craving alcohol (quarantine)

[Fluidic Kimbo]

I don't drink alcohol but this quarantine (social isolation) has me at the limit of my sanity.

My sex drive has dropped very low, and now I'm craving alcohol. I bought my usual 2 bottles of non-alcoholic beer in the store this evening, but as I went to pay for them, a little inner voice was telling me to swap one of them for a real beer. It wasn't even like the little voice had to coax me... it was more like "It will make little difference anyway, it doesn't matter".

Also two days ago was the 4th anniversary of my expartner's death so that's had a psychological/emotional effect too, along with the isolation.

I'll be doing well if I can get til the end of May without a beer or a cigarete.

[Fluidic Kimbo]

I'm back chanting hare krishna every day again with my beads so that's helping me stay sane. Meditating every day too, I actually made a little meditation cell out my backgarden.

This month would be a lot easier if I had a dog.

[Proximal]

Why not adopt a dog? I guess that dog you rescued didn’t come through, sorry.

Always turned to alcohol myself so I can’t be of any motivation there.

Good luck with your battle, try to stay strong.

[SampsonandDelilah]

Maybe even foster a dog temporarily...is that an option where you are? Keep chanting or reading, whatever takes your mind off of it. Vent here if you need to. Just remember to take care of yourself.

Hate to swap one substance for another, but maybe some weed? I’m less destructive with pot over alcohol, I sober up better and usually fall asleep before I can get into any trouble or make any bad decisions...unlike alcohol. With booze, if there’s trouble to he had, I generally find it quickly

[Fluidic Kimbo]

I really liked playing with that dog I found but the owner claimed him.

All the libraries are closed but I bought a novel in the supermarket today so I'll read a bit each day too.

I think after all this I'll be so grateful about all the things I can do (brass band, park run, gym, theatre, open MIC night, boat on the lake).

Getting a dog might not be a bad idea. They really do give unconditional love when you come home. I'd have to get one that only sheds very minimally..... I don't want hair all over my sofa, hoodie, clothes....

[SampsonandDelilah]

I really liked playing with that dog I found but the owner claimed him.

All the libraries are closed but I bought a novel in the supermarket today so I'll read a bit each day too.

I think after all this I'll be so grateful about all the things I can do (brass band, park run, gym, theatre, open MIC night, boat on the lake).

Getting a dog might not be a bad idea. They really do give unconditional love when you come home. I'd have to get one that only sheds very minimally..... I don't want hair all over my sofa, hoodie, clothes....

Get a little dog or a “doodle”.

Dogs are the best. Even a cat, some living creature that will love you unconditionally and give you some company and respite

[Fluidic Kimbo]

My work is making me take 2 weeks unpaid leave at the end of May. Depending on whether quarantine is over by then, I will either:
a) Go on a sun holiday to the Canary Islands (instead of in July)
b) Go to a Buddhist meditation centre in England for 10 days of silence

If I can't do either of these two things then I'll go to my local dog pound and ask can I walk the dogs in the morning (this would be the closest thing to 'fostering').

If I actually get a dog of my own then he'll be at home by himself for 10 hours a day while I'm working. . . which is fine if I have my back garden cordoned off properly.

Actually I should start knitting a new hat. I've done countless scarves.

[Fluidic Kimbo]

I knitted this hat:

[Fluidic Kimbo]

Also I dyed my beard silver/grey yesterday, and today I took a 6-blade razor to my head. Scalp like a baby's bottom.

Can't maintain my tan because tanning place is closed.

I bought a chin bar and screwed it into my bedroom door frame.

Trying to resist over-eating.

[Fluidic Kimbo]

Right now I almost feel like I deserve to chain-smoke a pack of 20 Marlboro Lights while I drink six 500ml cans of beer.

I'm gonna try hold out for as long as I can.

Now was the perfect time to go on Var... I'm taking 50mg per day along with Clen 40mcg. It might be the Var that has lowered my sex drive (although it might just be psychological).

[Fluidic Kimbo]

I had a pet kitten before but I really need a dog to play rough with.

Most dogs, if you flip them over once, then a second time, then a third time, they'll start to nip at you. The dog I found the other day didn't nip at all.... I could flip him over again and again and toss him about but he just kept jumping around playfully. I tangled him up in the lead too and he just kept playing.

[Proximal]

Hate to swap one substance for another, but maybe some weed? I’m less destructive with pot over alcohol, I sober up better and usually fall asleep before I can get into any trouble or make any bad decisions...unlike alcohol. With booze, if there’s trouble to he had, I generally find it quickly

I wish pot would work better for me, but I wake up a little high still.

Bad decisions to be had, that’s a good one. Usually I’m a happy drinker, but still manage to say the exact wrong thing, particularly when I really think I’m being funny or clever.

[Proximal]

Also I dyed my beard silver/grey yesterday, and today I took a 6-blade razor to my head. Scalp like a baby's bottom.

Can't maintain my tan because tanning place is closed.

I bought a chin bar and screwed it into my bedroom door frame.

Trying to resist over-eating.

Growing a beard myself (slow process), but doing the opposite hair wise. Letting it grow indefinitely.

Loving resistance bands.

Hang in there, but sorry, happy hour is nearing for me.

[SampsonandDelilah]

Hang tough fellas!

[Proximal]

Hang tough fellas!

You do the same friend. Have a great weekend.

[Fluidic Kimbo]

I'm also watching 2 or 3 DVD's per day

[Fluidic Kimbo]

Oh by the way, most shops are closed here in the UK, but liquor stores are still open. They're classed as 'essential'. I can't get four new spark plugs for my car though, and the engine's cuttting out when I clutch in.

[Proximal]

Well, considering how many alcoholics there are in the world, myself included, alcohol is unfortunately an “essential “.

[Fluidic Kimbo]

Well, considering how many alcoholics there are in the world, myself included, alcohol is unfortunately an “essential “.

Some people need the gym the same way that some people need alcohol.

[Proximal]

Some people need the gym the same way that some people need alcohol.

Agreed. It’s going to be a tough decision, opening gyms. You’ll likely need disinfectant wipes to wipe down a machine, bar, weight, etc. both before & after using it to maintain safety. Or, you simply bar high risk folks and the elderly. Probably, a little of each.

I do my alcohol via internet. They either deliver or they prepare the order and I pick it up at the front of the store.

[GearHeaded]

Hate to swap one substance for another, but maybe some weed? I’m less destructive with pot over alcohol, I sober up better and usually fall asleep before I can get into any trouble or make any bad decisions...unlike alcohol. With booze, if there’s trouble to he had, I generally find it quickly

^words of wisdom here .

[Fluidic Kimbo]

I posted the following just now to my bereavement group:

- - - - - - - -

You know the way we're in lockdown in order to slow the spread of the virus, but some things have been kept open because more harm would be done if they were closed. For example they've kept off-licenses open because of the harm that could come to alcoholics. Truck drivers can still buy engine parts for their trucks.

Well I think a monthly support/discussion group is a prime example of something that should have been continued during lockdown.

Alcoholics should still have been able to go to AA. Gambling addicts should still have been able to go to GA. And we should still have our monthly suicide bereavement group.

I think more harm than good has been done by stopping these things.

People keep barking "Stay home, Protect the NHS, Save lives". These people keep arguing that lives are being lost to coronavirus. Well guess what, people lose their lives to welbeing also.

Stopping things like AA and other monthly groups was a harmful choice.

And closing cemeteries also. Luckily my friend is burried in a small cemetery that isn't locked otherwise I'd have been climbing over the fence.

Everyone seems to have the sense to realise that some things are 'essential', for example keeping Tesco open for 16 hours a day, 7 days a week -- however it was decided to stop monthly support groups that last a total of 2 hours per month.

The risk of spreading the virus at our monthly group (which lasts for 2 hours) is far less than the harm that will come to people because they can't attend their regular group.

I greatly sympathise with the people who are vulnerable to this virus (whether it be by infirmity or underlying medical conditions, e.g. asthma), but that doesn't make any less real the harm that's been done to people who are able to go outside but cannot attend their monthly group.

Thomas

[Proximal]

I understand & almost agree 100%.

I live in a well populated “suburb” of Los Angeles where we are a bit more packed together. The isolation has helped our numbers.

I agree with you regarding the subjective choices in terms of what is and what isn’t essential. But I think the government knows how “edgy” / desperate (think prohibition) folks get when they are deprived of their alcohol and would prefer them all drunk at home, then restless and angry on the streets.

I’m “happy” the statistics are indicating it is a certain age range that this is killing the FAR majority of people. I really am hoping that they are isolated (that would be me and my friends Thomas) & let the rest of the world get on with things.

[Fluidic Kimbo]

I’m “happy” the statistics are indicating it is a certain age range that this is killing the FAR majority of people. I really am hoping that they are isolated (that would be me and my friends Thomas) & let the rest of the world get on with things.

In Ireland they are calling this "cocooning". Cocooning is where the vulnerable people are kept in safe houses until it's safe to go outside. This might be until there is a vaccine, or until all the non-vulnerable people get infected and become immune and cannot spread the virus.

I would hate to be vulnerable, and hate to be cocooned, but let's be real: We're dealing with a strong flu that most people just want to get over and done with (i.e. get infected, get immune). This is what we do with chicken pox in human kids.

[Booz]

I would hate to be vulnerable, and hate to be cocooned, but let's be real: We're dealing with a strong flu that most people just want to get over and done with (i.e. get infected, get immune). This is what we do with chicken pox in human kids.

Has anyone actually come out and told us that we are immune if we have had it yet?
I was led to believe that they could not say for certain that we could not recatch it again yet?

[SampsonandDelilah]

Has anyone actually come out and told us that we are immune if we have had it yet?
I was led to believe that they could not say for certain that we could not recatch it again yet?

I’m not sure either. Thought heard that we build up immunity to it after contracting it and out defenses go up if we were to contract it again. We essentially acquire antibodies after initial contraction

[Proximal]

Well, let’s see if immunity is going to be a possibility with this, but I don’t see it myself. Kind of like this year’s flu. My doctor fought me tooth and nail to get vaccinated this year. I simply don’t catch the flu, I explained, colds yes, but not the flu (is that immunity?). To appease him I got it though, and felt like shit for two weeks, lol.

I really think the vulnerable (elderly, compromised because of respiratory or heart issues, etc.), should take it upon themselves to isolate. If they don’t, I’m leaning to forfeiture of healthcare (for only Covid-19 though). Then, those with a remote chance of getting really sick and hospitalized, accept their personal responsibilities, but the government steps away from shut-downs and enforced isolation & life goes on.

The truth is, this is a flu-type virus, but granted a very nasty one.

[Booz]

I’m not sure either. Thought heard that we build up immunity to it after contracting it and out defenses go up if we were to contract it again. We essentially acquire antibodies after initial contraction

I’m really not sure that will be the case with this cunting virus mate....

[Fluidic Kimbo]

My understanding is that you get infected, and then the virus replicates itself inside your body. So you start with somebody sneezing near you giving you maybe 1,000 viruses. So then each of these replicates inside your body to yield 2,000, then 4,000, then 8,000, then 16,000, then 32,000. The number keeps growing and growing until your immune system figures out how to destroy the virus. So then simultaneously in your body, two things are happening:

(A) The virus is replicating
(B) Your immune system is destroying viruses

At the beginning, A is faster than B, so your viral load just keeps increasing and increasing.

Then you get to a point where A and B are the same speed, so now your viral load is constant. It remains at the same level.

Finally as your body produces more and more antibodies, B becomes faster than A and so your entire viral load gets wiped out.

So after you've wiped out the virus, you still have loads of antibodies in your blood that quickly destroy any new coronavirus that comes in.

These antibodies won't reduce in number until your body doesn't see coronavirus for a few months, so you're immune for maybe about a year.

But let's say you get infected with coronavirus, you pull through and you have antibodies, but then 18 months goes by without your body seeing another coronavirus. Well in this case, your body already knows how to destroy the virus so it will very quickly generate the correct antibodies (although it might take a few days for your antibody count to rise, so you might have the sniffles for a few days).

But let's be realistic here: If coronavirus is a pandemic all over the world then you probably don't need to worry about going a few months without seeing it. I wouldn't be surprised if I've been infected 5 different times by 5 different people so far. And I hope more people infect me so my immune system can keep sparing.

[Fluidic Kimbo]

Here is an important fact about human beings that you should keep in mind. The first part is that we are 90% water. The second part is that the other 10% is mostly cells that don't belong to us. There are more alien cells than human cells in the human body. Coronavirus is just going to be one more of them.

[clarky.]

I’m not sure either. Thought heard that we build up immunity to it after contracting it and out defenses go up if we were to contract it again. We essentially acquire antibodies after initial contraction

I’m really not sure that will be the case with this cunting virus mate....

Aye, what there saying is there is no proof yet! That we can't get it again if you had it.

[Fluidic Kimbo]

Aye, what there saying is there is no proof yet! That we can't get it again if you had it.

I'll buy a vial of real coronavirus suspended in BAC water and inject my tummy once a week just to keep my antibodies up.

[SampsonandDelilah]

I’m really not sure that will be the case with this cunting virus mate....

Doesn’t seem like it, right? Seems like most of what I read is just some asshole speculating and passing it off as “news”.

[Proximal]

My understanding is that you get infected, and then the virus replicates itself inside your body. So you start with somebody sneezing near you giving you maybe 1,000 viruses. So then each of these replicates inside your body to yield 2,000, then 4,000, then 8,000, then 16,000, then 32,000. The number keeps growing and growing until your immune system figures out how to destroy the virus. So then simultaneously in your body, two things are happening:

(A) The virus is replicating
(B) Your immune system is destroying viruses

At the beginning, A is faster than B, so your viral load just keeps increasing and increasing.

Then you get to a point where A and B are the same speed, so now your viral load is constant. It remains at the same level.

Finally as your body produces more and more antibodies, B becomes faster than A and so your entire viral load gets wiped out.

So after you've wiped out the virus, you still have loads of antibodies in your blood that quickly destroy any new coronavirus that comes in.

These antibodies won't reduce in number until your body doesn't see coronavirus for a few months, so you're immune for maybe about a year.

But let's say you get infected with coronavirus, you pull through and you have antibodies, but then 18 months goes by without your body seeing another coronavirus. Well in this case, your body already knows how to destroy the virus so it will very quickly generate the correct antibodies (although it might take a few days for your antibody count to rise, so you might have the sniffles for a few days).

But let's be realistic here: If coronavirus is a pandemic all over the world then you probably don't need to worry about going a few months without seeing it. I wouldn't be surprised if I've been infected 5 different times by 5 different people so far. And I hope more people infect me so my immune system can keep sparing.

FC, you’re thinking is pretty correct. Forgive the lecture, not trying to be a smart-ass, but I teach Anatomy & Physiology. It’s an abbreviated and more generalized explanation. This is called the primary exposure, because it involves encountering a pathogen, your body has never seen before.

The virus enters, your first line of defense is called the non-specific defense, which is largely white blood cells & NK (natural killer)cells. They will get over-powered pretty quickly by something stronger like this.

At the same time, your immune system has the specific defense. At this time you have T-cells and B-Cells roaming your body looking for brand new pathogens. Once they’ve been exposed (activated) a series of steps begins, but happens simultaneously. The activated B and T cells hook up and confirm that they have the EXACT same pathogen. This will allow an army of antibodies specifically made for this and only this virus. To make an army capable of possibly defeating this pathogen takes approximately 2-3 weeks. During that time, a lot can happen depending on the severity of the pathogen and the person’s health to start with. If it’s that nasty and or you are already compromised, there’s your hospitalizations right there.

Right off the bat, something is amiss with Covid-19. Why folks are asymptomatic so long, yet still contagious is a little weird. I’m guessing this is partially why such extreme measures (what many feel are excessive) have been taken to try to slow the spread. The medical community is frightened, that should say something.

Back to the immune response. Now after you make enough antibodies, your body slowly wins the war and you get better. The new blood tests are trying to determine exposure based upon these antibodies.

If however your body is now fighting infections secondary to this exposure, many times you have to turn to antibiotics to finish the battle because the antibodies aren’t enough.

Now, what is also happening is during this time is your immune system is making a secondary defense by making memory T and memory B cells. These are specifically for this exact pathogen & they will remain in your body for the most part, till you die. Once your body is exposed again to this EXACT pathogen, your army of antibodies is made so quickly, they overpower the virus and you don’t get sick. Problem is, over time, pathogens mutate, so the next time you’re exposed, your body’s memory cells are useless. If this thing mutates like the flu does every year and stays as nasty, this thing is going to be a motherfucker for a long time. If it doesn’t mutate, then hopefully a vaccine can be made, yet still even with vaccines, tens af thousands die from the flu annually.

You really don’t want to over-expose yourself to this one. This is why it’s getting to the heath care professionals that are on the front line. They are getting over-exposed and taking the extra risk because it’s their job to. It’s really pretty impressive. My wife is 62 and is a Physical Therapist. She could be working in the hospital now like some of our friends are. My wife has months of vacation and I asked her to take them to keep her out of harms way. I’m very happy that she is home with me.

Stay safe Thomas.

[Fluidic Kimbo]

Ever heard this one?

"When it's raining outside, do you scurry from doorway to doorway getting wet all the while, or do you walk dignified with your head raised?"

I've had enough of hopping from doorway to doorway this pandemic. Fuck carona I don't care if it kills me I just wanna live life. I'm done cowering. It won't kill me though.

[Proximal]

Ever heard this one?

"When it's raining outside, do you scurry from doorway to doorway getting wet all the while, or do you walk dignified with your head raised?"

I've had enough of hopping from doorway to doorway this pandemic. Fuck carona I don't care if it kills me I just wanna live life. I'm done cowering. It won't kill me though.

How old are you and any pre-existing conditions? If younger than 45 and no pre-existing conditions, based on current stats, I’d say you have reason to not “cower”.

I’m definitely not for the fear tactics, I just was saying, until proven else wise, don’t go out of your way to put yourself in multiple high risk positions, that’s all. This little virus just might have a few tricks up it’s sleeve that it hasn’t revealed yet. It really hasn’t been around long enough to study & grasp its full potential. Always a pleasure talking to you, TY for the conversation!

[2jz_calgary]

Some people need the gym the same way that some people need alcohol.

I like both however I'm having gym withdrawls. I've incorporated a lot of new workouts with resistance bands and Mexican slaves. I may keep some of the routines when the gym opens....just kidding I wish my Chilean wife had half the work ethic of a Mexican. Her ass makes up for it though!

[Fluidic Kimbo]

I'm gonna call the dog pound now to ask if I can walk the dogs in the morning before I start work.

[clarky.]

I'm gonna call the dog pound now to ask if I can walk the dogs in the morning before I start work.

Some of the dog pounds have no dogs left at all, ppl have been adopting them. Seriously, it was on the news this morning.

[Fluidic Kimbo]

Some of the dog pounds have no dogs left at all, ppl have been adopting them. Seriously, it was on the news this morning.

I called them on the phone this morning and they told me that they only have one dog at the moment because they aren't taking any dogs in. The guy on the phone also said there would be problems with insurance if they were to let the public walk the dogs -- but I know a guy from the weekly parkrun who's involved with the dog pound so I asked him to figure it out for me (I know that he helped out a guy before who wanted to walk the dogs and the other guy was then walking the dogs regularly in the morning).