Hi Gott and congratulations on 15 AF days!!

It's possible that the headaches are a withdrawal symptom, it could also be dehydration, are you drinking enough water? While 2 AF weeks is awesome, it's still early days, it's said in recovery circles that the body needs 3 months AF to fully recover and for us to get out of the habit of drinking. To help reduce cravings, watch what you eat and make sure you drink lots of water, juices, teas etc... eat protein regularly (several times a day), it will keep your blood sugar levels stable and considerably reduce cravings. When you feel like drinking, or before your usual drink o'clock eat some protein and drink a glass of water, this should reduce, if not stop them.

Poor sleep is fairly normal in early sobriety, a substitute for a sleeping pill might be Melatonin if you haven't tried it already. Take it 30 mins to an hour before you intend to sleep and sit or lie in a quiet, darkened room, you could try listening to some music or an audio book in the dark. Darkness makes us produce our own natural Melatonin.

Nal-On!

Curi

19 days AF. Thank you Chrissie & Curiousone for your posts.

Chrissie, I don't know how far I'm going to take this AF pledge. A day or two ago, I didn't think I'd get thru the next 48 hrs. Last night, I didn't really have any cravings tho but my headache returned so I went to bed at 9pm. You're numbers are really good....despite the fact you are still struggling. Maybe going a whole week AF will help push you to the next level. And if it takes antibuse, so be it. I'm thinking if I do start drinking again, I'm going to have to have a rule that I don't drink during the week at family dinners. It'll have to just be special occasions like at a restaurant or at a party...but not on regular days...that being said, I don't yet trust myself that I could keep to that rule.

Before going to sleep last night, I read more of "Over the Influence" and read some more thought provoking stuff...."If you have a problem with drugs (or alchohol), you have a problem with emotions". It also went on to say "You don't, however, have to figure out whether emotional sensitivity or drug use came first. You just have both....you will have to give your relationship with drugs and your emotional life equal treatment and attention." Then it went on to say, "One of the crucial aspects of practicing harm reduction is to gain some understanding of what is a work in your choice of which drugs to use." Well, I can say for myself that I use alcohol b/c it is easily accessible. I've come to realize that if other drugs were more accessible, I might be into more trouble....thank goodness that isn't the case.

Curiousone, thank you for your suggestion to eat more protein; I will try that....had some eggs for breakfast. I don't think I'm dehydrated as I drink water throughout the day. I know I need to wean myself off the sleeping pill....but don't think I'm ready this early in....there's another drug (sleeping pills) I have a relationship with....they help me escape from the current day and the risk of drinking alcohol.

So I have to be AF 3 months to be thru all the side effects? Ugh. Well, will see what I can do. That takes me to the end of November. Man, not sure. Well, will take one day at a time.

Hope you all are hanging in there!

Kudos, awesome on the 19 days AF. I hear you on the sleeping pills, not sure what I would do without mine. Insomnia is what got me into this whole mess years ago. I need to get back to reading some more CB type books, retrain, deviate, change, right?

Gotthegene,
You are doing awesome! Are your headaches stress related?

Eric

I hear you about sleep, it is precious! I took various sleeping pills for years, I've been a bad sleeper since I was a child. But I was really amazed with how effective Melatonin is, for me, it has been by far the most effective thing I've ever taken. I feel sleepy now every night around the same time and I wake every morning around the same time, even at the weekends. I didn't ween, I just took a Melatonin one night instead of my regular sleeping pill. It might be something to keep in mind.

I'm sorry to hear about the headaches, I personally rarely ever get them but several of my friends and family do, some get migraines. According to them, the trick is to nip it in the bud. As soon as you feel the first twinge of pain, take your pain killer, don't wait! don't let the headache set in because apparently it takes hours to get rid of it, if you do.

I wonder if you are intolerant to certain foods? My son gets sugar headaches and I can't tolerate gluten, others are lactose intolerant. The only way to find out is to remove one food item at a time from your diet for about 3 weeks and see how you feel. The most common intolerances are gluten and lactose. It might be worth looking into for your headaches.

Well done on 19 days! You're really clocking them up now.

Curi

Curi, I've had migraines since I was 2....another genetic thing...seems I inherited a lot of bad stuff. Had another headache yesterday and yes one has to take medicine as soon as possible otherwise it can turn into something really painful.

As I walked downtown today I thought a lot about stopping in somewhere and having a glass of wine...ugh. I didn't but I am thinking that I will always be interested in alcohol. I went about 15 months during the pregnancy of my daughter and couldn't wait to have a glass of wine....so I think I'll have to figure out a strategy to practice moderation down the road. In the meantime I'm wondering what my AF goal should be to get "clean". It has been suggested 3 months and I read today in "Moderate Drinking: The Moderation Management Guide" another suggestion is 30 days (I like that suggestion better ) For anyone interested reading more about "Moderation Management", here is the url http://www.moderation.org.

Anyway, it's another evening and I'm passing the time checking out this forum, facebook and doing some reading. Hope others are doing well.

Hi Gotthegene, I have been reading through your posts and am very encouraged by the AF days. I am curious as to what might happen if or when you decide to drink. I sometimes think it would be easier to just quit than to moderate, but that hasn't worked in the past and is why I am embarking on this method. My plan is to try 3 days AF between drinking days and then limit my drinks to 4. I'm almost there, however someone mentioned in earlier posts about the deprivation effect and I'm wondering if this will come into play. I think it is great that you can go AF and I believe that any days not drinking are going to be better for you, but I'm not sure it is rewiring the brain. I noticed you have been on and off the Nal. Do you think that taking what you have in the past has helped you in your resolve not to drink lately? Do you "feel" as though your brain has rewired at all? I know that my AF days are much more "enjoyable" than my drinking days. I wish you much success and thank you for all of your posts. Keek

Hi Kekede,
To answer you, "no" I unfortunately do not feel that I was on Nal long enough to rewire my brain. I think I would still be struggling w/ limiting my daily intake if it was not for a really bad Nal hangover followed the next day w/ the s*&# hitting the fan w/ my marriage. That got me 2 days AF and then I went camping w/ the family for another 2 days w/out access to alcohol. So it took a trauma to get me started. "An ill wind that blew some good"...one could say.

Now I'm on this AF track and not sure where to go from here. I absolutely don't trust myself if I start drinking again now. I'm aiming first to hit 30 days AF and if I get there I may aim for 90 days (to get 3 months AF and hopefully my system clean). I'm still getting the headaches (have one now) and so can only assume my head/body is still working thru the shock of no alcohol. Fortunately I have imitrex (for migraines) and that seems to get rid of the headaches for a while.

I live in "wine country" and I can't imagine passing wine up the rest of my life so am trying to devise some ground rules for when I do add alcohol back. First rule has to be no wine w/ dinner during everyday family dinners. Gotta cut out the daily habit. Then when I'm out or there is an "occasion", I'll have to limit myself to 2 glasses of wine. But this is where I'm not trusting myself....to stop at 2 glasses and not want to start in again the next day. I also need to limit myself to just wine....I got started on the vodka later in the evenings after 2 glasses of wine. So it "looked" like I was just having 1/2 bottle of wine but I was adding a couple shots of vodka later on in order to get a better buzz.

When I do start, I will take 25 mg Nal and Bac to try to reduce cravings. I feel I'm out in the wilderness on this...

My father was an alcoholic....but a binge drinker (I'm a daily drinker). He would dry out for 3+ weeks and then start up and wouldn't stop until all the scotch in the house was finished. I think my grandfather was like that as well. My father never succeeded in overcoming his habit and died young as a result. So this fact worries me...that I too may never overcome the habit. That being said, Dad didn't have access to tsm and so thankfully modern medicine today gives us more options and hope.

Hi GTG,
I'm sorry to hear that the Nal didn't work for you the first time around.

Your story sounds very similar to mine, other than it was my mother who was the alcoholic that died young. She had 5 years of sobriety before passing and seemed to be happier. However, those years were spent pacing around the house with a cigarette in her hand. To this day, I believe she would have been better served with some anti-depressants and anti-craving meds. I think I have finally gotten around to forgiving her for not being there for me in my younger days. Now I need to work on forgiving myself for using alcohol to numb any and all emotion. I'm hopeful now that I have a psychiatrist who is willing to support me in this program and teaching me to process "life".

I understand your misgivings about not wanting to drink, wanting to control the drinking if you decide to, and being afraid of what will happen if you do. I sometimes think it would be easier to just quit, than to try and moderate. I actually have more fun when I'm not drinking, but I don't want to go the AA route because ............lets just say it's hard for me to believe that something designed by two men in the 1930's is the only way to cure this addiction.

Right now I am in the desert on a self-proclaimed cleansing regimen. Day 2 AF and I'm typing away the anxiety. My hubby is supportive to a point but, I am a little afraid of losing him when I get drunk and depressed. Marriage #1 fell apart because we were both dysfunctional. Glad to hear you are in therapy. Sorry to hear about the headaches. I don't seem to have many withdrawal symptoms when I do manage 10 or so AF days, except the desire to drink again....go figure! Sorry, I should have posted this in My Story.....I'll be checking for your progress. Take Care! keek

Congrats on 2 AF days Keke. Anymore after that?

Man, I've been on this forum a lot lately. Am I going to need a self-help program to help reduce my TSM forum usage now???