I wanted to seek your opinions on something regarding alcohol and mood.
For many many years, I drank a bottle of wine or Prosecco in the evening. It never increased to more. I was hyper aware of what it could potentially be doing to my health. I worked so so much about and I stressed for years about giving up thinking that I would fail like I do most things, However, 2 years ago I gave up. Just like that. And it was easy.
Since I have up my health has deteriorated and I have become utterly miserable. I replaced the alcohol with food, in particular sweets and carbs. I rapidly put on weight and had to go back on insulin. My cholesterol went up too. I put on so much weight that I took myself off to Turkey and had a sleeve gastrectomy! This helped be lose three stones but again, the crap crept in and I’ve started to put weight on again. I’m busting a gut again, beating myself up knowing that my diabetes etc is trying worse again.
When I was drinking I didn’t eat like this. I didn’t get drunk ever. I just enjoyed my bottle of wine of an evening, went to bed and slept all night long! I know they say that alcohol makes people depressed and messes up with sleep but for me, I’m way more depressed now and I never sleep through the night.
I guess I’m wondering why I’m putting myself through this anymore. I have literally nothing to look forward to in life. I’m housebound and utterly miserable. I’ve been through severe trauma in the last few years and I just think it’s my life, why not do west seems to make me relax a bit? Any thoughts? 😊
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Bramble2000
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Hi Bramble2000 , personally I think it's many factors that could be involved here, our metabolic rate is different as we get older and our digestive system slows down, I used to drink heavily, as you are aware, but I ended up drinking Coca-Cola as my regular drink now, but I kept myself active and even as we get older putting a few pounds on is notoriously difficult to shift.
As with most alcohol it's actually poison to the human body, but we all decide to put it down our gullet, the same with tablets we take a cure for one thing, and it gives us a side effect of something else, and now the biggest problem I have is getting to sleep myself, yes, I have emotional trauma, then my stomach makes churning noises which keep me awake, I now have started with back ache, a recent thing, and then my head starts thinking about absolutely useless stuff, often reading post's on this forum, or just waiting to try and fall asleep, or just sit with the television on until 2/ 3 AM some mornings, and waking up feeling shattered, I think when I live on my own it gives my head time to run riot, and I suppose its difficult to explain my true circumstances properly , I'm really damaged goods at the end of day, and it's hard trying to explain everything, as perhaps I don't explain myself properly all the time, like you said you gave up alcohol and it was easy, but giving up sweets and carbs, that's a different thing eh, that's why I don't try to judge anyone , it's just what's been going on in that person's life that can make the necessary changes if they want a healthier lifestyle, but unfortunately it doesn't stop us from growing older, nor does it stop external things from the outside world happening which may affect your general well-being, I don't have any have answers, I'm stuck myself, but I haven't started talking to myself yet 🤪 at least I've got a bit of a sense of humour, best wishes 🙂
Ha, I talk to myself all the time! I too am damaged, beyond repair. I can’t get any counselling or therapy for what my husband did because there’s too much judgement and ignorance. Ugh, it’s all so so difficult eh?
Are you considering having a drink again 🤔? Which I don't have any issues with people who are in control of doing this, but obviously if you are on medication it might need to carefully monitored, everything in moderation I say, I never got chance to reply earlier, I've replaced my alcohol issues with sweet things, but I must have a high metabolic rate, as I can eat like horse and not put much weight on, even with one of my tablets (mirtrazapine )which is renowned for gaining weight, and even my regular drinking of Coca-Cola is a bad habit, I think my body is still or should I say my brain is craving sweet things, but obviously my body was starved of vital nutrition when I was an alcoholic, and perhaps it doesn't want to lose control of this desire of sugar, I don't like artificial sweeteners, and I take sugar in my coffee etc, like I said I had counselling for my ptsd, but as for my dietary requirements, I'm not so sure about changing my habits, because i tend to eat quite well, it's just the sugary drinks and the cream cakes are my downfall, but I still ware the same size clothes from my days before my drinking when I lost so much weight, but now I'm happy with my weight, and don't really worry about that,but I do understand your concerns 🙂
I can’t find anyone who can address my needs and trauma. I don’t have an addictive brain. It has never bothered me not drinking during the day and I’ve never done it. Also, my drinking never increased.
Are you on the PTSD forum here? It is much more focused on how we are handling trauma so the posts tend to be very focused on helping. Trauma and traditional therapy doesn't seems to work...or it didn't for me. I am in PTSD counseling. My weekly session is my sanity spot and I finally found someone who doesn't judge about anything. I recently relived a trauma and found myself locked in my room for 5 days. I needed her to get me out of the funk.
What I can tell you is that if you are not sleeping, you will decline fast. Sleep deprivation can be so very hard to come out of as well. It's like floating and paranoia at the same time. I had a med change and it said to take in the PM but may be better in AM for a small number of patients. I gave this med a month (lots of positive benefits) before I thought to switch to AM. Totally better. I really want you to get some sleep as things get fuzzier and fuzzier the longer you aren't sleeping well.
In regards to drinking again or some or not at all......no one can give the answers on what's best. We all know adding anything to our body that isn't natural is going to have bad impacts...pills, alcohol, food.....the list just doesn't end. Unless we are Vegan to the max, we are all ingesting bad things every day. Well most of our air quality is bad anyway too!
I used to have two glasses of Pinot Noir a day. Or most days. Never really more or less, it was the amount that made me feel "good versus too drunk. I then did take sleep medication....and I used to sleep 8 hours never getting up. Fast forward to three kids, being disabled, and freaking out all of the time from prior trauma....I don't even remember that calm person.
I cut out alcohol in 2019. I hadn't fallen sick yet, but I noticed it constipated me and not that was just not worth it. Eventually I got COVID and my life blew up into pieces that I'm trying to hang on to at this point. I could probably ask for any med I wanted and the docs would give it to me because they just feel so bad. However, I am still trying to be mindful of how many meds, supplements and their interactions. For two years, I was on a med that only made things worse from a GI standpoint. They gave me the wrong diagnosis and I got a second opinion. Thank goodness.
I think everything in moderation. It is easy to fall back on junk food. Please look into PTSD counseling and a technique called EMDR. One last suggestion as I too am mostly home bound.....is there a way you can create a small schedule for yourself? This can limit grabbing snacks, etc. I had to create a daily food chart as I am to 6 times very small meals. When it comes to losing weight, I am a big fan of intermittent fasting. Years ago, taking off baby weight, I used IF and it worked great. I was able to get to 20 hours of fasting and 4 hours of eating. It will shrink your stomach....most folks land on a long term 16:8 hours after they lose weight. Seems easy if you just don't eat over night! I also put out my 6 meals the night before so I ensure I have the right mix of foods as I am mostly soft/liquid diet.
Oh My Gosh-I went from being able to drink a bottle of wine 4 days a week to even 1 drink making me sick. I'm fine until around 11:30 then I'm up all night physically sick and in a depression spiral for 2 or 3 days. Granted, I don't need to drink 4 days a week, but I would like to be able to go to happy hour with friends once or twice a month and be able to have a drink. I don't know what's going on.
You can always go out with friends and have a non alcoholic drink. There are lots of things around, as a lot of people who drive don’t like to have a drink. I find I would prefer not to drink than to have one and then crave another alcoholic drink when I know I can’t have one or I will be over the limit.
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Anxiety and alcohol abuse.
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