What Icehouse said: you can deal with that later.

When I quit I had a terrible craving for all things sugary, and I indulged. I did gain weight - quite a lot - but it helped enormously.

After 9 months I adjusted my diet because I found it it didn't exactly help with my PN, and since then I lost a lot of weight. But I doubt I could have done it if it wasn't for the ice cream, cookies, etc. Or maybe I could have, but it made it a damn lot easier. Which means I'm now at day 480, and I really feel I can keep this up!

Well done on your 60 days BTW!

Thanks Wide-O! I know what you mean about the ice cream and stuff. I just love it. I dont remember that from any other time I tried to quit. Weird. But oh well, it's good stuff!

I'm going to cheat one day (at a time ) and call this my 500th day of living sober.

I can not stress enough how happy I feel compared to 500 days ago. It is simply amazing.

I also saved me 10,000 USD in whisky purchases. Well, it's virtual saving (d'oh!) but still, it's quite an impressive amount.

As for the PN: I just finished redecorating our main room; cleaning it out, move old stuff to the attic, remove floor, put in new floor, repair walls, put in new doors, even out walls around doors, 3 layers of paint (35 liters of paint in total), new lighting, put in new furniture... not bad for someone with PN. Some pain in the evening which is completely under control with medication, but then again, I suppose any 51 year old would feel a bit rough after this madness.

Weight also dropped to 94 kg now, which is scarily skinny. Can't remember ever being this skinny actually. Ho hum. Energy levels are through the roof.

Anyway: if you ever wonder if it's worth it to quit the booze: hell yes!

A very encouraging post Wide O, congrats on Day 500. I am at day 79 and love to read posts from those of you farther down the road. The numbness in my feet seemed a little worse that usual when i woke up just now, but your post put it all in perspective for me. thanks!

There will be days like that Newstown. Live didn't turn into a rose garden, but it's a damn sight easier dealing with the weed.

I still have days that are a bit less, I'm not into games. PN is a serious thing, and it still reminds me now & then that it's there. But the difference between now and 6 months ago is just... crazy. 9 days out of 10 I'm just not bothered by it.

I'll celebrate your 80 days and my 500 days with a good espresso tomorrow.

We will ALL celebrate any day that is sober. I am at 814 today (according to my phone), and I will lift an iced tea to both of you!!!

Well, if I had posted a 75 day report it would have been a little more upbeat. The past 2 weeks I have experienced some increase in my PN symptoms, I am not back to Day 1 by any means but I do have more numbness, more often. I also have the difficult to describe feelings of discomfort in my upper legs that I had assumed were a thing of the past. I know it is a slow process of nerve regeneration but I guess I wasn't quite prepared for it to be a 3 steps forward, 2 back kind of thing. My docs seemed quite sure that my PN was most likely the result of years of heavy drinking, but now I find myself second guessing them. I have little interest in returning to alcohol, but now i wonder if the PN is related to something else. I can drive myself crazy thinking about this stuff so I will stop. It's great to have this forum and you nice folks here.

I dont have any of the 'stabbing' pain, and little fatigue. So I am doing ok, it's just a bit disappointing. Was it like this for any of you?

It was very much like that (except I had stabbing pains, burning soles, muscle cramps, the feeling like someone was squeezing off my big toes with a nut cracker, and rocks under my feet as well).

The first time I quit I relapsed after 45 days because the pain came back worse than ever.

The second time (this one) I did manage to stay the course, but the pain - as documented in the PN subforum - came back and became worse & worse for the first 8 months. Oh joy...

Like you, I have long searched for other reasons apart from the alcohol (can you say "co-morbid"? ...), and I guess there were. Low B12 may have also be caused by taking antacids (Pariet) for years on end - it's a known side effect.

But.

In the end, I realized that everything had one primal cause: stress. I was doing too much, working too hard, and that set of a lot of things like reflux, drinking, anxiety, hyperventilation, and then some. And they all nicely enforced each other.

I'm not saying that as an excuse, because I have no doubt when it comes to the PN, it was mostly if not exclusively the alcohol. Put another way; I wouldn't be where I am today (yesterday I knocked down a brick wall, today I'm doing drywall and electricity) if I hadn't stopped drinking. I could also be slightly dead by now.

So yeah, it is a tedious process, often disappointing, and it never hurts to check all factors that can contribute to your PN, but, if you find something, don't let it fool you/trick you in trying to become a "moderate drinker" etc. You, me, Icehouce, we passed that station IMHO.

You'll get there, hang on.

Thanks so much Wide O. I was hoping you would provide a post on your experience. Very much appreciated.

Whoa, I forgot to post my 11.1.2013 update! I must be feeling good!

So, I am at 832 days sober today. I dont remember the last time I used my cane (6 months ago now?), I have no pain, and my girlfriend (a runner) is determined to get me jogging. I have not ran in years and this scares the crap out of me, but if I can conquer that then I will be just giggly all over!

Keep it up folks!!!