On the wagon

Now I like a drink as much as the next person, I am after all one of those people who claim to be Irish but who were not actually born in Ireland, but even I deduced that alcohol was not being too kind to me of late.

The silly season in Melbourne starts with Cup Week (first week of November) and lasts till about, oooh, late March.  I undertook FebFast in 2014 partly so I could have a socially acceptable excuse to stop drinking and partly to keep me honest.  Near the end of FebFast, still feeling like rubbish, I read in the weekly FebFast magazine about all the vitamin and mineral deficiencies caused by drinking.  I realised I had all the signs of a Vitamin B deficiency so started taking some Vitamin B supplements and a few weeks later was feeling pretty good. 

Over the 2014/2015 silly season, despite any appearances to the contrary (eg weekly Christmas parties starting the second week of November), I really did try to maintain a slower pace, but by February 2015 when it was time for FebFast again, I felt much worse than the previous year.  Along with waking up frequently at night, not being able to get up in the morning and generally feeling tired all the time, I also had daily issues with my stomach (random pain, nausea, diarrhoea, occasional short bouts of fatigue after eating certain foods), so I went to my doctor to she what she could do about it.  That's when she sent me off to do a battery of tests (still have the last one to go) and diagnosed adrenal fatigue (other diagnoses still pending).

In spite of all this, to read the words "Alcohol is a special kind of poison for the adrenals"* still came as a bit of a shock.  Five weeks into not drinking, I have to admit I have found a noticeable improvement in my state of health, so much so, that I have decided I might as well continue to not drink, at least until my birthday in September. 



* Location 2181, kindle version of Adrenal Fatigue: the 21st Century Stress Syndrome by Dr James L Wilson