Hello iamheretoo,

It all depends on whether your relationship with alcohol is what could be considered as normal or whether you are an alcoholic.

A normal drinker should have no problem in taking it or leaving it and would not feel irritable. An alcoholic on the other hand who tries to control alcohol will often feel restless, irritable and discontented.

An alcoholic cannot drink safely and the only safe option is not to drink at all. Attempts at control such as cutting back to two nights per week are doomed to end in failure for the alcoholic.

If you need help, don’t be afraid to look for it.

I get irritable every time I stop again.

Irritability is simply the booze brains way of making you give it what it wants ....... more booze.

Resist - the irritability does pass as you venture further on your journey to sobriety!

Remember normal drinkers who drink safely don't feel irritable because they don't crave alcohol like us. Xxx

Yes I am an alcoholic. I have used alcohol to numb and self medicate..

I live with an alcoholic. He made a promise to his Mankind project group to at least moderate. So I am trying to support him in that and help myself in the process. So far my liver has survived but at my last doctor visit I was warned that that will not last forever. I drink at least a bottle of wine every night after work. I can see the toll it takes just by looking at my puffy eyes and look of fatigue in the morning.. Weekends we both started in after coffee in the morning.
He seems confident that he can quit. He did it before when his daughter was conceived 15 years ago and stayed sober for 12 years. My problem has gotten steadily worse throughout my life. I started in my 20's. I turn 53 on the 27th. I've never quit for more than a month. I'm scared . My doctor has offered Antabuse.

It must be difficult living with someone who shares the same addiction - it will totally eliminate the support one would expect for full commitment to sobriety. Reducing is not an option when you are feeling and seeing the affects of alcoholism and are aware without doubt what danger you are putting your life in.

Working with other alcoholics and living the principles of AA has/is creating a psychic change for me. It can do the same for you. A restless, irritable and discontent life can be replaced by a happy, joyous and free life. Perhaps you could read the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous? The solution is in there.

"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.”

Yep. That pretty much sums it up.

ITS a normal thing for alcoholics.

Do you find when you enjoy alcohol you can't control it and when you control your alcohol you can't enjoy it?

For now, yes. I think? Does that mean you can't enjoy not having alcohol? Because that's kind of how I feel. I have a craving for it after work when I sit on the porch in my rocking chair.

I did not drink any alcohol yesterday. I slept great and woke up feeling less cranky than yesterday even though I discovered I'm in the red in my checking account. I have however been drinking a lot of Diet Coke and flavored club soda as placebo.

Sounds like a pretty nice way to wake up. I'll bet it's even better tomorrow. Towards the end, the only thing I looked forward to was getting home after work, getting drunk and playing my guitar.....alone. I drank and I played. I played and I drank. I needed to put the guitar away during early recovery because of that connection. I changed my routine entirely. AA, prayer, phone calls, reading, running etc....took the place of drinking and playing. I recently picked up the guitar and it's been an entirely different experience. I play because I enjoy it. My point is that nothing changes if nothing changes. We need to do things differently....everything for a while. Perhaps you could put the rocking chair in storage for a bit?

very normal. The thing is the brain is used to a depressant drug every day. When you start to get sober the brain is racing and expecting a the drug. It takes a little while to get the body and brain back to a normal balance. The irony is that by the time the alcoholic has cleared out the system of booze, righted the ship, gotten the checking account back in the black... the idea that it will be different lets the alchy go right back to the bottle.

There needs to be a shift in the mind. The only way this happened for me was to admit I was unable to drink even one. Once that decision was made I just needed to find other ways to cope. I now discuss my issues with another and talk out my problems instead of just stuffing them in a bottle. Life has gotten so much more enjoyable

1is2many

I don't believe in god so prayer is not a go to for me. I have no desire to go to AA. No offense but the thought of it makes me skin crawl mainly because of my issues with anxiety. If this is going to happen is going to be on my own and with support from loved ones(and all of you). I am grateful for them.

Ouch

Why ouch? That I don't believe in god? or is it that I don't wish to go to AA? Don't really understand your response...
I went another day with no alcohol. Slept great again. Woke up feeling rested. Hope everyone has a good day today..

Fighting alcoholism on your own is incredibly difficult for alcoholics.

You may not be one.

I don't believe in God. That didn't interfere with me getting sober in AA. God didn't get me drunk. God isn't going to get me sober.

There are many methods for helping achieve sobriety. Many of which do not involve AA. There is Allen Carr's method. There is SMART Recovery.

It can also tell you that many have come here and used this solely as their support system; it didn't work. They are gone, drinking somewhere. This isn't a solution. This is a good place to talk about solutions.

Alcoholism is sneaky. You've made it three days. You might be 3 weeks in it 3 months or three years in and something will happen and you could go right for the bottle.

Most of these programs don't deal with the drinking. They help you manage the problems that lead to drinking.

We don't talk about alcohol or wanting to drink in AA. We talk about life and the things that might lead us to a drink.

Why I find value in AA? The stories, the experiences. I don't ever question if stopping drinking was right for me. I don't ever think, "it's been long enough; I could have a couple of drinks and be just fine."

I don't know where you live. I live in Southern California. AA is like yoga classes here. They meetings have more laughter than anything else, and most are sun-kissed and back on their feet, driving nice cars, are happily in their life. My home meeting is held at the church where I grew up having catholic studies and a kid. None of that is important to me now.

Another meeting I go to is held at a hospital. At the same time, in another conference room next door is a SMART recovery meeting. We hear their laughter. They hear ours. Those people look happy and healthy and so do the meetings in my room.

I got sober at 40 and am 45 now. I wish I would have done it 10 years earlier. I lived a long time angry, irritable and full of resentments.

Going at it alone has failed many. I hope it works for you.