That's funny, we continue to have a lot in common in terms of family and drinking style, although you're a heavyweight compared to my bantamweight. Our livers are the same size, though, so I'd caution you about that. You are drinking at liver cirrhosis levels (which is generally described as 10 drinks a day with no breaks for an extended period of time). Cirrhosis is ugly, smelly, and nasty and makes you look like a character on the Simpsons (yellow) with a gigantic abdomen, sometimes approaching 4-5 times the size of a basketball that doctors have to stick a needle in to drain occassionally. You get confused as your ammonia levels skyrocket, so they give you a medicine to make you diarrhea out all your excess ammonia, usually all over yourself. The room will smell like Windex mixed with poop. Your family will cry. If you can't drink it, people will tie you down and shove a tube down your nose into your stomach and then squirt it down the tube. I've been on the giving end of that transaction many times. Not fun for anyone.
http://medchrome.com/major/medicine/hep ... xt-of-sbp/

Good luck with the AF night. Expect some serious sleep disturbance, like this clip! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct0GKcsZpdc
I had terrible sleep problems for years (again, I stay up all night three nights a week, and then [used to] get drunk every other night to go to sleep). Now, I do not like any alcohol in my system when I go to bed. It's actually one of my top four favorite things about my sober living.

If Benadryl works well for you, I'd recommend taking about 50mg (2 tabs) to help you cross the sleep threshhold, as it has psychoactive traits. If you can't sleep and you're going to watch a movie, I recommend "The Last Samurai," as it is a badass example of life change that involves alcoholism. Tip #3, and most importantly, TELL YOUR WIFE THAT YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DRINK TONIGHT -- CALL HER RIGHT NOW AND TELL HER. Let her share in your transformation. "Com-passion" = to suffer with. It will bring you closer and make you stronger. Ultimately, though, it's all up to you, especially since (like me) you're both a secret drinker and sneaky as sh*t.

You are probably stronger than you think.

Just a little victory note...Last night was my wife's second night out of town and I still didn't drink. I forgot I was supposed to get drunk -- I didn't even think about it until about 8:00, and actually had zero cravings. Finished the RUSH rockumentary.

I think I have finally extinguished that trigger. Yea!

Enjoyed reading your thread....yes I read it! Congratulations on the progress! Very encouraging!

Good on you Barry ... you seem to be making great progress ... and sound like you're finding it really easy now ... excellent inspiration!

Do you find once you're hooked on a good film or some other activity ... that that's the key? A bit of mental distraction??

I'm finding leaving the drink in one room (sometimes unintentionally) ... then something else happens .. (even just some cr*p TV) time passes .. and the drink is still there ... strange .. but great when it works!

Keep posting .. always an interesting read ... thanks Lorraine

I rarely watch movies, so that's not really the key. Honestly, there is no "key" at this point for me because I'm not really even considering drinking most of the time. I guess when TSM works you don't really have to DO anything. It just becomes a non-issue. That's what's been happening to me. I'm generally a weak-willed person (especially when it comes to alcohol and diet soda) and that's why this is the only thing that's ever worked for me.

I don't see an issue with diet soda barrry. Let's here a little more there. I don't like coffee so I drink 1 diet soda a day. Then typically its water until booze-thirty. How much diet soda do your drink that you think its an issue?

Just wandering.

I'm not saying it's an issue. I just love it and have it every day since when diet coke came out back in the 80s(I even like Tab in the 70s)! Then I switched to Diet DP a few years ago. When I wake up, it's the first thing that I think about. MMMMM, must have diet soda. I probably drink the equivalent of about 2-3 cans per day, no big deal. If I had to quit it, it would be much, much harder than it's been for alcohol because there are no negative consequences from it. It's sort of like my blankey as a kid -- it just makes me feel good about the world. Still, I'd be better off without it than with it; it's a few lines down on my self-improvement to do list, though.

Yeah ... I'm with you there lads.. I love a diet fizzy drink too ... try to only have one or 2 a day ... used to be a tea jenny (Scots speak for a tea addict) but had to cut the caffeine down ...

I read on another post .. (Orcas I think) .. that she bought a soda stream .. an hear others like sparkling fizzy water (not sure what you call that in the US) ... I love cider and esp champagne and sparking wine .. I wonder if its just the fizz

or maybe I'm just full of wind!!! There's definitely somethin about that fizzy feeling! (alc or no alc!)

Have a good weekend Barry / Chris / all Lorraine

I also love the Kool-Aid drink powder, which is super-intense aspartame with awesome flavoring. Orange is the best, and I enjoy it more than beer. When I read that a sweet tooth was a good sign that TSM would work for someone, I was given hope.

New Record for Me: 17 days, 2 beers, 0 cravings. I have not had a run like this since, hmm, probably over 20 years. I may or may not have one beer tonight for extinction purposes (it seems to power me up for the week ahead). I went ahead and marked my weekly count as "1" but we'll see. I was driving down some lonely roads last night picking up my daughter and a cop was behind me. I was like, "Please pull me over and ask me if I've had anything to drink tonight!" I was going to be like, "Uh. No. I don't drink," real snootily. In the past, I would have been so scared. Once I actually got pulled over after chugging two beers at home -- my wife said, "Oh, go pick up the pizza." My mom was even in the car. I was shaking so bad that I could barely get my license out of the wallet, even though I was not legally drunk.

In high school, I was quite drunk one night, driving (of course), and listening to Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" real loud. I got pulled over, rolled down the window and gave the cop my license, and just sat there jamming to Zep (I never even turned it down). I got a speeding ticket and went on my way. Another time, I was in a car with three other seriously drunk buddies driving in Houston in 1987 (the heydays of that once great city); I had had over 20 mixed drinks at a lesbian bar (true story) and was completely drunk riding in the back of a convertible. The driver couldn't even get to "E" on his A-B-Cs and blamed it on chewing tobacco. I remember, somehow, the cop letting us go. I then remember someone falling out of the car at his house (which was about 13 miles away from mine). My next memory is me waking up in my bed, my undamaged car in the driveway, and my bedroom sink covered in vomit. Not cool. High school, though, is where I learned the "skill" of drunk driving. I will hopefully never do it again.

Here's a funny article from the Onion (a satirical, "fake" newspaper if you've never heard of it). I thought of me and christopher.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/commun ... ver,31476/

Hi Barry .. I'm liking the sound of that kool aid stuff... probably can't get it over here ... sounds wicked!

Great news on your numbers being so low .... thats great motivation for the rest of us ... and really enjoyed your other Lenten post - if you ever give up the nursing - maybe you should take up writing!

Also - that's encouraging about the sweet tooth/TSM success thing?

I'm off to see if I can source Kool aid in the UK! Lorraine