After literally years of habitual drinking – to the point where I can’t remember the last day I didn’t have a drink (with the exception of an overnight stay in hospital), it came to a head on Monday.

I’ve never woken up craving a drink (evenings I would crave one though), or with the DT’s, but it just became a way of life – and a LOT of units over a week. Weekends would start after work on a Friday, with a few pints at the pub, then whiskeys at home until the early hours. Saturday would start at lunchtime – until the early hours, Sundays again, lunchtime onwards – just things like doing odd jobs, but with a cider or glass of wine nearby. Weekdays might only have been a couple of beers, but if working days, usually more than a couple, or some wine/spirits. Not necessarily pissed, just sociable. Working nights, obviously I wouldn’t go to work under the influence, but getting home in the early hours I’d always stay up and have a couple – and then when I got up, another one or two with lunch. I’ve known for a long time I’ve been drinking too much.

As I say, this came to a head on Monday – I felt like shit after the weekend, had a pint at lunchtime, then felt queasy and lethargic for the rest of the day and through the night shift. At that point, I just thought enough is enough and so far haven’t touched a drop since.

I’ve managed to come in in the mornings and sleep (eventually), get up and feel instantly better than I’ve known for a long time. Switched to working days and went biking in the week, ending up at the usual pub – managed that one fine. Been for Friday ‘after work’ beers tonight and had a couple of J20’s and a couple of tomato juices. Tonight Mrs STR had a couple of cans – I’ve had water, lime cordial and now drinking tea.

Feeling really positive and only initially intended to go Monday-Friday, but I’m now intent on getting through the weekend. Once I’ve done the weekend, then there will be no point drinking in the week, so then we will see what the Bank Holiday weekend brings. Might just give the bloody stuff up altogether now!

Good stuff! I had to quit because it didn’t play well with some medication I was on, I drink a little now but probably less in a month than I used to drink on a friday night. Good to put these things in their place I reckon. If nothing else it’s good to know you can! I was never really sure.

Keep it up! Enjoying a few is much nicer than needing many.

Keep it up!!! Think of all the bling bike bits you can get 😉 instead of pissing it up a wall.

Haven’t had a drop for 12 years, you don’t need it.

do you wanna chill out on the booze, or give it up for good? in my experience you just don’t “switch off” If you think it is going a bit ott I would recommend writing down all your units (not pints, not wines) but exact units every day, and start totting them up TRUTHFULLY and marking them down at the end of each week and counting them up. just to see. and the numbers can be awakening. The thing with tolerance is you can build it up, so, a bottle of wine is nothing, a couple is just getting fruity and friendly. you think you’ve switched off! for how long?

I’m stopping too. Never sleep well after a bottle of wine.

Good for you for taking control. I had to do the same 10 or 11 years ago, different style but the drink was getting an upper hand, and I couldn’t have a social night out without it becoming a session, ending up rough sleeping, being moved on by police, chucking up in my sleep, etc. So I stopped outright.

I’d suggest doing the same and you’ve made a great start on it. Tell the missus and your mates, so they don’t badger you and goad you into restarting. If they do, they’re not very good mates. I used to drive everywhere so I had an excuse and a motivation to add to my weak will.

After ‘several’ months of not drinking where I’d proven I’d slain the particular monkey that had been troubling me, I restarted but on my terms. I like a pint now and then, or a g&t while cutting the grass, but it’s by my rules now. Same for you, become teetotal if you want, or continue drinking, but make it your choice so you enjoy it rather than dread it.

I’ve never been a big drinker; a couple of drinks at the end of the week but not much otherwise. But I’ve had to give even that up due to acid reflux; alcohol has started irritating my stomach badly.
Kinda pissed about that, but at least it helps with weight loss and I don’t fall asleep in front of the telly after dinner…

Apart from the odd pint of ale/cold lager now and again I stopped drinking in 2012. I was sick of the constant headache, dry mouth and general nauseous feeling. My overall health has improved no end. The cravings for drink I used to have when I was younger has totally gone. I now would rather have a diet coke or J2O over ice and stay hydrated.

I used to drink a lot when I was young 6/7 pints per night every night and didn’t keep myself properly hydrated. I then ended up having kidney stones and collapsed one night due to the pain. It may not have been alcohol that directly caused the stone, but the lack of proper hydration was the cause of the stone.

I now associate booze with that horrendous pain, which I never want to experience ever again.

Not sure how old you are, but I’ve found my ‘tolerance’ for alcoholic ‘volume’ has dropped every year since I passed 40; even down to my (grown-up) kids calling me “2 Pint <insert surname>”.

You don’t need to stop it entirely and become a bore like those folk who quit smoking, but only having a drink now and again will do serious improvements to your health (and wealth).

Good work there 🙂

B r, don’t know about volume but my “recovery” time has gone up considerably as I’ve gotten older. With very young kids who get up early that is no fun! Rarely touch a drop these days.

I know where you’re coming from, I would drink every night quite happily. I keep myself in check though and only drink at wknds – fri/sat/sun, big drink on Friday after a ride then just a couple sat & sun. Moderation! I’ve seen all too easy my mum & grandparents turn to drink, it’s my genes I think, a predisposition for alcoholism, mmm lovely Stella!

Good effort STR,I also stopped on Monday by coincidence following a three week holiday.I have ben drinking every night for as long as I can remember and only having days off when I was ill.Had a medical last week and was told I have high blood pressure and cholesterol which was the incentive I needed . Not planning on being teetotal but would like to drink when there is just cause instead of habit.keep up the good work

Good luck 😀

I had to give up temporarily after a nasty head injury, didn’t touch anything for 6 months until I got the all-clear. Started again as soon as the doc gave me the go ahead but I was now back t being a super-lightweight so the enjoyment had completely gone. Gave it a few weeks to see if it came back to normal but it was like starting from scratch again so just stopped back in October 2011. Haven’t touched a drop since! Don’t miss it at all and I used to love my whiskies and would happily get hog-whimperingly drunk once a month or so with mates having a blow-out for some reason or another.
The only bad thing about not drinking is watching all of my friends drinking to excess on the odd occasion they do let themselves off the leash. Watching drunk people when you’re sober quickly makes you realise how alcohol can be abused!! I don’t preach at them for having fun with the bottle, just take the p out of them when they are next to useless the next day 😆

Sounds like a ‘well done’ is in order. I’ve never (thankfully) been in a similar situation, but it sounds like you’ve made a decision, and I guess this is the important bit. Too easy just to keep putting things off.

Hope everything works out.

Good luck, I was in the same situation a few years back, I even had the number for the AA on my desk at work.
Not steamingly drunk every night but a bottle of wine and then maybe a beer or 2.

I eventually gave up for 6 weeks before going on holiday but like you suddenly found I was sleeping better, the biking improved with the weight I seemed to slowly lose. That was 12 years ago.

As I get older I find hangovers really hard to deal with to the point of feeling suicidal,takes me days even a week to get over a night out that’s why I don’t drink anymore.
Feels great to wake up on a weekend really early and fresh I think I’m actually scared of drinking now.

Well done btw,hope it works for you.

STR

You won’t regret it, I think sometimes in life a switch just gets flipped and you think. **** that, it’s actually just a bit shit now.

That said, it’s not easy. The memories of younger, more reckless days have proved to me my most problematic. Which is fortunate for me that there’s nothing (apparently) more serious driving me towards the bar. The mid-life is strong with me.

I’d hoped to quit completely, but seem to average about 1-2 pints max a week of relatively mild beer. Which is not doing any physical harm. But even then I usually regret it, there’s the odd occasion when a pint is right. But by and large the most significant result is a 4am alarm call to the bog. Hopefully when summer ends and I start to bike, run, hike, and climb more and more, it’ll just fizzle out completely and be gone.

Good luck, just remember how much better you’ll feel for not drinking whenever the urge strikes.

Good work OP. I had my day up until about 27/28 with regular big nights out – something I now recognise as binge drinking as I was consuming 16-18 double vodkas. Luckily I was both a mellow drunk and able to function enough to get home safely. Now sometimes I give up drinking entirely for years at a time and at other points I drink moderately very occasionally. Works for me at the moment but I can see me giving up entirely for good in the next few years.

Well done once it becomes a way of life not drinking for huge sake of it you may find that when you do have a pint or wine or nice single malt you appreciate it and savour it so much more- diabetes made me pack up enjoying drinking huge amounts to excess. As has been said if you are honest with yourself and actually tot up what you were really drinking it’s scary! When first diagnosed and told to quit drinking I reduced my alcohol to one bottle of red with my Sunday dinner thinking that was okay as I wasn’t drinking huge rest of the week…….I used to have a couple of bottles on a Sunday with dinner then some cognac or single malt….ie half a bottle…I was told in no uncertain terms I was still binge drinking and one small glass was the most I was allowed but in the passing 10 years I don’t even do that now.
Two or three times a year I will have a good number of real ales in one go if I am going to have a drink ( think some of the meds stop me from getting drunk as it doesn’t seem to touch me like I think it should) and perhaps once a month a decent tot.
I have no doubts that if I hadn’t developed diabetes some other drink related illness would have been in my future.

I am not exactly teetotal – but go a month or two without a drink very often. Even then I will only have one glass of whiskey or wine … cannot remember having 2 or more glasses in one evening for a very long time.

The older I get, the more I can feel the effect booze has on me the next day. So that is a good reason why even if I really fancy a glass of something – I never have more than the one.

I take medication which says ‘no alcohol’. I don’t miss it, can still go out with friends. I believe they appreciate a sober driver sometimes. I like Blue Becks, it tastes right and I won’t fall over.

Keep it going, stay well clear until you get to the point where you don’t feel the need at all. Then you can decide if and when you want to indulge. Good luck, enjoy the freedom.

I’ve Not been drunk for 17 years don’t miss it one bit

I was 23 when I stopped, I’ll be 42 in November…….

Best thing I ever did.

Mail in profile if you ever want to chat 😉

I didn’t drink for eighteen months once. The smugness and self satisfaction was fantastic.

Just to add to the thread – thanks for all the replies.

I’m 42 and have been drinking pretty much every day from my 20’s – interspersed with a decade or more of heavy recreational drug taking and another decade of more sociable recreational drug taking. I’ve knocked that shit on the head too – was offered some free lines the other night and turned them down. Surprisingly, I managed to hold down a decent job for 20 odd years and more recently set up a couple of successful businesses.

As far as the drinking is concerned, got through the best part of the weekend now and went for a meal with Mrs STR and to a couple of pubs last night and wasn’t bothered in the slightest. Yesterday, down at my shop, rather than feel like the usual crap that I do on a Saturday, I felt like I’d had a bag of speed and re-arranged the whole shop.

This morning, sprang out of bed, rather than lay there for an hour, not wanting to get up. I feel 20 years younger!

I am 41 and I have given up drinking a few times in the past, but always fall back into drinking again. I am not a heavy drinker by any means but always want one after work.
I have just started long term medication and have been considering stopping again, as common sense says medication and alcohol don’t mix.
Other posters on here have been honest, and I have taken some inspiration from it to stop again and maybe in the future enjoy different types of alcohol instead of it becoming the norm!
In soops style I need to set a date to stop. Mrs soops says just stop but we all have our weird and wonderful ways of doing things, and I need a starting to do it date.
Its nice to see people who have given up years ago giving support to the rest of us. Cheers!

Well done. As I said before and as others have said, you don’t have to become an evangelical teetotaller, I still enjoy a pint when I feel like it and sometimes I get a bit tipsy. But first you need to get your foot on its neck, and then decide when / if you want to allow it to get up again.

I’m a fairly steady boozer, have something most day and the odd “heavy” 5-pint night. I do feel better when i stop for training or events, but i do like the booze, so always go back…

Brave post, good luck.

Knocked it on the head around 10 years ago and genuinely don’t miss it at all. Similar story as many – parties and clubs, and not stopping when everyone else did. A hangover/comedown too many just before a NY eve and that was enough. Started with a week and it just kept going from there. Don’t know if I hit full-blown alky status (life well-managed, relationship and many achievements), but I do know that “just the one” will never work for me. Far better off without and only once in a blue moon will I remotely fancy one (a full bodied red wine or a decent ale), but really no biggy. Needless to say I’m far fitter with broader horizons.

Cynic-al – that is exactly like me. It is my last vice.

http://www.gosober.org.uk/

i have seriously reduced my drinking after a gout attack, pleased as feel better generally

Seeing as the thread has popped up again…

Over two weeks now and Bank Holiday weekend done. Finding I’m not wanting a drink, rather than actually wanting one.

Feel a damn sight better for it and even though I’m quite slim anyway can tell around my waistline. The trouble is now – when I do feel like going out and having a beer to be sociable, I’ll feel like I’m cheating myself if I have one.

i love a drink, always have and hopefully always will.
but the amount i drink has steadily become less over the years. i try to have a pint every day, sometimes i dont manage it. and nowadays a heavy session will be 6 or 7 pints.
but i love it, searching for new ales, the differant tastes, the atmosphere in pubs, which is where i drink, never at home.

in life, a bit of what you fancy does you good.
stopping doing something you enjoy is not good, just use a bit of sense and moderation.

It’s not my intention to stop completely forever Tony, but for now it’s working for me. If I went for a pint after work, it would be very hard to then go home and have a cup of tea. I’m an all or nothing sort of person – it was the same with smoking, I could never just have the odd one – it’s easier to have none at all.

str, sorry if it seemed like i was having a go…i didnt mean it to come over like that.

good luck, and when you fancy a pint, let me know and i will buy you one…. 8)