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Jul
28
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Welcome to your first thirty days of sobriety!
A recent relapse has caused me to relive those thirty days, so I know exactly what you’re going through. However, I can attest to the fact that it becomes manageable. It’s like a death in a sense, it gets easier and easier as a year then two, then three go by, but I don’t think it ever goes away.
The first thirty days of sobriety are of course the hardest. Fear, anxiety, and uncertainty are sure to set in along with feelings of guilt, seclusion, and depression. This will happen; it’s a loss, just like any other and it will feel bleak and hopeless for a while. Isolation can set in, and I believe it’s perfectly normal, but don’t let it continue for more than a few weeks without seeking help.
The first step in your first thirty days is to detoxify your body. Now, any heavy alcohol abuser will experience a detox which can last from one to seven days depending on the amount you were consuming. You should drink plenty of water and grab some multivitamins. Nutrition and rest are essential for returning your body to health. In any case, for severe withdrawal, I would never recommend doing it on your own. A medical detox at a local hospital is where you should be. Some alcoholics can suffer seizures or extreme hallucinations, and in some cases quitting cold turkey can be physically dangerous and even life threatening. There is medication in the hospital they can give you to lessen the suffering of withdrawal such as Librium, Valium, or Tranxene.
You must keep in mind that you are NOT abstaining from alcoholic drinks to punish yourself; you are frankly doing it to save your life.
Next, you must decide exactly what remedy is for you.
People have gotten sober without inpatient treatment before, so if you are doing this on your own, there are prescriptions you can take to try and ease the obstacles to sobriety.
Acamprosate (Campral) - An anti-craving drug. I have tried it and had fairly good results in lessening my cravings.
Disulfiram (Antabuse) – This can be a deterrent for you, although not an anti-craving medication, if you drink alcohol, the drug produces a severe physical reaction. Typical symptoms’ include vomiting, accelerated heart rate, throbbing headache, shortness of breath, mental confusion, fainting and even circulatory collapse. You must have great ambition to not drink in order for the medicine to be safe for you to take.
Naltrexone - A shot once a month can significantly reduce the rate of heavy drinking in patients with alcohol dependence. I have yet to try this, but hear that it works well, yet very expensive.
Now you don’t necessarily have to go to Alcoholics Anonymous, but in my experience you need at least one person in your life that is in recovery. It’s not that misery loves company, but misery understands misery. I have found this extremely useful in the past. Someone to talk to that actually “gets it”. On that same note, you may have to lose friends, people you’re going to have to stay away from because they are heavy drinker themselves. A lot of pain arises in this, so surround yourself with as many recovering alcoholics you can find.
I’m a firm believer that positive thinking is the only way to fight for your sobriety. Focus on things you are grateful for. Maybe five things you can take comfort in, but think of them often.
It is wise to read as much as possible on the subject of alcoholism and recovery, because as cliché as it is….knowledge truly is power. You want to make it this time, because alcohol has too many damaging effects from long term binge drinking. From my experience some of that damage, even after a couple of years of sobriety, is permanent. My brain just doesn’t work like it used to.
Keep in mind while you’re battling your addiction of the long-term effects of chronic heavy alcohol consumption. It’s time to scare yourself straight. It impairs brain development, and can causes brain shrinkage. It increases neuropsychiatric and cognitive disorders and causes distortion of your brain chemistry. Alcoholism is associated with possible development of major depressive disorder and a number of other mental health disorders. You can develop serious gastrointestinal, liver, and cardiovascular destruction. Bone loss and higher risk of cancer are also factors.
The sad truth is each year about 100,000 Americans die of alcohol-related causes. Alcohol is also a factor in nearly half of ALL traffic deaths, and approximately 30% of all suicides. You don’t want to be a statistic, and neither do I.
WOMEN - It is proven that women are more susceptible than men to a variety of the medical consequences of heavy alcohol use. Alcoholic women develop cirrhosis, nerve or heart muscle damage after fewer years of heavy drinking than do men
Remember to reward yourself as time goes on!. The money you spent on liquor should be used to spoil yourself to something! Remember life’s simple pleasures and things you have lost sight of.
In closing, here are some quotes and book recommendations that have comforted me in my struggles.
“The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it.”- Epicurus
“I believe, if we take habitual drunkards as a class, their heads and their hearts will bear an advantageous comparison with those of any other class. There seems ever to have been a proneness in the brilliant and warm-blooded to fall into this vice.” -Abraham Lincoln
The following are quotes from a motivational author of self-help and new thought books. Her name is Louise Hay and she has authored two books that I would highly recommend - “You Can Heal Your Life”, and “The Power Is Within You”.
“Self-approval and self-acceptance in the now are the main keys to positive changes in every area of our lives.”
“You are the power in your world! You get to have whatever you choose to think!”
“The point of power is always in the present moment.”
“Every thought we think is creating our future.”
There is a book by The Dalai Lama, called “The Art of Happiness”, which I also highly recommend. Here are some quotes of his I like:
“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
“It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.”
“Happiness is determined more by one’s state of mind than by external events.”
“So many of the problems and troubles we run into are created by our mistaking for permanent that which is actually impermanent.”