Giving up Drinking

[mike.mckenzie]

I'm seriously thinking of doing this. I've just spent another Saturday sat here on the couch feeling like death all day. A whole weekend day wasted... I could have been doing something constructive, and I'm in work tomorrow so there goes my weekend.

Has anyone else here done it? Gone tee-total I mean?

I managed to knock smoking on the head a few years ago with no real problems, but the social element of drinking is so intrinsically tied to "having a good time", I don't know if its going to be possible.

Also, I hate being sober when everyone else is hammered...but I really hate feeling like this. I'm getting too old.

[bekisman]

Well what you do, is go into a pub with your mates and have a drink from each of the bottles along the back of the bar - see how far you can go. I won and almost reached the end of the shelf before dissolving into oblivion and being unconscious for near three days..

That was in 1964 - have not touched a drink since..

Not saying this is ideal - but it worked for me, a stupid young squaddie in Germany..

[Torvaig]

You say you are getting too old? Well then, time to stop the "getting hammered" weekends and if you need convincing, take a look at all those who are hammered enjoying themselves by looking like slack-jawed idiots with bleary eyes and often childish swearing etc., thinking they look cool. Time to grow up and enjoy life as it really is, with good friends who enjoy good company, good conversation and have a laugh without getting hammered.

Start doing something constructive with your weekends like taking your kids or your friends kids for mad days out at the beach (yes, even in this weather) or joining in coaching them for football matches, teaching them a musical instrument or getting to grips with chess, going to riding school etc.

Get involved with the right people and start a whole new weekend regime with sport, music or just energetic leisure nonsense. Good luck in your quest....

[ducati]

I slowly went off drink after being a party animal in my yoof. I'm not tee total but I drink so rarely I might as well be. The trick is; I never really liked to drink at home and I don't live near a pub. Oh, and I have no friends

[squidge]

Lol ducati I don't believe that. Get pregnant mike, get pregnant, breastfeed then get pregnant again and breastfeed. Stopped me drinking.

Failing that volunteer to drive!

[canadagirl]

Watch someone die of liver disease and that'll fix ya. So volunteer at your nearest hospice, you'll have something to do, and brighten some people's time. Stopping alcohol can be one of the hardest things to do and often has to be done on your own. You'd be amazed how many people will be supportive and helpful if you ask. Good luck.

[bagpuss]

You soon won't be able to afford much more than one drink at a time. Not such a bad thing

[annemarie482]

to kick the heavy drink, i think you need to keep the social side of things up but in a different way.
try going out for meals in groups (or better staying in for meals, take turns etc) and having a sociable one or two drinks at the table with the good crack!
your still in the good company having a good yarn but have food to soak the booze and no need to go on a bender! lol

works for me

[Gizmo]

I stopped drinking for 2 full years, but to do that i had to completely give up my social life, as like yourself, i hated being sober when all my mates were pished. I've been back on it for the last 14 months, but come monday, i'm going tee-total again for a few months, so that i can lose some of the excess baggage that i've picked up over the last year.

Giving up drinking can be a pretty tough thing to do, and in my experience, you really need to have some kind of activity/hobby to replace it with. But good luck with it if you give it a go.

[_Ju_]

I really don't get what is so much fun about getting pished. Just thinking about the hangover the next day, the pounding headache, the insatiable thirst and queasy stomach for goodness knows how long: is the few hours of poorly percieved fun of drinking to get there really worth it?
I like a glass of wine once in a while. But I don't have to see the bottom of the bottle in the same hour or even day that I open it. And that does not mean i do not have fun or enjoy my evenings. I don't like it when people I go out with get pished either, but that is because they become irritating and obnoxious and think it is funny. If I got drunk as well, it would be to make myself oblivious to them.
If you do have a drink when you go out with friends, why don't you stick to a couple instead of so much that it makes you ill? If you find you cannot stop yourself at 1/2 drinks, maybe it is urgent that you do something about it.

[gleeber]

After reading that lot Mike I think I might keep drinking.

[gleeber]

PS Where's the smilies when yopu need them?

[pat]

Mike
How about volunteering with a youth group - many young football teams train on a Saturday, charity shops are always looking for volunteers, local/hospital radio station are usually desperate for help.
Go to visit friends and relations you have not seen for a long time - do not know if you have grandparents go to visit them and actually speak to them about their lives, you may get a surprise at some of the things they have done with their lives.
Take up fishing, hiking, photography so many things to pass the time and you will also feel you have accomplished something and saved yourself a few pounds from going into the publicans purse.
There is nothing wrong with a drink but to get hammered every week - the only person who benefits is the landlord and you feel rough for another day.

[ShelleyCowie]

I am the same as Ju! The thought of a hangover really puts me off!

Sometimes (rarely) i will enjoy a morgans or a kopparberg in the house with the hubby. But even a whole bottle of kopparberg is off-putting to me and will only drink half. Was on a night out just before Christmas with some friends and thats the most i had to drink in years! (still didnt get drunk though)

I find that if you have something to keep you occupied then your fine. I tend to watch a film at nights, play on XBL with the hubby, do my scrap books of the kids...anything! But i dont think about drink. Rarely occurs to me having one!

Good luck with it though! I wish you all the best x

[EDDIE]

If your going out to the pub to get hammered every weekend what would you spend £50 or £60 probably more add that up over a month and look at the money your wasting to get a sorehead and hangover when you could either save it or put that money into a hobby or activity that you would like to do.
I think a lot of the urge to go out and have a drink and get hammered is just a phase you go through when your young
as what most people do and when you get a we bit older you look back and you think how silly i was drinking to that excess but thats just hienz site for you.
Me personnaly i would rather spend my money on something nice or anything but alcohol

[Metalattakk]

So, what has been suggested so far:

1. Drink yourself into oblivion in the vague hope that it'll put you off for life.
2. Taking your kids or your friends kids for mad days out at the beach.
3. Teaching the kids a musical instrument.
4. Getting to grips with chess.
5. Going to riding school.
6. Get constantly pregnant.
7. Enrol at your local hospice so you can watch people die.
8. Host dinner parties with all your great mates.
9. Just drink less, you alky.
10. Volunteer with a youth group.
11. Volunteer with a charity shop.
12. Join Hospital Radio.
13. Visit your relations.
14. Take up fishing.
15. Take up hiking.
16. Take up photography.

You know, you can do all of the above (apart from option 6) and still support your local publican.

My advice would be to learn to recognise the tipping point: The realisation that the next drink is going to be the one that knocks you over the crest of the hill and onto the slippery slope on the other side.

I do this by avoiding spirits completely, as they hurtle you up the hill too fast and before you know it you're like Evel Knievel looking for a landing ramp. And we know how that usually worked out.

Stick to beer, and support your local pubs!

[onecalledk]

It depends why you drink in the first place surely. You have realised that you dont want the hangover and you dont like wasting a day but if you do the same things all the time you will get the same result. Drinking plays havoc with the human body and todays society seems to be drink orientated. When I lived in the central belt I was amazed just how much drink played a part in EVERYTHING. Lunch time would be a pub lunch, straight after work go for a few to unwind, Friday nights was a few after work that turned into a pub crawl/nightclub. Its a bit like breathing to some people.

As I have got older the amount that I drink has lessened to the extent that I dont drink now but that is also for other reasons as well. It affects the work that I do if I was to drink so I dont. I dont feel out of place not drinking, when I go out to socialise I dont need an alcholic drink I can have a good time with good conversation and a laugh with the people that I am with and perhaps thats the key to your situation?

WHY do your mates drink? what is it that they get (apart from the hangover) from drinking? I dont personally understand HOW younger people can drink so much , the price of booze is scandelous!!

Whats a bit worrying in your post is the fact that you asked if anyone else had done this and how to do it. Surely the way to go is just STOP? If you get to the point that stopping fills you with dread or fear then perhaps time to visit your GP.

Lots of people continue to drink to excess without realising they have passed the "healthy" limit a long time ago. A female having ONE glass of wine EVERY night of the week is going OVER the recommended units. Doing this most weeks out of the year would see that female having a serious drink problem. She wouldnt be lying drunk in the gutter but would have built up her tolerance to drink over time .......

K

[mike.mckenzie]

Hmm, think I need to qualify this a little more. Friday was the first time I have been out on the town this year, and the first night since the work xmas do on December 17th, so nearly a month between nights out and thats not entirely unprecedented for me. I'm 34 now (so not THAT young onecealledk :-) ), and the weekly ritual (for a while in my early to mid 20's, it was daily) of going to the pub has all but stopped. The night out was me and my band mates catching up after xmas, so almost like a New Year drink. It wasn't even a late one, I was back in for 1:30am, admittedly a lot worse for wear!

Thanks for some of the suggestions. I'm quite a busy guy anyway, so do the kids musical instrument thing (son's a guitarist now), I do PC repairs, I bike ride, I do the days out with all 3 of the kids and have a decent job - so I'm not just lying around drinking with nothing better to do - thats why yesterday I was so frustrated at being incapacitated by going out the night before - I got nothing done at all. :-(

Another reason for me to stop - after going out on Friday night, I left my car in the work car park. Its always been fine there, so had no qualms about leaving it. Came in this morning to do some overtime and noticed my back window had been smashed in. Security guard told me a couple of hammered morons climbed on top of a parked taxi, urinated all over it, then walked into the car park and chucked a traffic cone through my rear windscreen. Brilliant. There's a massive dent on the hatchback door from the cone as well.

They got them on CCTV picking up the cone, but not them actually chucking it through the window, so the police can't do anything.

If I hadn't gone out on Friday, this wouldn't have happened. Gutted.

[Vistravi]

For myself i rarely drink to the point i'm pretty much tee total. The last time was in july when a good friend was up visiting us and even then it was only 2 drinks. I didn't even have one at new year or christmas. To be honest spend so long not being able to that i simply don't want to now.

The reason i don't drink is due to my young son and the fact that i enjoy driving too much. For me being fit to drive will come first. An extreme choice but works for me.

I'd rather get the crack with my friends and enjoy their company than suffer the stomach churning and lack of sleep from staying up all night.

You are properly better of changing what you drink and reducing the amount first. If you find that sticking to a max number of drinks when you are out helps to keep the hangover away but still enjoy yourself then its all good. But if that just makes you want more you will have to think about why you need to drink when out.

You can enjoy yourself without drinking.

[Vistravi]

Hmm, think I need to qualify this a little more. Friday was the first time I have been out on the town this year, and the first night since the work xmas do on December 17th, so nearly a month between nights out and thats not entirely unprecedented for me. I'm 34 now (so not THAT young onecealledk :-) ), and the weekly ritual (for a while in my early to mid 20's, it was daily) of going to the pub has all but stopped. The night out was me and my band mates catching up after xmas, so almost like a New Year drink. It wasn't even a late one, I was back in for 1:30am, admittedly a lot worse for wear!

Thanks for some of the suggestions. I'm quite a busy guy anyway, so do the kids musical instrument thing (son's a guitarist now), I do PC repairs, I bike ride, I do the days out with all 3 of the kids and have a decent job - so I'm not just lying around drinking with nothing better to do - thats why yesterday I was so frustrated at being incapacitated by going out the night before - I got nothing done at all. :-(

Another reason for me to stop - after going out on Friday night, I left my car in the work car park. Its always been fine there, so had no qualms about leaving it. Came in this morning to do some overtime and noticed my back window had been smashed in. Security guard told me a couple of hammered morons climbed on top of a parked taxi, urinated all over it, then walked into the car park and chucked a traffic cone through my rear windscreen. Brilliant. There's a massive dent on the hatchback door from the cone as well.

They got them on CCTV picking up the cone, but not them actually chucking it through the window, so the police can't do anything.

If I hadn't gone out on Friday, this wouldn't have happened. Gutted.

That is awful what they did to your car! Some people are simply idiots!

Sounds to me like you've made up your mind. Don't think it'll be too hard for you as you seem very determined that the drink was to blame.

There is nothing wrong with having a couple every so often. Saves the hangover and a social drink is nice as long as it stays as 1 or 2.