Help

It has been almost a month for me without drinking, I am surprised I don't have the urge to drink anymore which I am very thankful for.

That is an excellent update RobertM ! It must feel great .

Stay on your guard please . Addiction has a sneaky way of hitting us with - " Now that you're cured , you can go back to doing it once in a while / with limits / only on Sundays " - kinds of thoughts .

It wants to convince us that not only is the problem gone , it wasn't really a problem in the first place . I , unfortunately , have had personal experience with that little trick .

NewSunRising wrote:That is an excellent update RobertM ! It must feel great .

Stay on your guard please . Addiction has a sneaky way of hitting us with - " Now that you're cured , you can go back to doing it once in a while / with limits / only on Sundays " - kinds of thoughts .

It wants to convince us that not only is the problem gone , it wasn't really a problem in the first place . I , unfortunately , have had personal experience with that little trick .

This is EXACTLY it. It's like that quote about quitting smoking – it's very easy, I did it hundreds of times! I am glad you have no cravings and hope it stays that way. Beware social situations though because we are trained to do certain things. You enter an opening, a birthday, something like that. A waiter or friend hands you a flute of champagne or bottle of beer. You take a swig. That's how our hand/mouth coordination has been trained for a very long time. I am very fortunate in hating champagne and bubbly wine (and actually everything that's sweet or pink) so I never learned that particular habit. But if I went to a bar to see a bunch of friends and someone who doesn't know I am an addict handed me a beer there would be – small, but still – a chance I'd take a sip.

NewSunRising wrote:That is an excellent update RobertM ! It must feel great .

Stay on your guard please . Addiction has a sneaky way of hitting us with - " Now that you're cured , you can go back to doing it once in a while / with limits / only on Sundays " - kinds of thoughts .

It wants to convince us that not only is the problem gone , it wasn't really a problem in the first place . I , unfortunately , have had personal experience with that little trick .

My biggest problem here in Korea is there are a lot of "social drinking" since I don't speak a lot of Korean
it's hard to explain my condition and why I refuse to drink, My wife is the one explaining my condition.

What I do is (truthfully) telling people I have an illness which (truthfully) interact with alcohol very badly and that means (not truthfully) I cannot drink a drop. I used to be on depakine where this was actually true and that's why I cleaned up my act. Now I'm on other meds and I could theoretically have a beer or two, but it never ends there. So all my friends and family are aware that I do not drink and that's it.

Oliveira wrote:What I do is (truthfully) telling people I have an illness which (truthfully) interact with alcohol very badly and that means (not truthfully) I cannot drink a drop. I used to be on depakine where this was actually true and that's why I cleaned up my act. Now I'm on other meds and I could theoretically have a beer or two, but it never ends there. So all my friends and family are aware that I do not drink and that's it.

I went to a Christmas party last night and I did what you just said. I'm glad they understand and the party ended well. Thank you for your advice.