does anyone know a good supplement to help curb alcohol(beer)cravings? I seem to not be able to stop and its time to do something about it.
Mark
[quote]marktb wrote:
does anyone know a good supplement to help curb alcohol(beer)cravings? I seem to not be able to stop and its time to do something about it.
Mark [/quote]
Last year I used to drink roughly 20 standard drinks a day even when I was sick. Weekdays and weekends made no difference to how much I’d drink. I went cold turkey and it really messed with my head therefore my doc gave me valium. That helped me a lot.I was speaking to the doc the other day and he told me that there is now a drug now that curbs alchohol cravings. So yeah there is stuff out there if you serious about sobering up.
I had the same issue. The only thing that ended up helping me was Sheer will, and a Benadryl on nights I couldnt sleep.
Bull fucking shit. It takes about 21 days to break a habit. Get a calendar, stop drinking, and mark the days off.
I used this method to quit all junk food (including alcohol). Been clean for about 6 months.
[quote]skizac wrote:
Bull fucking shit. It takes about 21 days to break a habit. Get a calendar, stop drinking, and mark the days off.
I used this method to quit all junk food (including alcohol). Been clean for about 6 months.[/quote]
That depends on what habits/addictions and how long you’ve had them for. 21 days… No offense but what a load of shit.I haven’t had one piece off junk food all year…Thats just a decision I made and stuck with it.
Alchohol and drugs are completely different but if that worked for you congratulations.
I’ve spent all of my adult life under the influence of some substance (or multible) and to say that it takes 21 days to cure an addiction is garbage.
Yes will power will be the determining factor but there’s nothing wrong with getting a little help along the way to keep your sanity.
Fuck I couldn’t sleep at all when I gave up the booze. 1 o’clock in the morning and I felt like getting out of bed and going for a jog…That’s fucked up.
EDIT- If you’re a chronic alcoholic and you stop “cold turkey” it can really make you sick and even kill you.
There is a drug called Antabuse which will make you physically sick if you drink. I’m sure there are others that can be prescribed as well.
I used to drink like an absolute fish myself. I grew out of it due to responsibilities and having to get my ass up and out to a well paying job 5 days a week.
Nothing better than a cold beer when you want one. I’m able to keep it down to 6 or less when I do indulge.
BG
[quote]skizac wrote:
Bull fucking shit. It takes about 21 days to break a habit. Get a calendar, stop drinking, and mark the days off.
I used this method to quit all junk food (including alcohol). Been clean for about 6 months.[/quote]
Wrong, it takes 21 does to form a strong habit. Much Much longer and harder to break it. If 21 days was the case I would have stopped my nail biting about 500 times by now.
[quote]ucallthatbass wrote:
skizac wrote:
Bull fucking shit. It takes about 21 days to break a habit. Get a calendar, stop drinking, and mark the days off.
I used this method to quit all junk food (including alcohol). Been clean for about 6 months.
Wrong, it takes 21 does to form a strong habit. Much Much longer and harder to break it. If 21 days was the case I would have stopped my nail biting about 500 times by now. [/quote]
Pretty much what I know.
21 days to make it, the rest of your life to break it.
This rule applies to bad habits, like drinking, drugs and smoking. It’s easy to break good habits, and takes a lot more time to work them into your life. Wonder why that is?
[quote]McMuscles wrote:
marktb wrote:
does anyone know a good supplement to help curb alcohol(beer)cravings? I seem to not be able to stop and its time to do something about it.
Mark
Last year I used to drink roughly 20 standard drinks a day even when I was sick. Weekdays and weekends made no difference to how much I’d drink. I went cold turkey and it really messed with my head therefore my doc gave me valium. That helped me a lot.I was speaking to the doc the other day and he told me that there is now a drug now that curbs alchohol cravings. So yeah there is stuff out there if you serious about sobering up.
[/quote]
Christ man…congratulations on your success so far. Ive never had to struggle with an addiction, so I cant speak from personal experience, but from 20 drinks a day to zero is a major win.
[quote]ucallthatbass wrote:
skizac wrote:
Bull fucking shit. It takes about 21 days to break a habit. Get a calendar, stop drinking, and mark the days off.
I used this method to quit all junk food (including alcohol). Been clean for about 6 months.
Wrong, it takes 21 does to form a strong habit. Much Much longer and harder to break it. If 21 days was the case I would have stopped my nail biting about 500 times by now. [/quote]
Almost everything I know about addictions I learned from my psychologist, whose specialization is addiction treatment. According to her, obtaining a good habit and breaking a bad habit are basically the same thing. They both require forging new neural pathways.
Also according to her, most addictions are on a par with each other. With the exceptions of sex and sugar, which she says can be more addicting than heroin.
Believe what you will, but the advice I’ve gotten from her has been life changing.
Also, I didn’t mean to come off so harsh. I was really replying to the OPs claim that he “cannot stop”.
By all means, use whatever tools you think you need to help you. AA, therapy, supplements, etc.
[quote]skizac wrote:
Also according to her, most addictions are on a par with each other. With the exceptions of sex and sugar, which she says can be more addicting than heroin.
[/quote]
Far be it from me to argue with a professional, but unless she was a heroin addict herself, she has no idea of what it’s like. You see, I’m a junkie. I haven’t stuck a needle in my arm since 1979, but that doesn’t mean shit, once a junkie, always a junkie. Yeah, I cleaned up my life, but let me tell you one thing. Every morning when I wake up, I hope that this won’t be the day I go back to heroin.
Now tell me again about the sugar addiction???
[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
Far be it from me to argue with a professional, but unless she was a heroin addict herself, she has no idea of what it’s like. You see, I’m a junkie. I haven’t stuck a needle in my arm since 1979, but that doesn’t mean shit, once a junkie, always a junkie. Yeah, I cleaned up my life, but let me tell you one thing. Every morning when I wake up, I hope that this won’t be the day I go back to heroin.
Now tell me again about the sugar addiction???
[/quote]
You’re right that there’s no way I or anybody can relate to your experiences without having been a heroin addict. But, what’s available to me is the experience of professional psychologists and researchers. steakandrice just posted a link talking about the addictive potential of sex and junk food. Here’s another link, this time to a research abstract: Intense Sweetness Surpasses Cocaine Reward
A sentence from the conclusions: “Our findings clearly demonstrate that intense sweetness can surpass cocaine reward, even in drug-sensitized and -addicted individuals.”
[quote]marktb wrote:
does anyone know a good supplement to help curb alcohol(beer)cravings? I seem to not be able to stop and its time to do something about it.
Mark [/quote]
AA has worked a day at a time for me since 1/17/89. The last judge thought it would be a good idea. I concurred. As my father (who was also my sponsor) once said “AA may not keep you sober, but it’ll sure take the fun out of drinking”.
30 meetings in 30 days or 90 in 90 seem to have a profound effect on newbs.
getting into normal sleeping patterns was difficult at first. I had to learn some breathing techniques to relax/unwind.
[quote]hawkcapt1912 wrote:
marktb wrote:
does anyone know a good supplement to help curb alcohol(beer)cravings? I seem to not be able to stop and its time to do something about it.
Mark
AA has worked a day at a time for me since 1/17/89. The last judge thought it would be a good idea. I concurred. As my father (who was also my sponsor) once said “AA may not keep you sober, but it’ll sure take the fun out of drinking”.
30 meetings in 30 days or 90 in 90 seem to have a profound effect on newbs.
getting into normal sleeping patterns was difficult at first. I had to learn some breathing techniques to relax/unwind.
[/quote]
That is the truth.
If your an alcholic you will deal with it for the rest of your life. AA meetings might help. Outpatient. The key is don’t beat yourself up over it.
If you really can’t stop, there’s Antabuse.
I’ve been trying to quit sugar since I was around 15… 
[quote]skizac wrote:
Yo Momma wrote:
Far be it from me to argue with a professional, but unless she was a heroin addict herself, she has no idea of what it’s like. You see, I’m a junkie. I haven’t stuck a needle in my arm since 1979, but that doesn’t mean shit, once a junkie, always a junkie. Yeah, I cleaned up my life, but let me tell you one thing. Every morning when I wake up, I hope that this won’t be the day I go back to heroin.
Now tell me again about the sugar addiction???
You’re right that there’s no way I or anybody can relate to your experiences without having been a heroin addict. But, what’s available to me is the experience of professional psychologists and researchers. steakandrice just posted a link talking about the addictive potential of sex and junk food. Here’s another link, this time to a research abstract: Intense Sweetness Surpasses Cocaine Reward
A sentence from the conclusions: “Our findings clearly demonstrate that intense sweetness can surpass cocaine reward, even in drug-sensitized and -addicted individuals.”[/quote]
Well I suspect whomever wrote that line never tried cocaine.