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Christmas Parties

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 113

I'm with you all on the holidays and finding it hard to avoid drinking boat...I actually confided into a close friend about wanting to cut down on my drinking, and she's been my buddy whenever I went out to parties. I gave myself the responsbility of being the DD...that way other people depend on me too and I just don't drink...

Sometimes, it's easier to not drink when you know others are depending on it...don't you think? :P

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1562

Yep, later swifted to 24 packs just to make sure i have enough. Sometimes, when i don't plan well, i used to go dry on Sundays (no liquor sales here on Sundays) but sometimes the i will be too irritable and end up in a Bar. Later i came to know only alcoholics experience this craving once we take that first drink. Never happens in an ordinary drinkers. But then the obsession takes us back to the first drink......

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 11

foxman, that makes me think: I usually buy a six pack that I keep for the weekend. Well, usually by Saturday afternoon, it's all gone... Sometimes I'll go get another one but usually, I just sulk because I haven't any on Sunday. Then I open a bottle of wine for supper...

Ashley, the easy answer is "just don't go". But sometimes, that's not possible for me. Next test is Tuesday the 22nd: band practice (I play bass - and uke - for Jack Lavoie. Check out his music at jacklavoie.net. That's a shameless plug...). For the last few months, I've actually limited myself to two beers each practice night. But this time, I anticipate pressure because while it's still band practice, it'll be much more like Christmas Jam party. The beer is always on Jack so I can't bring my own as a strategy. I think I'll tell the guys that I have work the next day but knowing myself all too well, I'm pretty sure I'll just tell them I'm cutting down so as not to become an alcoholic (and kill the party!!! Just kidding.).

I'll report back, that's for sure.

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1562

i could relate to your experience. i would sneak out Saturday morning. Take exact change to by a bottle of 22 oz ice-house beer. By the time i would come back, i would be craving for more. I will make several trips back to the gas-station and before the evening i will be drunk. the same would happen the next day and the next.

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 11214

I'm sorry you slipped FourStrings!

But you are not back at square one. You have still learned a lot. What did you learn from this slip and what will you be doing differently next time?

Ashley, Health Educator

Here to help :)

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 11

Failed.

Really flunked this test. You see, I played ukulele while sipping my 2nd glass, a good hour and a half into the party. Sang about a half dozen X-Mas songs. But then, ukulele back in it's case, I took another glass, and then another... Piled into a cab with the gang and went to a nightclub for more...

This morning, had a hangover. I don't even recall my last hangover...

Back to square one.

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1562

I'm usually reasonable but often in the past, I just could not stop drinking after the first one.

Thats the physical allergy that happens in alcoholics never in ordinary people. The doctor describes it as "phenomenon of craving" he couldn't prove it then. But now research has proved that there is something funky in the metabolism of alcoholics that once we put that 1st drink, we trigger the allergy.

And then there is the obsession of the mind. What it is, after a prolonged period of absence, the mind tricks you into taking that 1st drink.

Also they talk about the spiritual malady. Restless, irritable and discontent when not drinking.

Then the Dr. goes on to say:

On the other hand-and strange as this may seem to those who do not understand-once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he despaired of ever solving them, suddenly finds himself easily able to control his desire for alcohol, the only effort necessary being that required to follow a few simple rules.

Men have cried out to me in sincere and despairing appeal: "Doctor, I cannot go on like this! I have everything to live for! I must stop, but I cannot! You must help me!"

Faced with this problem, if a doctor is honest with himself, he must sometimes feel his own inadequacy. Although he gives all that is in him, it often is not enough. One feels that something more than human power is needed to produce the essential psychic change. Though the aggregate of recoveries resulting from psychiatric effort is considerable, we physicians must admit we have made little impression upon the problem as a whole. Many types do not respond to the ordinary psychological approach.

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 11

Yeah, foxman, what Dr Silkworth describes is what I feel like when I get into that cycle. That's what I'm trying to avoid and I think that I'm doing rather well. But the X-Mas parties had me worried about a trigger - like I'd start all over again. I'm usually reasonable but oftenin the past, I just could not stop drinking after the first one.

Tonight, I decided not to go. Yes it's very cold outside - cold spree - and that was a good pretext but I don't think it was a good idea for me to go. For tomorrow's party I'll have my ukulele, so I'm not as worried.

I really wanna avoid the trigger situation because I know that once started, I find a way to continue the next day, starting at noon, and then a glass or two at supper and then a porto (several) after supper and on and on... until remorse gets the better of me. Then I stop for a few days until the next trigger...

Samantha, that's a good idea, the one about having after-party plans. Several yaers ago I remember asking my wife to pick me up at a certain time during my X-Mas party, so I wouldn't drive drunk. Anyhow, this year, I'm gonna play my uke and my pride will keep me in check.

Cheers and thanks for the feedback. Oh, and Happy Holidays.

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 2606

Fourstrings,

That sounds like a great plan. The holiday season can bring forth tempting situations such as the holiday parties. As you said, some of these events are really important to attend. Arriving late and leaving early is a great way to avoid certain high trigger moments. Keeping yourself busy (playing your instrument) is another great way of keeping your mind off drinking. Sip on your favourite non-alcoholic drink throughout the night and be merry. You may also want to tell someone that you are going to a holiday party and that you may call them if you need to leave or need support, you can even make plans for after the party. If you have plans for after the party then you will be sure to stay sober and meet up with your friends or family afterwords.

Samantha, Health Educator

14 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1562

if you are doing will with your exercise of just having 2 drinks, then why are you worried? But if you are alcoholic, at certain times, the phenomenon of craving kicks in and one could get sloshed (like you put it).

Here is what the Dr. Silkworth has to say:

Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks-drinks which they see others taking with impunity. After they have succumbed to the desire again, as so many do, and the phenomenon of craving develops, they pass through the well-known stages of a spree, emerging remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink again. This is repeated over and over, and unless this person can experience an entire psychic change there is very little hope of his recovery.

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