So this is a post in making because I'm expecting reasons why u should not drink while on antibiotics.

I have an infection in my elbow that got bad so I'm taking strong antibiotics for three weeks. I'm an alcoholic so this is a challenge for me but I believe if I can go three weeks with no drinking I might be able to stop completely or slow down afterwards.

Today is day three. It's not even noon and I just want a beer. But I'm fighting thru it.

Encourage me to continue.

I can't remember the last time I went three days let alone three weeks with no alcohol. (sans pregnancy three years ago)

It's that new shit going around

if so, wait til you're off the meds.

And drinking red wine, lol.


Nope. Not even red wine is wise

I'll let you know once I complete my three weeks. I'm one seventh finished now.

I can do this.

I just cleaned my closet out tho. Refolded my clothes and vacuum the bedroom. It looked a mess before. Now it looks like something out of a magazine minus the fancy stuff.

I'm drinking a lot of water. I may need to take some lemon juice shots.

http://aavirginia.org/hp/va-intergroups.asp you can call and find out info. There are meetings every day of the week in lots of locations, more than just what is listed here

Example...
http://www.aavirginia.org/hp/meetings/waw.asp?day=5&town=woodbridge
If you haven't been without a drink in 3 days in 3 years than you're going to need more help than a warning lable on antibiotics can provide. If you wanna stop use a proven method to stop.
___________________________________________________________


DJTB YOMM

This is the test for me. If I can't stop for three weeks then I have a problem.

I heard day three and seven are the roughest. I've cleaned the hell out of my house. Just now took a shot of lemon juice with salt. It gives me something to tame my taste buds and its a familiar action...pouring a shot and sipping on it...but with non alcoholic beverages.

Dinner is almost ready too. Worst case scenario I'll eat, shower, and go to bed.

Tomorrow is another day.

Thanks for the info tho. I may need it.

And I realized over time that this life ain't getting no easier. All it would take is one big event to push me in the wrong direction. So I'm using this opportunity to test how bad the situation is. Fact...the antibiotics in taking are ones in which alcohol has an adverse affect on the body. I have to take care of it.

I can't wait to get past this test tho. I feel a lot better now that I ate. Pork sirloin that I baked with a special paste, and crab legs, with green beans. And a Pepsi. Lol.

The lemon shots helped too

You mentioned that you are an alcoholic. An alcoholic is generally someone that drinks until they are drunk everyday, from morning to night. Is that something you were doing?

But every day I took time to drink, and when I started it was hard to stop unless I ate or went to sleep. It became, let me do this this and this so I can drink in peace alone.

That's not healthy.

I would want to go to the gym, but would start drinking and be like, well I can't now. I'd want to write a song and say, let me sip something to help me be creative. Sometimes I'd drink at 11 at night and stop at 1 or two am because everyone is asleep then.

That's not healthy on a Tuesday.

Anything could happen at anytime and even tho my partner was there, he couldn't rely on me once I got into my zone.

And I know if I can go three weeks and if I can go nine months, then I can quit or make a habit of not making a habit of drinking.

If you can get through 3 weeks without a drink than it's downhill from there in making a real life-change. Why go through that hell for nothing?

If you wanna quit there's some objective advice out there. First and foremost....drink lots of water. Go get some vitamins. Especially B12. Take a daily 'overall' vitamin and then also something specifically for B 12. You might want to lean on sleep medication. Most likely....you're gonna have horrifying nightmares and a complete lack of sleep for 2 weeks or so. The sleep problems will most likely last longer than 2 weeks but will gradually get better. You can choose to tough it out without sleep meds which will help your body recover faster.

The faster you can clean out your system...the faster you can get over the horrible withdrawals. Everytime you pee you're a step closer to beating the wd's. Anything that cleans out the toxins. If there's a sauna available to you (YMCA perhaps) I'd suggest using one everyday for 15 minutes and sweating as much as possible during the first week. If not....a steaming hot bath can suffice. Go to the produce section and get fresh greens. Dandelion leaves, Kale, Spinach, fresh lemon. Consider making veggie juice with dark greens. Remember....all of this will shorten the amount of time you experience the wds and that includes the depression and cravings.

Consider going to AA. Every city has multiple meetings at all times of the day. I promise that you will find some comradrie there. You can go just to listen to other people or you can go there to talk (depending on your personality). They will be extremely welcoming to you so don't feel shy. Just go. If anything....it gives you something to do to stay busy. Consider taking up something (exercising is common)......like the cleaning you were talking about. Idle time is your enemy and will enhance cravings. As long as you're physically able.....stay busy and make daily plans for idle time.

I suggest to you this.....by the time the three week mark comes....you may start to feel like you're turning the corner and that you've come really far. You might just decide to keep going. Why go through the hardest part of withdrawal just to go through it all over again at a later date? That is to assume you don't want to drink like this for the rest of your life. Week 2 is usually the turning point for most people. You''ll feel better week 3 than you did week 2. You'll feel better week 4 than you did week 3....and so on. Something might click in.....the longer I stay sober the more rewards I get out of it. It's around week 3 that people tend to start recognizing the positives of getting sober so it takes a lot of patience to get to that point. Let's face it....the first 14 days are gonna suck. But it's WORTH getting through them.

.

The blue book is the bible of AA. The new amendment is called 'A Doctor's Perspective' and it makes a very concise statement.

"An alcoholic is an individual whom, after ingesting an alcoholic drink, experiences the phenomenon of craving".

It's that simple. My brother can drink a beer or two on Saturday afternoon....then eat dinner and go the rest of the night without another drink without even thinking about it. I can't even fathom that. Once I've had ONE drink.....I'm drinking til I go to sleep. My co-workers sometimes have a beer when we go out for lunch. I can't fathom that either. 'You mean we're going have a pint of beer now......and then work for another 4 hours without drinking more?' Because I was a functional alcoholic...I learned to make sure I didn't have my first drink until I knew I could continuously drink til I fell asleep. The craving for the first drink exists....but it's the craving for the second drink that is basically impossible to ignore.

So I came to realize....I'm not really an alcohol addict UNTIL I have a drink. After you've reached the third or fourth week.....you'll notice that your body is starting to return to normal and the physical manifestations of the craving start to subside. A few months later and your liver will completely heal to the efficiency of someone who never drank in the first place. There IS a tipping point where that kind of recovery won't be possible.

Here's the good news......the craving for the first drink gets less and less with time. The bad news is that the craving for the second drink will be just as strong after years of sobriety as it was while you were drinking heavy. So when I crave the first drink....I think to myself.....'If I drink the first beer....one of two things will happen. Either I'll spend all night fighting a craving for more. (no fun) Or I'll give into that craving and end up drinking 9 to 12 beers. Both scenarios suck. Therefor....I simply don't have that first drink. I can deal with the cravings for a first drink....I can't deal with the cravings for the second drink. It took me a loooooooong time to realize that.

I'm probly jumping to far ahead. The fact is....you're gonna have a shitty three weeks. It might be shitty for a little longer. The sleep disruption/nightmares can border on torturous. But you have to get through that part in order to start having some perspective on your behaviour. And the new perspective you gain after getting sober will be the biggest reward. When people first set out to quit....they usually get terrified because they can't imagine a future without drinking. I promise you....it will be a change in perspective that can only come from sobriety that will make that future easier to envision for yourself. That's why the cliché is true....it gets easier.

Wow, I agree with all that, the first drink next drinks. The adjusting the schedule...its good to know I'm not the only one to go through this. I wasn't expecting to realize so much so fast.

Ay listen man...any sort of addictive behavior, to cease to exist, does well with a tapering off. Addicts are lying to themselves all the time with some cold turkey bullshit...Nahh... If you wanna quit well, take less and less of whatever you're taking, that simple. That goes for anything.

Addicts are always looking for some silver bullet bullshit. If you wanna quit cigarettea, for once and for all, smoke less and less every time, til it's once a day, once every two days, once a week, once a month...if that works for you. If not, try something else. But the same goes for alcohol, if you can. Drink as little a possible a day, but don't try to stop drinking all at once! That's crazy and improbable, as you should well know!

I am taking antibiotics. Two different types.

They telling me to use gloves when I change my bandages n shit. I'm not trying to risk tending to that and or prolonging it because I haven't made alcohol consumption a healthy part of my life. No I have to suck it up and pull everything inside me together. I'll be ok.

And you know ill keep you posted.

Ok cool I know what you mean. For now you must, and well done. I just mean for the eventual quitting, if you want to, you can, and people will support you. But don't think it's gotta be some cut-throat, all at once shit. Tapering off, for all us who deal with that little beast willing us another sip/hit/puff, can be some step-by-step shit that works.

Best of luck to you working out everything, bruh!!

Idle time is not my friend right now. I slept on the couch and sweated a lot and had bad tummy cramps before bed but drank tea and drifted off to sleep. Bad dream but I can't remember.

Is this day 4 or day 5?

I'm excited for you. There's gonna be a day (probably between day 14 to day 21) where your endorphins kick back in. You'll get a good feeling....the kind that you normally need alcohol to get.....and it'll probly be the first time (in a long time) you have a good mood without intervening to 'make' it happen by drinking.

Hopefully you can take comfort in that. The reason you feel lousy is because you've trained your body to release dopamine in conjunction with drinking. So for 3 or so weeks....you're body is not gonna release any dopamine in the absence of alcohol. But the beautiful thing is......it comes back! And when it does...it'll be natural. So you won't have to prop it up. When you think about it.....carrying an alcohol/drug dependency is stressful as shit. It's also really hard work. When is the store closing.....why isn't my dealer calling me back.....do I have enough money.....I have to wait til work finishes......I have to wait for the kids to go to bed......etc etc etc. Soon, you'll be able to have all those good feelings without the chores and burdens of addiction maintenance.

And that's what sobriety is all about. Letting your body's natural dopamine cycle happen without trying to interfere with it.

then it means you prolly drink a lot.

If you had any doubt about your status as an alcoholic, now you know for sure.
Stay strong and seek help.
___________________________________________________________


DJTB YOMM

I agree w/an above poster - try to get something to help you sleep,m stay up w/your Bcomplex vitamins and DEFINITELY taper off - I get that's not your situation now, but should you decide to STAY sober after you're done. That's the best way.

I also came up with a social game that I called "do better" where people picked three vices or things in life that they wanted to do better at and talked about why they do them and how they plan to stop or reduce it and what kind of support they would need from the other players.

I introduced this game to my family and the five of us played it and had a very honest discussion.

I told them as far as drinking there were a lot of reasons I did. First of all it was forbidden in the house when I was growing up, so curiosity and the desire to feel like an adult was a big thing at first. Then I realized because I had been sheltered I was nervous around people who were not, so drinking made me feel more confident. But because I was never taught how to drink I was doing shit like not eating and drinking in excess. A lot more things I said but it was a good start. That was about four or five years ago. And it was a big step in recognizing I wasn't drinking in a healthy way.

I am not alcohol dependant in my opinion, but I will abuse a bottle. Lol.

My dude seems proud that I haven't touched a drink even tho its right in my face. That's the big challenge.

Infection won't clear up if you drink while taking the drugs.

So were you drinking the whole time you were pregnant?

~ ~ ~
All meetings end in separation
All acquisition ends in dispersion
All life ends in death
- The Buddha

|\_/|
='_'=

Every hundred years, all new people

Or som'n to that effect. Check the last line of the OP.

You just want to stop because its bigger than you. I have to look at my own health as if its just as important.

You can do it.

For my elbow in January and I didn't finish all the antibiotics and had pink eye at the same time.

My son will be three in June. Of course I didn't drink once I found out I was pregnant with him. Gradually over the last two years I started drinking again and drinking more. The only reason I see the drinking as a real issue is that when they told me id have to take strong antibiotics for three weeks my first thought was, I'm not going to be able to drink for three weeks. Lol. Then I thought, what's the big deal? But I had made drinking a routine...an after work thing. And I realized it had been a while since I had gone so long without alcohol at all. Plus my dude had just purchased vodka and I had purchased a big bottle of merlot.

Seeing it and not drinking it is the big test. But I'm about 1\4th of the way thru so far and I feel great.

Lemon juice shots and eating, as well as drinking tea have helped.

Thanks.

your drinking habits don't seem to fit snugly into the alcoholic box so you could be self-medicating some other issue...

i'd look into AA or just about any form of counseling...

most true alcoholics can't quit while pregnant only to completely relapse like that...so like i said...u may be dealing with something you are unwilling to address consciously besides a chemical addiction

get as much help as u can

edit: i take that back...if you going through withdrawal symptoms maybe it's a combo of addiction and other issues

I always feel guilty about things even when I have no control over them. I take on other peoples problems as my own because I'm scared of dealing with my own issues. I think if I help others then others will help me.

But it doesn't work that way and I end up disappointed which makes me resentful.

That's a big issue for me. So I start by recognizing when I'm feeling upset or guilty about something and use logic to get thru it instead of avoiding it and acting like I don't feel anything.

I'm doing pretty good. Been journaling and watching. By watching I mean observing myself and others and body language. I'm dealing with my worries. I'm listening to advice when people talk. I'm seeing I'm not the only person who worries. And instead of feeling alone and being stuck in myself, to pay attention and gravitate towards those who deal with challenges in a healthy manner.

maybe incorporate a different habit
low stress habit
and since you are ill definitely nothing stressful
to occupy that time

~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

Thyme, green onion, and 🍅 tomato.

It's been a week and I haven't seen a sprout yet. I keep looking too. Lol. Patience, right?

I did find a cool way to incorporate diluting Epsom salt to use in watering plants.

And I'm done with this antibiotic.

It just never was resolved.

This antibiotic will resolve that.

Less stressed. Less angry. Less likely to dwell on negativity.

I am also very tired.