually around 2 drinks, actually) ... I do not take any NSAID including ibuprofen and aspirin more than twice a month ... and have modified a number of my other behaviors, particularly dietary, with regard to liver health.

These changes were made much easier by being part of a much larger overall change to my dietary and health behavior.
Because I have a history of periodically adhering to the sort of rigorous exercise and dietary behavior throughout my adult life that one does for training for bodybuilding or other physical competition, that mentality helped a lot as the diet and health changes became just another round of that behavior ... but permanent now.

As far as my condition with regard to alcohol, the Plan-of-Action I decided upon is the one that would be used for someone with a more advanced “liver problem” issue than what I actually developed.

One thing that is important to understand is that liver disease has a tipping point. That is, there is a certain point where regardless of what you do, your liver will continue to deteriorate and, excluding other unforeseen diseases or accidents, will be the cause of your death. This tipping point is NOT so far into the disease that it may necessarily have flashing lights and warning sirens going off in your head ... particularly if you are comparatively youngish and/or have a history of being fairly ‘bullet-proof” as far as health and lifestyle so far.

As for me, I am doing ok.
I believe I have seriously “dodged a bullet”.
The Lord swung a 2x4 at my head and it just barely grazed me.
I took the advice and didn’t look back.

FWIW

Jacob_Marley said:

The Lord swung a 2x4 at my head and it just barely grazed me. I took the advice and didn’t look back. FWIW

Click to expand...

First- I'm gonna grab me a beer real quick...

Ahh, ok, second- that isn't a real kind lord, if you ask me. In fact, I don't even believe in him (or her) and I'm as healthy as can be. Not only do I drink beer (moderate amounts) daily, but I also eat healthy and stay very physically active (just got back from an hour workout).

Ultimately, I think there is a lot more that goes into one's health, or lack thereof, than their drinking or divine intervention. We all know our limits and we all know what's unhealthy. I absolutely admire folks who recognize their problems and take steps to remedy them. Cheers to you and Cheezy!!

Well this has all re-surfaced at an odd time.

I went almost 6 months and began to drink again little by little. Really it was hard to date and not drink without looking like a prude. Not the best reason, but it no longer seems to be a problem.

I feel that I have it under control.

I too am very active, healthy, and agnostic brulosopher.

Sorry it's been so rough for you man. I think your decision to quit drinking shows real character. I hope you get back on top of everything soon. During and after my divorce I found exercise helped me more than anything else, that and talking it out.

.

Brulosopher said:

Ultimately, I think there is a lot more that goes into one's health, or lack thereof, than their drinking or divine intervention...

Jacob_Marley said:

I believe I have seriously “dodged a bullet”.
The Lord swung a 2x4 at my head and it just barely grazed me.
I took the advice and didn’t look back.
FWIW

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

It was not a religious comment.

Substitute "fate", "reality" or even "providence" for the word "Lord".

I'm not terribly religious either. It was just a better visual.

It IS possible for every single person, regardless of physical fitness and diet, to drink their livers into a corner ... nevermind the other disease and toxin factors I alluded to above that can contribute to the problem.

You are absolutely correct that more goes into health than drinking and luck. But if you are heading into liver failure then that pretty much trumps everything else.
It is *astounding* how many functions and systems are affected ... and those negative effects are both cumulative and synergistic.
I never knew until I had to.

I only made the post to point out:
1) that a person can end up with such problems even if they don't have a lot of other common "problem drinking" symptoms.
2) that early moderation is a better choice than having to give it up entirely ... and
3) that I admire cheezy's decision to take that step.

Ok, gettin down off the soapbox now.

I've always liked that quote by Hyman Roth ... "Good health -- the most important thing in the world. More than success, more than money -- more than power. "
But I didn't really understand it until I got older.

Sorry to lapse into "preachy".

Jacob_Marley said:

. It was not a religious comment. Substitute "fate", "reality" or even "providence" for the word "Lord". I'm not terribly religious either. It was just a better visual. It IS possible for every single person, regardless of physical fitness and diet, to drink their livers into a corner ... nevermind the other disease and toxin factors I alluded to above that can contribute to the problem. You are absolutely correct that more goes into health than drinking and luck. But if you are heading into liver failure then that pretty much trumps everything else. It is *astounding* how many functions and systems are affected ... and those negative effects are both cumulative and synergistic. I never knew until I had to. I only made the post to point out: 1) that a person can end up with such problems even if they don't have a lot of other common "problem drinking" symptoms. 2) that early moderation is a better choice than having to give it up entirely ... and 3) that I admire cheezy's decision to take that step. Ok, gettin down off the soapbox now. I've always liked that quote by Hyman Roth ... "Good health -- the most important thing in the world. More than success, more than money -- more than power. " But I didn't really understand it until I got older. Sorry to lapse into "preachy".

Click to expand...

I feel you, man, not preachy at all!