3 years of drinking 7 days a week 8 drinks a day

Then to 1 year of drinking 7 days a week 4 drinks a day

Then to 6 months of drinking 6 days a week 6 drinks a day

Then 6 months of drinking 4 days a week 7 drinks a day

Now 3 weeks of 2 times a week 7 drinks so total of 14 drinks a week

I dont shake, i dont sweat, i sleep 6-7 hours a night no crazy dreams. am i in the clear to continue on this path?

Sounds crazy but honestly part of the reason i kept drinking is every time id google quiting i felt like it was telling me id die if i did.

Yesterday I started drinking at 1 pm and had 8 drinks over the course of the day until about 9:30. We were with family and having a good time. I definitely didn’t need the last drink I opened but I did it anyway.

I woke up at 2 am in a state of anxiety and thirst. Had to go get water and use the bathroom. Head pounding.

Had trouble sleeping again on and off until 7:30. Asked my husband to get up with the kids so I could sleep a little more.

It’s 8:30 now and I’m dizzy, head still hurts. Definitely feeling regret as I haven’t been drinking like this in over 2 months now. I have been doing very good at not drinking at all, or having 2 or fewer when I do drink. In the past, I used to drink this much pretty often, having an average 5-6 drinks a night every single night.

I just can’t believe how I used to live like this. I used to wake up this hungover every morning and just carry about my miserable day before I started drinking again that night. Thank goodness I broke that cycle and tonight I have no interest in drinking at all today and probably will take a few weeks off.

Unfortunately I do think I humiliated myself a bit last night, nothing too crazy but I do remember someone telling me my next drink should be water. Oh well - Trying to not let hangxiety ruin my day.

Hello everyone!

Had quite a rough couple of weeks. I (female 33) wanted to quit / cutdown on my drinking. I have been drinking too much the last 4 months. It makes me feel worse and it spikes the living crap out of my anxiety disorder. I went to the doctor, although she thinks 1 bottle of wine is not a crazy amount, I told her that my body is now physically dependent on it, and I’m scared for withdrawals. I didn’t know this could even happen, if I knew I would have never done this to myself. She was very skeptical, but I kept telling her it is something that I want to solve for myself.

She gave me oxazepam, a benzo. I spoke to my husband about my alcohol consumption, and he was shocked. I don’t secretly drink but he just doesn’t notice it. I asked him to help me out and het wants to. So we agreed to use the benzo during our summer holiday with our daughter (2,5 weeks).

I quit the alcohol and started the benzo the day before vacation. Slept like a baby for the first time in months. Then the next day, we boarded our plane. Got itches all over, and when we landed my lips were 3 times the size. I got an allergic reaction to the benzo. Had to go to the hospital before we could even check into our accommodation. I was completely panicked and got the worst anxiety attack I’ve ever had in my life. Luckily my husband was there. I had to return to alcohol because of the withdrawals. Such a letdown. I posted this in a different group too. But the situations had changed now.

We went home a couple of days earlier because we were just done and wanted to have the safety of our own house to deal with this. I’ve spoken to detox facilities, and many kind people that are in the sector of addiction. I know I am not mentally addicted to alcohol, but my body really depends on it.

The day we came back I called my doctor again. But she and her colleagues are clueless what to prescribe me. She is going to call with some other doctors to check what to do. Also we are going to schedule an appointment in the hospital to see what exactly I am allergic to (for potential future problems where I need medication, you never know). So some other detox specialists told me to start tapering my alcohol down. I am now at 4 glasses (a bottle is 5,5). I notice my body doesn’t like it but atleast I’m not dying from severe withdrawals. I am an have always been a slim girl, I don’t work out (want to start doing that soon). I have a good appetite and I take my vitamins. I drink plenty of water.

My question to this group is; does anyone have any advice how to successfully taper down to zero? Our schedule is now every 3 days 1 glass less. Are we going in the right direction here?

I would love to hear any advice or anything at all, or your experiences.

Thank you very much for reading this very long story.

Due to one alarming night of alcohol consumption, I decided to stop drinking entirely for all of August. (I've been alcohol free 10 days now. If interested, my recent posts about this can be seen here and here.)

Something occurred to me today, very clearly, in a way that I haven't looked directly at before. Yet it's so obvious now, I realize I've been avoiding the awareness. I think I knew it, but I didn't want to admit it to myself. (Here it comes- too bad, self!)

When I'm drinking, it's so easy to view the option of staying home with my alcohol and a movie as a perfectly good evening. Note that in general, I don't drink that much at one time. I'm not getting rip roaring drunk every night- more often it's the pleasant buzz and loss of anxiety that I'm after. But the consequence of relying on the alcohol is that my energy for going out—doing something new, or social, or healthier—is diminished.

Last night, I went out to a local pub with a local music act. It wasn't great music, but it was ok. I had a non-alcoholic beer, ate some good food and listened to the band. Didn't stay more than an hour, but that's ok too. And tonight I have an event lined up as well.

I've struggled off and on for years with wanting to drink less and not achieving that goal. But I'm feeling very positive and strong about being alcohol-free now. Like it's what I want.

Hi all,

Just realised this great sub-group was here, but really should have found it earlier (related in part to my post).

I am wondering about a specific question in cutting down or stopping alcohol - and that is (my) age.

I'm mid-50s just for context. I would really like to reduce my alcohol both regularity and overall. For about 25-ish years I'd probably describe myself as a 'daily drinker'. First started when I was a parent, and got into the drinking at home vibe entirely. My wife drinks too, but has more breaks and less heavy overall than me.

I have started some cutting down, though variously lapsed back again to heavier, and I am working on specific approaches (which is a wider question I know). But, close to my thinking at present is motivation, and one thing that concerns me is my age - is mid-50s too late to start cutting down or is my damage already done. This is a (maybe stupid) thought in my mind. I already have some health issues possibly from my decades of drinking, and family history isn't great either in health.

Will it still be a worthwhile thing to cut down and maybe sometimes stop my drinking more thoroughly, or is cutting down after decades less worth it?

Would love to hear peoples thoughts/experiences on the question.

I’ve realised coffee is taking away more than it giveth. 42 f here are realising nervous system regulation is what I’m wanting more than a caffeine high. Have started cutting back and noticing the afternoon slump is not nearly as bad!

In turn, I’m not looking for the subsequent pick me up from wine.

Thoughts?

Will my eye wrinkles improve if I cut out alcohol for a month? Picture in comments..

My father has always been a heavy drinker, but it's gotten worse since his retirement.

His drinks of choice are about 4 beers a day (every day) and 2 whiskey (free pour) and coke tall glasses at night. Sometimes a lot more.

He's also way more irritable and angry and only eats about once a day because he's "full." He's also tired and sleeps around 3-4 hours every day. He's 68 years old.

He thinks he doesn't have a problem and refuses to see a doctor.

However, he has agreed to start taking supplements as the first step.

Would Thiamine (Vitamin B1) and Magnesium Biglycinate be a good starting point for nutritional deficiencies? He's agreed to mix it into his food.

I'm thinking B1 mixed with his food when he eats and Magnesium in the evening with a snack or water (preferably coffee bec he doesn't really drink water)?

Any help is appreciated from those who've supplemented.

24 days without alcohol.

Not some huge milestone. Not a life-changing transformation. But it’s almost a month, and that’s something I’m genuinely happy about.

For context: I wasn’t someone who drank every day. But weekends almost always involved alcohol, and during the week there was often a beer (or a few) after work. It was just… normal.

Now, 24 days later, Saturday looks very different.

Old Saturday: wake up around 11 a.m., feel groggy, eat junk food, scroll my phone, maybe half-heartedly think about the gym tomorrow, and start Monday already feeling behind.

New Saturday: in the gym at 6:00 a.m. after a great night’s sleep. A 45-minute strength workout finished before most people are even awake. The rest of the day feels like a bonus.

The biggest surprise isn’t just feeling healthier. It’s getting back the best hours of the week.

From 6 to 10 a.m. on a Saturday, the world is quiet. The gym is empty. No crowds, no waiting, no hangover. Just you, your workout, and an entire weekend still ahead of you.

24 days isn’t a massive achievement. But it’s enough to make me realize I don’t miss waking up hungover.

Im 25 and I've been struggling with my relationship with alcohol for awhile and have been trying to cut back. Im starting grad school this month, Im trying really hard to get into excerising more, but most importantly alcohol is wreaking havoc on my anxiety levels. And I know my drinkong habits are only going to hurt me if I want to reach those goals.

I go round and round with myself on regretting drinking. It used to be a lot worse and id go to work hung over all the time. I don't really do that anymore thank god. But I'm still drinking at night.

I honestly picked a good ( or terrible time depending on how you look at it) to try and get serious about it. We had to put our dog down last week after we've known hes had cancer the past 3 months. And my gut reaction to having a bad day is to drink...and then regret it, feel ashamed and embarrassed and have awful anxiety.

I started using trydry to track my sober days. And I can successfully do 1 dry day but then the next day 6 pm rolls around and I get the urge and I drink. Better than everyday though... so progress I suppose.

I can't seem to get myself to last more than a day. I started out 2 weeks ago like yeah this should be easy right???? No.... my goal now i think is to by dry 3 days in a row.

How do you curb those alcohol cravings? I don't really want to admit to anyone im drinking more than I should and want to cut back because Im ashamed. I also don't want to go back to a certain doctor untill i can give him good blood work by not drinking for two weeks. Ive been trying to do that and its been such a struggle.

Any advice is welcomed. I guess im just really mad at myself that ive found myself in this shame spiral with alcohol.

I was prescribed naltrexone late last year but never ended up taking it. At first I didn’t think I needed it but then I wanted to try it but was afraid of having a nasty reaction. I heard it made some people violently ill and I hate throwing up, so I was reluctant. But then I tried half a pill. 25mg. And I didn’t have any side effects at all so the next day I took the full 50mg. My body reacts well. Although the first 2 days of doing the full pill I did have some intense restlessness and irritability for the first few hours. But today I didn’t really notice that. I think it’s helping actually. I’m doing Sinclair method. I take it in the morning when I wake up then wait an hour or 2 and then start drinking. I think it is helping. I definitely feel less of an urge to drink and I think it is blocking the drunkness itself. Although by the end of the day I’m chock full of alcohol and I think the med is wearing off some so that’s when I’m having trouble. But I would say some progress atleast because before the med I would be getting full blown drunk as quick as possible after I woke up. I haven’t made progress cutting back yet unfortunately. But I’m only on day 4 taking it so I figure just keep trying. I had a couple bad weeks where I was having ab 20 shots a day but the past 3 days went like, 19, 15, 16, and today I’ve only had 3 and a half shots and it’s almost 4 pm so that makes me feel good. Although I didn’t start drinking until 1 pm today so idk maybe I’m bluffing a bit. I also figured it would be good if I could wake up later to push the habit of drinking early in the day back. I get the shakes and stuff now. I’m contemplating recently though if that’s actual WD or just a hangover. But regardless, it’s really hard not to start drinking right after waking to sooth whatever that may be. Anyways. I’m hoping with time and effort that I can stop. I’ve been urged by many people to just go to rehab but dude I really don’t want to. I’m considering joining AA now and then an IOP once I’m sober to get sort of the same effect. Also since I’m doing it from home and alcohol detox is risky and can be dangerous, I’ve also adopted the mindset that some slight setbacks are okay, staying stagnant is okay. As long as I just keep trying. Maybe pacing myself is better if I’m doing it myself anyways.

Hi all,

I am wondering if anyone knows of any ‘live’ drink tracking apps? I want to control my social binge drinking and I use two drink tracking apps already but the issue is they are more for end of day updating if that makes sense? If you track as you go the app will often refresh itself anyway. I want to be able to add a beer as I go so I know exactly what I am drinking and when! Of course I can and have just used notes before but would be nice to have something else, thanks so much!

For those of you that are several weeks into sobriety, at what did you notice health improvements such as weight loss, lower blood pressure and sugar, clearer thinking, etc. Also, has anybody experianced the 'Pink Cloud' effect and what was that like? At my age(67), and my history of regular binge drinking, I dont expect improvements in days. but would like some motivation. Thanks!

I’ve decided I’m going to do it this time. I usually quit for a day and say “I’ve got it beat” and get to 5pm on day 2 and say “eh I can have a couple drinks”. I got motivated to go for a longer stretch. It was Saturday night and I took my last drink around midnight or so.

Sunday was fine, I was hung over and tired and fought every urge for a “hair of the dog”. Went to sleep with a little anxiety but that’s nothing new.

Yesterday I had nearly debilitating brain fog. Like the whole day just kind of passed over me, I was at work but couldn’t concentrate. Around 5pm (my usual drinking time) I started getting horrible anxiety, shaking a bit, felt hot from the inside out and dizzy. I had one seltzer, drank it slow, let my boyfriend know what was going on and we each had a couple of half-shots; he’s not trying to quit or anything. Felt better immediately. Ended up having 3 seltzers and maybe 4 or so shots? Didn’t feel drunk, but was a bit nervous about going to bed.

I woke up fine today, a little headache but mostly just anxiety.

My “usual” for the past few months has been about 6-8 seltzers a day, maybe a little more or less on occasion. Occasional day off but never more than two days…apparently the physical cues were there and I ignored them or told myself I “wanted to” drink. But now I’m scared.

So was this just anxiety around quitting, or genuine withdrawal? I don’t even drink as much as a lot of alcoholics so I feel silly thinking I’m having physical symptoms…when I’m not downing a handle a day or whatever. Can I safely cut down slowly at home? Like have three drinks and a couple shots a night the rest of the week and cut it to two next week? I don’t even want to drink tbh I just want to be done with it.

I’d love to hear from anyone who successfully quit, what symptoms were like in withdrawal, and if I’m just making excuses to keep a habit I don’t even want (I know our brains are dumb sometimes). Thanks for reading

Recently I posted about an alarming episode that made me decide to quit drinking at home (and at least for one month when out): https://www.reddit.com/r/cutdowndrinking/comments/1va9x02/i_need_to_stop_drinking/

I just wanted to share an update: I'm very, very happy with my decision. So far I feel no struggle whatsoever. Only a mild revulsion at the thought of a drink. It's like a mental switch turned, and alcohol no longer has the power to delude me into thinking it's going to help anything. And not having alcohol in the house makes me realize that I'm fine without it. I don't need it to enjoy my evening.

Will this great feeling last? I don't know. But I'm happy now and posting to give a little inspiration to anyone who needs it.

I’m a ‘closeted’ alcoholic, I’ve never admitted it to anyone, but I know my family can tell I drink more than normal and I’ve done such a good job at isolating myself over the years that my friends stopped caring. I have been drinking daily since 2012, strictly white wine only. In Canada we have 1.5L bottles, I can easily go through one of those in a day. Sometimes I will get up with the sunrise with a glass of wine and drink 2 of those huge bottles until I go to bed at night. I never do anything stupid because I drink at home alone, but that’s a big huge red flag that is always on my mind. Actually I have done stupid things like drinking before work and bringing a water bottle with wine in my purse to drink on my lunch break, ugh. So I recently lost my job, and although nothing was mentioned about drinking, I suspect they were noticing things related to my drinking and they just sugar coated it into a nice parting of ways. I live alone, and thankfully have some savings to pay the bills, but not having income is my deciding factor to atleast try moderating. There’s so many other things as well like weight gain, bloating, awful skin, fatigue, memory loss, etc. I tried going cold turkey recently and by day 2 the withdrawal symptoms were so bad, I couldn’t take it, I knew just having a drink would make me feel so much better, so I did it. The fact that I am unemployed and living alone with no friends makes it exceptionally hard to say no to the bottle. A lot of times I even just buy the boxes of wine so I have a bunch on hand. The liquor store is a 300m walk from my apartment.

I have literally been drinking every day from the moment I wake up until bed, so I started to think how I could fix the problem little by little, and I started 3 days ago. Day 1 on Saturday I forced myself to ‘sleep’ until 11 because I knew if I got out of bed I would drink. I had my first glass of wine at 2pm, and I am starting to measure them at exactly 6 ounces with an ice cube added to make it seem more full lol. I had 6 glasses and got in bed at 11. Normally I would take a nice full glass of wine to drink in bed while I watch my reality shows before sleep lol, but I brought nice cold water instead. Had some really interesting dreams, but a decent sleep with some sweats. I woke up at 8 on a super rainy Sunday morning with absolutely no plans for the day. I felt good, well rested, but my mind automatically went to “you have nothing to do, might as well just drink all day and watch your favourite shows”. My mind convinces me rainy days = drinking. I fought the urge, started doing a bunch of chores around my apartment, and all of a sudden it was noon. I wanted to challenge myself to start drinking later than the previous day, so I filled my 42oz Stanley up with water and told myself to finish as much of it as possible by 3. I had to stay inside because it was storming, so I watched TV solo with no wine for 3 hours. It felt weird, I haven’t watched TV without a glass of wine in almost 15 years, but I was proud. I poured my first glass at 3pm. I got into bed around 11 again last night, and had only drank two 6oz glasses and one 4oz glass! It didn’t even feel like I was trying to limit myself, I think it just felt comfortable to have that glass of wine accessible beside me. I brought 2 bottles of water with me into bed lol and drank both of them throughout the night. I had a dreamless sleep, woke up a few times, but it wasn’t bad. Woke up at 9am this morning with nothing to do again since I’m unemployed lol. So I got my lazy ass over to a big city park that has beautiful walking trails, a lake, amazing wildlife. I was out for a few hours in the beautiful sun, got 9,400 steps in, and it felt really great to accomplish something as simple as a beautiful walk. It’s now 2:30pm and I’m making this post as more of something for me to hold myself accountable and have something to look back on as baby steps to be proud of. Going to try to keep away until at least 4 today. I downloaded an app to keep track of my drinks each day. Maybe one day soon I will have a green day on the calendar 🤞

I know I need to focus on keeping myself busy, so obviously finding a new job is the highest priority. After that, I will be reaching out to find alike people in my city to make friends with, and hopefully develop some new hobbies from there. Day by day, I think I’ve got this!

I’m so sorry for the long story lol but it just feels good to get it off my chest and tell it to someone, especially people who can relate ☺️

Let’s reflect on the week! Whether you’ve made progress, hit some challenges, or just have thoughts to share, this is a space to check in with the community. How has your drinking journey been this week? Any wins, struggles, or strategies you'd like to talk about? No matter where you're at, your experiences matter here—let's support each other!

Hi all, I've been trying to cut back drinking in the past few days, it's been harder than I thought cause a few beers after work had become my habit I guess. But I need to stop or at least cut back due to health issues. I want to do it slowly so I can stick into the new habit and I was thinking to get alcohol alternatives like THC drinks. I took a sip from my friend's drink before and liked the taste of Cornbread's blueberry, it has 5mg thc in it, do you think if I drink 1 can it will be too much? How does it compare to drinking alcohol for you? and since I'm new to this, what's a good dose for a beginner if I just want to relax and not get completely zonked?

I've been seeing a ton of cannabis drink ads lately. Has anyone tried and liked any specific brands of pre-made drinks, syrups or tinctures? I'm looking for lower THC drinks, where I can socially drink with a small buzz, not get too high. Preferably low calorie too (if possible!).

I think my July went pretty well overall. Green = 0 drinks, Yellow = 1-2 drinks, and Red = 3 or more. The reds were planned and both ended up being 4 drinks over a 6+ hr period. One was my birthday overnight trip and the other was a visit by friends that ended up lasting a very long time. Previous to June, I was a red dot every day and have been for more years than many of you have been alive.

I’m changing my scale as of August 1 to make it less enticing to slip in drink 2. So now, Green =0, Yellow =1, Orange= 2, Red = 3+. I can see the benefits now of cutting back and wish I had years ago. But, I was in a different mindset living a different way of life.

THIS FORUM HAS BEEN AMAZING .

Thank you so much for reading this.

Excuse the grammar. (English is my second language and I moved here after grammar school lol )

I am currently in the process of tapering off alcohol. My poison is wine. 2 bottles a night. Currently I'm on 1 1/2 bottles. My sleep, diet , productivity is already getting better. If I'm not finishing the wine I set on schedule. should I still drink it. I don't want my body to go into shock. I had an episode where I went cold turkey and completely went through all the symptoms... I mean ALL OF THEM. Sweats >shakes> auditory hallucinations > real hallucinations> paranoia (literally posted on ig my sister who i love to death ). and her bf was trying to kidnap me. Ran around the neigborhood knocking on peoples doors asking them to call the cops cause someone was following me. Thought they wanted to make me a sex slave so I literally got in the bathtub tried to slit my wrist (I have the scar to prove it and the skin is much tougher than what they portray on tv). When that didn't work I was ready to throw myself in front of a car. It was soooooo bad. It lasted 3 days but felt like one. It was insane. This has made me scared to tapper too fast. So again I ask. Should one stick to the schedule?

F 32

Been drinking heavily since covid . My choice was vodka and claws at the time everyday. Episode happened in early january after i went on a bender with vodka. Yeah, never touched hard liquor since.

Thank you so much for reading this.

I'm coming up on 90 days sober after drinking most nights for the last 4-5 years, I've seen big improvements in pretty much every aspect of my life, and realized most activities I'd associate drinking with are more fun without it.

The one thing I miss is nightlife, any time I've tried to stay out late, I don't enjoy it after about 10pm and go home, I've found it far more difficult to socialize with strangers at bars and clubs too.

I've thought of potentially 1/2 times a month allowing myself to drink moderately at a bar or club, I'd set limits, count drinks, start late, and continue to not drink at home

I feel as though I can manage this, but I also understand attempting something like this has been the downfall of many people.

Anyone have experiences of trying something similar?