That's good to know about the 5 year window. I was told something along those lines. That I could see improvements, anywhere from 1-3 years, or maybe even 5.

Early on when I was counting days, my head was still telling me that maybe I could have a drink one day again. And I would say well maybe this goes away and I can have one here or there. I would know it was a ridiculous thought and I didnt want to really act on it. But it was there. The good news is the more I lived with this pain, the more I started to see how alcohol was such a poison and to open that door again now seems crazy.

Since I've changed my diet, the way that I look at food has also changed. I know it takes a long time but the fact that people develop neuropathy because of their diet leading them to diabetes is just frightening. I am on other forums and I read about peoples struggles and its crazy to me that we have gotten to this place where there is so much disease in our culture as a result of what people think is OK to put in their bodies.

The only reason that I see this now is because I had to change because of what I'm dealing with. Otherwise, I would have continued to eat a ton of sugar, and most likely would have not made the strides I have with exercise.

There was a great scene in The West Wing, where Leo, the (recovering alcoholic) Chief of Staff, when asked if he never wants a drink again, said: “I don’t want “a drink”, I want loads of them.”*

I knew this from the first day I got sober. I never entertained the thought, and I think I spared myself a lot of hassle that way.

* I remembered it half right . The full quote:

Yeah, I do a lot of entertaining for work, I took a month off from booze completely, but had a couple light beers on Monday (watching football) and a couple of glasses of wine last night at a work event.

I plan on really keeping it in check going forward. The comments on here about any alcohol making it worse scare me. Even though logic would say 2 beers shouldn't further nerve damage. I am confident I will never drink like I did in the past as my fear level is higher than at any point in my life.