Alcoholism Support Thread - Down the hatch

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⋖ cørdion ⋗ said:
I tried that online test and other than amount/frequency, all those "ARE YOU RUINING YOUR LIFE!?" questions just fall flat to me. I guess thankfully I haven't had alcohol actively affect my life outside isolated fridays.
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I'm not trying to talk down to you but it does eventually get to the point where those incredibly fucking obvious questions are the slap across the chops that you need.

I've done some incredibly stupid shit whilst drunk that i'd never even contemplate normally. Straight up potentially life changing stuff that was just a shoulder shrug because i was most of a bottle of vodka deep at the time so nothing mattered to me anymore. This shit is evil and it makes you not give a shit about the consequences of anything you do.

I've had various friends, family, co-workers etc. not manage to come out the other side of it. Straight up "Bill was found dead in his house, might have been there for a couple of days". He would have been scoffing at those same online test questions right along with you and me because it was never going to be him that was drinking himself to death, perish the thought.
 
⋖ cørdion ⋗ said:
Surely it's already a problem to me, but as they say in South Park, if you fight every day not to drink, alcohol still controls your life. I tried that online test and other than amount/frequency, all those "ARE YOU RUINING YOUR LIFE!?" questions just fall flat to me. I guess thankfully I haven't had alcohol actively affect my life outside isolated fridays.
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There are levels. If you are at all concerned about your drinking I'd just stop.

I've met plenty of high-bottom drunks who had successful professional careers while hiding vodka in the toilet paper roll dispenser in the bathroom. "Ruining your life" is not a good benchmark.
 
Froggy Fresh Sextape said:
There are levels. If you are at all concerned about your drinking I'd just stop.

I've met plenty of high-bottom drunks who had successful professional careers while hiding vodka in the toilet paper roll dispenser in the bathroom. "Ruining your life" is not a good benchmark.
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I hate all the AA catchphrase shit but one I heard that stuck with me was "It's not a problem until it is".

That was what I was thinking about a year ago when I ended up in A&E because drinking a litre-ish of vodka a day isn't really sustainable in the long run.
 
trent said:
I hate all the AA catchphrase shit but one I heard that stuck with me was "It's not a problem until it is".
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Yeah, nobody starts out trying to hold down shots of bottom-shelf vodka at 5 AM to kill the shakes. Everyone starts out by partying with friends drinking on the weekend and then some people can keep it at that and some can't.

You won't find out which group you fall into until it becomes undeniable. The human brain is very very good at rationalizing why you're drinking and why you're not an alcoholic, you're definitely not like those other guys. Then a decade later you wonder what happened.
 
world of shit said:
So, I stuck with my taper plan. It was probably not necessary, but wanted to minimize any sleep, work, or health related problems from just white knuckling it. Also, there's some research that tapering keeps cravings, relapse, etc down because it creates more of a natural gaba recovery in the brain, rather than a sudden rubberband jolt to them brain chems. I went from a 2 year habit of ~4-8 shots a night, to 1.5 shots at a .5 shot reduction per week. Once i hit the 1 shot/night mark, I jumped off.

For the first 2 nights, sleep was a bit of an issue, and noticed some heart palpitations and rapid pulse, but nothing serious. It wasn't too bad all in all, but without CBD/THC edibles, sleep would probably have been an issue.

Offically 2 weeks no booze...pretty much zero cravings or desire to drink, quite the opposite in fact.

If you have the willpower and schedule to do this, I highly recommend it.
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So, update on all this from April. Haven't drank at all since I tapered off (well, one exception while a few days in Vegas).

Ended up tapering off Kratom last month (from 10-12g a day for years to nothing).

Neither one was hard -- I think a taper really helps with keeping any brain chemical whiplash from occurring after you quit. If you are starting to get in trouble with either, I highly recommend at least using it to cut tolerance or daily intake.

I don't plan on going straight edge or anything, just re-establishing control, dopamine and tolerance reset.

Not sure how long I'll keep away from those two -- but right now I'm pretty content to just pop a THC gummy if I need to relax or sleep after a long workday.
 
world of shit said:
So, update on all this from April. Haven't drank at all since I tapered off (well, one exception while a few days in Vegas).

Ended up tapering off Kratom last month (from 10-12g a day for years to nothing).

Neither one was hard -- I think a taper really helps with keeping any brain chemical whiplash from occurring after you quit. If you are starting to get in trouble with either, I highly recommend at least using it to cut tolerance or daily intake.

I don't plan on going straight edge or anything, just re-establishing control, dopamine and tolerance reset.

Not sure how long I'll keep away from those two -- but right now I'm pretty content to just pop a THC gummy if I need to relax or sleep after a long workday.
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The interesting part about a dopamine reset is that it can also include a "media diet" which also includes chatrooms, social media and other shit.

I've unintentionally been on one recently and it does make life a bit more interesting once again in certain ways.
 
Yesterday was 1 year sober.

A year ago, I lost my life (There were 3 defib charges on my hospital bill), lost my job (2nd time due to drink), lost my house, and lost my dog. I was alone in the world, isolated, friendless, and utterly miserable and defeated. I'd given up ever being anything but a reprobate alcoholic and was just riding the train to the end of its line.
A year in, I'm working again for more pay, I'm about to move into my own place again, and my life is fuller than it ever has been. Like 50 people messaged me IRL congratulating me over the past few days. I've been given gifts, coins, cards, more hugs than I can count. My roommates threw a pizza party for me. Might even get my dog back, once I sort out my relationship with the relative who is taking care of her. Fuck, I'm even dating again, and the concept fills me with optimism instead of cynical bitterness. The turnaround sounds cheesy and ludicrous when written out.

And the best part is, I rarely even think of drinking. When the topic comes up, it's mostly been nostalgia instead of craving. I was at a bachelor's weekend with a whole lot of normal adult drug use and didn't partake. I routinely show up at bars to meet with friends and content myself with a ginger beer or seltzer. No one really cares, rarely do they even comment on it if they notice. The world is surprisingly accepting of alcoholics. Makes me feel bad for the zoomers I knew in treatment who were coming in off of weed-induced psychosis getting shit from the old timers for "not using a real drug" because at least my addiction is pretty normalized.
 
neger psykolog said:
The interesting part about a dopamine reset is that it can also include a "media diet" which also includes chatrooms, social media and other shit.

I've unintentionally been on one recently and it does make life a bit more interesting once again in certain ways.
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Totally agree. It's good to take back control of your neurochemistry, at the very least, a few months out of the year.

Next on my agenda to break the vape habit (but i'll always do gum or Zyn), then after that I'll be taking a few months long dopamine reset from doomscrolling and video games.

I'll always pop an THC gummy if I can't sleep, but will try to keep that in check by experimenting with hemi-sync or meditation first.
 
Just stumbled upon this thread. I am an alcoholic whos been trying to quit. 2025 was the most sober days (30 days in a row once) i've had since like a decade. Unfortunately i have been back at it and what really fucks me up is the immense amount of guilt and shame i have the next morning. It is funny i could be watching a sobriety video in the afternoon, agreeing how much it all makes sense and like clockwork 8pm comes and i am off to the pub.
 
world of shit said:
I'll always pop an THC gummy if I can't sleep, but will try to keep that in check by experimenting with hemi-sync or meditation first.
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I usually recommend magnesium glycinate for sleep. Has to be the glycinate kind 'cause glycine makes you sleepy too. Plus anyone with a history of heavy drinking could use the magnesium.

Don't take too much or you'll get violent diarrhea though.
 
Froggy Fresh Sextape said:
I usually recommend magnesium glycinate for sleep. Has to be the glycinate kind 'cause glycine makes you sleepy too. Plus anyone with a history of heavy drinking could use the magnesium.

Don't take too much or you'll get violent diarrhea though.
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I'm familiar, but thanks for the information. I already ran through the gamut of supplements for sleep (apigin, glycine, l-theanine, magnesium, lemon balm, melatonin). I prefer micro-mag since I take it before bed along with a protein shake, and micro-mag doesn't compete with the calcium in milk. But from my experiments, nothing works better than 5-10mg of thc with cbd.

But magnesium supplementation is something every American should do (and vitamin D/K-2).

Interesting fact, several researchers studying suicide cases and post-mortem data observed teh one common thing people who died by suicide was abnormally low magnesium levels, especially in: cerebrospinal fluid and brain tissue. All had systemic magnesium deficiency linked to neuropsychiatric instability. This is what formed the broader hypothesis that magnesium deficiency lowers the 'inhibitory brake' of the brain, resulting in impulsivity, despair, over-stress, and suicidal behavior.
 
world of shit said:
Interesting fact, several researchers studying suicide cases and post-mortem data observed teh one common thing people who died by suicide was abnormally low magnesium levels, especially in: cerebrospinal fluid and brain tissue. All had systemic magnesium deficiency linked to neuropsychiatric instability. This is what formed the broader hypothesis that magnesium deficiency lowers the 'inhibitory brake' of the brain, resulting in impulsivity, despair, over-stress, and suicidal behavior.
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I've run into the same theory but you have to be careful with correlation vs causation.

The majority of cases I've seen with hypomagnesemia are either due to AUD or an ED (including AN and people on the spectrum who just have weird diets.)

So is a magnesium deficiency causing that? Or were they like that in the first place and that's what led to the hypomagnesemia?
 
Absolutego said:
Yesterday was 1 year sober.

A year ago, I lost my life (There were 3 defib charges on my hospital bill), lost my job (2nd time due to drink), lost my house, and lost my dog. I was alone in the world, isolated, friendless, and utterly miserable and defeated. I'd given up ever being anything but a reprobate alcoholic and was just riding the train to the end of its line.
A year in, I'm working again for more pay, I'm about to move into my own place again, and my life is fuller than it ever has been. Like 50 people messaged me IRL congratulating me over the past few days. I've been given gifts, coins, cards, more hugs than I can count. My roommates threw a pizza party for me. Might even get my dog back, once I sort out my relationship with the relative who is taking care of her. Fuck, I'm even dating again, and the concept fills me with optimism instead of cynical bitterness. The turnaround sounds cheesy and ludicrous when written out.

And the best part is, I rarely even think of drinking. When the topic comes up, it's mostly been nostalgia instead of craving. I was at a bachelor's weekend with a whole lot of normal adult drug use and didn't partake. I routinely show up at bars to meet with friends and content myself with a ginger beer or seltzer. No one really cares, rarely do they even comment on it if they notice. The world is surprisingly accepting of alcoholics. Makes me feel bad for the zoomers I knew in treatment who were coming in off of weed-induced psychosis getting shit from the old timers for "not using a real drug" because at least my addiction is pretty normalized.
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Then I'll be the 51st. Congrats brother.
 
I drove through the snow storm to get to a meeting and no one told me the place was closed because of the snow storm. I guess I showed my dedication to the cause, but fuck me if the roads weren't dogshit.
 
trent said:
I'm not trying to talk down to you but it does eventually get to the point where those incredibly fucking obvious questions are the slap across the chops that you need.
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I'm well aware it's a slippery slope, and I've clearly got an addictive personality, but it's silly how little it truly affects me. If I got plans the day after, no issues not drinking. I've however basically relapsed to drinking every friday night again whereas I was/am hoping to go sober in 2026. It really just is the fucking boredom. I could say it's my issues at work or social isolation that makes me drink, but it's the boredom (which is obviously a symptom of other issues). I get up 6AM on my days off, to do what? It's snowy and cold. I can't even entertain going for a run or a bike trip.
Absolutego said:
A year in, I'm working again for more pay, I'm about to move into my own place again, and my life is fuller than it ever has been. Like 50 people messaged me IRL congratulating me over the past few days. I've been given gifts, coins, cards, more hugs than I can count. My roommates threw a pizza party for me. Might even get my dog back, once I sort out my relationship with the relative who is taking care of her. Fuck, I'm even dating again
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And success stories like this make me feel even more hopeless about it because these people have alcohol ruin an already stimulating life. I've got nothing going on, so drinking isn't gonna screw anything up. There's a healthy challenge in going sober for the hardship of it sure, but I just see no reason to struggle through it, just so I can wake up 6am saturday morning and do nothing. I know that once you're sober for a month in a row it doesn't even cross your mind, but the darkness of winter and issues at work ain't putting me in that healthy mindset required to push through. If I obligated myself to a sports club on sundays and an event or outing every saturday, I'd prefer that. Shit it's probably what I need in life, but I prefer being miserable right now.
 
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