I got a problem with the drink

[Hanuman2547]

I would also suggest to channel your drinking urges into something positive through physical activity.  Start running and cycling at an easy pace.  As you get more comfortable with this routine increase the pace and distance.  As a trade off, all those calories from alcohol you are now not consuming plus the exercise should result in some loss of weight that most people can usually do with.

[seancbk]

On 4/8/2021 at 2:40 PM, Broken Record said:

 

Try this audiobook, I found it last year, on Saturday I’m one year without Alcohol.

 

Good luck. 


 

 

Well done.

Just started my 18th month of no alcohol.   

 

[SAFETY FIRST]

Geeze, tough ask living in Thailand. 

You can't even go for a haircut without being offered a beer. 

The weather, beautiful chicks everywhere, parties, friends calling round for a drink. 

Good luck. 

 

Have you thought about relocating, say some cold miserable place, North Russia? 

[Neeranam]

On 6/4/2021 at 3:28 PM, Lacessit said:

You are the only person that can decide you want to be in control of a drug, rather than the drug controlling you. No-one else can do it for you.

The very definition of an alcoholic is someone who has lost the ability to control their own drinking. 

[Heng]

I know what this feels like.   I got the first step down.  I admit I have a problem.   Not alcohol or drug related, but definitely an addiction.   Now I'm kind of floating around with this problem for years now, occasionally still rationalizing that it's not a problem because I can afford it. 

[Jotnar]

Got the same problem, addiction, so I got married, but now seems to be more expensive, and now not satisfying the addiction.  Can't afford divorce, so started drinking more.  HELP, as the new drinking addiction, isn't helping with the old addiction.

[NativeBob]

Amazing effect of going away from booze lasts about 2-3 months. But unfortunately its hard to keep it that way. So I made few compromises with myself: don't drink at the daytime (basically in the dark), avoid drinking at the places I can't get a bed, be careful who am I drinking with. 

Some folks become agitated, some weird, some turn into adventurers, horn-dogs, nasty a*holes and the worst is simply boring boozos.

Easy way to get off the booze id to get an occupation - say night shifts online, support chat-rooms - pays pennies but in the morning you only dream about shower and bed. 

[Heng]

Sometimes you have to watch out for what your solutions evolve into.   Have some friends who quit chewing tobacco but ended up as heavy smokers.  I've quit watching p0rn but now have all kinds of other issues. 

[NativeBob]

37 minutes ago, Heng said:

Sometimes you have to watch out for what your solutions evolve into.   Have some friends who quit chewing tobacco but ended up as heavy smokers.  I've quit watching p0rn but now have all kinds of other issues. 

No! You quit pron! In Thailand?! I don't believe it! 

^^^ [that was sarcastic comment, in case]

[whereyougo]

Get out of Thailand. There are a million bars it's hot and expats only meet friends in bars usually. There is a big drinking culture here. Most punters would rather go out and be served cold beer by cute girls than have a nice cup of tea at home 

I was off it for 2 years and hated it so damn boring 

[Don Chance]

I quit drinking in 1 day with Baclofen.  See the main Baclofen FAQ's.

[Stubby]

I know this thread opened some time ago, but the topic never goes out of date. 

 

DRUNKS CAN'T HOPE FOR CHANGE

 

Hoping for change won't yield any results; it must come from positive action. But, unfortunately, many drunks fail to quit because they cling to the 'just one more day/week' or, I'll stop on (insert date here).' The trouble is they mean it, and that's what keeps them going... they believe their own BS as they keep moving the goalposts. 

 

Drunks always find "justifiable reasons" for "just one more" or a more appropriate date to stop. And so the cycle continues, sometimes for years, other times till the end. 

 

Henry Ford once said, and I quote:

 

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got." 

 

It's true, and it applies to all areas of life.

 

THE POWER OF DRY FRIENDS 

 

The best way to stay away from booze is to make new friends, others who have been where you are now but no longer drink. See, people need people, and it's all about sticking with those who can understand and support each other. Seriously, there's real power in quality relations.

 

LEARN WHO YOUR REAL MATES ARE

 

Now, that doesn't mean you have to say goodbye or stay away from friends who drink. It just means you meet up with them when they're not drinking or make your excuses and leave if they start. If they rib you and try to get you to change your mind, well... who needs friends like that, right? 

 

Finally, it's a good idea to stay away from wet places until your sobriety is under control. And even then, it's advisable to visit them with sober friends.

 

Stubby

[ding]

The OP hasn't logged on since June 2021. Nice that people still want to help!

 

But for anyone else searching, here's a link to resources he asked for;

https://luxuryrehabs.com/thailand/

 

No direct advice for the OP's question, I never went to detox. I just started AA in 1985 and never drank again. But that's me, my problem was alcohol - then when I had the obsession to drink lifted the problem became me - and I've been chipping away since...

[Freddy42OZ]

Update on my quitting.  I've now not had a drink for 2 years, 4 and half months.  

I quit cold turkey at Midnight on New Year 2020, drank from 8pm to 24:00 then stopped.  I originally thought I'd only take a break for a month but found it so easy to not drink that I've just stayed as a non drinker since. 

I still go out with my drinking buddies, although not as often.  I just drink soda water while they drink pints of beer and do tequila shots. 

I used to be a very heavy drinker in my 30's and 40's, easily going out 4 nights a week, sometime 5 and even 6 or 7 if there was a party to go to,

Don't think I'll ever drink again.

[Adumbration]

About 2 hours in an old wooden ferry out from Ranong (That's Ranong not Rayong) there is a little island called Koh Phayam.  If you ask the driver on the way to Phayam they will also stop at an Island called Koh Chang (Noi).  It has the same name as the famous island on the East coast but is nothing like it.  Very little infrastructure, just some beach bungalows, lost of pristine beaches and rainforest.  There is still some populations of rare hornbills there.

 

This time of year you will absolutely be the only farang there.  Wet season has started but it is not yet in stormy full swing.  You could live there for a couple of weeks, swim in the ocean, and walk in the forests, and buy fresh seafood from the locals and have them bbq it for you.

 

PM me if you want more logistical details of how to get there.

[Neeranam]

On 6/4/2021 at 7:12 PM, rcuthbert said:

How could reading "Mien Kampf" keep people from drinking? Surely - Nazis are not permitted in AA?

Yes, no one is refused. 

[Iamfalang]

Rigorous exercise.   Then you are too tired to drink, really.  Last year zero alcohol.  year before, maybe 1 or 2 nights of drinking.  year before, maybe like 2 nights of drinking.  This year maybe 3 beers total, none in 6 months.  

 

run, bike, whatever......sprints, whatever.   lift weights also if you can.  whatever.  get tired.   start with walking for like 2 hours in the HEAT......this will drain your energy.