You know you should quit drinking. You’ve been alcoholic for years and though you’ve made a lot of progress, one day it just felt like too much was taken from you. You wake up hungover, your clothes are wrinkled, and your head is filled with thoughts of booze. The addiction is too strong. It feels like your whole life revolves around the bottle. But how can you stay sober while your brain chemistry changes so drastically? What if getting help changed your life for the better?
What is Alcohol Dependence?
Alcohol dependence is a medical condition in which a person’s brain chemistry becomes abnormal and addictive when they drink alcohol. If you have a disease that causes an abnormal brain, you may be more at risk of becoming dependent on alcohol.
The brain’s reward circuits: When we feel something good happening, like the after-effects of drinking, our brains release feel-good neurotransmitters. When we don’t feel something good happening, like withdrawal symptoms after a drinking binge, our brains release stress-reducing neurotransmitters, which lowers our stress levels. In some cases, a combination of both neurotransmitters is released, resulting in a feeling of intoxication.
How to Stop Drinking
You can’t stop drinking when you’re in the midst of drinking. Once you’ve started, it’s very hard to stop. The sooner you get help for your addiction, the better. There are many reasons you may not be able to stop drinking: You drink to cope with stress. You drink to relax. You drink to forget things. You drink to be social. You drink because you want to be. You drink to forget things physical, emotional or even mental. You drink because you want to forget the feeling of shame and worthlessness that drinking brings up inside of you.
## The Best Time to Quit Drinking
If you’re really struggling, you may want to consider stopping drinking altogether. However, if you’re still able to make responsible choices and take care of yourself, then I recommend staying sober as long as possible. There are many reasons you may be able to continue drinking even though you know it’s causing problems for you and your loved ones: You’re in a relationship where both people are drinking. You’re around others who are drinking and you want to be around them but don’t want to join in. You don’t feel safe telling anyone about your drinking. You feel like you don’t deserve to be treated better than someone who isn’t drinking. You think you can handle being sober for a while and then decide you want to try again.
Rehab and Recovery
Getting help is the only way to break your addiction to alcohol. Once you start seeing a counselor, you’ll likely need to go to therapy too, and you may want to consider joining a 12-step program as part of your recovery. Depending on your situation, you may be able to complete a part of your recovery at home. If you’re in a relationship, you may be able to help your partner through recovery together. If you have family or friends who can watch your child while you’re in treatment, that may be a help. Many alcoholics go on to have other addictions, like drugs or sex, and then have to spend years recovering from those as well. Rehab is the strongest term used to describe a 12-step program that helps people break free of alcohol addiction.
The Bottom line
Quit drinking for good and you’ll likely feel better and have a more productive life in the process. You’ll have more energy and better focus, and you’ll feel less moodiness and anxiety. You may even regain lost weight, which can be encouraging when you’ve been drinking heavily. Most important, you’ll be able to say “yes” to your family and friends again, and you’ll feel like you can actually contribute something to the world instead of just being a drain on everyone.
