AF Daily - Tuesday, December 2

[sunshine_gg]

AF Daily - Tuesday, December 2

A Work in Progress;483833 wrote: Hey, Sunshine, it's great that you are here... make Day One into a bit of a celebration day, how about? What is there that you can give yourself, for your resolve to get back on track? Rewards are soooo important in the "mental game" ...

wip

Actually...
having got a lot of work done today, going to make dinner now SOBER and doing some re-arranging in the pantry tonight IS my reward. Not sneaking around and not feeling guilty IS my reward.

[beatle]

AF Daily - Tuesday, December 2

sunshine_gg;483885 wrote: Not sneaking around and not feeling guilty IS my reward.

Yep. Youbetcha.

[kaponium]

AF Daily - Tuesday, December 2

Hi all - many of you will probably be peacefully sleeping as I write this, 5pm here. Hope everyone doing good. If anyone is onliune and awake etc, please - I'd love to catch up, got a free hour or so before dinner! Thanks in advance?!

[Determinator]

AF Daily - Tuesday, December 2

Kaponium, come on chat. big fun!

[kaponium]

AF Daily - Tuesday, December 2

Will do after 9pm, det, thanks for invite! P.S - LOVE your "name" - saw it earlier, I play music, in two bands just now - would love to form new band and call it DETERMINATOR! Love it

[Determinator]

AF Daily - Tuesday, December 2

wow! thanks. that would be very cool! what do you play?

[brittzak]

AF Daily - Tuesday, December 2

Do any of you ever feel like a rat in a maze? Soemtimes I feel like I am fighting this battle and i am winning but I am fighting a constant FIGHT and it is so hard. I feel like a little rat in a maze...make sense? I get tired. I come here day after day...I get support...I give support....I have been doing it for 2 years now and I wonder when does it ever end or does it never end? Is this now my life...a constant fight to stay sober? I am not real happy about that...are you? I need a boost here. I have not slept 8 straight hours in 3 yrs unless drunk hours....not sleep really. PLEASE I have tried it all...every med out there...teas...exercise.....run around the block...my system was SHOCKED and I no longer sleep. I joined support groups...have cried...talked..I am depressed about this. I just need to vent tonight as it is 2:31 and I am up yet again. I am baout to go take a hot bath to pray to God for sleep....as 6:30 comes soon...right? This is on 200 mgs topa too....uh...little rat race. I am looking ugly man.

[beatle]

AF Daily - Tuesday, December 2

Britt, as you know, sleep is a BIG problem for most recovering alcoholics. And it is easy to lose your motivation if you don't get enough sleep. There is a lot of advice about this in the Holistic Healing forum. I used to have major problems with this, but not anymore. There are lots of little helpers, including valerian, lithium orotate, melatonin, kali phos (homeopathic), tryptophan/5-HTP, and you can even take Benadryl (or generic form thereof--Diphenhydramine HCL-- the same ingredient as in the OTC sleeping medicine called Sleepnal, which is actually cheaper than Benadryl). It's an allergy medicine, but it tends to knock people out-- a little like drinking, but it is not addictive, and I say take it if nothing else works.

What works for me is:

About an hour before bed I take 6mg of melatonin and 250mg of lithium orotate (this is prescribed in the Seven Weeks to Sobriety programme). I also take Cal-mag and b-vites before bed. Then when I lay in bed and right before I turn out the light, I take the homeopathic remedies kali phos 6x (for insomnia) and mag phos 6x (for muscle relaxation) under the tongue. This almost always does the trick for me.

I also have Ambien (zolpidem) by the bedside for problem nights (which are unusual these days)-- that's a quick-acting sleep medicine that also is metabolized quickly (half life of about 4 hours) so even if you take it in the middle of the night, it doesn't make you groggy all day. Zolpidem is a prescription med, but now that it is generic, it is fairly cheap. However, you need to be careful with Ambien because you can quickly develop a tolerance for it and it IS addictive if you use it too much.

I hope this helps.

[brittzak]

AF Daily - Tuesday, December 2

I can not take Ambien. I had a severe reaction to it 3 years ago. I was given it before and it had the reverse effect on me....I was up all night long....room spinning like mad. BUT, I can take the rest.....and it is all OTC....which is good. AND non-habit forming...good also. I appreciate the feedback. I never thought I could take all that at one time. Lordy....but, I will do what is needed. It is more than recovery from drinking for me. I truly think I suffer from PTSD. I have not slept good since Billy died. Yes, that also is when I started drinking but even during AF times I do not sleep well and it makes my fight so hard. AWAKE for hours...just thinking....very miserable.

[Doggygirl]

AF Daily - Tuesday, December 2

Britt - welcome to the Daily Abs thread and also to the monthly abs section - just read your other thread. The inability to sleep soundly SUCKS and my drinking escalated (if that's possible!) when my sleep got really really bad a few years ago.

Beatle I always love reading your posts about supplements - you are so well studies in that area! I learn a lot from you.

Britt I think there are different causes of sleep problems for different people. For me, it turned out that the ROOT cause was low progesterone, which is common for women in their 40's and beyond (I'm 50) - I'm not sure where you fall on the age / (peri)menopause spectrum.

Prior to getting my hormones tested and taking custom compounded bio-identical hormones (would NEVER EVER consider synthetics!) the only thing that seemed to help me was Valerian Root - and that only gave me a few hours of peaceful sleep (compared to now) but it was a HUGE relief at the time and a step in the right direction for me.

A cyber friend of mine in the SMART Recovery community got immediate relief for horrid sleep problems by starting 500mg of L-Tryptophan 2X per day. (one of the X's in the mid evening before bed)

I think Beatle provided such a great list - just mainly wanted to add the possibility of hormone testing. Getting out of the complete misery of unbalanced hormones has made a huge difference in the relative ease of staying sober for me.

The Diet Cure by Julia Ross is an interesting read. While the "description" of the book has to do with weight loss, don't let that fool you. Hormones as well as amino acids and brain chemistry are discussed and stuff being out of balance affects so many areas of life - not just weight. She refers to alcohol as the Super Carbo (in a bad way - worse than sugar).

Anyway...I wish you the very best because not being able to sleep sucks. Oops, I alread said that. But it sucks so much it's worth saying twice. Or even three times.

DG

[Pamina]

AF Daily - Tuesday, December 2

Well done everybody with AF milestones!

Britt - thank you for your post and Beatle for your response. Another one of those weird synergy moments that often occurs on these boards. I'm back in my dad's house which has no internet so am stopping at a local library but can't yap forever. I was just about to post about the difficulty of sleeping - and there you guys are with your input. I sleep easier in London than I do here, and as you say Britt, it's as though my system has been thru some physical shock which it's reminded of when I return. My dad died 3 months ago today. It was even a Wednesday. I went to bed before midnight but then just twirled around for four hours. I have 5HTP and Valerian and remembered them eventually. It's as though my body can't relax in case it needs to cope with another shock. My dad gave away his proper bed after he needed a hospital bed (it's now been returned, obviously) which means the house now only has an ancient tiny creaky camp bed that you sink into, so my mission for the day is to buy a real bed. After that I'll take another look at the supplements. I'm not sure melatonin is sold OTC here. But thanks so much for the list!

Yes, the holiday season has its pitfalls. It's also one of my favourite times of year. I don't know if this would help anyone else, particularly the busy moms, but I've decided to savour it since I don't have to work until January. Light candles, pull out pretty table cloths, get fragrant flowers, enjoy seasonal foods and possibly do some volunteering for charities. That is, after I find a new BED!

Hi DG - sleep deprivation does indeed SUCK! Thanks for the hormone input as well though I think mine is more due to mental shock. On a different note, I was reading about the dangers of aspartamine yesterday and was wondering if you've found any 'safe' sweetener on your low-carb path. Hope the local organic produce share-stuff is working out.

Gotta run now. Be well everybody!

[Doggygirl]

AF Daily - Tuesday, December 2

Pamina;484448 wrote:
Hi DG - sleep deprivation does indeed SUCK! Thanks for the hormone input as well though I think mine is more due to mental shock. On a different note, I was reading about the dangers of aspartamine yesterday and was wondering if you've found any 'safe' sweetener on your low-carb path. Hope the local organic produce share-stuff is working out.

Gotta run now. Be well everybody!

Hi Pamina. There is some interesting karma around here sometimes. I'm sure this is a stressful time for you and seratonin is one of the stress anti-dotes. Something on Beatle's list should help!! If one does't work, keep trying.

I use Stevia a LOT these days. For baking, I am learning to work with a combination of Stevia and Erythritol which is a sugar alcohol - very low on the Glycemic Index (so no big blood sugar spikes for most people). It has some interesting properties (i.e. crystallization especially when mixed with chocolate) but I'm having fun trying to figure it out. Lot's of people are gun shy of Splenda (sucralose) these days due to the chlorine. I guess my opinon on that after reading lots of different information and opinions is that it's better than using aspartame which truly is poison - but I want to minimize it's use. Short question - long answer as usual!! Take care Pamina during this tough time. :l

DG

[brittzak]

AF Daily - Tuesday, December 2

I really appreciate all the feedback and the NATURAL stuff. I have pumped enough shit in my body. I am 37...however I do notice...SORRY GUYS...that sleep is very disturbed during certain times of the month...hence could be hormnal. Not always...but there is change. I have almost all the supps Beatle suggested, I just did not realize I could take a variety at one time. I will load up tonight. Thank-you for the welcomes as well.