This may not be PC but I will ask anyway. - British Liver Trust

British Liver Trust

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This may not be PC but I will ask anyway.

Brett11 profile image
19 Replies

I’ve been alcohol free for about 19 months (2 weeks and one day lol. No, I’m not counting the days) BUT lately I’ve felt an urge to get pissed. Not to have just one drink but a bender. Has anyone else gone thru these feelings? I know that I won’t have a drink but it is just a niggling thought. Is it just a “stage” I’m going thru?

Sorry if my post upset anyone.

Cheers,

Brett

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Brett11 profile image
Brett11
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19 Replies

Haha wouldn't know ... never had that urge !

Just think of the hangover that would follow. That should be enough to put anyone off, although more often than not it's the complete opposite 😊

Paulwil profile image
Paulwil

I last drank in October 2016. Sometimes I get a thought like a few beers would be nice when I pass a pub garden on a sunny day. I was lucky that I didn't have a detox and I had no cravings.

I think we all have crazy thoughts. You cannot block something out of your mind that used to be the main focus of your life.

Best wishes

Paul

Brett11 profile image
Brett11

True! I’m lucky as I’m too lazy to walk to the offie which is just up the road. Can’t be arsed with pubs either these days lol

Fastkat profile image
Fastkat

Sunny day and a pint of cider in the beer garden is pure porn for the former drink dependent 👹

Best left in your imagination!

21 months dry 😇

hillyfields profile image
hillyfields

I'm nearly a year of (mostly) dry. Every now and then over the past year I've had a craving for a cold beer.. And had 2 halves. Last week I had a big craving and had a litre of beer.. Felt fine in myself but hated myself for going there. If I hadn't stopped myself then I feel like I could have slipped back into regular drinking so easily. Now back on the no alc beer.. Which mostly does the trick. I'll always love beer but i have low level cirrhosis so I know I can't have it. Meh. Such is life. The reality is that if I continue to drink it'll be a faster road to liver failure and all that entails. But we're all human.

1football profile image
1football in reply tohillyfields

It’s a phase do it and you will instantly regret it

dougalgromit profile image
dougalgromit in reply tohillyfields

Hi my husband had to be in the QE hospital for a few day as he was unwell and the transplant nurse was saying that you shouldn’t even have non alcoholic beer as you will just crave for the real beer please stay away from non alcoholic beer as it puts temptations in your way think how ill you will get if you drink again it really isn’t worth it

Good luck Donna x

Isabelle2 profile image
Isabelle2

I know what you mean. It’ll pass but it’s a pain when you get these cravings. Presumably if you’re on here it’s not a good idea that you should drink. One bender can lead to two etc, etc & then where would you be health wise? Stuffed?

Smyally profile image
Smyally

I used to like nothing better than a cold beer on a warm summer day, but I know I can’t have one. I was never a massive drinker but when your told you can’t have something it makes you want it all the more. I think that’s only human. The best thing to do is focus on something else or go for a nice walk.

scampi2122 profile image
scampi2122

I am sure some of it, is related to the better weather, the Summer days, BBQs, Pimms, Beer, oh how good it would taste. But the Bender? Maybe you just seek a bit of oblivion for a while, pop your head in the sand, that should do it :)

Barnetaccounts profile image
Barnetaccounts

Hi Brett,

Firstly examine why you stopped in the first place. Did you do it alone or utilise some help. My last drink was 16th October 2002, so nearly 16 years ago and I attend AA. The physical cravings went away pretty quickly, but occasionally like others have said I can yearn for a cold pint on a warm summers day. But here’s what I learnt, fast forward that tape and how does it end. For me it’s not pretty. I would lose my wife, my kids, my grandkids, the trust of everyone around me, and worst of all I would feel sorry for myself, and blame everybody else. Is that something I really want-hell no. Today my life is perfect, I may be dying but sometimes that’s how the cards fall. I want to die with alcoholism not because of it. Your feelings and urges are absolutely normal for someone who’s been alcohol dependant, but that’s all they are feelings and urges. The bender bit is the most worrying part for me, whenever I feel like that I am invariably running away from something. Something that will cause me pain and I want to avoid it, so I would think about reverting to “type”. That’s just something to think about.

Ray

Brett11 profile image
Brett11

Hi Ray,

I stopped drinking when I ended up in hospital with jaundice. Spent 3 weeks there. That was in October 2016. So I had a supervised detox which was easy. Not had a drink since. For me, going on a bender would have been thru boredom and feeling something different for a change. I confronted my demonds years ago. Being raped by my dad and all the beatings etc. I never think why me anymore. I just think hey ho, it happened now move on. I even became good friends with my dad before his dimentia set in. So I am out of deamons now. Life is too short and fickle to hold grudges or hate in my books.

Cheers,

Brett

in reply toBrett11

Mate that's terrible! I could never forgive my dad if he'd done anything like that to me. Life is too short indeed but I'm not wasting it on arseholes, family or not.

Brett11 profile image
Brett11

True but I’m still alive and he isn’t.

Hi Brett11,

I hope you don't mind my answering since it is my husband with the liver disease.

He quit drinking Nov 11 2015 when the doctors came into his room and told him if he kept drinking he would die. He went into the hospital here in the U.S. in liver and kidney failure and walked out to the doctors surprise with his kidneys recovered and his liver still a mess. He has not had a drink since, not even a taste. For which choice I and our sons are thankful.

We see his liver doctor every 6 months and hubby has asked the doctor if the reason they tell those with alcohol related disease not to drink is because they figure they will get back into the habit and the doctor said yes. Hubby has asked this question a couple times, I think to reinforce it to himself.

I did ask the doctor along the way if hubby could hace non-alcoholic drinks and he was given the okay for that, so we did Kaliber because it says it has zero alcohol but about a year ago hes started drinking other brands of n/a beers and his doctor is okay with that.

Hubby was/is primarily a beer drinker so it is good that there are more n/a beer on the market these days - for us. He doesn't seem to mind others drinking around him so that is good too.

I guess what I am trying to say is - for your own continued health and well being and for those who care for you please do your best to stay away from starting again. You could ask your doctor[s] if non-alcoholic drinks are okay for you if you feel it might help you. I do know that hubby has mentioned he occasionally would like to try a real beer.

Well, I see I've babbled quite a while.

Best wishes to you,

Mary

Brett11 profile image
Brett11

Thanks Mary. I can’t have non alcoholic beer etc as I don’t see the point. But it does help others. As I said earlier, it’s just an urge. I’m too lazy to follow it thru. We are off for a pub lunch with friends today and I know I won’t have any alcohol. We do tend to leave when our friends get a bit tipsy and they start talking gibberish lol.

Cheers,

Brett

Faithfull profile image
Faithfull

Yes when I'm told there is nothing wrong with liver and discharged getting worse but told not even fatty liver which is bull so yes I have a split second felt like getting out me head as no one really knows the shit apart from me liver me life hell but even being told I'm ok i will not give in to the drink as I no litre whisky drugs I done my own harm so whatever feelings you have or had or having you ain't give in and after that novel be proud of yourself as keeping off

Warrior1 profile image
Warrior1

Closing on 17 months me, but hey, that lingering thought, that a party/splash is due, even deserved maybe, at some future date, has to kept as just that - a thought to dismiss, quickly. It could destroy you and everything that you have built since the day you stopped. My thought anyway. Our illness, 'cunning, baffling and powerful' and one of the only illnesses that tell us we don't have it. True. A new life/way of living for us. Really, a day at a time and i know that to 'pick up' again will probably spell death for me and failing that, the ruination of everything i hold dear. We're the lucky ones and i know so many friends (and family too) who didn't make it, sadly. Every day, i say the serenity prayer and 'Life is good'. I'm not going back to that hell/DT's/shame etc again. Best of luck.

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