Giving up alcohol

[CiggieStardust]

What are the best apps to use to help you through the times you think you need a drink? I'm using the NHS one and have pledged 6 drink free days. Except this week I've drunk 2 days, 3 bottles of wine😱. If I don't pull back it'll escalate again. I used to drink because I was upset but recently it's I been as a reward. I realise I must use sheer willpower now. I tend not to drink when I go out, I nominate myself as the driver, but I drink on my own in the evenings and then eat rubbish. I'm also trying to give up smoking but that is easier as NRts. Any tips greatly appreciated xx

[SoberDrunk1]

Hello Ciggie, I am an alcoholic. I tried all the tricks out there before entering the fellowship of AA in september 2006. After an initial struggle I took a deep dive into the book Alcoholics Anonymous and other workshops on the book on youtube. I came to realize as an alcoholic there is absolutely no chance of moderation and also staying away from the first drink. Yeah its a bummer. It took a deep realization that I have to drastically change the way I perceive the world. The alcoholic when he/she is not drinking is filled with all guilt and remorse fear... and that again leads us back to the first drink. And then the craving (that only alcoholics have) drink more than origianlly desired. You can look back at your own drinking history and see the pattern. There will be several attempts of quits and re-starts. There is no easy way out there. Its a vicious cycle of alcoholism. Our spiritual malady forces us into blank sports or have a peculiar mental twist just prior to taking that first drink and then the body takes over. Then we get drunk. Next day we wake up and wonder how did this all happen. There is a chapter "More about alcoholism" where they have 3 short stories to illustrate the vicious cycle of alcoholism. How the mind tricks each individual to take that first drink after a gap of dry time. The book is available online, you dont have to step into an AA meeting. Just empower yourself now.

[Isinatra]

The only thing that helped my addiction to alcohol was to stop drinking. I couldn’t do it on my own and I tried for years to stop. It never worked. I tried it all and invented a few. AA saved my life because it taught me how to live without alcohol. The whole program is what worked for me and many others. And the book of Alcoholics Anonymous is part of the whole program. I needed the people of AA to answer all the questions that the book made me wonder about. I had read the book on my own, but I was still on my own until I joined AA.

AA recommends to work on one thing at a time. Addressing the drinking and smoking together can be too overwhelming, but some are successful anyway. No stats available on that, though.