One Month Smoke Free!

It’s been exactly one month now since me and Gavin have quit smoking. I was never a ‘proper’ smoker, so to speak; more one of those ‘casual’ ones. However that doesn’t mean that I’ve not missed it. Id like to say that the past four visits to our local boozer (yes, I know, but lack of money means we don’t get out much) have been uplifting, but it’s not. We try to keep our minds occupied but it’s so difficult when you watch people stepping out the front door to have a smoke. Drinking larger amounts of alcohol doesn’t help either as this only hightens the feeling of ‘need’. One day it’s like ‘I’m fine, I don’t need this , I’m doing it for myself, the boyfriend, the Arthur and hopefully the kids!’, the next it’s like ‘life is just too short’. As I’ve said before, there isn’t always stuff to really enjoy in life with money issues and lack of time. And when that is the case, these little things matter even more.

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To Drink Or Not To Drink?

Last night I was woken up by the sound of a woman throwing up all over the street after a night on the town. This continued for a whole hour after getting into her home opposite ours... It was yet another reminder of why I will never let myself drink to the excess. But, yes, that’s right, I DO drink as an RA sufferer and I DO drink on tablets which clearly state not to do so. This, as most of us know, is because the tablets can deteriorate our liver as it is, (as well as most other organs!) I’ve always wandered how many others out there do the same? My meds are Methotrexate which I take 5 of on a weekly basis. Pretty much every weekend, as a minimum, I will share a bottle of wine with the other half. And this doesn’t include the odd drink at a pub in the week if we feel like it, and it doesn’t include exchanging the wine on the sofa for a night out of fairly heavy drinking.
I guess the main reason I do so is because my monthly blood tests of the state of my liver almost always show a normal result. If it didn’t, then I’m fairly certain I’d cut back. But is this the proper way of thinking? And is it setting myself up for a fall?
The thing is, we already have to deal with the arthritis itself, and for a lot of us, it means not being able to do the things we used to do such as sports. So why should it take away this other pleasure that most of us get from having a drink? Or am I just trying to find excuse here?
Any thoughts?

Please keep in mind however people: http://www.drinkaware.co.uk/

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