A New Abstinence

My name is Charlie, and I'm a compulsive overeater.

::Hi, Charlie!::

Well, friends, it's Day One.

But don't worry... I'm still abstinent. By the grace of God, through the structure of OA-HOW, and with the support and love of people like you, I have 5-1/2 months of freedom from compulsive overeating.

No, this is a new kind of abstinence. And I'm not sure how long it will last, or how long it will need to last. Today I surrendered caffeine.

Here's where I veer into the land of possible TMI. (That's "too much information" for those who didn't know, so feel free to leave now...) See, I've been having some symptoms of prostate trouble. Ugh. I have to pee all the time. I wake up in the middle of the night to pee. And so on. It's not cool. And I'm only 39 years old... SO after seeing a doctor a few times and getting lots of tests run (some more, um... invasive than others), it has been concluded that there's apparently nothing wrong with me. Hmmm...

So the next step is a urologist if my symptoms don't clear up. But first, a suggested test. My doc asked how much caffeine I drink every day. He said caffeine intake can sometimes cause the things I'm experiencing, and he recommended I stop the caffeine for a few weeks as a test. If I'm still having troubles, then I'm supposed to go off coffee and soda altogether and do water only for two weeks.

He was so apologetic... Telling me I could do it, and it didn't have to be forever... and the funny thing is, I was totally cool about it. I was totally at peace. I knew that I would treat it like I do my abstinent eating, one day at a time. God is with me.

So today starts a day with no caffeine. One day. I'm sipping my decaf, and I've packed my Diet Cherry 7-Up for lunch. Honestly, I'm a little sluggish, and I have a bit of a headache, which I expect to get worse. I have been a "problem drinker" when it comes to caffeine. 6-7 cups of coffee a day, and probably 4-5 cans of Diet Coke. God help me. And God will.