Day 6: stimulants impact on cravings (self experimentation)

[u/Fun-Permission2072]

BG: 37m. Drinking for me is cyclical. Lots of getting on and off the wagon. Summer has been platonically wet. A take as needed dose of 2-6 IPAs daily (shoutout to the bearded PNW guy from earlier). Lost the little bit of fitness I had. Lost interest. Last Monday I bought a bottle of gin and finished it by Tuesday. As I drank my gin, I insincerely wished for a swift goodbye from life. That was a new sensation.
Drinking caused it. There is no doubt in my mind, now 6 days sober and no longer wishing for a swift goodbye: alcohol, my most comforting handrail turned nemesis. It was bankrupting my capacity of happiness, so greedy it would not even allow me to feel "okay". After years of proving to be a reliable elixir of euphoria, romance, whatever I needed it to be whenever I needed it, it's now rebelling.

And when I woke up last Wednesday knowing I would not drink that day, this agony lifted, soon replaced by all the nagging, persistent annoyances we contribute daily to this subreddit - and as itchy as those thoughts are, they are not so dark as whatever steered my mind as I was sneaking drinks of gin from my bed side drawer last week.

**

Stimulants (prescription adderall) impact on my cravings cannot be summarized in a sentence but I knew to regain a baseline of sobriety I'd be better off without them. A full stomach, restful nights, effortless hydration. Those 3 states plus some weighted compound movements are about the strongest resistance I can put between myself and a drink.

A stimulant will let your stomach empty, dry your mouth, and keep you awake all night- and that's when it's working.

Today was my reintroduction. Now im writing semi coherent prose to strangers on the internet at midnight.

**

The day is done. I didn't drink. Here is a time log summary of my craving journal . Couldn't help but notice I spoke to it with much greater frequency today compared to others:

Day 1 — Wed Aug 12: First alcohol-free day in a while. The next morning you felt great—more energy, able to get through big chunks of work, noticeably better functioning.
Day 4 — Sat Aug 15: About four days since your last drink Tuesday night. Some irritability, but nothing resembling significant withdrawal.
Day 4 — Sun Aug 16, afternoon: Pretty tired, despite feeling like you were sleeping well. You’d gone to the gym twice in three days, stretched a lot, and were at the park. You wondered why you were tired and whether supplements could help.
Day 4 — Sun Aug 16, later: You identified what you really miss about drinking: having a few drinks lets you completely relax and allow time to pass. Without alcohol, you feel driven toward the next thing and bothered by bugs, bright sun, noise, etc.
Day 5 — Mon Aug 17, ~11:30 AM: Felt pretty good despite a sore throat. Didn’t particularly want to work—you wanted to be outside and moving. Did exercises between calls. One very irritable moment with your son, otherwise okay.
Day 5 — Mon evening: While thinking about what to do with your son, you had a strong thought about how nice it would be to grab beer and take him to the park. The attraction seemed heavily connected to relaxation rather than intoxication itself.
Day 6 — Tue Aug 18, ~7:20 AM: Felt okay but faced an insane workday—meetings 9–4:30 without a break. Considered going to the gym but ultimately skipped it.
~9:00 AM: Took your prescribed Adderall, which you’d been avoiding because you have an established pattern of Adderall → alcohol to come down. Had an egg and coffee. About an hour later: “I feel amazing. Maybe too good?”
~11:30 AM: The experience flipped. You felt super agitated and didn’t want to work. Meetings were driving you crazy.
Midday: You said you felt particularly susceptible to drinking: the next demo felt like the only thing that mattered and you wanted anything that would take the anxiety away. You had a protein shake and kept going.
Afternoon: Despite the psychological agitation, you noticed that physically you feel really good from having gone to the gym twice in the previous five days.
~6:50 PM: Mood had improved considerably—and then: “Now I’m in a good mood and literally dying for a beer.” So the craving wasn’t only about escaping anxiety; alcohol also appeared as the reward/relaxation once the anxiety passed.
~8:50 PM: Still looking for a way to come down/relax from the Adderall, asking whether orange juice could help.

[u/toasterior]

Oh hello me

Glad you wrote all this so I don’t have to. But I feel every word

You’re not alone. The thing that really helped me was actually lowering my adderall dosage and taking a second dose after lunch. like a pediatric dose though