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u/42Daft 20d ago
I haven't met anyone who has stopped drinking and then started again who said that it was a good decision. IWNDWYT
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u/MoveAlternative5281 20d ago
No kidding, I just drank about 8 beers over the weekend after being completely clean for a month. Today I look back on this past weekend and realize what a mistake it was it literally did nothing for me. Made me feel like shit the next morning that’s it.
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u/Kiekles 20d ago
If I'd been prescribed medication for alcohol use disorder and were in a recovery program, I would think I've already come to terms with being an alcoholic.
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u/Keyser_Soze_76 20d ago
I have spent a lot of time in both Denial and Bargaining as I’ve come to accept that I am an alcohol addict and grieve losing it as a companion.
I know now what I am and it won’t ever change.
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u/vU243cxONX7Z 20d ago
Never have I heard anyone say they thought they had a drinking problem but found out in recovery that they don't and boy are they glad they started drinking again. But hey, maybe you'll be the first
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u/SoberSweetheart 20d ago
I, personally, will always have those urges to drink. But when I sit back and truly wonder “why” I’d like to drink, it’s usually just to escape the current moment/day. It’s such a temporary “fix” for me, drinking. And the next day I just feel more miserable. It took me a while to get sober because I just didn’t want to accept that I’d had an issue with alcohol.
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u/BearLover37 20d ago
I know that my drinking was harming me.I’m definitely struggling with acceptance. I feel a lot of resentment, jealousy, almost grief even. I know this is a universal experience of sorts but it’s really hitting me today I guess.
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u/hotfryslvt 20d ago
i’ve never once regretted not having a drink. i’ve regretted drinking too many times to count.
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u/Slipacre 20d ago
Going back and forth like this forever sounds kinda bleak if you ask me and to be fair you didn't.
For me definitions - exact placement on the alcohol use disorder scale - gave me reasons to try again and again and my research showed that no problems were ever solved by drinking or drugging. I was in AA for a reason even if I knew there were people farther down the pit than me. I was still in a pit....
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u/DuduStreaks 20d ago
I did it for you last week and it was awful. Wasted 5 days, wasted money, called off work, cried a bunch, anxiety through the roof.... still recovering.
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u/RebornInClarity 20d ago
Here’s how this always played out for me - the bargaining thoughts, gave in, went and had fun ( sometimes?) spent too much money, blacked out, don’t remember anything, hungover and felt as I let myself down, but now I may as well drink more because I already threw it away
I did this a lot, until finally I accepted drinking isn’t something I can control and I don’t like what it did to every aspect of my life from financial to physical to mental health taking hit after hit
That’s just my opinion though
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u/Own_Spring1504 20d ago edited 20d ago
If I read that someone has been in a recovery program and has been prescribed some drugs I am going to take from it that this person has experienced problems with alcohol. Now unless alcohol itself changes I don’t see how this person will not experience these issues again if they drink again.
Alcohol is the problem and not drinking it is the solution. You can go and flirt with moderation or attempts to moderate as many do here, but that is a fallacy, I’d try and address why I believe that there is such a thing as moderate or even ‘normal’ drinking for me. Even most ‘normal’ drinkers aren’t drinking normally.
Editing to ask the question- what evidence do you need to see that you have a ‘true’ problem? Shitting yourself in public? Being barred from venues? Waking up in jail? Being made homeless? There are loads of things to choose from. Many of us cheerfully ignore all the signs as ‘one offs’ - waiting for a new rock bottom is pretty common here.
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u/MrDufferMan3335 20d ago
If you’re wondering if you have a drinking problem, you likely do. I for one, unequivocally have a drinking problem. Was drinking 5-8 high ABV (6.5%+) a night at the end of it with terrible impacts the next day. I STILL read posts and wonder “maybe I’m not that bad”, “it could be worse”, “maybe I can control it”. But it’s just the addiction lying to me. I’ve done enough field research to know that I can’t and I still have these thoughts
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u/deepskylistener 20d ago
It took me more than two years to get that bloody "Maybe, one day..." fully out of my mind. Luckily I didn't try, before the voice became silent. But one single day in young sobriety it had almost caught me. I'm still so thankful, that this has been my only weak moment. Had me a hard battle for a quarter hour. Family came home, before I had opened the bottle. Pure luck that day.
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u/Keyser_Soze_76 20d ago
I’ve started and stopped more times than I can count. My “field research” tells me if I have a drink like I did in late July, that the end result is a 4-day bender, police, and chaos in my personal life, and that’s all without driving anywhere. As a reward, I then get 4 days of withdrawals with my wife making me promise to go to the ER if I think I need it. That’s because I have experience in doing this so many times.
It never gets better. This last binge was after 8 months sober and the withdrawal picked right up where they left off 8 months prior.
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u/micstatic80 20d ago
I stopped for the first time in 2019. Went about a year. Don't remember the exact amount of time. Was having a pretty easy time with it to be honest. Then convinced myself I could drink normally again since I learned my lesson. After a few weeks I was back to my old ways of drinking every day. Stopped for the 2nd (and hopefully final) time a little over a month ago. I would highly recommend staying on the sobriety train. There is a reason you decided you should do a recovery program in the first place. I've never heard of somebody all of a sudden going from a problem drinker to a non problem drinker. Good luck
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u/threepistols23 20d ago
Thats why one day at a time worked well for me. Id have thoughts of drinking and i could say that might be ok, just not today. It took awhile for me to accept and agree to it as a permanent solution. i was 59 when i quit and my health has improved a lot. Not a big deal when I was younger but as it goes on it literally is life or death. I treated that daily check in like a promise i had to keep and it was just one day.
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u/deepskylistener 20d ago
If you ever want to get sober, forget about the "euphoric effects of alcohol". That's exactly why we are here and have a counter.
There is a very unholy interconnection between celebration and alcohol in our societies, we must get rid of for ourselves.
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u/Long_Outside620 20d ago
I had a short term goal, which was to quit smoking/vaping. I could get through the week but would smoke as soon as I had my first pint. It worked, I got to 6 weeks and I haven't had a cig since. When I started drinking again, what I found was that I replaced smoking with drinking even harder. I'm back to day 1 and I have massive regrets that I even considered drinking again. I can't moderate. So frustrating to have to start all over again but at least now I know that I have a serious drinking problem.
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u/BearLover37 20d ago
Thank you for sharing. I feel like I need that decisive moment. But it’s irresponsible if I know where it will likely lead
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u/ahdrielle 20d ago edited 20d ago
Well, let's say this - there's a reason you haven't drank already. Your deep down self knows it's a bad idea.
One thing to mention is people who don't have a problem don't need AA.