Has anyone here successfully given up alcohol?

I'm curious: have many people with BP here managed to give up drinking? I'm on Prozac and have been drinking and blacking out regularly recently. I went through a very dark period about two years ago which led to me drinking every day, managed to give it up for a month last year, but have been drinking nearly daily for months now. I feel very sad - its so much wasted money and time, but its so hard to stop. I swore to myself this morning I'd stop, but am writing this while drinking a can of cider...

I'm not really looking for any answers here - I know the usual ways of quitting: AA, exercise, replacing the drinking with other activities etc... I'd just like to hear from a few people who managed to quit drinking and how they managed to do it. Or if anyone else is struggling with quitting, please post also.

I have no problem, only drinking 4 to 6 glasses of wine per year.
But my addiction is shopping.
My $5000 income tax return arrived so I rushed out the door and spent $2800 on a camera lens and tripod.

It won't end until we make it end. It is up to us.
Nothing will help if the will is not there.

Take care,

skilsaw wrote:It won't end until we make it end. It is up to us.
Nothing will help if the will is not there.

Thanks for your reply. That's very true.

What kind of lens did you buy? I am a bit of a photographic nerd myself. No stranger to blowing money either...

[quote="darkrosesWhat kind of lens did you buy? [/quote]

I have a crop sensored Canon 7D. I bought Canon's EF 16-35mm f2.8 L II USM. I'm going to my Uncle's 99th birthday celebration this month and want to use it for posed group shots of up to 30 people. After that, landscapes and architecture. I'll also take a 50mm prime for individuals and small families. All my lenses are EF so I can switch to a full frame camera when so inspired.

The Tripod is a GITZO Traveler 2542T and Manfroto Head 498RC2 with quick release to match the quick release plates for my other heavier tripod. I ordered these from B&H in New York because for some reason, the Canadian distributors couldn't get the tripod.

Good Luck battling alcohol. I had a stranger buzz my condo a few months ago. She said "Call an ambulance, I'm having seizures." They turned out to be alcohol related. Alcohol is a real evil demon.

skilsaw wrote:I have a crop sensored Canon 7D. I bought Canon's EF 16-35mm f2.8 L II USM. I'm going to my Uncle's 99th birthday celebration this month and want to use it for posed group shots of up to 30 people. After that, landscapes and architecture. I'll also take a 50mm prime for individuals and small families. All my lenses are EF so I can switch to a full frame camera when so inspired.

Sounds like a great set-up, great for landscape photography. I've mainly used a 50mm lens with an old film camera. I prefer the non-zoom lenses as they give you less choice in the image. Would love to get a really good macro lens for photographing insects some day ...

skilsaw wrote:Good Luck battling alcohol. I had a stranger buzz my condo a few months ago. She said "Call an ambulance, I'm having seizures." They turned out to be alcohol related. Alcohol is a real evil demon.

Yes, it can be evil. Its sad as I'd love to be able to drink a glass of red wine from time to time, but it just isn't possible for me any more and it looks like I'm going to have to permanently quit.

I was a heavy drinker until Nov. 26, 2011 when I found myself Baker Acted in the local mental ward after cutting my wrists with a kitchen knife. I was unmediated at the time and drinking heavily every day, all day. My drinking was just another way (I’ve had a drug problem all my life as well) of self-medicating my symptoms. During my hospital stay, they of course started me on meds (mostly mood stabilizers) and stabilized my mood swings to the point that I no longer needed the alcohol to function. Since then I’ve had about a total of six beers and went though a few weeks of smoking a little pot but other than that I’ve been clean.

I have no advise on quitting, I certainly couldn’t do it on my own. I tried AA and ended up taking a girl, three years sober, off the wagon with me…not good. The meds saved me.

Good luck and I hope you find sobriety,

D

Alcohol is not my drug of choice tho I do use it sometimes. It is difficult to give stuff up. I personally think one needs help to do so as well as the motivation to do so. I used to drink a lot more than I do now and i wish I could say what changed things but I dont know what is was. I think it is probably to do with deciding you are no longer going to drink and going from there. Deciding and making your mind up can be pretty powerful. Tho I maintain you still need help with being able to do it.

Anyhow - prob not helpful at all but just some thoughts

Cracked

I successfully gave up alcohol about 6 months of being diagonosed. I was completely sober for just over 12 months. I wemt to AA and everything for that time. I started drinking again because it was and is something. I have always enjoyed, now I only drink occasionally and not all the time like I used to.

I can understand how hard it is for people to give up drinking. It was the best thing for me when I gave up for 12 months, before I was drinking every night by myself and was spending about $100 a week on alcohol. Now I only drink every now and then, no where near what I used to be like.

If you do decide to give it a try I will give you one piece of advice. Don't do it because somebody else wants you to, do it for yourself and your health. Or better yet if you still want to drink, just cut down on when you drink. Try not drinking everyday and change it to every second day, then once you have gotten used to that, go to every third day and so o. I drink about twice a week at the moment.

I wish you luck with it all.

Landor

CrackedGirl wrote: Deciding and making your mind up can be pretty powerful. Tho I maintain you still need help with being able to do it.

Thanks for your post. Yes, you're right, a lot of it is really deciding that you have to give up, which I have done. I feel more resolve than I have done in months, so am feeling optimistic.

As to getting help, there do seem to be some social services around to help. But I can't find any real alternative to AA where I live. I'm rather against some of the principles of AA, from reading about it. I don't like the idea that you have become "powerless" to alcohol and need to give yourself up to a higher power. It seems very strange that an alternative hasn't become popular around Europe. I suppose though, that much of the meetings is down to what people you meet at them, rather than the underlying philosophy. I think I'll try to go to one this week - at the very least, it will probably be interesting.

-- Mon Jun 02, 2014 9:01 pm --

LandorAiel wrote:If you do decide to give it a try I will give you one piece of advice. Don't do it because somebody else wants you to, do it for yourself and your health. Or better yet if you still want to drink, just cut down on when you drink. Try not drinking everyday and change it to every second day, then once you have gotten used to that, go to every third day and so o. I drink about twice a week at the moment.
I wish you luck with it all.

Landor

Thanks, Landor. I've tried cutting down, but it just doesn't work - I just end up drinking to excess and, mixed with antidepressants, this is a disaster, as I black out. I don't think I can consider drinking again until I'm off medication and I'm getting regular work. Glad that you've managed to be able to drink responsibly - I'm hoping that I'll be able to do that one day.

-- Mon Jun 02, 2014 9:02 pm --

crubba67 wrote:
Good luck and I hope you find sobriety,

D

Thanks for your post - its appreciated. And congratulations for quitting booze.

LandorAiel wrote:...I was drinking every night by myself and was spending about $100 a week on alcohol.

Just six months and my $2800 binge on Camera Lens and Tripod are covered.

Smoking is another expensive vice. It is easy to smoke a pack a day at a cost of $3650 per year.

Don't smoke, Don't drink excessively. Then spend the money saved on skiing and holidays.