The abstinence thread

Last edited by Trebor; 2 Minutes Ago at 13:58. Reason: tpyo

Drunk typo?

Last edited by Trebor; 2 Minutes Ago at 13:58. Reason: tpyo

Drunk typo?

Just a little 'joke'

Sober as a judge at the moment (unfortunately).

I agree with everything Prancer has said, and if I had followed his advice I wouldn't be on the single malt right now - Oban distillery. Next time I go to the highlands Velocio, I will buy you a bottle. No, I am perfectly sober. Don't take that first drink. Shloer Grape and elderflower is a great alternative..

DJ, what I was talking about wasn't people with a history of substance dependency.
If you know you're an alcoholic, by all means, stay clear of pubs and bars even.

But I also know many people who clearly don't have to draw such a harsh line, but still manage to achieve the failure in the face of their own, maybe unreasonable expectations ...Not just with smoking, but with other, outside-influenced things like weight loss etc ... not a good way to gain confidence.

There are many undiagnosed alcoholics. Simply telling them to try to drink less tends not to work.

There are many little quizzes online such as the following

• Do you ever drink to escape from your problems or worries?
  
• Do you drink because you are shy or need a boost in morale?
  
• Do you drink on your own at all?
  
• Do you often have five, six or more units at one time?
  
• Do you ever feel embarrassed or annoyed with yourself after drinking?
  
• Have you ever had a blackout or forgotten what you have done as a result of drinking?
  
• Have you missed going to work because of heavy drinking the night before?
  
• Is drinking upsetting people at home – your family or people you live with?
  
• Have you got a bit of a name for yourself as a drinker?
  
• Does drinking make you thoughtless and careless?
  
• Do you hide your drinking, or lie about the amount you drink?
  
• Has drinking caused problems at work?
  
• Do you habitually crave a drink at the same time each day?
  
• Do you wake up and want a drink the next morning?
  
• Has a medic ever treated you for drinking or drink related problems such as violence or drunken accidents?
  
• Have you ever been to A&E because of drinking – either for accidents or alcoholic poisoning or illness?
  
• In the last year have your friends, family or doctor been worried about your drinking or told you to cut down?
  
  

For the person who is struggling to reduce their intake it is likely that they would answer yes to 3 or 4 of these questions.

At that point it is time to consider ones drinking seriously. The thing is those of us who struggle with alcohol, drugs, food, obsessive nature, over exercise etc tend to have a deeper flaw. We can replace one activity with another, one drink or drug with another, use a combination of activities, substances etc, but none of these address the fundamental problems.

Its not that alcoholics have to avoid bars, clubs restaurants, that is not the issue. What is more important is not picking up the first drink as it just opens the floodgate.

• Do you ever drink to escape from your problems or worries? NO
  
• Do you drink because you are shy or need a boost in morale? NO
  
• Do you drink on your own at all? YEP
  
• Do you often have five, six or more units at one time? YEP
  
• Do you ever feel embarrassed or annoyed with yourself after drinking? NO
  
• Have you ever had a blackout or forgotten what you have done as a result of drinking? NO
  
• Have you missed going to work because of heavy drinking the night before? NO
  
• Is drinking upsetting people at home – your family or people you live with? NO
  
• Have you got a bit of a name for yourself as a drinker? NO
  
• Does drinking make you thoughtless and careless? NO
  
• Do you hide your drinking, or lie about the amount you drink? NO
  
• Has drinking caused problems at work? NO
  
• Do you habitually crave a drink at the same time each day? NO
  
• Do you wake up and want a drink the next morning? NO
  
• Has a medic ever treated you for drinking or drink related problems such as violence or drunken accidents? NO
  
• Have you ever been to A&E because of drinking – either for accidents or alcoholic poisoning or illness? NO
  
• In the last year have your friends, family or doctor been worried about your drinking or told you to cut down? NO
  Next.........
  

When I was a boozer, I would have answered yes to all but one or two of those questions. Depending on how you interpret them, I think they are a bit misleading

There are many undiagnosed alcoholics. Simply telling them to try to drink less tends not to work.

There are many little quizzes online such as the following

[]Do you ever drink to escape from your problems or worries?
[]Do you drink because you are shy or need a boost in morale?
[]Do you drink on your own at all?
[]Do you often have five, six or more units at one time?
[]Do you ever feel embarrassed or annoyed with yourself after drinking?
[]Have you ever had a blackout or forgotten what you have done as a result of drinking?
[]Have you missed going to work because of heavy drinking the night before?
[]Is drinking upsetting people at home – your family or people you live with?
[]Have you got a bit of a name for yourself as a drinker?
[]Does drinking make you thoughtless and careless?
[]Do you hide your drinking, or lie about the amount you drink?
[]Has drinking caused problems at work?
[]Do you habitually crave a drink at the same time each day?
[]Do you wake up and want a drink the next morning?
[]Has a medic ever treated you for drinking or drink related problems such as violence or drunken accidents?
[]Have you ever been to A&E because of drinking – either for accidents or alcoholic poisoning or illness?
[*]In the last year have your friends, family or doctor been worried about your drinking or told you to cut down?

For the person who is struggling to reduce their intake it is likely that they would answer yes to 3 or 4 of these questions.

I have answered these questions as my flat-mate and it's clear she has a massive drink problem. I will enrol her on an AA course with immediate effect.

As an example: This weekend she came in very drunk, woke me up and made me count to 5, then straight away made me count to 7, we had a lengthy conversation of which she remembered nothing in the morning. It's very, very alarming!!!

Do you ever drink to escape from your problems or worries? Yes
Do you drink because you are shy or need a boost in morale? Yes
Do you drink on your own at all? Yes
Do you often have five, six or more units at one time? Yes
Do you ever feel embarrassed or annoyed with yourself after drinking? Yes
Have you ever had a blackout or forgotten what you have done as a result of drinking? No
Have you missed going to work because of heavy drinking the night before? No - except at Christmas parties etc. which is probably the norm
Is drinking upsetting people at home – your family or people you live with? No
Have you got a bit of a name for yourself as a drinker? No
Does drinking make you thoughtless and careless? No
Do you hide your drinking, or lie about the amount you drink? No
Has drinking caused problems at work? No
Do you habitually crave a drink at the same time each day? No
Do you wake up and want a drink the next morning? No
Has a medic ever treated you for drinking or drink related problems such as violence or drunken accidents? Yes
Have you ever been to A&E because of drinking – either for accidents or alcoholic poisoning or illness? No
In the last year have your friends, family or doctor been worried about your drinking or told you to cut down? No

Am I an alcoholic? :$

@prancer - what resources did you use (if any) to quit drinking?

There is one question missing and that is "can you go without a drink?" If the answer to that is "no" then you do have a problem. Otherwise those questions are a little alarmist although if one is perpetually having accidents, getting into fights, and particularly having problems at home and at work because of drink - seek help.

Anyway, this thread is about not drinking rather than drinking.

Perhaps we should have an abstinence thread social - green tea all round?

That's very interesting.

The other thing I find is that you spend ages on doing things to make significant others happy, just so you can justify doing the thing that makes them sad.

Fuck, Dammit.... That has just killed my buzz in a big way.

That's my fucking life, right there, in one paragraph.

• green tea all round?
  
  

Not for me thanks, you guys feel free.

Also... Only got the right answer twice on that questionnaire

Fuck, Dammit.... That has just killed my buzz in a big way.

That's my fucking life, right there, in one paragraph.

Im drunk and I've got a tub of lavender moisturiser in my bag that I bought for my mum.

There is one question missing and that is "can you go without a drink?" If the answer to that is "no" then you do have a problem. Otherwise those questions are a little alarmist although if one is perpetually having accidents, getting into fights, and particularly having problems at home and at work because of drink - seek help.

Anyway, this thread is about not drinking rather than drinking.

Perhaps we should have an abstinence thread social - green tea all round?

I do love a bit of green tea.

Since buying a car, I now drive to my weekly poker games, obviously don't drink and often do far better than I used to. The only problem now is, my tolerance for drunken idiots is very low and I normally start arguments with people who have suddenly become incapable of dealing or performing basic arithmetic :$

Still a great thread!

And RPM, separated at birth, Hmmm?

green tea all round?

Not for me thanks, you guys feel free.

I do love a bit of green tea.

And RPM, separated at birth, Hmmm?

It doesn't have to be green tea. I vary what I drink. At present I am gooing through a bit of a cranberry juice and soda phase. If particularly thirsty, organge juice and soda. If being good, fizzy water (for a bit of a kick but no calories) or some form of tea or infusion - no milk or sugar. If feeling reckless, I have been know to drink Ginger Beer but do try to avoid tinned sugary or artifically sweetened drinks. My one exception to this is drinking copious amounts of sugar free Red Bull to wash down Proplus tablets during long drives.

I like green tea, I was just abstaining because of the thread.

^Ha!

Clive

These are many of the reasons why I like LMNH, that they have a decent selection of soft alternatives yet my drinking friends can also be satisfied there.

Fruit juice and soda water is awesome, as are ginger beer, good tea, proper coffee etc.

It just pisses me off to go to shitty pubs and pay more for pint of cheap long life fruit juice and soda water than I would have paid for a beer.

If you go to a pub and order a long life fruit juice and soda water you deserve what you get LOLOLOLOL

• Do you ever drink to escape from your problems or worries?
  
  • Do you often have five, six or more units at one time? - what's often?
    
  • Do you ever feel embarrassed or annoyed with yourself after drinking?
    
  • Have you ever had a blackout or forgotten what you have done as a result of drinking? - only once
    
    

Was a bit worried when i started reading those, but actually it's only yes to the first few. Alcohol is my anomoly - as a teenager I was a bit anti and considered it a sign of weakness along with drugs, but I still drank in very moderate amounts, this persisted until at the age of 21 I got drunk for the first time. Wasn't until I started earning proper money in late-twenties I started drinking more often in greater quantities.

Green tea though, is dangerous, I find the caffeine in it really affects me. I found restricting myself to no more than two cups of English tea a day more difficult than I've ever found alcohol (maybe because I don't really try and restrict that). I probably average 3 teas a week now. Green tea or coffee a few times a year. Dodgy ticker.

DJ, again, I didn't mean diagnosed or undiagnosed alcoholics.

I have no idea what the best thing to do is for a recovering alcoholic. "Stay clear of a pub" was meant as a makeshift example of "Do what you have to do" ... sorry if this came across wrong.

My point was this:

Sometimes people identify an issue in their life and decide to elevate it to a great new years resolution or whatever, a lot of talk about it and very little action in the end.
All I am saying is that it might be better to take little steps towards your goal rather than building up a big one and fail for it's magnitude.

Also, if one REALLY has a problem with something, I'd say "get help first" before you try and go without it just like a that. Had to watch someone very dear to me trying to just stop taking her Xanax, and it's massively trashed her self confidence at the time. Made her convinced she was never going to stop it.
This is especially true if you're physically dependant on alcohol, as this is about the only withdrawal that can physically kill you.
Surely this is counter productive?