[Drinking] Alcoholic/like a beer or two too much?

[Stumpy Tim]

I've been doing Dry January (and Sober October) for a few years, and this is the easiest yet. I'm going to push into February too. Interesting to hear about the dreams people are having. I had an incredibly deep dream last night that I was dealing cocaine with Gabriel Batistuta. Woke up shocked at myself

 

[chaileyjem]

https://assets.publishing.service.g...e/763840/low-alcohol-descriptors-guidance.pdf

As I have posted I work for a large brewing company and we follow the guidelines unlike Brewdog

Yep. Of course But for those that are changing or want to change their drinking habits and switch to AF beers (I did at first and have effectively stopped drinking permanently) - then just wanted to make the point that the guidelines can be unhelpful, there is naturally confusion about 0.5% or under products (many of which are very good) and likewise about alcohol being present at very low levels in many foodstuffs anyway.
I certainly wouldn’t have a “low alcohol” drink - eg 2% beers for example - and feel fine saying I’m teetotal even though I’ve had a couple of pints of Punk AF (0.5%) in a Brewdog pub in Sheffield back in October and lots of different 0.5% bottled ales/IPAs/lagers in the last 18 months.
Obviously for some then these types of products don’t help or aren’t useful or feel the 0.5%/dealcoholised process isn’t right for them.
And as I’ve said before - I’ve cut down now on the AF beer anyway - it still has calories and I’m comfortable with sugar free soft drinks/tea these days .

 

[Hotchilidog]

Doing dry January this year, after a particularly drenched December. To be honest saving money was a prime motivator in attempting this (and I have indeed saved £'s if not actual lbs). That said I have enjoyed a couple of weeks of not being drunk, I've used the spare cash to get going to gigs on a regular basis again. It has been nice having a night out that doesn't cost a lot and not feeling the effects the morning after.

Whilst I am not looking to quit on a permanent basis I am looking to change my relationship with alcohol, which towards the end of the year became a pretty negative one.

I've really enjoyed the contributions to this thread, some of the stories are inspiration. I wish anyone to trying to get to grips with booze on this thread all the best.

 

[Insel affe]

To add I only noticed this morning looking in the mirror (somthing i usually avoid since i lost my quiff) and i noticed my complexion, yes gentlemen my complexion....
I actually look healthy...

 

[Mr Banana]

This is worth listening to, although you have to put up with a bit of earnestness and swallow the stuff about Tony Robbins, NLP etc: https://drchatterjee.com/is-it-time-for-a-tactical-break-from-alcohol-with-andy-ramage/

I don't expect it'll make me life any less shit but the stuff about purpose and meaning made sense and getting smashed five nights a week probably dun't help with that

 

[zefarelly]

To add I only noticed this morning looking in the mirror (somthing i usually avoid since i lost my quiff) and i noticed my complexion, yes gentlemen my complexion....
I actually look healthy...

Steady on! That is not rock n roll!

 

[Marty___Mcfly]

This article is about skunk not booze, but the comments section in particular has turned into an interesting discussion about addictive / compulsive / habitual consumption of mind altering substances (e.g. booze). Worth a look if you’re exploring these issues..

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jan/10/son-addicted-to-cannabis-turns-on-me-in-rage

This comment shows some real insight IMHO-

 

[Iggle Piggle]

This. Without the decent sleep. Woke up this morning at 5.30 after a vivid dream that I'd called someone a nonce on a work email and got sacked for it. Couldn't drop off afterwards.

Bored off my tits. Well done to all who stay off the booze for any length of time.

Was fighting a war last night against the Germans but quite luckily I was armed with a rather nifty machine gun. Who knows, perhaps Lenny Riders Nazi comment put it in my head.

I haven't had these vivid and weird dreams since I was on the morphine after an op 20 years ago. I thought you were supposed to have weird dreams when you were on mind altering substances not off them?

 

[Bladders]

For those who are close to breaking point with dry Jan , dont bother , you’re not missing anything .

I had a whisky & American last night , first drink since NYD.

Left me feeling muggy most of the evening, woke up at 3:30 with a massive headache , got back off to sleep after the paracetamol kicked in and have felt knackered all day .

Oh and no dream last either.

Whole experience has put me off until the end of the month at least , then I’ll go from there .


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[Bladders]

Oh , and with no drink , sensible eating and a bit of basic exercise most days I’ve last half a stone since NYD


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[Bry Nylon]

How is everybody getting on?

Those endeavouring to complete Dry January only have a few days to go. For those of us trying to give up the booze for good, I suppose it's just another day. I'd be interested to know if those who have managed Dry January thus far are looking forward to getting back on it once February rolls around, or has a month off drink blunted the thirst on a more long-term basis?

I'm still plodding on and stopped counting the AF period some time ago, but it must be over 7 months now. The old demons occassionally appear, but I find I am able to bannish them relatively easily these days. I haven't come this far to give in now and I really want to see if I can manage a year AF before I decide if I really need any degree of alcohol in my life anymore. Social occassions and I find easy to deal with and just politely decline any offer of an alcoholic drink and there are never any questions or pressure to drink. Setbacks in my personal life are when I find myself thinking a beer might be the answer, which of course I realise it absolutely isn't. But the thought is still tempting.

Anyway, good luck to anyone doing this, if it is what you want to do.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

I fell off the wagon last night. A night out at 'Ghetto Golf' - basically indoor crazy golf where you get pissed on the way round - did for me. Today has been filled with beer fear and my productivity has dropped off massively albeit I did make a swim at 08.00 and have helped out at U9s cricket it remains to be seen if I'll drop back into my old ways.I feel like, however, I've had a mindset shift of at least staying clear of booze at home and cutting that out and possibly going AF again. The break did me the world of good and proved I can do time without booze and life is by and large better without it.

Trust me [MENTION=600]Bry Nylon[/MENTION] you aren't missing out. Keep the AF stint going.

 

[Durlston]

I'm not a heavy drinker and can count on one hand the number of pints I've had this year. My addiction is with diazepam but I made a vow this year to cut down to a low dosage that can make my body change and gain more confidence naturally in new surroundings. My libido is much better - Miss Durlston is very happy with that! And my mind is clearer although I find setbacks more stressful but have learnt breathing techniques to combat it. At the moment it's a case of stabilising on a 60% less dosage! It's like a football team going up a division - tough but if you can cope with the difficult matches - or days in my case then I'm winning the battle. It's one day at a time and I feel so determined to win this challenge. Being diagnosed as anaemic has enabled me to focus on that and control my diet. Some days I can feel very poorly with that but I'm getting the right support.

I've really enjoyed this weekend and being back on NSC properly instead of scanning it and only posting very occasionally. I want to be on here more but I get a bit homesick and it feels worse when I see Mid Sussex mentioned. I'm settling in now so I want to make more time free.

Best wishes to everyone giving up the booze. Keep up the good work! This thread is very compassionate with everyone supporting each other. Whether it's alcohol, valium or coffee, keep going. We can do it!

 

[narly101]

I posted back in October last year that I was doing Sober for October - but only managed 18 days, before stress at work, and problems at home threw me off the wagon despite me knowing that I have had a fatty liver for too long.

In the new year on the 5th Jan, my 11 year old boy asked me if I was going to try and do dry January, and I said no. He then said to me "but dad if you carry on drinking won't that make your liver worse? I don't want you to die". Cue a promise to him for me to give up alcohol for 6 weeks. Today marks half way through, and I have yet to break.

It's amazing what influence your kids can have on you.

Good luck to all those who've done the month so far, and if you can, keep on going.

 

[Bry Nylon]

I posted back in October last year that I was doing Sober for October - but only managed 18 days, before stress at work, and problems at home threw me off the wagon despite me knowing that I have had a fatty liver for too long.

In the new year on the 5th Jan, my 11 year old boy asked me if I was going to try and do dry January, and I said no. He then said to me "but dad if you carry on drinking won't that make your liver worse? I don't want you to die". Cue a promise to him for me to give up alcohol for 6 weeks. Today marks half way through, and I have yet to break.

It's amazing what influence your kids can have on you.

Good luck to all those who've done the month so far, and if you can, keep on going.

Keep going. Just take it one day at time. I promise it gets easier with each day.

 

[zeemeeuw]

Looking for a nice accompaniment to some savoury snacks for a night in front of Netflix on Friday, I picked up a 4 pack of Brewdog Punk Alcohol Free IPA from the supermarket.

After 2 cans my wife pointed out that I had failed dry January because there was 0.5% alcohol content in the beer and checking the small print this was indeed the case. I felt a bit gutted to be honest and I'm really surprised that you'd be allowed to call it Alcohol free, I'd call that low alcohol. However, I'm just going to consider it a yellow card offence and stay on the wagon for another week.

Also, Saturday morning the other half moaned that I had started snoring again, quite surprised that even this tiny amount of booze can trigger the snores.

 

[Bozza]

Looking for a nice accompaniment to some savoury snacks for a night in front of Netflix on Friday, I picked up a 4 pack of Brewdog Punk Alcohol Free IPA from the supermarket.

After 2 cans my wife pointed out that I had failed dry January because there was 0.5% alcohol content in the beer and checking the small print this was indeed the case. I felt a bit gutted to be honest and I'm really surprised that you'd be allowed to call it Alcohol free, I'd call that low alcohol. However, I'm just going to consider it a yellow card offence and stay on the wagon for another week.

Also, Saturday morning the other half moaned that I had started snoring again, quite surprised that even this tiny amount of booze can trigger the snores.

That's been debated on another thread recently.

When I was halfway through my 205 days AF last year, there was a sunny afternoon where I really fancied a beer so I checked out the AF options for the first time and they did seem to broadly fall into two camps...

- 0.0%
- 0.5%

I was of the same mind as you, alcohol free meant alcohol free, so I bought a couple of the 0.0% options.

Don't beat yourself up though - it's not likely you knowingly jumped off the wagon to get lashed up.

(If you're going to write that there's alcohol in lots of things, like bread, please save your keyboard and find another thread to contribute to)

In other news, today will be my 23rd day in a row AF of my Dry Steak 2020. I'm not sure how far I'll go this year. We're thinking of some time away in the February half-term and, frankly, I enjoy having a few drinks when away. Last year when we did the same thing, I resisted and stayed dry, but last year I was also focused on losing weight, which I don't need to do any more.

That said, come February 15th, I'll be up to 42 days AF which is definitely an incentive to kick on further.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Looking for a nice accompaniment to some savoury snacks for a night in front of Netflix on Friday, I picked up a 4 pack of Brewdog Punk Alcohol Free IPA from the supermarket.

After 2 cans my wife pointed out that I had failed dry January because there was 0.5% alcohol content in the beer and checking the small print this was indeed the case. I felt a bit gutted to be honest and I'm really surprised that you'd be allowed to call it Alcohol free, I'd call that low alcohol. However, I'm just going to consider it a yellow card offence and stay on the wagon for another week.

Also, Saturday morning the other half moaned that I had started snoring again, quite surprised that even this tiny amount of booze can trigger the snores.

Well, interestingly I asked about Brewdog 0.5% beers on here before the start of my Dry Jan stint (more of that later) and the consensus was that they did NOT count as alcohol. Maybe it was [MENTION=24867]chaileyjem[/MENTION] who mentioned you can get that much alcohol percentage in some foods naturally. I wouldn't count it as a failure personally, though the snoring bit is interesting.

January has been interesting for me. I've failed at Dry January, let alone the three or more months, but feel like I have reset my relationship with alcohol after a heavy Christmas.

I've drunk on three occasions but not heavily. I cracked at the Villa game. Football and beer have always gone hand in hand for me and for such an important game I found myself thinking about Harvey's all the way to the game on the train - so I had two before the game and one after it. And that was it. No more booze for the rest of the day (normally would have cracked on) and my Sunday run was still decent - though I certainly felt the three pints more than I would have normally at the time.

Last week I was in Edinburgh and had three hours to kill at the airport with the team. A usual trip to Brewdog who had a good range of 0 and 0.5% drinks available and specially advertised for Dry Jan. But a colleague got me my normal pint of stout before I could ask for the AF one. After that I switched to the 0.5%ers. Will be quite gutted now if that doesn't count!

Since I had two strikes I had two glasses of wine last night with a roast. Again no desire to carry on after that.

So that's basically what I've learned for myself. Setting a time line or target is pointless - I always fail at them and once I've had one drink that might as well be it. On the other hand a long period of abstinance (I have otherwise been AF so that's 23 days with no booze in total) seems to mean for me that I do not want to carry on in to a session, whereas before I'd have gone back to the pub on a Saturday after dropping the kids off, had another couple in Brewdog or finished the bottle of wine. In other words, the less I drink, the less I want to drink, but at the same time I'm not cut out for total sobriety. I will be mostly not drinking between now and the marathon but I will certainly be having a beer or two at home games and when "out out". And that's probably it. I think [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] once called it "event drinking" and I'm ok with that right now.

 

[Springal]

Looking for a nice accompaniment to some savoury snacks for a night in front of Netflix on Friday, I picked up a 4 pack of Brewdog Punk Alcohol Free IPA from the supermarket.

After 2 cans my wife pointed out that I had failed dry January because there was 0.5% alcohol content in the beer and checking the small print this was indeed the case. I felt a bit gutted to be honest and I'm really surprised that you'd be allowed to call it Alcohol free, I'd call that low alcohol. However, I'm just going to consider it a yellow card offence and stay on the wagon for another week.

Also, Saturday morning the other half moaned that I had started snoring again, quite surprised that even this tiny amount of booze can trigger the snores.

I don't think you've failed. Alcohol % rules aren't that tight - you get a 0.2% leeway anyway. FYI - Fruit Juice can contain around 0.7% alcohol per litre.

Also I think, but beers advertised as 0.0% - very likely have had alcohol removed from them chemically - which probably isn't that great. Something with a very low volume of alcohol content naturally occurring will be less so.

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

I only managed until the 9th January. Got back on the wagon after a couple of days and then back off again last week. I think even my very modest achievements hitherto have shown me that I can 'go without' for a block of time and I feel more relaxed about it now. To re-cycle a ghastly and overused phrase, I feel that I've 'taken back control'.