The last time I drank an alcoholic beverage was on my husband’s last birthday, December 28th of 2017. I was going to have a drink the following Saturday with a friend, but she had to reschedule and I ended up not having another one since. The goal is to a whole year without to determine whether consuming alcohol has had a detrimental effect on my irritable bowel syndrome.
My husband and I figured that a test of long duration would be best for this, because I’d already tried doing it short term. A month off here, several weeks there. And after drinking, sometimes I’d get really sick to my stomach the next day and sometimes I wouldn’t – and I’m not talking college level binge drinking here. I’m talking one or two drinks in a social setting.
So the idea for a long term test came about. I haven’t so much enjoyed it, but I’ve stuck to it. I like being able to have a beer after a backpacking trip. I really earned a beer after finishing the Spartan Race, but I had a Gatorade instead.
I’m not sure if not drinking has had an effect on the irritable bowel syndrome or not. I think I’ve felt better once I started tracking my food and symptoms, though I haven’t found any correlations yet. Sometimes I do want to have an adult beverage, but by now, half way through, I’m committed to this goal.
It may or may not be actually helpful, but I won’t quit before a year is up. I will argue that since I originally wanted to go the whole of 2018 without a drink, but ended up taking my last drink on 12/28, that I should be allowed, within the goal, to imbibe on my husband’s next birthday – but I’ll leave the call on that one up to him.