Alcohol Problems -

[DingoGirl]

DingoGirl, now I see the post.... since I know a bit of your medical history I can guess a few of the drugs.... seriously physchotropic drugs and alcohol are pretty much a sure fire recipee for disaster...

Klonopin and alcohol is a pretty effective way to screw up your liver nor should it be used in anyone with a history of .. heck, im just repeating the product advisories PLEASE READ THIS

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Sorry its describing a lot of your symptoms ... please just read it!

Yup, I know all that already....fortunately or unfortunately I come from a long line of Southern drunks with a VERY high tolerance for drugs/alcohol. And, Norwegian on my mother's side (geographical predisposition). Klonepin I use for emergencies, maybe twice a month but when the boyfriend broke up with me A-G-A-I-N - - that's when I took three or four with the bottle of wine (barfed it up, by the way, on purpose as I got kind of scared). I am hoping to not need Klonepin at all, sometime in the future.

Am on pretty low doses now of psychotropics, since removing gluten, and I'm not as CRAZY since removing the boyfriend......I do hope to be off all meds one day (I can't imagine sleep will EVER come easiliy for me though so my low dose of Seroquel may be a part of my life always).

I am blessedly not craving alcohol today as I was yesterday, just kind of asking myself WHY I quit drinking BEFORE the 4th (my favorite holiday)?????? Could have consumed some great wine wtih my best friend and her family on that day as I will be leaving tomorrow to go see them...what was I thinking???? (she BTW is not an alcohlic)....

Matilda - -

didn't mean to turn this into a post about my OWN struggle I guess I was just happy to see it up there since I'm dealing with it myself and didn't, until recently, actually realize how much and how frequently I was drinking. It's good to talk about it, though, and that's why I'll continue to go to meetings. And don't compare your struggle to mine, or anyone else's - - each of us knows when something's becoming a problem for us, and the threshold is different for everyone.

blessings to you - - -

[Lisa]

I have skipped some of the later posts but wanted to add something. Most wines contain sulfates, with to my knowledge (heard just today) that is is lactose durived....perhaps that is the reason for the D.

I know that I have many unresolved isses in my past life that may be the cause for me to take "my day is done over drink) at the end of the day....5:00 actually. Yes, I drink too much. Yes, I have the inherited tendency.

The thought of going totally dry can be very overwhelming.

If you do not want to do that. Have a drink of two before dinner and stop after that. Keep your self busy in the kitchen or knitting or something that will keep your interest , clean out a closet, during the evening hours.

If that will not work for you, then it's an issue and you should consider stopping totally. In the mean time, try to figure out the million dollar question...."why do you you drink".

This is the pot calling the kettle black. You are brave to step forward. So many people feel that drinking too much is a sign of weakness and socially unexceptable and something to be ashamed of. It's not, it can be an illness just as well as Celiac is.

Three stars for you to even ask.

Lisa

[Matilda]

didn't mean to turn this into a post about my OWN struggle I guess I was just happy to see it up there since I'm dealing with it myself and didn't, until recently, actually realize how much and how frequently I was drinking. It's good to talk about it, though, and that's why I'll continue to go to meetings. And don't compare your struggle to mine, or anyone else's - - each of us knows when something's becoming a problem for us, and the threshold is different for everyone.

blessings to you - - -

Susan,

I'm really sorry you've been having similar problems, but I'm glad you joined in talking about it.

Taz,

I'm so sad about your dad. I watched mine make himself really sick and I know how heart-breaking that is.

Thanks for everyone's responses. I've been reading your posts but keeping quiet today. I woke up determined to stop drinking, but as I don't usually have a glass of wine first thing in the morning it was a bit of an anti-climax. It's now past the time of day when I might have my first drink, so I suppose I've given it up for about 30 minutes so far.

I've no idea if this is going to be hard or not. In the whole of my adult life I don't think I've ever gone more than a day at a time without alcohol. When I failed to stop drinking recently I told myself I'd just changed my mind about it.

I don't want to dodge the alcohol issue, but I think while I'm at it I may have to tackle what I think is my real underlying addiction problem, which is nicotine, but that's another story.

[queenofhearts]

Susan,

I'm really sorry you've been having similar problems, but I'm glad you joined in talking about it.

Taz,

I'm so sad about your dad. I watched mine make himself really sick and I know how heart-breaking that is.

Thanks for everyone's responses. I've been reading your posts but keeping quiet today. I woke up determined to stop drinking, but as I don't usually have a glass of wine first thing in the morning it was a bit of an anti-climax. It's now past the time of day when I might have my first drink, so I suppose I've given it up for about 30 minutes so far.

I've no idea if this is going to be hard or not. In the whole of my adult life I don't think I've ever gone more than a day at a time without alcohol. When I failed to stop drinking recently I told myself I'd just changed my mind about it.

I don't want to dodge the alcohol issue, but I think while I'm at it I may have to tackle what I think is my real underlying addiction problem, which is nicotine, but that's another story.

Hang in there, Matilda, you can do it! We're all rooting for you.

Leah

p.s. My son just quit smoking & it was just about the happiest news I'd ever had when he told me. That's a real tough one too but you will find it easier to quit if you aren't lowering your self-control with alcohol. Drinking just makes other temptations harder to resist.

[LKelly8]

"Hi, my name is Linda and I'm an alcoholic." >alltogethernow< "Hi, Linda!"

I've been clean and sober for 19 years and everybody asks me, "How do you do it?!", so I tell them it's very simple - I don't drink. I'm honest with myself and I do whatever I need to do not to drink today. If that means going to a support group then I'm there. Not hanging out with old drinking buddies - including stuffed animals, especially comfy blankets and/or the wine bottles themselves . I don't go to restaurants with prominate bars. I never look at the booze ads in the paper. I drink an inordinate amount of diet cola.

But all of these suggestions are on a take it or leave it basis, these things are just what works for me. YMMV Anyone who's honest with themselves and is willing to try (and try again if nessesary) can stay sober for the next 24 hours.

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[gfp]

Yup, I know all that already....fortunately or unfortunately I come from a long line of Southern drunks with a VERY high tolerance for drugs/alcohol. And, Norwegian on my mother's side (geographical predisposition). Klonepin I use for emergencies, maybe twice a month but when the boyfriend broke up with me A-G-A-I-N - - that's when I took three or four with the bottle of wine (barfed it up, by the way, on purpose as I got kind of scared). I am hoping to not need Klonepin at all, sometime in the future.

LOL Ilived in Norway 2 yrs

but seriously Klonepin OR alcohol no wonder you are craving .... the physchotropics so weird things with alcohol... like it catches you all at once... and incombination with any Klonepin its a recipee for addiction... I mean klonepin by itself is addictive enough but combined with the alcohol already amplified by physchotropics is pretty scary ....

Also the Klonepin is a very long acting drug and there are similar ones with much shorter half-lives ...so if you drank the next day it wouldn't be so bad but with Klonepin, as I remember its 50 hrs or so....

Sorry I gotta go... as it happens I didn't drink anything tonight but my girlfriend is home from work and needs some attention!

[DingoGirl]

HI LINDA....great screening test, BTW. Good for you for quitting.....but it sounds like it's still hard after all these years. I suppose I'll always miss the "party in a bottle" and the extra fun it provided, the ritualistic part of a great meal....I am stopping for six months and then evaluating then. I can't at this point think of it as the REST of my life.....

Really quite sad that I quit before 4th of July - - THAT would have been a great day to have my last drink instead of Summer Solstice....really wanting to cheat and can't guarantee that I won't when going to San Jose for the next three days.

Matilda.....I feel your pain...let us know how you made it through the day. Many hugs to you.

[aikiducky]

Susan, this might not be a practical suggestion at all, and I wouldn't be offended if someone wants to flame me for saying so - but how about having ONE drink on the 4th? But I really mean ONE only!

My personal belief is, that an addiction isn't really over until you can choose to have something in moderation, and stop when you decide to. I know it's hard, and I know for a lot of people just to stay alive and healthy it's better to just avoid alcohol or whatever they were addicted to altogether. But I think it's possible to decide "I'm going to have one drink tonight, and then I'm going to stop". The key is to make a concious decision, and be honest with yourself about how badly you want to go on drinking after that, and not make any excuses to do it. A bit like staying gluten free in fact...

I'm rooting for all of you! You can do it!!!

Pauliina

[gfp]

Susan, this might not be a practical suggestion at all, and I wouldn't be offended if someone wants to flame me for saying so - but how about having ONE drink on the 4th? But I really mean ONE only!

My personal belief is, that an addiction isn't really over until you can choose to have something in moderation, and stop when you decide to. I know it's hard, and I know for a lot of people just to stay alive and healthy it's better to just avoid alcohol or whatever they were addicted to altogether. But I think it's possible to decide "I'm going to have one drink tonight, and then I'm going to stop". The key is to make a concious decision, and be honest with yourself about how badly you want to go on drinking after that, and not make any excuses to do it. A bit like staying gluten free in fact...

I'm rooting for all of you! You can do it!!!

Pauliina

This is what I tend to think although excepting the word 'addiction'. If you replace that with dependance ...

I think a true addiction is when you can no longer do it in moderation and it becomes all or nothing ....

In these cases then its basically sometihng for life... you do or you don't....

This is why I was so prickly about the definitions.... earlier in the thread.

The AA method is pretty poor ... it doesn't address addiction per-se and out oif everything I ever read on the subject I find the writings of Alan Carr (the quit smoking guy) the most real... his method is keep smoking while you read the book, and if you don't you miss the whole point... because through this you realise that the addiction is an addiction and doesn't give you ANYTHING except try and return you to a normal state...

If you quit and you regret you will spend your whole life looking back and wondering and feeling like you missed out... and he points out that the founder of AA died from emphyscemia while still being unable to quit smoking. He has people who have come to him after quiting heronine or crack on their own but unable to quit smoking...

What dingogirl is drinking isn't in itself dangerous.. what is dangerous is her going past that no-return point.

Once you pass that point then its practically impossible to have an odd drink... and odd cigarette or whatever your poision is....

Unlike smoking the pleasure of a nice wine is a genuine pleasure... its not something to give up if you can control it but presently with the interference of the meds dingogirl is stuck between a rock and hard place ... I rather beleive what is really giving her cravings is the combination because they both heighten the effects of each other and are both addictive.

The problem being if she just drinks she will miss that feeling because it won't be the same and if she takes the tablet alone she will equally miss the 'feeling'...

[leeny325]

I understand your concern and it does sound like you are becoming addicted-if not already. Good for you for being aware and writing about it. You can do AA meetings online if you want-it is totally anonymous. Keep the faith!

[lindalee]

that is really interesting. i know you said you don't know enough about it, but does your friend have any publications or anything on hand? i would love to delve more into that.

Me too! I would like to know what he said. LL

[Guest nini]

I have to agree that AA doesn't adequately address the issues... it does provide much needed support and is an extremely valid resource, but it should not be the ONLY tool one uses in helping to counter an addiction or two!

I think I was able to quit because of counseling. One on one counseling that forced me to deal with the reasons why I used drugs and drank... (I was sexually abused as a child repeatedly for many years by a relative)... when I finally realized that what happened to me was not my fault and I was able to break out of the "victim mentality" I was able to stop using and drinking... I really haven't desired it at all... In fact when I hear all the talk about the gluten-free beers, I just laugh... my hubby said if I ever find some I should try it, but I just don't want to. I no longer enjoy the feeling of being outside myself, or of numbing the pain.

I had someone tell me once that if I was asking if I had a problem, then it was obvious I didn't because I was asking and not in denial. The truth was, I did have a major problem, and by asking if I had a problem was the first step in gaining the strength I needed to fully address the problem and quit. When I quit, my husband and mother in law were still drinking quite heavily and kept trying to get me to join them and then they were angry at me when I wouldn't join in. (I learned misery loves company)... eventually my husband realized he needed to stop and he was able to do that, it still took him years to quit smoking (and he still is trying to break the cravings),,, my MIL on the other hand is still drinking... fortunately I don't have to live near her!

[gfp]

I have to agree that AA doesn't adequately address the issues... it does provide much needed support and is an extremely valid resource, but it should not be the ONLY tool one uses in helping to counter an addiction or two!

I think I was able to quit because of counseling. One on one counseling that forced me to deal with the reasons why I used drugs and drank... (I was sexually abused as a child repeatedly for many years by a relative)... when I finally realized that what happened to me was not my fault and I was able to break out of the "victim mentality" I was able to stop using and drinking... I really haven't desired it at all... In fact when I hear all the talk about the gluten-free beers, I just laugh... my hubby said if I ever find some I should try it, but I just don't want to. I no longer enjoy the feeling of being outside myself, or of numbing the pain.

I had someone tell me once that if I was asking if I had a problem, then it was obvious I didn't because I was asking and not in denial. The truth was, I did have a major problem, and by asking if I had a problem was the first step in gaining the strength I needed to fully address the problem and quit. When I quit, my husband and mother in law were still drinking quite heavily and kept trying to get me to join them and then they were angry at me when I wouldn't join in. (I learned misery loves company)... eventually my husband realized he needed to stop and he was able to do that, it still took him years to quit smoking (and he still is trying to break the cravings),,, my MIL on the other hand is still drinking... fortunately I don't have to live near her!

nini .. try the book by Alan Carr (usually priced about the same price as 1 packet of cigs) I have no interest in them selling the book other than helping someone who helped me!

What you realised (I bolded) ... because it never did help and you realise that now. Whatever it took you to realise that if you could bottle and sell you'd make millions! but the trick is realising without a doubt that drinking to get drunk doesn't help you feel better .. indeed quite the inverse.

I think your hubby quit smoking without ever realising this and that is why he still misses it .(all power to him because i believe its 10x harder and stats back this up and it takes 10x the effort and will power)..and has cravings because the mental connection is craving - cigarette ... he could be missing vitamins or anything and the feeling is still the same and once you realise that and its not actually the cig then you no longer crave ....

Just an example, something us celaics probably know....

You get up and feel like your hungry ... you eat and still feel the same, perhaps its a cup of tea or coffee? and you go through a whole load of things and still feel weird.... its because your body has only the one mechanism (well technically two but thats by the by) to tell you it needs something and that is the feeling of hunger pangs regardless of its a cigarette or a vitamin.

The problem and addication is the mental association we make with that feeling ... for a smoker its "I need a cig" ..

[DingoGirl]

Very good stuff to ponder. I agree, AA is really more of a support than something which addresses the issues, but it can be helpful.

I drank very heavily from the age of 16 to age 21, from Thurs. to Sunday. My parents didn't really try to stop it or even address it....they either didn't care that much, didn't know how MUCH I was drinking, thought it was no big deal, whatever.....I realized at age 21 that I depended on alcohol because I was SO shy and coudn't, at that time, talk to anyone without alcohol loosening the tongue. I realized at that age that I was a social alcoholic and needed to stop (and also, had a dramatic conversion experience, became a Christian, knew that this wasn't what God wanted for me). So, stopped cold turkey for five or six years, and learned how to talk to people SOBER (can't shut me up now and people are SO shocked when they hear that I used to be SHY... )

IN my late twenties I started drinking again, but until age 35 it was in strict moderation. At age 35 I had an excruciatingly boring job for almost two years, and that's when the drinking increased - but just weekends. It was moving to Monterey and then, the winery job for four years that sealed the deal....LOTS of free wine, all the time, and lots of parties and such....I strayed from the path and dated really crazy, gorgeous men who wined and dined me......a lifetime ago, it seems.....

But I digress. I don't know about having one glass on the 4th, thanks for the suggestion and I will not flog you.... 'twould have to be two, anyway.....I think I"m okay with stopping for now. I may be able to get it under control again, and if not, I won't have any, period.

I feel better awakening each day without having consumed anything, but not as good as I thought I would (separate issue entirely but am looking into adrenal fatigue). Thought I might need less sleep but I can STILL sleep 10 hours if given the opportunity, and my iron levels are normal or nearly normal...sometimes I just think my LIFE has sucked the LIFE out of me.......

I love the support found here, though. Thanks everyone.....

Matilda, where are you???? How are you doing???

Hugs - -

[aikiducky]

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Here's one link about homeopathy and the theory of miasms that my friend was talking about. There seems to be a list of links at the bottom, too, for those who really want to do research.

I could follow the explanation and I'm not knowledgeable about homeopathy at all, so I thought this would be a good start. At least what it says here is very much what my friend said.

Pauliina

[Matilda]

..

[ms-sillyak-screwed]

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[queenofhearts]

Hi,

Well, day 1 was pretty easy, in fact quite enjoyable! I felt I had a bit of time on my hands last night and thought about all the suggestions - cleaning my kitchen, knitting, yoga... all good ideas but I decided to take up shagging instead, lol. DH is quite pleased.

Susan, I'm having the same thoughts as you. I'm going on holiday in 2 weeks. Should I have waited until after that to stop? Will I not enjoy it without drinking? Should I have just 1 or 2 drinks? Really, I have to face the fact that just one doesn't do it for me at the moment. I think I'd feel more deprived having one than stopping. I'm hoping this will change in the future, I'd really like to be able to enjoy a glass of good wine. On the other hand it gives me D so maybe I should stop it in the same way I stopped good bread etc.

I thought about casein and sulphites in wine. I've tried casein free and low sulphite and don't think it made much difference. I really want to get the D under control. I've got a nasty case of cracked bottom at the moment. I've been putting off going back to a doctor, knowing I had an obvious cause which I needed to sort out. I was scared to have more blood tests actually. I had a raised MCV before I even started drinking more, and never had LFT's checked.

I think for me smoking and drinking are related problems. When I stop smoking I drink more, when I cave in I don't cut back on drinking again. I had my best success stopping smoking using Allen Carr's book, although it obviously wasn't a complee success! I think it's really interesting that smoking's protective against celiac disease. I went gluten-free 4 months in to a stop smoking effort. When I've stopped in the past I've felt lousy for months. I think now is the time to do it.

If anyone else is drinking more alcohol than they think they should be at the moment, another thing to consider is are you just thirsty? I think that might have been contributing to my problem. I was amazed at how much water I drank last night.

Susan, I hope you have a wonderful alcohol free day and don't get cravings.

Best wishes,

Matilda

Well done Matilda! Your activity of choice is a win-win! Keep up the good work!

Leah

[aikiducky]

Good for you Matilda! I'm sure you'll enjoy your holiday without alcohol, too!

Pauliina

rooting in Holland

[Daxin]

I have to agree with the dependance thing. If you NEED to drink, then that would lead me to believe you have a true issue with the alcohol.

I am rooting and praying for all of you who are struggling with this, and hope you find the answers you need.

I beat this and smoking through sheer strength of will as I had no real support network at the time. I can control it now, but it's not easy.

I hope someday we can all beat our demons.

Hugs and prayers,

Dax

[jerseyangel]

Rooting for you from New Jersey, too, Matilda! I just know you can do anything you set your mind to. You sound like a very perseptive person, and I believe you will do very well

[plantime]

I am continuing to read this thread with great interest. My 18 year old son went to his school counselor shortly before school let out and said that he is an alcoholic, and needed help. He has quit drinking, and is taking it day-by-day now. He hasn't lived with me since his son was born last October, so I had no way of directly helping him. By reading what all of you are going/went through with alcohol, it gives me a better understanding of what he is going through. Thanks for sharing your stories.

[emcmaster]

Someone might have mentioned this already, so if they have, I apologize.

The diarrhea from the wine may not be an intolerance to something in the wine. Diarrhea is simply the result of your intestines speeding up the rate at which they contract. Constipation is caused by slow-contracting intestines.

Alcohol is a stimulant for your intestines, which causes them to contract faster. I suffer from constipation and sometimes the only time I get relief without taking extra fiber or stool softeners is to get really drunk. The next morning I go without fail.

I've heard non-celiacs and those without any sort of intestinal problem refer to this phenomenon as having an "alcohol sh**."

Just something for you to consider.

[ms-sillyak-screwed]

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