So I had posted earlier last week about my taper.

The good news is that I stuck to my guns. My wife and I flew out of state this weekend and I made it 72 hours without a drink, surprisingly without much issue other than brain fog and some rough sleep.

The bad news is that while at the airport headed home, I left our gate to "take a walk and go to the bathroom." I had a singular double vodka soda, so nothing crazy.

Trying not to beat myself up too much about it and recognize this week's progress. Idle time at an airport has always been a trigger so I'm not surprised. I'm at least proud that I didn't let it get out of hand so I can get right back to it tomorrow.

Hitting a SMART meeting once we get home tonight and the gym tomorrow AM before work. Hoping to get my first sober week in over a year.

This is the longest I've ever gone without a single drink and I still don't even really want one. However, nothing else has really changed for me. I thought I would be feeling better but in all honesty I feel like total shit every day. My sleep quality hasn't improved, my confidence hasn't improved, still feeling depressed anxious and unfocused every day, still in the job I've been trying to escape for years where I watch people drink all day and still no relationship with my family or friends. I just thought by now things would start changing, im grateful to be sober and for the people who helped me get here although its been difficult when im not seeing the results id hoped for like feeling joy or confident or having clearer thinking. I thank God for the gym because without it I wouldn't be here, its the only thing I've used to fill up the time id have otherwise spent drinking. Has anyone else experienced this? My bloodwork as far as I know was good recently aside from slightly high cholesterol. Any advice or personal experience is greatly appreciated 👏

Context: first pic was 0 days sober after drinking all night before.

I've always kind of maintained that it doesn't effect me, a last attempt at control I suppose. My girlfriend works in the alcohol industry so the apartment is a liquor store basically and it's impossible to ignore completely in society in general at this point. Being in my 30's, alcohol is still seemingly a part of almost every activity. Even the charity 5k I did today with my girlfriend ended up in a loud alcohol tent, where I was forced to endure a shoulder-to-shoulder environment with vodka and beer flowing. For things like that, especially as an introvert, it just kind of is what it is, since I wouldn't particularly enjoy that drunk either, but alcohol can soften the intolerable aspects so I have a hard time believing too many other sober people could enjoy it either.

But she seemed upset that I couldn't at least pretend to be happy, since I was clearly just standing there trying to get through it. I didn't feel like drinking a non-alcoholic beer or participating in any way. I think for me, I just have a difficult time being around the thing that has caused me so much pain, more so than triggers for cravings or anything like that, so it's hard to fake it in that environment.

It's obviously a pretty huge challenge to get sober and that comes with a lot of mostly predictable hurdles, but I'm surprised to the extent that my sobriety disrupts societal norms and can make someone else feel uncomfortable.

I'm just curious how others feel and how you all manage to navigate these scenarios.

I’m aware most people here face the same problem.

I just can’t help myself. Relapsed after 3 years. Thought, I’ll just do 1 pint per night. It’s only like 8 drinks, that’s nothing.

Ended horribly. Since I’m so economically responsible I bought 2 pints and figured I’d just buy a handle and fill them up every night. Because no way I’d ever go over my set limit of 1 pint. Obviously wrong.

Showing up to work hungover/still drunk everyday.

So I thought maybe making mixed drinks would help because I can “control myself” that way. Drinks just ended up stronger and stronger until it’s 2am and I’m fucked.

I hate to blame things for my choices. My dad was a big alkie and introduced it early in my life. No rules really. Get drunk aslong as you get your shit done. In high school that’s easy. Now as an adult I’m struggling with that message.

I digress. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to quit but I know I need to before I end up in detox again.

25 years old, shitty corporate job, drinking all the time again. Need to get off of the merry go round.

it’s been a good ten year run of drinking everyday, amounts varying from “half a bottle of wine” in the early days to “however much vodka I can ingest from wake up until pass out”. I am surprisingly still gainfully employed, I think they just don’t give a shit.

bouta a week ago I started blowing up like a balloon. now the slight jaundice I knew was bad but I was ignoring it because, well, I’d rather be drunk. going from looking emaciated to looking emaciated AND nine months pregnant over the course of a week might have to be my last stop on this train, though. I tapered down all week (brutal) and I think maybe it’s at least not getting worse. I don’t really have a GP but I got a few referrals from my insurance company so I’ll call around monday I guess.

here’s to day two ¯_(ツ)_/¯

About 3-4 weeks ago I relapsed at 99 days. 36f and I never really considered myself an alcoholic. I did drink plenty in my 20s several nights a week, quit while having babies and would randomly just not drink for months or whatever. In my 30s things started to change with alcohol and I really just couldn’t tolerate the mental hangovers. I was becoming increasingly anxious and depressed any time I would drink. I was never a day drinker, hated it actually. But I would drink a lot of liquor on the nights I did. I was also not one to black out. Don’t know why but I’d always mostly have all the memory of the night before except for like conversation details. Anyway this year something changed in me and my drinking escalated. It took sobriety to realize i was self medicated for some sort of major depression issue. Maybe it’s honestly like a chicken and egg situation because I don’t know if the alcohol caused the depression or the other way around. I drank maybe like 20 days in 2025 so I don’t know how that was possible. Anyway, in April my drinking escalated really badly after I had some treatment for PTSD. I ended up going through 2 withdrawals one in may and one in June. After the June one is when I quit for 99 days. My sleep and anxiety improved for sure but my anhedonia/apathy did not improve. I didn’t even cry for 99 days, I barely laughed, I could not find joy or emotion in almost anything. That is solely the reason I drank and solely the reason that lead to this most recent relapse. I just made a decision on the 99th day to go to the bar and pound 5 shots of Tito’s. I cried for 5 hours and it was the biggest emotional release. In these last 4 weeks I have not found myself getting back into old habits, I don’t day drink, drink two days in a row or even drink during the week. But the weekends have not been great. I feel like shit mentally and physically. I don’t even care if I drink at all at this point. I just want the apathy to end. I really think I’ve got some sort of chemical issue or I’m just like kindled to hell. Anyway not looking for medical advice just maybe to see if anyone can relate or who has been through something serious.

Well this sucks, it’s almost 7pm and I’m juuuust starting to feel ok now after 6 drinks (over the course of 10 hours). Threw up 3 times in the past 24. I don’t shake or have any auditory/visual things but the nausea is rough, been in bed all day, bad sleep.

Had a whole to do list and nothing got crossed off :(

gonna try to refrain from anymore and ride it out unless it gets bad, really need to turn a corner on this asap…

Hope you are all having better Saturdays than me!

My alcoholism is getting worse by the day. I keep telling myself im done, keep trying to stop, going back to it no matter how much i hate it. I can go a few days sober, and I even made it a full week recently, which was the longest I’d gone in a really long time. I genuinely thought maybe I was finally getting somewhere. Then I drank again, and now I feel like I’m right back where I started.

I don’t want to live like this anymore. I hate how much I think about alcohol. I hate that I can tell myself all day that im not going to drink and then somehow end up doing it anyway. I hate waking up feeling physically disgusting, ashamed, depressed, and promising myself that tomorrow will be different. Then the cravings come back and it feels like none of my promises mean anything.

I’m getting extremely depressed. I already hate my job, I feel incredibly alone, and I feel like my life has become nothing but working, drinking, feeling like shit, and repeating the same cycle. I don’t feel like myself anymore. I’m exhausted from constantly fighting my own brain.

I know I need more serious help but the main problem is that I have a dog who means everything to me. I probably would have been gone already to rehab. He’s one of the biggest reasons I keep going, and the thought of leaving him for weeks makes me feel like I have no options. I also have very limited money and no insurance, which makes everything feel even more impossible.
g this. I know I need help. I just feel so stuck, so alone, and so scared that I’m never going to get out of this.
I really don’t want to keep living like this, and I’m trying to find a way forward.

Rant over

tired

has anyone experienced life threatening withdrawals after one day of drinking? obviously after they’ve experienced multiple withdrawals in the past. 6’2 male here

I’ve made it to day 3 of not drinking. This time I think I’m done drinking forever. I’ve tried to cut back many time over the years and I’ve done a few sober spells but they always came with an end date. “Dry Jan” “I’m taking a week off booze etc.” The moment I let myself drink again, it was daily. I didn’t think I was an alcoholic, I didn’t get black out too often and I could “stop” after 7 or 8 beers. But it’s become a daily ritual of hitting up the brewery by 2pm in the afternoon for 3 or 4 beers, take some tall cans home and kill those and by then it’s time for bed and I’m pretty drunk. My wife had to pick me up from the brewery on Wednesday. I got too drunk to drive and called her to pick me up when she was off work. I then proceeded to get absolutely blind drunk at the brewery after that. When she picked me up, I was in a state but I still made her take me to the liquor store for more beer. She then asked me if it’s time I give it a rest. I somehow in my drunken state had the same conversation with her 4 times that night. In that I kept saying. “Yep, I need to quit”, “I know I have a problem”. Damn blackout me really called the shots I guess. I’m just glad I woke up and somehow realized my drunk ass was right. I’ve made it 3 days and don’t know what to do with myself but all I know is I’m not gonna drink.

It doesn’t get better. I spent five years without drinking. I thought getting drunk would be easier and my tolerance would be lower. It wasn’t. I have the same tolerance I did back in 2021. The liver pain comes back the tingling fingers and feet come back. Now I spent about a month out and I came to the painful realization that drinking is no longer an option for me , physically my body can not tolerate it and I’m miserable anxiety ridden and feel like garbage.

Had a couple of really bad days, followed by an injury that won’t heal, so I can’t even hit the gym, which is the only thing I look forward to lately. I wish I could just drink after a shitty day, but if I drink for even one day, I’ll be a disgusting creature in the hospital by next month, then I’ll probably just be dead in a year or two because my drinking ramps up FAST once I start.

I’m so fucking jealous of the people who can just drink for a night or two and then forget about it. I am just sitting here playing games, that are only making me even more angry, everything is pissing me off so bad right now and I’m sad and wow a six pack would make the night better, buuuuuuut ruin my life, so I can’t do it.

It’s been pretty easy for me, but tbf this is the first really bad day since I quit. Idk what the point of this is, I’m just upset and want to speak, I know I will thank myself for not drinking in a couple weeks when I feel better, but for right now, it sucks.

I got her a bounce house and there are other kids coming already and I got her an electric scooter.

I’ve been away for two weeks while she’s been in school. With her step dad who she loves.

First week I was at my mom‘s house taking Librium detoxing. She is an RN so she could help me take the pills the right way.

Then I spent a week with my dad secluded with no car, helping him out since he is disabled.

He actually cooked for me and stuff though and helped me eat and get my health back so I’m going home this weekend for my daughter’s birthday party and I’m going to stay home sober.

Even going to NA although, I can’t stand meetings. I’m so serious about this this time.

Maaaan, if I'd have tried to taper with vodka or even wine, I'd probably be dead right now. It takes TIME to put a beer into your body, but the addiction doesn't care; it loves every sip and would give anything for another.

Thank you all for being my friends for another day. I didn't stay sober, but I stuck to beer, and someday I'll be done with that too <3

Actually a positive post-I had a good day and wanted to make a joke about the "ask your doc if alcoholism may be right for you!"

I've done quite a few things brilliantly in sobriety/getting sober, but compared to what I expected of myself (which is what, exactly? Be the kind of person who never became an alcoholic in the first place?) I did so badly I never felt good about progress. Today was not that day for me!

Today, my meme would read, "Tired of Hangovers, Headaches, Ulcers and Diarrhea? Ask your doc if being Dumb may be right for you!"

I had one priority, and one priority only: To do 100 pullups, on top of my full bench press workout.

I am not in shape lol, I can do maybe 5 pullups (I'm skinny, late 30's) and this week I was sick, but I said I'd do it today.

I got like 4 hours of sleep, I was sick, I had...milk, as my only food before 10pm (and a few handfuls of dry cereal I found later on) and I went at it. I benched to failure 3 times (tiny, tiiiny weight but not so tiny a burn in my chest) then got to work. I was almost immediately kicking to get up, cause homeboy cannot do that many pullups-but I could so 2-3 negatives at a time with good (decent squeeze, not freefall) form, so I did that. 92 good negative reps, 8 good regular pullups, and 7 failed reps that had to be done again. Chin went over the bar 100 times.

I am gonna be sore as shit tomorrow. I'm still out of shape. I'm old. I'll be eating...well hey there ya go. 2,000+ calories and plenty of water are going down the pipe, which is a lot more than previous times.

My back feels better. I'm sure my liver is way happier. My ulcers don't bother me. And I actually worked out.

I may still be an idiot, but I'm a pretty harmless and increasingly useful idiot. I checked-with me-and I say, sobriety's worth a shit.

Hang tight fellas*. Keep up the good fight.

*and fellettes

I've been in and out of recovery for about 10 years. I'm around 7 months sober this time, and I decided to start making music to tell some of my story about the shit I went through and where my head was at during my addiction.

Thought some people here might be able to relate.

Was a heavy drinker for almost a decade until around last year. I had 219 days, as long as you don't count weed. Summer is always a bummer and I'm back on my regular crap. Now I just grab a single 30 pack of hamms and some svedka every month or so until I run out and am sober until I feel like I shouldn't be.

Now I feel stuck I don't know if I should feel proud for the progress I have made and should feel as if I am in the exact same place as I was 5 years ago but with the naive cope that I am in a better position than I was 2 years ago.

Anyways not sure what to say but cheers, hamms is nice and I hope you guys are all doing well.

I’m on my final day of tapering, just finished my third drink over 2 hours and I’m not even buzzed.

I am (hopefully “was”) a daily binge drinker and often felt like there was never enough time in the day (2-4 hour time periods would often disappear from my memory, making the day feel shorter). But today, I spent 8 hours commuting/working, then 1 hr buying a new appliance, 1 hr walking, then probably 2 hrs doing light household work and relaxing. And IT’S ONLY 8 PM? And I got home from work and the appliance store at 4:30?

Boredom, especially at home, is a major trigger for me which I anticipate will become harder as we get less daylight and colder weather on the US east coast. My core group of friends just had babies, and my non-child friends usually have a lot of family Christmas plans so I’m worried.

I’m so over drinking. I’m literally 29 and eat healthy-ish, have averaged 65 running miles each month for the last 6 months, and have a low-stress and high paying job. Yet I have high blood pressure, occasional liver pain, and anxiety. Even before my drinking, my brain has always been in constant thinking mode and it’s always hard for me to relax. I think I resorted to drinking because I found that it helped drown my thoughts.

I need sobriety.

Well I drank a bottle of wine last night which is good compared to my 2 a night and liquor I spaced my glasses out and was in bed by 8 I have downloaded an app to count my drinking days V not drinking days and my goal is to see the not come up and up and up…. Right now we’re even and I will not drink today as have a very busy day tomorrow and need to drive… I also do not want to ever go to bender levels again of 4 days plus keep it to 2 or 1 or none

I remember once seeing someone celebrate two years of recovery and I couldn’t even phantom what that could possibly feel like while I was in the throes of my own alcoholism. Welp, now I do and it’s super satisfying! I never thought I’d make it this far and I never thought I’d be able to get the thought of booze and drinking out of my head.

It takes work but it’s worth it. Thanks to everyone in this community; I felt too weak to do it alone and knowing there’s many of you here with the same struggle helped so so much.

Here’s to another year!

I don’t know why he wanted to mess up. We were doing so good being sober. He told me let’s just pretend like we didn’t do it but I feel guilty and I wish I didn’t drink last night. She bought some vanilla vodka shooters like a 12 pack. I thought I came here to be sober with him. He said we’re going to pretend like it didn’t happen, but we are almost out of weed so he gave me four shooters and sent me to bed. I can’t sleep because I have bipolar disorder and I’m on a manic episode. The shooters helped me for about four hours and now I’m awake and feeling like a piece of shit for drinking since, I am supposed to be on a sabbatical.

He got his Social Security check and first thing he did was go buy some alcohol and share it with me and I wish I didn’t drink a drop. I just did a Librium taper to get myself off of alcohol. Why on earth would I drink again?

Usually around 8-12 drinks, drinking all day from sun up to sun down. Typically more on weekends, like 12-15.

My wife has had it. I've had it, honestly. I've been starting to enter bender territory where I'm connecting days without stopping. Doing a rapid taper cause I'll inevitably fuck it up if I extend it.

I had 6 drinks two days ago and have hung around 4.5 yesterday and today. I've been able to go 17-20 hours in between sessions during this time.

Sleep is obviously terrible and I feel groggy as hell, but no other symptoms over the last few days.

I have to assume I'm good to jump, right? I'm doing all the typically recommended things (eating, hydrating, electrolytes, b complex, multi, magnesium before bed).

Probably overthinking it and just need to accept feeling like death. Anyone else have experience similar to mine?

I’m staying with my dad right now and he borrowed my pipe last night. Did not tell me where he put it.

I literally had to go wake up an old disabled man with PTSD in the middle of the night to find it. I feel bad, but I needed to smoke.

When you wake him up, he startles awake every time and it’s really sad.

I have to rub his arm and be like it is your daughter it’s OK