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Alcoholism Discussion Thread Version 6.0

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Yeah there are plenty of anti social old timers with good sobriety, I'm sure a lot of them came from simar beginnings with their addictions. There's no harm in hearing them out.

One thing about active addiction is we sometimes fail to think of our future selves. Because something doesn't seem to matter at the moment we stick with what we know, which is using. But down the line, we might find ourselves at a crossroads where there are no takebacks, and if you get to a point where your liver is failing and there's nothing you can do about it and then at that moment you realize you do want to live and wish you'd quit when you had the chance, that's really not a position you want to find yourself in. So consider that how you feel now might not be how your future self is gonna feel about things.

And you reached out here, and you're concerned about hurting your loved ones, so even if you can't totally feel it right now, you're caring more than you may think.
 
Go a couple times before you make a decision. I've told myself I'll try a meeting ten times (unless it's painfully obvious) before I make a decision on if it's the right place for me.

But that's just me and so far so good. Day 6 off dope and 7 months of no booze. Life is.
 
I had a craving for beer earlier. Someone had spilled beer on the bus, and there was a point where that smell, along with the smell of cigarette smoke from out the window and the smell of spring in the air, all came together and I had a strong craving to go drink beers at some type of outdoor bar and attempt to make friends with my lowered anxiety.

Put it out of my mind, but it was just surprising to have an alcohol craving, as opposed to a craving for something else, for once.
 
I'm really not looking forward to learning what might trigger by dope obsession. Probably because I'm afraid I'll find myself pushing to be in that situation.
This shall pass too I'm told.

Gonna go read me some more 12 and 12 since I can't sleep again.
 
One more thing before I go; in the SL guidelines it mentions do not SWIM in a post or something like that. So now that we've validated my noob status, what does that mean?
 
^ Are you having dope dreams? If so, when those slow down, the days become easier to get through. Every time I get clean, the obsessive cravings stop after 3 weeks or so, and then it is more just random here-and-there dope nostalgia. As for putting yourself in the situation to relapse, I find that I get really anxious at the idea of scoring drugs once I get my clean head back. I don't want to go through the motions of obtaining it, and I can use that to talk myself out of it. If dope was sold at the grocery store like booze, I would have no chance.

Just remember that relapses happen before you have the stuff inside of you, or even in your possession. If taking a certain highway makes me start really thinking about it, I can't take that highway. It is all about planning ahead.
 
When I do sleep my dreams are really strange even more so than usual. I slept about 2 hours yesterday and I woke up thinking I was high. My wife had to reassure me that I wasn't.

And yeah, booze was and still is hard to stay away from just because it's everywhere. Dope was always a bit more difficult, but obviously not so difficult as I was on it for three years almost. I know I'm a drug addict and an alcoholic and I am thankful. Thankful that I can admit I am powerless over those two things.

I am grateful that there are others like me. Not that I wish this upon anyone, but that there's a community of people that want help and are willing to help...each other.
 
Sobriety is a scary concept to people in active addiction. It seems like having to do it for a long time would be hell. But the sobriety an addict knows is inevitably coupled with withdrawal, anxiety, insomnia, introversion, inability to eat, and so on.

But think back to before you started on dope, or before it got bad. Everyone who had been on it for a while was miserable, and they all told you that you would get there too, as it was just what happens. But you defied them and kept using, thinking it would be different for you. Because you're YOU.

Same thing with getting clean/sober, only in reverse. The people say that if you stick with it through the first bit of toughness, it will inevitably get better. Even if YOU are intimidated and don't think things will come around in your case. People in groups who are speaking from experience tend to be good indicators about what is to come.
 
Thanks, Red. It's discussions and topics like this that keep me coming back for more. It's similar to a meeting, but without the formalities.
 
aliencowstorm said:
One more thing before I go; in the SL guidelines it mentions do not SWIM in a post or something like that. So now that we've validated my noob status, what does that mean?
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SWIM = Someone Who Isn't Me. As was required by one idiotic website in particular that insisted on its use ( and increasingly convulted variations thereof like 'my next door neighbour's uncle's pet rabid badger' ) as some sort of protection against self-incrimination. No it isn't, it's just dumb! Hence, we don't use it here, positively frown on its use.
 
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I had a craving the other day for alcohol but I didn't give in and it passed, and I didn't drink at all which was the important thing.
 
I'm day 4 into sobriety. Have attended 2 AA meetings this week and will probably attend some more as I don't want to be relapsing. I see the meetings more of a support group and it makes me feel like I'm not the only one who struggles whilst I also enjoy hearing the stories from the older people as it serves as a reminder of where my future will lay if I don't take action etc....

Am 28 now and alcohol has robbed me enough :( I finished my masters of business in management 2 years ago and still haven't used it as in my last semester I was drinking like crazy and speeding all the time. As such when I finished I took 2 months off and after that I began applying for work but got nothing and whilst this was all going on I drank like a MF, 12 - 18 beers a day seemed to be the average. Any how I watched my days go by as I became more and more of a slob and when I couldn't afford the booze I borrowed off others as I haven't been working. Shit at home also got bad, the folks couldn't understand why I'm not working etc...Whilst all of this was going on my depression and anxiety kept on growing until eventually I couldn't take it no more and I moved out telling family and friends I was staying at a friends whilst in reality I've been living in my car for the last 3 months.

Am back on track now sort of, have been doing a taxi course and once I begin working and paying off debts, I'll look at getting back to a office job or opening up something myself.

Overall this drug is a piece of shit, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I still have ex drinking buddies who'll never get out of this and whilst they keep on drinking themselves to death they fail to realise that they are robbing themselves day in, day out.

Don't let this sad piece of shit liquid get to you !!!
 
noonoo said:
I'm day 4 into sobriety. Have attended 2 AA meetings this week and will probably attend some more as I don't want to be relapsing. I see the meetings more of a support group and it makes me feel like I'm not the only one who struggles whilst I also enjoy hearing the stories from the older people as it serves as a reminder of where my future will lay if I don't take action etc....

Am 28 now and alcohol has robbed me enough :( I finished my masters of business in management 2 years ago and still haven't used it as in my last semester I was drinking like crazy and speeding all the time. As such when I finished I took 2 months off and after that I began applying for work but got nothing and whilst this was all going on I drank like a MF, 12 - 18 beers a day seemed to be the average. Any how I watched my days go by as I became more and more of a slob and when I couldn't afford the booze I borrowed off others as I haven't been working. Shit at home also got bad, the folks couldn't understand why I'm not working etc...Whilst all of this was going on my depression and anxiety kept on growing until eventually I couldn't take it no more and I moved out telling family and friends I was staying at a friends whilst in reality I've been living in my car for the last 3 months.

Am back on track now sort of, have been doing a taxi course and once I begin working and paying off debts, I'll look at getting back to a office job or opening up something myself.

Overall this drug is a piece of shit, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I still have ex drinking buddies who'll never get out of this and whilst they keep on drinking themselves to death they fail to realise that they are robbing themselves day in, day out.

Don't let this sad piece of shit liquid get to you !!!
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Congrats, and good luck. 9 going on 10 months here. I've never been to AA/NA but if it works for you then good. I know what you mean about ex-friends who will never stop drinking and do rob themselves, and no amount of telling them or doing other things will get them to stop unless they want to stop and decide to. It sounds mean but I feel that you need to concentrate on yourself and your own sobriety instead.
 
If I've been drinking everyday for six months probably about 7-10 drinks a day.... Can I get dts? If I stop
 
DrinksWithEvil said:
If I've been drinking everyday for six months probably about 7-10 drinks a day.... Can I get dts? If I stop
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Maybe, or maybe not? Don't risk it. When I was at the height of my drinking I was drinking anywhere from 7-12 or more drinks a night but I cut back very slowly and did not get any sort of DT's or physical withdrawal. I did talk to my doctor about this and apparently I am genetically lucky since I was told by my doctor that I should have had some sort of physical withdrawal from drinking that much daily since most people do. If you worry about DT's or physical withdrawal I would check into a detox/rehab place even if it's a state run place, and talk to a medical professional since it can be very dangerous to quit alcohol. Whatever you do don't just completely stop drinking cold turkey. Good luck.
 
okay. so have any of you experienced peripheral neuropathy of your lip and how goddamn long did it take to stop feeling "asleep"? would it take stopping drinking for a while, how long, and if so, how long after before yours went away?

it's full on numbness of part of my upper lip and i've read up on it, definitely not experiencing having herpes of the lip, and other factors can cause it but i'm going to take a wild guess it's the drinking.

i am kind of scared it will never go away?
 
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^I haven't heard of that happening from alcohol. Could it be related to other use? If it persists, definitely get it checked out.

Well, I'm on Day 9 alcohol-free.

I didn't choose this. I'm on the flipside of recovering from an intestinal parasite. Memorial Day, I started projectile vomiting and I will spare details of the rest of the GI upset beyond that it was painful and disgusting. I had to go to urgent care severely dehydrated with a fever. My doc stuck me on a whole slew of pills, the one meant to kill the parasite is absolutely contraindicated with alcohol. (It causes a buildup of acetaldahyde similar to Antabuse if taken with alcohol and people have died this way).

It's been a near full-time job getting healthy after this thing. I've had to change my diet, drink 2-3 gallons of Gatorade or water per day, among other things. Glad to report that I'm starting a second course of antibiotics and still won't be able to drink until the drug has cleared my system, for at least another week. And I don't know if I want to. Since I had drank on Memorial Day, the first round of vomiting from the parasite was full of beer and BBQ. I think I may have unintentionally given myself an aversive stimulus to drinking. I don't want to have to go back to the hospital for treatment of any reaction.

Even though the tiredness from the infection persists, every day I am getting healthier. I attribute it in part to being abstinent from alcohol. (FWIW, I haven't taken anything stronger than Vistaril in at least a month.) I can't eat any processed food/refined sugars/etc. if I want to stay better. The major upside beyond an overall improvement in diet and health? I'm not constantly cranky and tired anymore! I finished my work by 1 PM today so I get the rest of the day to work on personal stuff, part of that is this post. I can make plans with people and not have to worry about crashing on someone's couch rather than driving home. I don't have to "what-if" myself on whether I sent that inflammatory text or not. The Vistaril is taking excellent care of the rebound anxiety. What would have been a glass of vodka/cran 2 weeks ago is now a glass of ice cold hibiscus tea.

So tl;dr: I was forced to quit drinking for medical reasons and I don't see myself picking it up again soon.
 
Fuck drinking. Hittin the meetings again. I wont go in to details put I wrecked my new car and picked up a simple assault charge last night. Fortunately the way it panned out I was able to post a 500 dollar bond today. County really sucks. This experience has showed me what that first drink will always do to me. I am so glad i didnt fucking kill myself or anyone else last night. Giving AA the most serious attempt I ever have
 
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