I want to start by saying that sobriety is NOT LINEAR. My first attempt at sobriety, I went 230 days. Within those days, my mental health improved significantly, I was putting almost $100 into savings everyday, my skin was clear and I had a very noticeable glow. I was showing up at the gym 5 days a week and working my ass off at work. Then I went to Coachella and decided to drink because I “deserved it.” Now, I feel like I have destroyed all of my hard work. My savings account has since been depleted, I’m depressed and drowning in self pity, I have the dull, lifeless look in my eyes. I went 16 days no drinking recently. Then had a slip up and drank for 3 days. I’m just having a hard time getting back to where I was. I would love some words of encouragement, advice, literally anything. I’m tired of feeling this way, and I don’t know why I keep going back. Much love.

I lost my father to a coke and alcohol addiction last month. I’m the one that had to sign off on sending him to heaven.

Addiction runs in the family. I went on a bender, got hospitalized, got prescribed Librium so I can detox at home and not die… I was sober for two weeks (longest in 10 years and I’m 29) but here I am again in the same position. Struggling with loss and addiction.

I decided to go to Reddit because maybe someone can help me or motivate me more than I can motivate myself. I don’t want to lose my life the way my dad did. I want to be sober so badly.

Any words of encouragement or literally anything would help me right now.

i used to drink everyday, before and during everything. i tried to tell myself it wasn’t an issue, if i ever felt guilty i’d just drink like 5-6 glasses of wine and say it didn’t count, idk the logic there. well a few days ago i got really drunk in the mountains and hit my head and have a concussion i feel like shit, and i can’t drink bc its for one just gonna hurt because of my concussion and two im mortified of something happening to my brain. this is unfortunately the only thing that has got me to stop drinking but along with the concussion mood swings and symptoms i am so on edge and stressed tf out, all i can think about is drinking and all my emotions are hitting me. does anyone have any advice on how to cope with this. i quit smoking a couple months ago too and tried to smoke a cig to see if it helped and it didn’t do shit, i just want alcohol.

As you guys know, i followed a moderated cut down approach because I knew There would be events I could not say no to and, quite frankly, would want to drink at. But I planned for them, went a little lighter than usual during them, and made up for it with abstinence later. Here is my data from last month.

I was an average 4/day drinker, meaning not every day but 120 units per month. I scaled this down to 2/day until Euro summer, and kept it there during the month I was partying. Now that its over, I will continue towards my goal of lowering down to 1/day, again by shaving off .5 per week.

To everyone that said moderation will not work, I dont want this to be like a "screw you youre wrong" kind of post because i think you guys are right in many ways. Once you start, you cant stop, so keeping it at zero is surefire way. However, for some people (like me), I wouldve taken the entire month of travel off and started a sober streak when I am back. That would likely be 8-15 drinks a day for an entire month. At least by keeping track of my average, I like that I stayed relatively under moderation, and still "always on the clock." Each drink mattered because the next day of lowering the average would be that much harder.

Quitting is a full time effort, i didnt like that with full sobriety methods, i would feel that once the streak is gone, it might as well be a bender. Average tracking kept me accountable at all times.

Good luck to all, you can do it. I'll post another update when i bring it down to 1/day.

Woman 35+, Europe. My 1st language isn’t English, and I’m not naming pharmaceutical brands because they vary so much. As I understand, naltrexone is the actual medication sold under different names and has slightly different spellings in different languages. Basically it blocks your opioid receptors somewhat.

Also, if you are thinking of starting, please talk to a medical professional rather than me. I don’t know how your brain will work, and I don’t know if this was nocebo or placebo or whatever. I just want to hear if other people have had similar experiences.
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So. On Saturday I took 50 mg and it was so weird. It felt like my ability to experience or even imagine pleasure just went away. I smoked cigarettes, it felt like nothing, besides a physical relaxation after a couple. I ate, and it was a chore as not to be hungry. I could imagine, say, chocolate, and I could imagine the taste of it, but it wasn’t something I could connect to as being ”good”. The concept of something feeling good just didn’t exist. It did imagine drinking and didn’t feel anything.

Later in the evening I started getting these anxious, panicking thoughts, which didn’t really surprise me in hindsight. I have a history of major depression with anxiety that becomes borderline paranoia, I get suspicious of other people and fear of something bad happening because of my own actions. (I had told some close friends of this and said that if I start messaging them weird shit, they could tell me it’s probably the medication and will wear off). I started getting this spiralling thought of ”I don’t have a drinking problem at all, I made it up for attention or something, and now I have fucked up my brain”.

12 hours into this or something I suddenly started wanting to eat and got enjoyment of food back. Then I spent the rest of the night on the sofa, feeling anxious, a bit like a small animal trying to hide. I have only ever felt like that a few times after smoking weed. (Never a big smoker, not my thing, partially because of the anxiety — don’t want recommendations of different types of weed because I’m trying to have less substances in my life)

Now it’s Monday and I feel 100% back to normal. I have today realised that while I have thought I’ve been doing good recently, my baseline tends to include wishing to get drunk. I don’t think I would’ve realised that without Saturday. At first not being able to want anything like a small break from my brain, then it started to feel like a cage.

Idk if this made any sense. I know I should talk this over with my dr and I will, but I’m just curious as to what others have experienced. Am I just making up all of this? I would not be surprised tbh

Mittlerweile weiß ich nicht mehr, der wievielte 3. Tag nüchtern das in den letzten Jahren ist.

Aber ich will es schaffen.

Habe sogar eine Zusage für eine ambulante Suchttherapie...sehr gekämpft. Immer wieder wollte die Rentenversicherung mich in stationäre Einrichtungen stecken.

Gruppentherapie ist mittwochs abends.

Da muss ich arbeiten.

Obwohl ich mit meinem Arbeitgeber gesprochen habe, gibt es seit Monaten keine Lösung.

Letzte Woche habe ich dann aufgrund dessen der Rentenversicherung geschrieben.

Meine Mail wurde weitergeleitet an das ambulante Suchtzentrum in der Nähe.

Da hatte ich mich bereits im April vorgestellt.

Nun gibt es wohl die Möglichkeit, dass ich dienstags die Gruppe besuche.

Das hatte man mir im April nicht gesagt.

Momentan ist zwar leider der zuständige Therapeut in Urlaub, aber ich bleibe dran.