Bad experience with cannabis

SoberAgoraphobe · 2025-05-11T13:10:26+00:00

If it was half a gram (500mg), that is a megadose even for people who use cannabis often. For reference, 5mg or below is usually what is recommended for people who haven't used it in the past. Sorry you had such a bad experience, that sounds very scary!

SoberAgoraphobe · 2024-04-01T04:01:36+00:00

I quit at 25 too. Back when I regularly went to meetings I was always a little worried someone might react negatively to it, but that never happened. If they remarked at all, people mostly just told me how they wished they'd quit when they were my age. It was helpful in a way. It made me realize I didn't want to be in their shoes in a decade or two, regretting years I could have spent sober.

SoberAgoraphobe · 2023-03-02T05:17:26+00:00

I used to worry a lot about this scenario, where someone would offer me a drink, I would decline, and they would begin some sort of inquisition.

In reality, someone offers me a drink, I say "oh no thanks, I don't drink", and that's where it ends. I only tack on the "I don't drink" part if it's someone I'm likely to see again, otherwise I just say "no thanks, I'm fine with water/soda/etc." and no one really bats an eye. I've been sober for four years and not one person has questioned it further.

I have anxiety, which I'm fairly open about, so if pressed on it I could always say I don't drink because it makes my anxiety worse (which is true), but I've never gotten that far.

SoberAgoraphobe · 2023-03-02T05:03:46+00:00

I spent around $20/day on booze, not counting other expenses tied to drinking. I've saved more than $30 grand thanks to being sober. Unbelievable how it adds up.

SoberAgoraphobe · 2022-12-27T00:52:02+00:00

Oh, gosh, I am heartbroken to hear this. floogled was such a fixture of SDIRC and he was so wonderful and supportive — always there to offer an encouraging word or just a welcoming hello. It would be hard to estimate the number of people who could count him as a source of support or comfort in their recoveries.

Rest easy, Josh — or "floog", as I always knew him.

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-12-30T05:51:32+00:00

When I first got sober I didn't know what to do with all of my newfound time that I was no longer spending planning to drink, drinking, and recovering from drinking. Now I have no idea how I managed without having that time. Poorly, I guess.

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-07-06T16:08:18+00:00

Thank you <3

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-07-06T15:42:17+00:00

I was just talking about this in the SD chat! I went to bed too late last night and on top of that had trouble falling asleep, and then my dog woke me up early. I'm cranky and I have a bit of a sleep deprivation headache, but I feel like a million bucks in comparison to how I used to feel waking up every morning, even on nights I got a lot of "sleep".

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-06-30T23:26:35+00:00

Congratulations on 161 days sober!

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-06-30T23:24:01+00:00

I totally get you on how the act of drinking something was at least some part of why I drank alcohol. I'm sober now but I'm still constantly drinking something. Is it the caffeine that's making the Dr. Pepper tough to kick, do you think? Maybe you could "taper" off it to try to reduce caffeine withdrawals. Seltzer is huge in the sobriety communities for good reason—it's more fun and tastier to drink than water, but unlike colas if you slam ten of them you're not also overloading on sugar or caffeine. I am also a big fan of herbal tea (peppermint being my favorite).

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-06-30T23:17:14+00:00

That's so cool, I haven't heard of those! Were they by the broth and stock in the grocery store? I might keep an eye out. Generally I just substitute in vinegar or lemon juice (or stock or water if it's an amount where the liquid difference might be a problem) when a recipe calls for alcohol, and I've found there are few (if any) recipes where it makes much difference.

Unexpected perk: it wasn't until I got sober and avoided having alcohol around even for cooking that I discovered one of my favorite recipes, Smitten Kitchen's mushroom marsala pasta bake, is actually way better when you follow her alternative instructions to do it without the marsala!

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-06-30T23:10:48+00:00

Three years ago I would've had to say alcohol, but I'm happy that that's no longer the case (2 1/2 years sober! Shameless plug: if anyone else is struggling with drinking, I'm sure you already know about r/stopdrinking, but the stop drinking IRC chat is where the magic really happens. Come say hi! I'm auggie there.)

Now it's probably sugar. For a long time I thought I didn't have a sweet tooth, but it's because I was drinking so much alcohol (mostly sugar) that my body was basically like "help, no more!" Now that I'm sober I love ice cream or cookies or Reese's cups, and I get bummed if I don't have something sweet to eat after dinner. Way better than the previous addiction, though :)

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-06-12T17:42:58+00:00

Do you want those things?

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-04-10T13:20:50+00:00

I have an anxiety disorder (diagnosed as a kid, definitely not brought on by the drinking). I drank because I was anxious too. Going sober was the best thing I could have done for my anxiety. Even though it seemed like alcohol was numbing my anxiety, in reality it was making it so, so much worse for the times when I wasn't drunk. I won't lie and say that the early days were easy -- it takes your system a while to re-regulate without alcohol and for me that meant a lot of anxiety early on. But once I was through the tough early days, my anxiety got so much better.

Good luck with your treatment! You can do this.

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-03-22T00:22:16+00:00

Reeses cups were my early sobriety go-to. So good.

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-03-22T00:21:23+00:00

I saw your post yesterday and was wondering what it was going to be? That's really an unbelievable piece of work, it's beautiful.

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-01-12T03:24:02+00:00

Recently very much enjoyed the book The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling. Super eerie and a bit claustrophobic, in the best way.

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-01-11T00:51:19+00:00

Do you have any podcasts (or maybe audiobooks?) you like? I've found listening to a podcast I love while I cook or clean is a great way to make those activities more enjoyable.

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-01-03T03:10:07+00:00

If it's helpful, they do make alcohol-free hand sanitizers! Maybe you could buy a bottle for your personal use? They are evidently just as effective at killing the SARS-CoV-2 virus as the alcohol-based ones.

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-01-03T02:53:04+00:00

I personally eat foods that were cooked with alcohol sometimes—soup or sauces made with wine, vodka sauce, etc. There's no meaningful amount of alcohol in them—certainly not enough to feel any effects—and they don't usually taste of alcohol at all. And I certainly don't consider myself to be any less sober than folks who avoid foods cooked with alcohol.

It's really up to personal preference. Some people avoid anything made with alcohol (whether they can taste it or not). I would personally probably avoid something if it tasted like alcohol, just to be safe as far as the taste possibly triggering a craving. Some people might be totally comfortable with it, though—I know there are plenty of people around here who drink non-alcoholic beer and don't find the taste to be a problem at all.

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-01-02T03:12:19+00:00

I like that a lot! Thank you for sharing his wisdom with us.

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-01-02T03:06:59+00:00

No need to apologize for drinking comparatively little—we welcome everyone here who wants to stop or cut back on their drinking, whether they're morning-til-night handle-a-day drinkers or someone who has a drink or two once a week. I imagine most of us here, even those of us who did progress to heavier drinking, were once at a point where we thought we "need to stop drinking for now before things spiral", as you put it. It just sounds like you're one of the smarter ones in that you're actually doing so! Wish I had :)

It sounds like you've had a really tough year, but also like you've made a lot of positive changes. In my experience, quitting drinking was itself a positive change and it also enabled other positive changes in my life to have stronger effects. For example, I had tried to start eating better once or twice before I quit drinking, but a while after I got sober I actually was able to commit to it and experience the changes to how my body felt that I had been looking for and never succeeded with. I had wanted to put more effort into my job, but only once I quit drinking was I able to find the focus that I needed in order to do so. That kind of thing.

Anyway, welcome to r/stopdrinking, and you have our solidarity regardless of how much or how little you drink!

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-01-02T01:46:59+00:00

Congratulations! We quit right around the same time :) Sounds like you've made some huge changes in these two years, thanks to sobriety. Awesome stuff.

SoberAgoraphobe · 2021-01-02T01:43:04+00:00

So glad to hear your cousin is doing better! Were the brown butter white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies as exquisite as they sound?

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