Copious beer consumption and other bad habits

I love beer, but I had to give it up. I was also drinking a lot of pop and had to give that up as well. I went for a physical recently and they found a trace of blood in my urine. The doctor said that it was due to drinking too many carbonated beverages. It was irritating my bladder.

What are some things that you have had to give up due to health concerns or other reasons?

Cocaine
Unprotected sex

Sadly, I'm not joking.

And are here hanging out with us now. I've met several addicts in my time and I think I have a little understanding of what they go through. Hell, I still smoke cigarettes. But I'm not giving them up until I get some of this weight off of me. It would be impossible for me to do so otherwise.

That's for sure.

I'm oddly grateful for my experiences as an addict - while its not something I'd have chosen, it taught me a lot about compassion for others and how good people can end up in bad places. Those are good lessons to learn. :hi:

I had some patients who were going through heroin withdrawal and it amazed me how strong they were because God, it looked nasty.

Heroin withdrawal was the worst agony I've ever endured. I did it cold turkey at home and my evil bastard of a then-husband kept coming in the room where I lay in a cold sweat, with my legs twitching and my back aching, dry-heaving, to wave a bag of heroin in my face and say, "You sure you don't want some?" :grr:

It took me over a week to do more than crawl to the bathroom to vomit. It was at least 2 weeks before I was out of bed. And it took close to a year to even begin feeling normal again.

I always have to shake my head in wonder when people repeat the old saw about how kicking nicotine is worse than kicking heroin. I've done both. I'll take nicotine any day. :hi:

Now that I have a pretty kick ass job, I can indulge again...but in a few months I'll have to stop again because my company is moving to Mexico and Arizona, which means another round of job hunting and the always fun piss tests.

being a trucker and all. That is if I wanted to keep my job. There are numerous regulations regarding drug use in the trucking industry. But basically if you piss dirty even one time, you're whole career is over. Trucking companies are required to randomly test 50% of their drivers every year.

I think they should legalize the stuff, but I'm not sure how they would enforce DUIs because it stays in your system for such a lengthy period of time. You could be sober for a couple of weeks and it would still be in your system.

There are methods, just like for alcohol, to see if you're impaired--not just testing positive for having it *in your system*. :)

Back in the 70's I hitchhiked across the country and got rides with truckers for most of it. Great guys - they'd radio ahead to find another ride for me when they neared the end of their haul.

They did TONS of drugs. I've never done so many drugs as I did on the road with those guys. Coke, pot but especially pills. Uppers of all colors, shapes and sizes.

Probably a good thing that's changed but it was a memorable journey.

Drugs are still a part of the industry, but it's not nearly as prevalent as it used to be.

Most trucking companies subscribe to a service where they can keep tabs on you. They can report all accidents, incidents, drug and alcohol policy failures, and such. I think it's called DAQ, but I'm not sure what that stands for. So basically if you fail a drug test it goes in your DAQ report and you get fired. It follows you around for the rest of your life or at least every time you apply for a trucking job after that. Most companies won't touch you with a ten foot poll if you've failed a drug test.

A lot of people who put away tons of beer don't seem to realize that alcoholism includes beer. One of the unhappy side effects of too much beer--erectile dysfunction, known in Britain as "brewer's droop."

As for carbonated drinks they are now linked to heart disease and
metabolic syndrome.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/MetabolicSyndrome/tb/6225

I was a weekend warrior myself. I never felt the need to drink all the time and I could quit when I wanted to. I laid it down a month ago and haven't had any problems.

Dumped 'em cold turkey over nine years ago.

Did they do any other tests? A CT scan or a cystoscopy?

I had a trace amount of blood in my urine 2 months ago and found out it was renal cancer.

We'll see from there. I'm sorry about your bad news. How are they treating it?

That was 4 weeks ago and I'm feeling well now.
I hope for your sake that cutting back on the soda is all you need to do.

and negativity.

for the most part.

i'm kind of goofy myself, but i make gradual progress.

Cell phone and computer addicts. People who can't tear themselves away from their phones--constantly checking for message, perpetually yacking away about nothing to someone at the other end, text messaging even while driving. Actually saw one woman with two cell phones talking into both at once!

unfortunately it wasn't for health reasons, more like, i got arrested and now my house can be searched at any time by the dept of corrections, i also have to take breathalyzers and can be piss tested any time. and get cuffed if i'm on something or drinking.

however now that i have been clean for so long (drugs as of last november, drinking as of... uhhh. memory fails me but ill say 3 months ago) i don't think i'll go back. my memory is still shit and i'm still smoking way too many cigarettes but i hope to put an end to that too.

some days i miss the drugs, most other days it feels like the last few years have been a dream. mostly the hallucinogens i miss.

i go fucking crazy sometimes. i have severe panic attacks. i suffer depression. i get pissed and throw and break things. insomnia. nightmares. the littlest things can put me in tears some days. needless to say i need to get back into counseling and back on meds. hopefully i'll be back home soon and able to work on that. i really hate to say it, because i was really fucking myself up and i did a lot of really stupid shit on drugs, but i was happier. all the shit that's gone on in my life, all the wrongs, all the losses, i didn't have to face them, now i do. oh well. time to move on.

Haven't done it since I was a kid

I'm carrying a few bad habits as ballast just in case I become ill and have to give up something in order to get better. Remember, if you don't have any bad habits to give up, you can't get better.

I love it. I could not get enough. Problem was, the dry heaves in the morning and the constant overeating that came with it and the other things I was doing at the time. :evilgrin: I had to quit before I killed myself. I was drinking entirely too much. Ironically, I QUIT drinking when I turned 21 years old. I only drink on occasion now and not to that degree. I was up to a fifth of vodka a day when I quit. I'm kind of glad I did too.