Originally Posted by Proud90sKid

This is one of the hardest things to address permanently. Dont beat yourself up over it. Few attempts actually succeed long term unfortunately. I wish I had advice, but I dont because I can simply relate too much and havent yet had lasting success. I wish I knew how to address alcohol cravings without side effects or drinking. There is that naltrexone stuff I mentioned, but it causes appetite loss as a side effect. I don’t think I can deal with that (underweight and also struggling to gain for some reason), but maybe you can. Just take some when you want to have a “cheat day”. You still get credit for the 26 days imo, so you didn’t “lose” sobriety. It is against human nature to go from doing something frequently to not a all suddenly. Everyone I know who succeeded on their first attempt did so as a result of ending up in the legal system where they basically had no choice. Realistically, there is going to be a brief interruption along the way. Just try to keep it brief and not call your effort a failure and give up. Nearly 4 weeks sober is not failure.

Edit: I don’t mean to sound harsh at all. But frankly, I expected this sobriety streak to fail. But, I also strongly believe you will find a sustained relief from this in the not so distant future. It is at least one of your first attempts and this is how it often goes.

Originally Posted by Proud90sKid

Yes, you absolutely do not want to take the chance and drive and drinking. I got into that habit in 2018 and nothing ever happened so I stopped even thinking much about it. Then one night this past July my left headlight went out and I didnt notice until I was pulled over. Got arrested for DUI. Now my license is suspended, my insurance is probably going to be unaffordable and I may have to sell the car. Not to mention being on probation is going to really suck(cant even use medical marijuana without jumping through a bunch of hoops… also have to agree that you can be searched at any time by your PO). Oh and during the mandatory DUI school, they force almost everyone into mandatory substance abuse treatment. Not saying I dont have a problem, but the court system is not designed to help defendants. Thought I was saving all these years not ubering. Now I really gotta pay. Wasnt worth it. At least I didnt cause an accident while drunk in all of those years. That would have been really bad. Most people caught for DUI have been doing it for a long to very long time before finally getting caught. But it can happen the first time too. Either way, it is an easy thing to mak a habit of if you do start making excuses to drive afte drinking(ie. Im likely over 0.08 but Im not THAT drunk, “it is only a short distance”, “ I may be drunk but I can still drive and Ill just be careful to not get pulled over”, “ I have had a few at home and taking some risk and driving tonight is the difference between a fun night out and sitting in my room alone staring at the wall”). Eventually you get used to driving at least buzzed and stop even making the excuses. Just takes one time to see the blue lights behind you. They only have to get lucky once. I had to get lucky everyday.

Good job on your sobriety. Did you have any cravings when you first stopped? I find this difficult/ almost impossible. I managed to make it one day last day weekend after a recurrence of an alcohol induced illness that Im not supposed to drink with. Then I missed drinking at the bar and thought a beer would not hurt. Do you miss nights out? Like I said, I temporarily got sober in 2020 and although it didnt stick, it was very hard to hear the neighboring bar (which just reopened after lockdown) blasting music. Eventually, I lost my taste for it but then it came back.

In 2018, I managed 6 weeks sober. I thought much clearer- like my IQ was 10 points higher. It really does make you feel better. Do you have plans for remaining sober or are you just taking it on day at a time? 26 days is really amazing. Some otherwise nice people are sitting in jail right now because they cant remain sober for any length of time even on probation that requires you to not drink.

For what it is worth: one thing that really helped the social aspect for me at first was kava bars. Not sure about health effects of kava and kratom, but it helped. Kratom can cause withdrawal if you take it daily though. You can always go and just drink some yerba mate or green tea and nobody will think anything of that. That would be better. I have found it annoying to be at a regular bar drinking non- alcoholic drinks when people around me are getting drunk… for many reasons. I find the drunk people annoying when sober and also have to deny a constant voice in my head telling me to drink.

Originally Posted by Mindfulness.

Originally Posted by Proud90sKid

Good job. How do you feel? Normally 7 days is around the time that the mental haze starts lifting but other times I still feel the jitters at that time and am not thinking straight. I have actually considered getting a script for antabuse during probation (the stuff that actually makes you super sick when you drink by inhibiting a particular liver enzyme that processes the acetaldehyde toxin from alcohol, so you feel deathly hungover quickly) just to discourage any temptation as I dont want to go to jail. Do you have a plan for the future yet, or are you just taking every day at a time? At 7 days, it is fine to not yet have a plan- but you do need to eventually have one. One that is either:1) self sobriety without any program,2) sobriety with a program or long term medication (for me, antabuse would be short term and then naltrexone long term if I can tolerate the side effects), or 3) just taking a break. You need to figure out which of the three options will be the most effective for your situation or you may relapse. I didnt have a plan during my first sobriety attempt. I initially chose option 1 but then it evolved into option 3 as I didnt rigidly stick to it

Originally Posted by Mindfulness.

Originally Posted by Proud90sKid

0 days. But Im going to be put on probation eventually for DUI, so that will probably have to change. Honestly, I would be more open to taking time off alcohol voluntarily if I wasnt going to be forced into sobriety. I have an “enjoy it while I can” /FOMO attitude now, which isnt the best, BUT.

I had a pretty good sobriety streak (from alcohol) from 2020 to 2022, though I had some slips during that time. I got back into drinking because I started semi-conciously thinking of “having an intentional slip/cheat day” as an option to deal with stress or occassional cravings. I started feeling the slips were nothing to even worry about. I was disappointed every time by the alcohol buzz….until I suddenly started enjoying it again and I went back to regular drinking.

I dont really want to stop drinking, but I want to stop some negative impacts it has on me. I am considering alternative recovery when probation is over- this would entail taking the anti-craving drug naltrexone an hour before drinking every time I drink. It is not the same pill that makes you sick when mixed with alcohol. Rather, it blocks some of that giddy feeling you get when you drink so you want to drink less over time. The brain eventually forgets how alcohol used to feel. If you are trying to get sober and having trouble with the traditional way, you can look this method up. It is called the Sinclair method. Some people need to start with a lower dose though than this method recommends due to side effects. It is not a medication you need to forever take daily, just on the days you drink- which may be everyday at first but will likely decrease.