Hi gang. I would have one year complete abstinence on August 4, 2014, but I intentionally had a few adult beverages with some old friends (older than we want to admit ) last week during a trip to St. Louis , Mo. It wasn't without considerable thought that I did this, so I wanted to, in the spirit of 'rigorous honesty', report my experience. I hadn't seen these two guys since the late 1970's, we were great friends growing up in high school and in college. These guys , and their wives, are not a huge Party Group, but I knew that alcohol would be quite available, and I gave a lot of thought about how I wanted to go forward.

In the past year, I have benefited greatly from avoiding alcohol. GREATLY!! And I think it would be pathetic to resume drinking like I did, especially now that I am enjoying retirement. However, with the much appreciated exception of complete absence of the occasional 'stabbing pain' I would have early on, my symptoms of numbness and other abnormal sensations of PN are considerably worse now than they were one year ago. Now, I am not that bad, in fact, I swim, play music, workout, I do about whatever I want, and it may be, in fact, that some of my more noticeable symptoms are the result of overdoing my workouts and activities. It seems that way sometimes. But I must say, that a bit of alcohol is much appreciated by me in certain situations, and I have decided to do that again. The reason: I am not at all sure my PN is from drinking, I find it hard to believe that my symptoms would be worse one year later if that was the case. Also, even if it is, I have decided a life of total abstinence is not what I want for my remaining time here on the planet, which I hope is very long indeed, and healthy. And if I find myself slipping back into old and self defeating drinking, I will stop again. I am not being a total nut here, I know that most people can't do this, and maybe I cant either. But it took a face to face meeting with old buddies to realize that this complete abstinence approach is just not for me at the moment.

I dont want to be be a bad example, and please dont resume bad habits because of this post, but I hadnt provided an update , and I do think honesty makes this thing work. I will from time to time provide updates, unless this post disturbs anyone unnecessarily, in which case I will not post anything similar.

I appreciate all the good stuff on here and good luck and keep at it, whatever path you pick, pick a healthy one for you. !!