LESS Alcohol ~ JANUARY 2023 ~ One Day At A Time

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  • joans1976
    joans1976 Posts: 2,201 Member
    @MissMay I despise her too. It’s not really fun working for a person you despise. I spent part of the day last Monday looking up ways I could get her license taken away. She is the owner of this practice and it’s not corporate so she answers to no one. Her husband is a big shot lawyer and they have a ton of money. So me trying to do something about her lack of ethics would likely end up breaking me mentally and financially. She is a narcissist, so she doesn’t care about the animals. It’s the animals I worry about at 3 am. Legally I cannot tell the clients to go elsewhere but I try to get them to read between the lines. It’s all frustrating and sad.

    @globalhiker I love your plan! Tell me more about the stress gummies. L-theanine or…?

    @RockinRobyn672 Finding good elder care is hard. It’s a low paying field and it’s a hard job (for the CNAs, I don’t know about the doctors) and elderly patients with dementia are a challenge. I’ve always thought it extremely unfair how the US health system (and some families) treat people when they get old. I am sorry you are going through this and dealing with your toe and not able to jump on your Peloton!

    @lmlmrn What a great picture! You’ve got to pull that out when he’s older!
  • joans1976
    joans1976 Posts: 2,201 Member
    @siberiantarragon Im not proud to say this but I have been on many, many psych drugs since I was 15 and it never stopped me from drinking or taking ibuprofen. In my 20s (46 now) I would usually end up getting sick at the end of the night but I didn’t connect the two at the time. Kudos to you for following doctor’s orders and not drinking since July! That’s a huge step!

    For the heartburn, I was getting it every time I went to bed, if I had drank or not. I used omeprazole for 14 days and felt so much better. Then when I stopped it came back. I saw my doctor and she advised I could safely take it everyday but advised me to keep it up with the weight loss. Now I’m eating better but will get a flare if I have something tomato based for dinner (marinara, ketchup, tomato soup, even some dark chocolate.)

    Just my experience, good luck to you!
  • Womona
    Womona Posts: 1,770 Member
    @Stockholm_Andy hilarious! Now if we can only get those same men to not wear Speedos on the beach…
  • Womona
    Womona Posts: 1,770 Member
    joans1976 wrote: »
    @Stockholm_Andy Ive seen Yellowstone advertised all over the place here in the US on cable and heard of many people bingeing it. I’m working on The Crown still.

    Yellowstone is on our list as well! I hear it’s great. Oh, and I LOVED The Crown!
  • RockinRobyn672
    RockinRobyn672 Posts: 907 Member
    edited January 2023
    By the way, we did something unusual for us yesterday, which is to stay in all day. It was cold and rainy for one thing and I can't do a lot while my foot is healing. We accidentally found and binge-watched the "Woman of the Dead" series. We couldn't stop! We had planned to knock off some some non-walking things on our very long to-do list, but stayed glued to the TV instead. I highly recommend ... the series ... not the binge-watching. :tongue:
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    I really enjoyed The Crown seasons 1-2. I should have binged the rest of that this weekend when DH was away. Didn't think of that!

    @MissMay glad you settled into a better work setting, and kudos for doing it all AF. Your experience shows me it's worth testing my culturally programmed beliefs about alcohol (i.e. that it's a stress reliever). Probably more accurate to think of it as a dopamine hit that has neurochemical costs on the backside (anxiety for me).

    @joans1976 Potential boss names: Damandria, Dramalinda, Dramaryllis ?
    Sad about your friend's family. Perhaps unsurprising that an alcoholic surrounded himself with people who drank too much. The tiniest glint of a silver lining might be that your friend escaped what sounds like against all odds and is living free. Whew.

    Last week of the month! That went fast. AF M-Th&Su, A F-Sa = 4 drinks last week. That is bound to be a new low for me on the moderation front (likely aided by the fact DH was away and the interns go out to drink after I make them dinner :D ) It would be nice if I could follow a pattern more like that on the regular.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    Did you watch GOT? Cersei, maybe? Dramaryllis somehow sounds more benign than Cersei.
  • globalhiker
    globalhiker Posts: 1,677 Member
    Turning out to be a successful AF day with no dramas. Quiet calm day today, drinking Sparkling Ice zero lemonade. I like it and it has fewer of the *bad* chemicals many sodas have. It does have citric acid so I would not drink this if I had acid reflux.
    I suppose a good diet like whole 30 and weight loss could fix most underlying causes of acid reflux.

    I haven't needed my stress gummies so far but the brand is Olly and it has GABA, L-theanine, and lemon balm. I proceed with caution here with this and only use them if I am ready to pull my hair out. I would love to be on anti-depressant and anti-anxiety meds (sometimes I feel I could use both) but a few different doctors I've asked over the years refused to prescribe it and told me I don't need it and they want me to exercise away the stress and get to bed early.
  • siberiantarragon
    siberiantarragon Posts: 265 Member
    joans1976 wrote: »
    @siberiantarragon Im not proud to say this but I have been on many, many psych drugs since I was 15 and it never stopped me from drinking or taking ibuprofen. In my 20s (46 now) I would usually end up getting sick at the end of the night but I didn’t connect the two at the time. Kudos to you for following doctor’s orders and not drinking since July! That’s a huge step!

    Technically I didn't ask if I could drink or not. I just saw that it said on the paperwork not to. Plus at the time when I first started taking it I was having so many problems with panic attacks that going out was the last thing on my mind. My old psychiatrist is very unapproachable and overbooked with patients, and I could barely get an appointment with him let alone ask questions in the appointment without him trying to get me out of there in two minutes. However I switched to a new one so maybe I will be able to get this cleared up. It's possible I could be able to have a drink or two. I know many other people who take SSRIs and other types of psychiatric medications and still drink, even heavily, without any apparent problems. But I'm just paranoid.

    As for ibuprofen I didn't take it for months because this very rude nurse in the hospital, when I asked about it, screamed at me "YOU CAN JUST TAKE TYLENOL! GET OVER IT!" Of course what the dumb [redacted] didn't bother to find out is that I have PCOS. So every month with my period I would be debilitated for two days because Tylenol doesn't work for me at all and IcyHot doesn't do much either. Recently I started taking ibuprofen again because I got COVID (I'm better now) and pulled the muscles in my neck from coughing so much and my neck was hurting so badly that I had no choice but to take it. As far as I know I didn't develop an ulcer so I plan to also take it during that time of the month.
    For the heartburn, I was getting it every time I went to bed, if I had drank or not. I used omeprazole for 14 days and felt so much better. Then when I stopped it came back. I saw my doctor and she advised I could safely take it everyday but advised me to keep it up with the weight loss. Now I’m eating better but will get a flare if I have something tomato based for dinner (marinara, ketchup, tomato soup, even some dark chocolate.)

    I've taken omeprazole in the past and it didn't work for me. I've had episodes of acid reflux for days or weeks when I have a lot of stress but I haven't had a protracted episode of it in years. If I had to guess I would say that greasy foods like burgers and fries, in conjunction with irritating beverages like either soda or alcohol, and also in conjunction with talking a lot and loudly and possibly having social anxiety, causes it. But it's hard to pin down any one combo of factors because sometimes I've gotten it when one of those factors wasn't present and sometimes I haven't gotten it when all of those factors were present. I had some success with taking Tums pre-emptively before I was going to drink, so maybe I should do that every time I go out.

    Also famotidine can't be taken with, guess what, Lexapro! It could give you an irregular heartbeat and kill you :(
    Just my experience, good luck to you!

    Thanks :)
    GeeBee08505 wrote: »
    DH and I are going into NYC for The Lion King. It was my Christmas present. Even though I am a native NY'er, I hardly ever get into the City too much anymore from these Jersey 'burbs.

    Hi neighbor, I'm a native NYer (Queens represent!) who lives in the Jersey burbs too. Hope you guys have a great time at the Lion King!
    Womona wrote: »
    @siberiantarragon I’m on Lexapro and it’s the one that worked wonders for me. Sorry it’s not “the one” for you. Are there alternatives that may work better? BTW I can drink wine and take Advil with no problem.

    I got the best results from a natural supplement called inositol. I take 2 650mg capsules in the morning and another one at night. I haven't had a full panic attack in almost two months, so it's definitely improved. Before I started taking inositol I would be ok for a few weeks and then I would have a period of 2 to 3 weeks where I would be having up to 15 panic attacks a day. So Lexapro itself wasn't really doing much.

    The issues I have are not really what Lexapro is usually used to treat. It's usually used for depression but I don't have depression. I have panic attacks and depersonalization/derealization disorder which is very hard to treat in general. I found out about inositol from some random internet forum for people who have DP/DR disorder. It also supposedly treats PCOS although I haven't noticed any change in my PCOS symptoms since I started taking it (however I also haven't been adhering to the recommended diet for PCOS). I feel like the hospital just put me on SSRIs because they didn't really know what else to do, and they felt like they had to put me on a daily medication if they were going to also give me Ativan because of the people who misuse benzos. I do take Ativan if I know I'm going into a high-stress situation (like the dentist or the subway) but I try to avoid taking it as much as possible, and I don't even take it most of the time when I have panic attacks.

    Also Lexapro has some dangerous potential side effects like irregular heartbeat and increased risk of diabetes (which I already have an increased risk of because I have PCOS and diabetes also runs in my family). So I'm like, why am I putting this poison in my body? I feel like it's just shortening my lifespan for no good reason. I'm going to ask my new psychiatrist if I can come off it but I expect to get some resistance.

    I probably could drink a little on it but I'm going to ask new psychiatrist about that also.

  • Womona
    Womona Posts: 1,770 Member
    joans1976 wrote: »
    "Potential boss names: Damandria, Dramalinda, Dramaryllis ?
    Sad about your friend's family. Perhaps unsurprising that an alcoholic surrounded himself with people who drank too much. The tiniest glint of a silver lining might be that your friend escaped what sounds like against all odds and is living free. Whew."

    @ahoy_m8 I would pick Dramalinda or Dramaryllis. Dramandia is too close to my name and this guy I worked with used to call me "Demanda" because I would be like "get off your *kitten* and help!" Used to really make me mad. Which is what he wanted. I just usually refer to her as the narcissistic *kitten* but I could get used to Dramaryllis. lol thanks!

    I like Dramaryllis. In keeping with flowers, we can always call her Narcissa.
  • Sinisterbarbie1
    Sinisterbarbie1 Posts: 711 Member
    I like Dramaryllis. In keeping with flowers, we can always call her Narcissa.

    Or since she is a puppy abuser there is always Cruella
  • Womona
    Womona Posts: 1,770 Member
    @siberiantarragon Sorry to hear you got stuck with Nurse Ratched!!!!! Hope you get some good discussions with your new doctor. Hugs to you with all the medical stuff going on!

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