A few people have been talking about TRIGGERS in their weekly posts and I thought it might be interesting to have a thread on the subject.

Basically, following TSM there is a chemical extinction process which will gradually reduce our desire to drink, but many people also recognise that there are triggers which tempt them to drink, or jolt them into drinking thoughts even when perhaps they don't actually have a craving.

I've noticed this myself. I've reached out for a glass of wine or refilled my glass simply because that's what I always do at that point in my life routine. Now I'm taking Selincro I have noticed that my cravings have reduced dramatically. When I was going cold turkey, I would literally be climbing the walls trying to overcome my 'need' to drink, now I am aware that that huge craving isn't there, but I am perhaps responding more to my 'routine' reaction - if that makes any sense.

I thought it would be useful to write down my triggers and then make a pact with myself that when I feel that trigger, I will stop and think about it for a few minutes. 'Am I really craving to have that drink now, or is it just habit'; 'do I really want to drink a glass of wine right now, or would I feel just as happy with a cold glass of soda?' If I decide that it really is still a craving - then fine I will have that drink (as long as I took my Selincro one hour before!). But I wonder if after really thinking about it, I might decide that
actually a cold coke with ice would be nice. This post is getting long - so will post my personal triggers below - maybe you can add yours too and we can compare notes!

Trigger 1

When I cook dinner. As soon as I open the fridge and start to take out the food to cook, out comes the wine too - it's just what I always do. In the beginning it was my treat after a long day at work - now it's become the first step on the ladder to an evening of nothingness.

Trigger 2

Eating - for my birthday someone brought me a sign saying 'a meal without wine is like a day without sunshine' - that is how I have programmed my mind to think! Maybe a meal with a nice glass of lime and soda would be equally refreshing and pleasurable.

I'm sure there's loads more - will post when they rear their ugly heads!

Trigger 1: When I let myself get worked up about anything. BTW, popping a magnesium supplement seems to help calm me down so I don't automatically go for the bottle. Keek

Mine are definitely hot summer days, birthdays (myself and my immediate family members'), Friday and Saturday nights, and impending sex.

Let's see mine are when I am happy, sad, mad, frustrated, lonely, can't sleep, awake, feeling sick, traveling, at home, with friends, at a party, holiday get together and I think that is about it, not many eh! Oh when I can sleep I think I am ok but I do dream about alcohol on occasion too!
I think for me it does not matter anytime is Miller Time!

Ha ha - this made me laugh. Perhaps I should change the title to 'things that are not triggers!'

I've noticed things which seem to snap in my mind. I will be innocently watching TV when an ad comes on showing a refreshing cold drink being poured and bam - I want one! Or a friend mentioning a stroll down the canal and stopping off for a drink. Try as I might - that drink is always a glass of ice cold sauvignon blanc with cold dew on the outside of the glass. I just can't picture a coke or a lime and soda!

Anything that annoys or excites me, but with TSM in place I no longer felt the triggers to drink because it didn't matter.

With TSM I described triggers as events that resulted in me drinking more than usual, and found that going on holiday (I'd not had a holiday for years because I couldn't plan one), going out with friends (prior to TSM friends wouldn't invite me out drinking or I'd avoid it because I was a mess, and so I would either be AF or stay at home), completing an important project, that sort of thing.

Since going AF I have noticed when I am waiting for something to happen, results, or an event I also want to drink, to disappear and wipe out the days before then.

I now have to live through them.

Snap I think with this one they could have subliminal messages just like for others watching a commercial about a juicy cheese burger or cheesy gooey pizza. The advertising industry does everything it can to entice us and make us want to throw down everything and go out and eat or drink what they are selling.

I do get it though what you are saying that after a suggestion from TV, a friend etc we visualize in our minds the sexiness and the fantasy that the alcohol industry has been shoving down our throats for years. I always said that I wanted to live like in a Beer Commercial where there are lot's of friends laughing, having fun and enjoying life to the fullest. Guess I should have made my own Video of my life how alcohol has taken away friends, fun, my health, living life and how it gives me hangover after hangover. That's the kind of commercials that need to be out there to warn people that this is a DRUG and once you are Addicted it has you!

This annoys me as well. There are an awful lot of TV shows where the main characters spend all their time hanging out in a bar. They generally have a great time, each and every night, and there are no unpleasant consequences. The worst thing which might happen is a hangover played for comedy.

Once in a while, characters get arrested for some drunken escapade. They panic and phone for help and so forth, but then . . . they get released. They just leave and go home. There's no arraignment, much less any sentence or any criminal record.

Ptui.

I'm an introvert, and I hate to admit it, but one of my triggers is being alone. I have never been a social drinker. I like time to myself working on my farm, and that has always seemed to be as good an excuse as any. Getting off work (my other boring day job) is also a trigger. Nothing fancy, just "damn", I'm glad that's done for another day.......