===

Tam tam that is fantastic news!! I am so proud of you!! It is working!! Keep it up!! Newlife

Yaba - I think that one needs to employ various strategies to not drink at home. If you have kids, you probably do not want them to see you with alcohol all the time. (I used to drink in rather hidden way - like when I was cooking. Or I would also put wine in a tea cup so that it was not visible what I was drinking.) I find it helpful if there is no alcohol at home. It helps also if one starts to be "addicted" to good tea. Since I want to be social drinker, I will drink in moderation when I am out, but Nal really helped me to stop drinking at home.

Newlife - thanks for your kind message. You are also doing really well. I am so happy for your progress.

I just finished week 7 with OK results. I had 3 AF days, but when I was drinking it was more than usual. In total I had 12,4 US units (or 22 UK units). I could have been better on that, but sadly there were too many opportunity that I did not want to miss. I was socializing a lot and also traveled for work. All in all, I am happy with the progress. I do not have side effects any more and I do not have nal-overs when I over do it slightly. I feel almost cured! Alcohol is not an issue any more in my life. I do not buy it to have it at home or to drink it alone in hotel. This was very important at the time of my recent trip since I visited a great wine country and there were wine tasking opportunities every where. In the past, I would have bought a bottle of wine every day and drink it alone in my room at night. Not any more. Now, I drink tea. Also, at breakfast they had great sparkling wine. I did not even touch it!

Tamtam - that is all sounding SO good - I am really happy for you - I totally get the drinking in the hotel - way to go that you do not do that - and also not drinking at home - that is awesome ! I am really happy for you ..... and no worries about the amount you are drinking out - as you said, you travel for work and that might make it harder - I am sure that you will get that down if you want to - way to go!!

Hugs, Maggie x

Thanks Maggie for your encouraging words. Funny about hotel drinking. Cleaning ladies in hotels must have quite a blast when they see so many guests with wine bottles in the rooms.

It is also funny to read on this forum the little tricks we all had to cover the alcohol addiction. I used to buy small bottles of wine so that I would not drink the whole one. But then, I ended buying more of those and it did not make sense. Or, I would drink in a hidden way while cooking so that no one at home noticed. It looked that I was just using wine for cooking! When traveling, I would sometime pour wine into mineral water small bottles in the airport lounge so that I had some on the flight where they did not serve alcohol. Sometimes I also bought small duty free bottles of wine and drank them at the airport. I also used to research where the nearest wine shop was near my hotel and would then stock my fridge with local wine.

It is such a relief now to travel and not worry where the next shot of alcohol will be available. I am not yet that good at receptions though. I had four small glasses of wine at the last one - but happily no Nal-over.

Good for you Tam-tam. I think your numbers look terrific. xoxo Newlife

-----

Tamtam,

I used to travel a lot and I can so identify with alcohol for the hotel room. I would get nervous if I was closed up in one with nothing to drink.

You are doing so well! Congratulations!

I had a slight crisis today. I was traveling and as a result of some traffic chaos almost missed my flight. I was terribly nervous and when I arrived at the check-in, they told me that there are no more seats on the flight. Happily, they then put me into business class. This was blessing and curse. Since I got access to lounge, my desire for free drink got immediately triggered. I quickly took Nal and about 10 minutes later had a small glass of wine, followed by another. The same happened on the flight. When I had to change the flight at another airport, I also had access to lounge. Here, however, Nal finally kicked in. I took a glass of wine, but had no desire to drink it. It was really funny. By then, I sort of felt "The hell with it, I will just have a drinking day, like in old times" but desire to actually drink one more glass of wine was gone and I left it on the table.

I am rather ashamed by my drinking today. It was like in old times. When I was super nervous, drink would calm me. Since I was dreading missing the plane and then got the upgrade, it looks that my old habits to deal with anxiety kicked in full time and it took me a long time to get back on track. It will be AF day tomorrow to repair the damage.