Going T Total : Any advice please

[Catanonia]

Serious thread.

As much as I understand GD, the time is not right now and I will report all troll posts to the mods.

My wife and I are wanting to go T Total and we would like some advice / encouragement. This is one option as well as professional help / AA we are both willing to take.


We like a drink, quite a bit and more than is healthy and boarding on the destroying. We like wine / beer etc and let us put it this way, too much and it has to stop before it destroys us. We love each other so much, but this devil is always there and will destroy us. It is the only thing that we must defeat before it wins and destroys us.

We think we can't stop the social aspect completely and become hermits, not that that would help with the bottles of home wine, so some advice please would be greatly appreciated.


What types of non alcoholic beers are available in pubs / wine bars / restaurants and how frequent are they available in pubs (yup we have no idea) ?

Is there such a thing as non alcoholic wine and is it freely available in shops ? Naïve question sure, but we just don't know and we like wine at home.


Would anyone like to share their experiences or via PM ?

We are going to in role in AA, not that we consider ourselves AA, but we must be otherwise why would we be asking this ?

Many thanks for any help / support you can give us.


As much as I understand GD, the time is not right now and I will report all troll posts to the mods.


Thank you.

A and S

 

[paradigm]

Most places serve bottled Becks Blue from what I've seen, which isn't too bad tasting for an alcohol free beer. Never seen an alcohol free "tap" though, so finding "pints" might be tough.

I also believe Tesco sell Eisberg alcohol free wines.

 

[Catanonia]

Most places serve bottled Becks Blue from what I've seen, which isn't too bad tasting for an alcohol free beer. Never seen an alcohol free "tap" though, so finding "pints" might be tough.

Never seen it, but never looked or asked. Many thanks and will certainly look out for it.

Edit : Also on the wine, will enquire more on this.

 

[Quartz]

Also look for a beer called Nanny State which is 0.5%.

 

[Nitefly]

How much is a lot, out of curiosity? I probably drink most days.

 

[DirtyJester]

OP, if you want some encouragement, then have a read through this thread.

 

[Catanonia]

Also look for a beer called Nanny State which is 0.5%.

Thanks we will.

We have a large collection of wines at home that we are going to box and take to the local A&E (recently been very good to us) and donate to the staff to thank them for all their selfless work. We will beat this.

 

[Catanonia]

How much is a lot, out of curiosity? I probably drink most days.

2 bottles wine between us, 4 - 6 cans each on 5 nights a week at home. If we go out, we can't work out when to stop. Doesn't help we don't like food either and a lot of the time we are on empty stomachs.

Complicated, hence why we need help professionally as well.

Not nice.

 

[Catanonia]

OP, if you want some encouragement, then have a read through this thread.

thank you.

 

[Diddums]

Also look for a beer called Nanny State which is 0.5%.

That's not Teetotal though.

OP:

W're in the same boat. We LOVE drinking and drink way too much but we never let it affect our lives. My wife and I both come from families which have massive holes and rifts in them due to alcohol so we know first hand what the risks are. If you come from a family which doesn't drink I suspect it's even more dangerous as you don't know first hand how far the rabbit hole can go, and trust me when I tell you this: It goes deep and it goes dark. At the end of that hole is broken relationships, illnesses, cancer, addiction, illegal substances and death. I have seen all of these.

If you really want to stop then go to a doctor and get some Disulfiram, it will make you sick as a dog if you drink, you just take one tablet a day and the rest is willpower.

Good luck to both of you, if you ever need a chat or a bit of support feel free to trust me

 

[Nitefly]

Ok - that is a lot.

 

[Kuros]

Kopparberg do alcohol free cider, which is very good in my opinion.
Saint Omer Panache Low Alcohol Shandy is also very good (but is 0.5% alcohol). It also works out to about ~20p a 25cl bottle, which makes it cheep as well.

 

[Catanonia]

That's not Teetotal though.

OP:

W're in the same boat. We LOVE drinking and drink way too much but we never let it affect our lives. My wife and I both come from families which have massive holes and rifts in them due to alcohol so we know first hand what the risks are. If you come from a family which doesn't drink I suspect it's even more dangerous as you don't know first hand how far the rabbit hole can go, and trust me when I tell you this: It goes deep and it goes dark. At the end of that hole is broken relationships, illnesses, cancer, addiction, illegal substances and death. I have seen all of these.

If you really want to stop then go to a doctor and get some Disulfiram, it will make you sick as a dog if you drink, you just take one tablet a day and the rest is willpower.

Good luck to both of you, if you ever need a chat or a bit of support feel free to trust me

I think I know why my mum and dad are t total now. Never realised it until now. seriously. (I don't see them that often or speak much)

Good advice and thank you for the offer. I will remember it and may take you up on it.

Thanks you.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Just swap to lemonade or Diet Coke, don't even touch the non alcoholic substitute, just go cold turkey. One day at a time, one weekend at a time. One New Year's Eve at a time, don't give yourself excuses like "it's my birthday!" Just take it slowly and try not to fall off the wagon.

Good luck.

 

[jimjamuk]

Personally I'd say avoid all the low/non alcoholic drinks that are supposed to look/taste like what you are trying to cut out - at least in the short term. Its gonna be hard but you have two choices

completely quit on a certain day or a month or so of weaning yourself off to smaller amounts until you can stop.

GL

 

[Spook187]

How can someone not like food.

 

[Catanonia]

Just swap to lemonade or Diet Coke, don't even touch the non alcoholic substitute, just go cold turkey. One day at a time, one weekend at a time. One New Year's Eve at a time, don't give yourself excuses like "it's my birthday!" Just take it slowly and try not to fall off the wagon.

We have tried and failed many times. The usual no drink school night. We have stressful jobs which doesn't help plus we hate the taste of it after many times of trying. Doesn't help pubs charge the earth for it.

 

[Catanonia]

Personally I'd say avoid all the low/non alcoholic drinks that are supposed to look/taste like what you are trying to cut out - at least in the short term. Its gonna be hard but you have two choices

completely quit on a certain day or a month or so of weaning yourself off to smaller amounts until you can stop.

GL

exactly our problem, we have tried all sorts. Maybe the professionals can help us more.

 

[Catanonia]

How can someone not like food.

Strange I know, but I can go days without eating and many times we look at each other and say we can't be bothered with eating.
Maybe this the professionals can help with too.

So much we I have talked about selling up, moving to somewhere remote like the Shetlands and living off the land and being with each other instead of playing the rat race.

 

[Diddums]

I agree with Raymond and jim - if you're going to cut it out, do it right. Don't get alcohol free substitutes, it will only make you want the real thing. Substitutes are for people who usually drink but can't for whatever reason, like driving. As someone attempting to abstain, stay away from them.

You'll need to shake up your social life too, especially if you hang around people who drink a lot. Avoid them until you're comfortable with not drinking and have built up a bit of confidence in your ability to stay off.

Find other things to do, you'll need distractions. LEGO is great and fairly affordable. Treat yourself to a new telly and watch loads of box sets, anything just to pass the time as that's your main goal. You're not trying to change your life in one shot, you're simply trying to lay off the booze so concentrate on that, the rest will come later.