Anyone ever successfully give up the hard shit but still drink beers?

I'm starting to think that I'll probably always be a drinker to some degree unfortunately, but I'm thinking of trying to give up the hard shit. I used to be more of a beer drinker quite a while ago but as my drinking progressed I started favoring wine, and then eventually the hard shit (mainly vodka) because I didn't have to drink as much of it to get drunk. So my question is that of the title. Has anyone ever had any success switching back from drinking the hard shit on a fairly regular basis to drinking cheap beer 2 or 3 times a week? That's what I'm going to try and see if it works. I never get in to trouble with beer and can control myself, but it seems that once I start drinking the hard shit all bets are off. I figure if nothing else I could do this for a while to get the cravings down. Whenever I've tried to go cold turkey I would just always end up relapsing hard usually I think from trying to suppress the urge to drink for however long. Thoughts?

I have.

This doesn't mean it's the right option for everyone. I think most people are happier without alcohol at all. Check out the other post I made in your other thread.

Yeah, I don't drink liquor anymore. Just brews and occasionally some wine. I usually don't drink but a couple up to sometimes six depending on the day. I am phasing it out though. I am trying to limit myself to a couple drinks one or two nights a week max. It feels much better when you use it sparingly and you require less. Easy on the wallet too.

If I can't do that, I am going to just give it up altogether and just smoke the herb. It is hard though, esp. being football season. My girlfriend works at a bar that has the best beer in town and I usually have a couple while I wait. Trying to avoid day drinking. I've been getting some cravings, but I think I got this this time. Alcohol dependence is on both sides of my family, not my parents, but both sides pretty bad. I don't want to be like that, it's mostly convenient. I don't enjoy being drunk but a few. I think once I make it a week or two at this rate it will get easier. I'm with you my man, but try and stick to your guns. I think when people assume that they can't control it, well, they can't. Lots of people can reduce and manage their drinking. I don't know if you are one of them, but most can.

In response to your other thread, mushrooms and 4-aco-dmt both help me curb the habit for a few weeks at a time. I don't know if you are a tripper or not, sometimes the experience is unpleasant, but it most definitely helps me for one reason or another. YMMV as always

I think I'm just going to try cutting back to twice a week with the help of family to keep me in check. Other drugs don't interest me, and psychedelics honestly scare me nowadays. I wish my drug of choice had been weed, but it started messing with my bipolar depression along time ago. That's basically why I gave it up. If I did psychedelics nowadays I'd probably end up full schizo lol.

Rethinking this for now at least... Had some money I was gonna by some cheap beer with but of course I end up buying vodka instead because I can get more bang for my buck.

Unfortunately, beer is my drink of choice, so it's irrelevant for me. Which means I can't just enjoy "a cold one", I always end up drinking a few too many, but that is the case with any alcoholic drink for me. I really don't see the difference - to me they're all the same thing (drug), just different strength. So I just adjust the dose accordingly and all hell breaks loose no matter what drink if I so desire. Interestingly my hardest "adventures" were with wine, drinking up to 3 litres in a night.

I totally understand your thinking though. Can you not drink at all? That's what I decided to do once things got out of hand. I'm too much of a "all or nothing" person in this regard.

blowpipe said:

Can you not drink at all? That's what I decided to do once things got out of hand. I'm too much of a "all or nothing" person in this regard.

Click to expand...

Yeah man, I think despite how much I try to fool myself I'm either totally sober or totally trashed. I have such a high tolerance that there's really no moderating with me I don't think, but it's starting to take a toll on my health. When I last drank a pint of vodka I was happy for a while but then I was disappointed I didn't have any more and didn't even feel drunk.

Again the answer is in the question.

Each time I have sobered up and allowed myself to "loosen up" with a few beers (or a bowl of good weed), I find myself falling back down the hole of active addiction. My last relapse started with weed, then before I knew it I was stoned every day. Being sick of being couch locked I figured a drink would help, and it did... Until I began drinking everday. Waking up sick and needing a hair of the dog to feel better, I asked myself "how to fix this?" and like an idiot my solution was "just one shot of meth"... There is no such thing as "just one shot of meth". Soon after I learned that addiction really is a progressive disease. What took me 18 months to get to bottom the first time took exactly 30 days the second time... With the meth. I've found that its better for me to abstain entirely. Hope this helps.

I've heard of the mythical person who can do it. Always seems to be a guy who knew a guy who used to come to meetings.... I know I can't. And I have tried multiple times. Just give it up. Life is so much better. I fought it for a quarter century. It always ends up the same way. You decide you can handle 'just one or two", then 48 hours later you have a moment of clarity and your pissing in the sock drawer...

Hell, yeah. It went down like this for me: 5 years IV heroin, 2 1/2 years suboxone, quick taper, cold turkey, then it was a fifth of hard liquor and a handful of pills every night to sleep, now I'm tapered down to about a pint of hard liquor a night (I've got to buy it in small increments or I have no self control ...) and a few prescribed pills (klon 1mg in the AM, ambien 10mg in the PM, antidepressants, mood stabilizer) which is some sort of stability but definitely on the side of being an alcoholic. Now before this run with liquor, now for about 2 years, I probably hadn't been drunk since my sophomore year of college, but since then, nightly. It's enough to have a quantifiable effect on my labwork and a definitive impact on my quality of life. I'm trying to taper down my booze intake but it's rough going with anxiety, insomnia, tremors and all the rest. Probably the best thing to do is to switch to beer but I don't really have the taste for it and it's not quick enough in putting my head down. I've never been to a 12 step meeting but I'm pretty convinced AA is not for me, but maybe I need to give it a go.

An update for anyone who cares... Still drinking about twice a week but I haven't gotten myself into any trouble as far as falling into any week long benders or anything. I know it's still not good for me but I figure if I can go from drinking hard for 2 weeks straight to twice a week it's better than nothing.

I don't know man I think it ends up helping at first but what ends up happening is you start accommodating more and more with your weight.

I guess we'll see. If I'm completely honest I'm really not ready to give up drinking completely despite the problems it's caused. I wish I could say I was but it's just not where I'm at, at least right now.

nuttynutskin said:

I guess we'll see. If I'm completely honest I'm really not ready to give up drinking completely despite the problems it's caused. I wish I could say I was but it's just not where I'm at, at least right now.

Click to expand...

bro what are you waiting for? for your liver to blow out? Alcohol is a poison and your liver and organs don't know how to deal with it, they are being destroyed. Right now you you have some of your health in tact, you can can stop and live a great life. You know how many people are suffering from liver disease in hospitals because of alcohol? Take a visit and you will never be the same. They all wish that they had another chance, but unfortunately they don't. You, however, do have that chance, so please make the most of it. I know it's not easy but try to brainwash yourself by visiting the hospital and talking to people seriously affected by alcohol.

Any other problems you are going through can be dealt with, health issues related to alcohol cannot be dealt with. Any day you can get a real fucked up medical report that will change your life, don't let it get to that point.

I was a beer drinker, did it everyday. Still got seizures and DTs at one point. Alcohol is alcohol.

Getting sober was the best decision I have ever made. I have had the best 1 year and almost 5 months of my adult life. I have accomplished a ton of shit and feel pretty okay most of the time.

If I have a single drink or toke then its back on for me and back on for me means very possible death. It would take me back to the living hell I existed in (I hated myself and wanted to die) for years. It took me lots of pain and a decade of failure to figure that out but I did. My story is not uncommon either.

for me if I have one drink or one drug I start the ball rolling. I may not get drunk that time, I may not use my DOC that time, but I will slowly progress to there. I have tried just having one so many times after having some clean time...it always ends up with me being strung out on heroin again within a month or so.

I've cut down to about twice a week now with the help of a family member and feel a lot more in control. I know I shouldn't drink at all, but I figure if I can go from being plastered for 2 weeks straight to buzzed twice a week it's at least an improvement. I definitely feel better physically.

Temporarily

well done for cutting it back @Nutty!

I used to drink every day for a year when my ex-boyfriend was in hospital (justified at the time as being able to emotionally 'handle' visits etc - he was in a bad way)...then at night I could drink 2 bottles of wine on top of the daily amount of beers (4-6).
I'm still drinking beer every night now but don't drink wine or vodka unless i'm out. I cut the amount back gradually but can't seem to break the habit of using it every night especially to get to sleep. Smoking weed alone doesn't make me drowsy enough and I suppose It's convenient for me to rationalise this as a reason to keep it up every night rather than take breaks (addiction worker has been trying to get me to take 2 nights per week off. Plus it's just too much money down the pan)

How did any of you take the step of going that first day/night without any alcohol at all? Did you use any sleep aides?