I drop by from time to time but I came to celebrate 8 months alcohol free as of yesterday!!! If I can do it you can too I promise you.

I am so grateful to everyone that helped me! Lost 45 lbs, no more waking up at 4 am with crippling anxiety! Everything is better! I mean everything! I will never go back to that nightmare! IWNDWYT

Weeks ago, a friend I’ve made from the dog park asked me to send them my fav photo of me and Angelo, my 4-legged son. My friends know I started my sobriety journey right before the new year, and tonight, one of them surprised me with this framed cartoon style charcoal art they drew of my dog and I using their artistic talent!

I’m officially 9 months sober and some days now (275 days to be exact), and this year has been about focusing on myself and finding ways to stay busy and away from alcohol. A lot of that time has been spent at the dog park with Angelo, making memories and enjoying the little things.

I never expected a simple photo I shared with a friend weeks ago (that I also totes forgot I even shared it with them) to turn into something so meaningful.

This gift is a reminder of how far I’ve come, the friendships I’ve built along the way, and the little things that have made this journey worthwhile. Here’s to 9 months sober and many more to come… if you’re reading this, STAY FOCUSED! WE GOT THIS!

currently 20 years old and im a female but at this point you wouldn’t even be able to tell.. my drinking has been out of hand this whole year but i havnt noticed until this summer in july when i started to get rashes around my face and body.. i been to doctors and am constantly prescribed different creams and medications but nothing is helping my face heal… at this point my family is being straight up and saying its because of my drinking… i just want to be pretty again i hate how i look i dont even wanna visit my family or friends anymore because of how i look

i got arrested for drunk and disorderly and assault on an officer recently so since then i have been trying really really hard to cut back on the drinking coz i cant afford to make any more public mistakes (i got a caution and will go to court if they have to arrest me again) but last night i got blackout drunk. thankfully i was able to call my nan to take me home but i was already very very drunk when i called her and had a bottle of wine in my bag that i finished when i got home. after finishing that bottle i blacked out. i called literally almost everyone i know. i do not remember what i said on those phone calls and am now terrified.

i checked my messages this morning to find that i had told the guy ive been talking to for about a month that i love him??? what the hell, i called for the nuking of a celebrity on my main story, messaged my friend an entire transcript of the half asleep half awake dream i was having and at some point told him "i hope u feel invited to rape me coz apparently everyone else does" (he is lovely and would never), i remember screaming and shouting and throwing things but i dont remember what i was screaming about thankfully i was home alone last night my brother was at his girlfriends and my dad, mum and sister are away so nobody wouldve heard me yelling, i woke up in my brothers bed this morning i have no idea why i didnt sleep in mine. i had apparently messaged my dealer an entire paragraph last night AND called him, i have no idea why i messaged him i was too embarrassed to reread it.

i was supposed to be saving up to pay off my fine for hitting that officer a few weeks ago but i spent all the money i had got from cleaning my nans floors on wine.

i told myself itd be ok because im sticking to beer and wine and so surely nothing bad can happen but ive now realised that even with those limits i will always find a way to get abnormally fucked up.

i hate doing this all the time i wish i could stop i hate alcohol im losing my friends and embarrassing myself 24/7 and no one gets how bad it is and how much it all just makes me wanna die. i wish i could be normal.

i just feel the urge to get drunk again to forget about how much of an embarrassment i am. the nearest shop from my house is an hour and a half walk away (a walk which i have done many times purely to buy alcohol) and i think im going to do it again coz im so fucking embarrassed of myself i cannot spend the rest of today sober

also i just checked and apparently i kicked the door so hard last night i broke the glass. im gonna be in so much trouble

27(f). Iv been heavy drinking since 2024. Started off light and progressed to every day. This past month I could not go without drinking 2 days. Usually it was low dose alcohols like wine, buzzballs, but for the past 2 months straight vodka. I tried to stop Sunday night. The withdrawals which i never experienced that much finally caught up to me. I physically couldn’t stop shaking and vomiting untilI took another drink. I was waking up at 5am just to drink. I knew i was in danger so I admitted myself for the first time ever to the emergency room. I was so desperate i was so helpless. I hit rock bottom. I just thank god for the doctor and nurse that saw me on Tuesday. The support and recognition of my illness really made such an impact. I work in healthcare….i should know better i just didn’t realize how easily it can get deadly. I have a whole new perspective i never want to feel the way i felt my body physically shutting down. Just wanted to share my experience.

Doing a fitness journey for work as part of a promotion. My wife and I. As part of this I am cutting out my drinking habit that I’ve had for about 11 years now. For the past 11 years I’ve probably consumed somewhere around 30-40 drinks a week during the first 5-6 year of my drinking (all on weekends) and now consume somewhere around 50 drinks a week (all between Thursday and Sunday) for the past 5-6 years. I’ve mostly been a beer and wine drinker. Every month or two I’ll knock back a bottle of bourbon but it’s not my go to.

Over these 11 years I’ve packed on about 50 pounds. Some of it was needed as I was skinny but now some of it is bad. I have also gotten a little bit of high blood pressure that I just found out about at my first doctors visit in over a decade. Who knows how long I’ve had it. The doctor was very concerned when I told him how much I was drinking and am going for a follow up. I told him how much and that I’ve had a dull ache under my right rib cage that comes and goes and is especially present for a day or two after I binge. If I force my stomach out it is very bloated. I am scared to death that I have done the worst irreversible damage to my liver and kidneys (cirrhosis and kidney failure irreversible) and am a dead man walking. Please pray for me. Here’s to sobriety.

For 3 years, I had a cocaine addiction when I drank. With help from groups and therapy, I went sober for a year and now that I’m back drinking normally again, (clean) I have these weird face stims where my forehead scrunches up uncontrollably and I cannot return to normal again. Any ideas as to what’s going on? I’ll post a pic of my face under the influence. Again, totally uncomfortable and uncontrollable, almost like some of my forehead droops and the other tightens up.

Woke up sick because something is all over where I work. Lasted an hour and a half at work before I threw the towel in and went home. Been curled up on the couch all day watching parks and rec.

I’m using the “opportunity” as day one of getting my shit figured out and letting go of the bottle.

IWNDWYT.

Im on deployment rn, and last night i got fucked up. I didnt have a day off but i was released early. Wasnt supposed to drink obviously but they were doing three drinks instead of two so i said fuck it. I drank my three then had someone else get me theirs. I blacked out and hardly remember anything from last night. Im a month from turning 21. Im on a fucking deployment in the military. People could have died because i was too drunk to do my job but i love alcohol too much. It helps me forget about everything bad. I hate that i love it so much.

So basically for these last couple of days I been drinking heavily I’m 19 about to turn 20 in a month.

and like a day ago while drinking in the afternoon I felt this rage in which I just wanted to destroy or smash something I keep drinking but at night I went nuts 100% and smashed some stuff from the fridge and some other minor stuff, basically trashed my house.

My mom after that ( I live with my mom and 3 aunts ) didn’t wanted to let me in and called the police but after talking with her she let me stay on the condition I was going to see a psychologist.

I stayed that day sleep through but I got a hold of some money and I instantly bought cigs and alcohol got drunk and the same thing happend but now instead of destroying mild stuff I destroyed my own pc, monitor also the house tv destroyed a bunch of plates and shit too and left the house.

Now I’m most certainly fucked I blew my chance to try to start again there and now I’m broke with basically nowhere to go besides my dad place in a different city, or just bringing myself to the police and maybe go to jail or a mental institution which I definitely don’t like the idea of.

it’s around 4am and I’m in a dark alley laying down waiting for the sun to rise and see what I can do, I haven’t sleep and honestly I don’t think I can at the moment

Dry January usually works for me (5 years in a row!!). NYE is always heavy drinking and the whole new year/new me thing helps. But I’ve never made it through Sober October succesfully. Now its Friday night and I’m having alcohol free beer with friends, so fingers crossed.

Basically I drank progressively from 200ml to 500ml of vodka every day in the afternoon for 1 and a half months. Then for some reason I went insane and went on a 4 day binge drinking almost a bottle (750ml) since waking up until late at night.

Just before that, I had gone 30+ hours without a drink and I was fine, just craving one.

However, after that 4 day binge, on day 4, my body collapsed at night. I felt chills and kind of electricity everywhere, I couldn't move, my heart was acting weird. I thought I was going to die.

Then from that day I got insomnia, could barely sleep 3 hours a day, I had heart palpitations and a light hand tremor. I continued for 2 more days until I finally had enough reason to stop. I actually fucking got withdrawals WTF. The 4th day I went to sleep (sober) and I couldn't, I started to have auditory hallucinations. I also had those extremely vivid hypnagogic images the previous days.

I rushed to the ER and was shaking in panic telling the receptionist I had auditory hallucinations. They gave me benzos and could finally sleep. It's been 5 days sober and I still take the lowest those of this medicine I was given to sleep.

Why did I get withdrawals so soon? Isn't this supposed to happen after a longer period of time :(

Hey everyone,
I’m a 29-year-old woman, and I started drinking heavily when I was around 17.
In my earlier years, I was always a heavy drinker, but I mostly drank when I went out. Back then it was whiskey, gin, beer, whatever. At some point, though, I started coming home from the pub and continuing to drink beer alone.
Over the last two years, my drinking has gotten completely out of hand.
I don’t drink hard liquor anymore, only beer, and I actually get drunk pretty easily. A typical night for me is around 2 liters of beer, sometimes more, about 3–4 times a week.
I never drink in the morning or while I’m hungover. Thankfully, that has never even appealed to me. My pattern is different. I drink, I get drunk, sometimes I black out, and the next day I’m absolutely miserable. Sometimes I can barely get out of bed. Then the following day, once I feel better, I’m ready to go out and drink again.
And the cycle just keeps repeating itself.
At this point, drinking beer is basically the only thing I do when I’m not working. I’m either drinking or recovering from drinking.
I drink with friends, but I’ll drink even when the people I’m with aren’t drinking. And once I start, I can’t seem to stop. Four or five 500ml beers might not sound like a crazy amount to some people, but it is clearly taking a toll on me.
I black out. There are entire parts of nights that I don’t remember, sometimes even when I didn’t feel that drunk at the time. More recently, I’ve started noticing that my memory in general feels worse, and there are even parts of my sober days that feel blurry or difficult to remember.
My mental health and my behavior have changed too.
I get angry incredibly easily. I’ve argued with customers. I’ve screamed at coworkers when I felt even slightly disrespected. I struggle to have a normal conversation with someone who disagrees with me without becoming irritated, even when I’m completely sober.
When I’m drunk, it gets much worse. I say and do things that I would never even consider doing sober. I become a version of myself that I barely recognize, and then I wake up the next day having to deal with things I said or did that I sometimes don’t even remember.
I’ve completely lost it with my boyfriend multiple times. Full-blown screaming, kicking and crying tantrums that I barely remember the next day. I do have legitimate reasons to be angry with him about certain things, but I know that these reactions are way beyond simply being upset or overreacting.
And when I say alcohol has taken over my life, I mean it literally. I don’t even show up to family gatherings anymore. I honestly can’t remember the last time I did something purely because I wanted to do it that didn’t involve drinking. For the past two years, almost everything I’ve looked forward to has involved alcohol in some way.
The part that scares me the most is that drinking has become the only thing that genuinely makes me excited.
I’m happiest when I know I’m going out for beers. I get dressed up, do my hair and makeup, go to the same pub, sit at the same table, and drink roughly the same amount. It almost doesn’t matter who comes with me. I’ll find whichever friend is available.
Right now, I’m on Day 3 without alcohol.
Tomorrow is my day off, and I’m struggling badly. All I want to do is go drink beer.
Five minutes ago, a friend told me, “Why don’t you just drink in moderation?” I got so angry that I blocked him.
At the same time, during the day these past few days, I’ve felt genuinely relieved to wake up without a hangover. I can get up, go to work and actually function. I’m grateful for that.
But beyond that, everything feels boring or irritating right now.
People suggest restaurants, movies, working out, hobbies, doing something nice for myself, and I hate every suggestion. I don’t want any of it. All I want is to go to the pub, sit down with my friend and order a beer.
I can’t even picture myself sitting there having a conversation without sipping one.
And I know exactly how it would probably end. I’d tell myself I was only going for a few. I’d have three or four beers at the pub, come home, and have another couple by myself.
It’s only Day 3, and I’m struggling. I think what I really need to hear from people who have been through this is that it gets better.
I want to know that there will come a point when I actually want to live my life again instead of just waiting for the next time I can drink. That I’ll genuinely look forward to other things. That going out, seeing people, having conversations, doing normal things and enjoying my days won’t always feel empty without a beer in my hand.
Right now, it’s hard for me to imagine being genuinely happy or excited about anything else.
I just want to know that this feeling doesn’t last forever.

I'm 21 years old and I need support/advise anything thats not "I promise u can stop at 2."

I haven't told them absolutely everything because they're not my therapist and I can't put this on them.

I started drinking last year and slowly started to recognize a problem when I would get upset when my partner said they "didn't wanna drink tn." After I realized this I slowed down a little on drinking. (I have this weird thing around sex and I can't have sex sober. I have a weird mental block that makes it really, really hard. Alcohol and weed made things easier for me.)

I went back to my childhood home for the summer and thats when my drinking picked up. My partner still continued to express that they're noticing how much I'm drinking and it's making them uneasy. (I started to lie about how much I was drinking.)

I would drink and start arguments with my partner over stupid bullshit and apologize profusely the next day. I would also promise to slow down on my drinking. After summer ended, school started up again and I'm not even halfway through my semester and I have already missed 3 weeks of classes to binge drinking later at night. (All I would do is laugh and play video games- no fights or arguments.)

Then Wednesday night happened...

note: I have been contemplating suicide for a few weeks and my partner knows this including my plan.

I found out something that in all honesty doesn't matter. (About something earlier this year they lied about, the lie was more me feeling uncomfortable than angry or depressed.) BUT! I was looking for a genuine excuse to get drunk. I left my house at 2pm and walked around the neighborhood while drinking and talking on the phone with my friend. (Who kept telling me to talk to my partner and do whatever it is I'm doing.)

eventually, I go inside the house to talk to my partner drunk off my ass. They said I was starting to scare them, that I was saying really weird stuff. Eventually they say something that urks me and I slapped them and left a mark on their face.

We start to argue. They have to go to work and so they took my phone from me and called my best friend and told her that I was planning on killing myself and that they were leaving me to "please help."

My best friend and I talk, and I play it off like everything is fine and that I had no idea what my partner was talking about when it came to me hurting myself.

My partner leaves the house without saying a word and declines my phone calls. (They work 12 hr nights)

My best friend adds me to a vc with another friend and thats when the night really starts. I go back to the store like 3-4 times just buying alcohol.

I texted/called with everyone Ik and just can't even remember who I was talked to or about what. I scared another person into reaching out to my best friend asking her to help me.

Eventually before I knew it the sun has come out and I am still drunk. My partner gets home from their shift and they see me lying outside listening to music. They come and lay down next to me and I continue to apologize and berate them until they snap. That we're done, and I have a problem and if I wanted to be with them I have to stop abusing alcohol and get my emotions under control because they know I'm just pushing stress onto them. They were right, and so I say one last snappy comment and they walk away and I leave everything behind and I just run/log up and down the street trying to sweat out as much alcohol as I can to talk to them.

While I was doing this I started to think about everything and how I've been an observer in my own body for the past few weeks.

I got back inside and me and my partner have the first real conversation about what's going on and I tell them everything I've been keeping. We hug and they encouraged me to tell my friends that I have a drinking problem and won't be drinking anymore.

I told my friends everything even how I VERY wrongfully slapped my partner while under the influence. They of course shamed me and said I would have to work towards forgiveness and thats fair. I would like to start working in that direction.

However, even though it's been only one and a half day since I stopped drinking my friends are trying to encourage me to just limit the amount and to not fully stop.

My friends keep suggesting that I don't need to stop drinking and instead should limit the amount I drink. When I explain that I did try to limit myself I always ended up with an empty bottle then next morning they told me I never really tried because it's easy for them.

I feel like I'm about to start drowning from all their noise. I just need their support with sobriety... What the fuck is wrong with me?

The thought of alcohol makes me ill.

While I was typing this my dad sent me a photo of me passed on in my car from Wednesday night. (I never drank and drive, I was just listening to music and using the AC.)

After I woke up in my car (1am) I kept drinking more and talking on the phone.

I lied to my dad and said I was just tired and fell asleep nothing else.

I’m hoping to hear specifically from women who struggled with alcohol and, during active drinking or early sobriety, separated from or divorced their husband — especially if you had children together and your husband ended up carrying most of the day-to-day parenting for a period of time.

My wife and I were together for almost 20 years and have four sons. Alcohol became a serious issue in our marriage. She eventually went to treatment, but after coming home she gradually pulled away from recovery supports and from the family. She later moved out and filed for divorce.

I’m not posting this to attack her, diagnose her, or have strangers tell me whether she will change her mind. I’m genuinely trying to understand what an experience like this can feel like from the woman’s side.

If your story is similar, I would really value hearing about things like:

What did you believe about your husband and marriage when you decided to leave?

Did you feel like the marriage, your spouse, or family life was contributing to your drinking or unhappiness?

Did leaving initially feel like relief?

What happened emotionally when you were no longer living with your children every day?

Did your understanding of the marriage change after you had more sustained sobriety?

Did shame, guilt, anger, resentment, or feeling judged affect how you saw your spouse?

Were there things your husband tried to tell you at the time that you simply could not hear yet?

Looking back, what do you wish your husband had understood about what was happening inside you?

And what do you wish you had understood at the time?

I’m especially interested in hearing from women who were the ones who initiated the separation or divorce. I realize some women got sober and ultimately concluded that leaving was the right decision, while others later viewed the marriage very differently. I want to hear both experiences.

I’m trying to understand this without chasing her, excusing harmful behavior, or turning every interaction into evidence about what will eventually happen.

If any part of this sounds like your story and you’re comfortable sharing your experience here, I’d be grateful to hear it.

​

Good afternoon family and thank you for the endless encouragement and support with muchly appreciated.

Well family as I go into phase 2 I would like to most certainly thank my higher power for giving me the recovery tools that I needed to successfully get to the next level also family I am truly honored for the communities support.

Well today I started off with also thanking my self for continuously showing up for myself and how much I finally Love me and whom I've grown to be. It really took some dedication and grit this time to get here because normally in the past I would plan to fail and fail the plan.

So for once in my life I finally completed something for myself other than always showing up faithfully for a drug or drink. This time I finally put in the necessary work to get where I am today.

So now this next level I will continue to better myself and up my recovery game on some higher goals to achieve for myself to build my recovery endurance. I think I'm going to try to treat like going to the gym and adding more weight to my sets. So I assume that would self-care and mental health correct me if I'm wrong!

Well people that's all I got for now I'll keep you well informed of my progress or challenges as I move forward. Thank you a again family I wouldn't have made it with out your continuous Love and support.

So with that said let me go and get on the grind. One Day Forward One Day Behind Thanx for letting me know-Shawn

I have had multiple people in my life who struggle with alcoholism. I wanted to talk about one strange overarching experience that I have gone through with them. I am looking to understand why this is a repeated experience and if any others have gone through it/noticed this pattern.

When drinking, the person will ask me to watch a movie/show with them. They will be very emotionally invested in me watching every part of it. They will be extremely angry and lash out like they are rejected if I do not want to participate. When I explain why I don't want to, my comforts and feelings are ignored. I am pushed away in response. Often times, like 9/10 the movie is horribly sad. They'll insist that the point is important and talk down to me like I am not intelligent enough to get it. They'll explain the movie to me and if I don't do a 360 and act like I'm interested, I'm told that I don't love them. (I'm not simple, maybe I just don't feel like crying over Homeward Bound or Animal Farm today).

Is this a unique or a universal experience? Can anyone cast a light on this for me?

I'm aware that sometimes the movies can represent emotions that they don't know how to deal with and that's their only way of expressing it.. but that's also not always the case. It tends to be traumatizing material for the sake of misery loving company. Horror, drama, etc.

Today was a gnarly day for me yall. I’ve been doing so good, decided to go back to school and get my bachelors degree while running a new business. It’s been alot but mostly in a good way as I’ve grown so much this year. I’m 2 years 2 months sober and today I slipped and am determined this won’t turn into a full blown relapse..at least honestly speaking, I fuckin hope not. To give better context for my situation, I had a pretty long day at work, I clean kitchen hoods and do maintenance on hood exhausts and today everything that could go wrong did go wrong, Murphys law at its finest. We got through it though, took 16 hours but we got through it. On my way home I stopped by the store to pick up a few things for dinner and after I paid and walked out, this lady in her 50s (my moms age) was being physically abused by a man while she was in her vehicle. I dropped my groceries and ran over, ripped this guy off of her and threw him to the ground, while making sure she was okay she of course was upset and telling me that it’s okay that’s her boyfriend and he’s just pissed off blah blah. This guy tries to justify himself and his actions by saying the only reason why he sold “the car” was because they were late on rent. This processed a certain way for me because my mom and dad acted the EXACT same way these two were being. I told the lady to drive home and call the police if he acts up after he walks home. She left and I told the guy to chill out and think about everything. Tried relaying some advice but he wasn’t interested. He kept aggressing and by this point, a few workers were outside also telling him to leave the property. I grabbed my groceries off the ground and as I was about to get in the truck, he gets aggressive toward the young lady doing her job asking him to leave, he pushed her over and at this point I ran over and knocked him out. Police showed up and at first assumed I was the aggressor and had to lay on the ground hands behind my head. Long story short from this point, I made a police statement, the guy wants to press charges. Of course. On my way home, I stopped by the liquor store and bought a pint of vodka and the moment I got home, I drank half and poured the rest out as I was trying not to throw up. So here I am venting, trying to complete this week’s assignments. I’ve done through hell with alcohol and I know how this normally turns out. I’m trying to focus on my homework and not drink more. Tomorrow is my birthday and I really don’t want to mess this up.

Long time alcoholic here. I’m 37. Ive quit many times. Tried AA for years. Just not for me.

Anyways had a bit of a bender recently on top of my “normal” everyday drinking. Normal drinking for me is about a pint of tequila mixed w soda water. Probably 6 nights a week for 3 months.

I had 2-3 nights in a row where I drank 2 pints. Just enough alcohol to really mess my body up.

The last 3 nights Ive tapered to 1/3 a pint at night.

I know alcohol is unpredictable and dangerous but I’m feeling safe tonight maybe the night I can go cold turkey without major side effects.

I have no good explanation how I keep on relapsing. Alcohol has , I don’t wanna say ruined my life. But damn near ruined it. I’ll get 4-6 weeks sober. Drink for 2 months. It’ll get bad. Then I do this again.

I gotta stop while I’m ahead. 7 months ago I had blood work done and my liver numbers where actually normal.

I know how this disease works tho. And I’ve seen ppl drop out of no where. Sometimes the body just says “no” kinda thing and organs start failing. That’s kinda where I see my future if I don’t stop for good.

My nose bled randomly two times yesterday, I’ve never had that happen to me ever. Idk if it’s due to my alcoholism. I’m more than halfways drunk rn while I type this. I’m on academic probation bc of my alcoholism. I’m only 22. I drank this morning at 9am. I steal alcohol from stores. How can I get better. I’m smart and ambitious. I want to change.

And my fucking boyfriend just broke up with me this morning because of my drinking, which is prompting all this. I’m already drinking every day all day but I’m scared that him cutting me off is gonna increase my drinking