AA / NA meetings whilst intoxicated.

[b4rd]

If you guys are familiar with the AA and NA programs, leme ask you this.

My parents force me to go to AA / NA to be able to live in the house. My problem is I really dont want sobriety, but I dont want to go back to rehab.

So iv'e been going to about 5 meetings a week.

At each meeting I have been high on something, and I cant stop being high. I really hate meetings that much. But when I'm high it's a lot easier to listen ha...

Does anyone else relate with going to meetings whilst high, and what are you high on? Lets hear some stories about being at meetings on drugs or alcohol, and how your experiences were.

My last one, I was nodding off with 40mg of hydrocodone, trying to keep my eyes open, and repeatedly scratching my nose and neck, and the speaker just kept looking at me zonk out... lol. Was one of the better NA meetings that i have been to lol.

 

[Laslen]

Well, I go to NA meetings on my own free will... I rather enjoy them, for some reason. If you've ever seen Fight Club, I have a little "Cornelius" in me, I suppose. Seeing other people worse off than me makes me feel a little empowered.

Is that a terrible thing to say? It might be.

Anyway, since I don't really take the meetings very seriously, and perhaps my addiction is still in full season -- I almost always attend them while on liquid morphine, and usually a heavy dose of Alprazolam or Lorazepam if I'm not on the morphine simply because it enables me to tolerate the whole must-be-social and I-gotta-talk-about-myself-in-front-of-whoever-shows-up-to-these-goddamn-events.

 

[b4rd]

hahaha i really enjoy the meetings if im on a good dose of opiates, as they say in the meetings every goddamned time, "I can relate."

 

[rrmarble]

I actually started going to meetings when I was still getting high hoping for something or something to help me stop. That doesn't work obviously my story is a bit different I went on free will and I would go in high on heroin. I ended up just leaving and going to rehab and now attend meetings not everyday but sometimes. I think once you really want to quit they work. I for a long time didn't even want to quit but now I feel great and I'm not HIGH for once in the past 6 years.

 

[Rogue Robot]

Homeless -> TDS

 

[LaserHosen]

I've been to AA with a bottle of coca-cola in my hand before. Which was 3/4 vodka and 1/4 cola. People don't mind if you are sitting and listening and not acting too strange.

 

[Sweet P]

The rule (at my NA group, at least) is if you've been using on the same day as the meeting, you should pass when it comes to sharing time. But you're still welcome to attend and listen to the others speak. I think I've only ever been to one meeting while high on meth, and even though I don't think anybody noticed, I asked to pass when it was my turn to talk... just out of courtesy. I think it's pretty shitty to attend a group of recovering addicts while you're high. Could be a big trigger for some.

 

[lestahb]

IME they don't care if you are high/drunk. we had a guy who was falling out of his chair and no one cared, but oddly enough, the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using/drinking.
so if you are going with no intention of stopping, then you might not be welcome. being high/drunk is less of a problem than not wanting to not be high.

 

[captaincaveman]

I once went to AA coked out of my mind and it wasn't a peasant experience. I really wanted to share and ramble on about whatever was running thro my mind but thought it would be too disrespectful so spent and hour and half tense as hell biting my lip. Guys turn up to AA drunk all the time, one guy I know regularly goes out half way through and buys vodka to drink in the toilet. Strange thing is he then decides to tell the group what he's done. I suppose he's just in a bad way

 

[Mariposa]

I've been to AA with a bottle of coca-cola in my hand before. Which was 3/4 vodka and 1/4 cola. People don't mind if you are sitting and listening and not acting too strange.

I must partially disagree.

When I was attending AA and it was obvious that someone in the room was intoxicated, whether they were sharing or not, it made me very uncomfortable. It certainly did serve as a trigger for me.

I am not a member of AA. However, the only prerequisite for "joining" AA is the desire to discontinue drinking. Someone who shows up at a meeting high or drunk is essentially spitting in the face of the people who go there because they WANT sobriety.

You don't want to quit, so you shouldn't be there, and if you don't get the support of the people who want you to make better decisions about your future, then, well, tough shit. AA and I differed on a few key issues, which is why I do not attend. I was also not forced into AA. But I never disrespected the fellowship by attending a meeting drunk.

I also felt very uncomfortable sharing my own issues when there were intoxicated people in the room. If I'm to stand up in front of a bunch of strangers to share a problem that is a very private matter, I expect them to be as receptive to me as I am of them. That cannot be done while drinking/high. Attending meetings high/drunk is disrespectful. Stay home and go to the next one if you want to get fucked up first. Let the rest of the people who are serious about quitting their habits express themselves in front of someone who is not being disingenuous.

tl;dr: don't front, and if you don't have the desire to get sober, then AA/NA is not the place for you.

 

[drewskie]

I'm glad I came across this thread, It has given me a good laugh today. Sorry just trying to be honest. I'm thinking about going to AA, but I'm afraid it will make me want to start using again. Just hearing about all of the stories and seeing people come in fucked up will most certainly be a trigger for me. Does anyone else have this problem, sorry to bump the thread.

 

[Sweet P]

^ The stories people share are usually pretty positive... I've never been triggered by listening to an NA member speak. But I definitely would be triggered if I saw someone at a meeting who was obviously high, and I'd probably be reluctant to return.

 

[PhillyPsychonaut]

I cannot attend meetings high. I was on Fentanyl 50 mcg/hr patches, and I was using it as prescribed, and I still felt uncomfortable and dishonest about my sobriety, and this was at an AA meeting. Only time I've ever been 'high' at a meeting, and I've gone to hundreds of them. Guilt gets me, plus I like to be able to tell the truth once in awhile instead of acting like a lying addict again.

I'd rather use the program to get better than to get worse, but that's just me.

 

[b4rd]

^ The stories people share are usually pretty positive... I've never been triggered by listening to an NA member speak. But I definitely would be triggered if I saw someone at a meeting who was , and I'd probably be reluctant to return.

Im sorry sweet p, but i am in a position where I have to go to meetings, and I dont want to be sober, so i just take some vicodins or eat a little chunk off the oxy and chill in the meetings.

I dont even speak besides calling myself david a drug addict in the beginning. Im not like full on nodding in the chair itching myself like a maniac lol.

 

[Mariposa]

^ The stories people share are usually pretty positive... I've never been triggered by listening to an NA member speak. But I definitely would be triggered if I saw someone at a meeting who was obviously high, and I'd probably be reluctant to return.

I've never been to an NA meeting. The shares may be different, as we are on different continents and attending different meetings.

I know the feeling I felt in the pit of my stomach when someone who was high on something that was not the momentum behind their own sobriety. I would run home crying or sullen, and feel horrible for a day after. I lost my faith in humanity in a way because the people in my fellowship would go to the meetings fucked up. The group was my Higher Power as I am agnostic. If I could not depend on the group because it was tacitly accepted that people who were visibly intoxicated weren't given the boot (AA isn't very good at that IME) and I couldn't hang with that.

I know you a bit, P, and if your problem was alcohol, you'd want to get up and make a share about how uncomfortable you were with fucked-up people in the room. I wanted to do it myself on a couple occasions. I knew I'd get jumped the second I got away from the "safety" of the "fellowship" had I said what I wanted to say - i.e., STFU and stay out if you don't want sobriety.

I wanted sobriety less after most of my meetings because the secretary of the meetings was not aggressive enough in getting rid of people that did not want to be helped. I believe the program works if you work it. I have separate opinions that are not relevant to this discussion. I will address that in another thread but my experience in AA is in the TDS archive.

Get the people who don't want sobriety out, and embrace the people who want sobriety. Those of us who "know the difference" act accordingly and expect the same in return. If I'm not sober, I wouldn't dream of attending a meeting. I could not take AA seriously in the end as it did not seem to be a place to get better. But I believe that is for another thread.

Whether you have to go to AA/NA through a court order, your own accord, your parents, or any other reason - if you don't want to get sober and work the program, none of it will work for you.

 

[n3ophy7e]

At each meeting I have been high on something, and I cant stop being high. I really hate meetings that much. But when I'm high it's a lot easier to listen ha...

Does anyone else relate with going to meetings whilst high, and what are you high on? Lets hear some stories about being at meetings on drugs or alcohol, and how your experiences were.

My last one, I was nodding off with 40mg of hydrocodone, trying to keep my eyes open, and repeatedly scratching my nose and neck, and the speaker just kept looking at me zonk out... lol. Was one of the better NA meetings that i have been to lol.

Like I said in another thread today, you are making a mockery of the entire NA program and its members by repeatedly doing this. It seems to not phase you, either that or you're just insinuating that you think it's funny as a defence mechanism. I can understand if every now and then someone has to succumb to their cravings and relapses on the day of a meeting, but still attends said meeting. That's understandable and it's inevitable, which is why other people at the meeting would seem to not mind if you're high. But what you're doing seems to be in complete contempt of all the other people who are attending the meetings for their correct purpose, the people who are actually trying really hard to stay clean.

If you don't want to be clean, and if you don't want to go to the meetings, could you consider moving out of your parents house? Is it really worth lying to them and lying to yourself the way that you are?
Or perhaps you do want to be sober, but you're scared. It is really hard to stay sober, but every human has the capacity and strength within them to do it. You just need to try.

 

[juniortha3rd]

thats some kind of bullshit NA meeting you goto b4rd

they tolerate people like you playing little kid games while they're trying to get sober? WOW

[please refrain from making personal attacks, thanks - n3o]

 

[Sweet P]

Im sorry sweet p, but i am in a position where I have to go to meetings, and I dont want to be sober, so i just take some vicodins or eat a little chunk off the oxy and chill in the meetings.

I dont even speak besides calling myself david a drug addict in the beginning. Im not like full on nodding in the chair itching myself like a maniac lol.

Either skip the meetings (pretend to go, like I mentioned in another thread), or leave home. Taking drugs right before an NA meeting and getting high ain't cool. Try thinking of the other people in the meeting who are actually trying to get clean... and they see you sitting there, nodding and scratching. It's pretty shitty, don't you think?

 

[OverDone]

I can understand some folks new to meetings being high in them. NA suggests that they keep coming back but come back clean. Its a process and everyone's process is different. I could never understand why someone would ruin their high by consistently going to meetings high but it happens. If I got high, a meeting would be the last place you would find me.

I've learned a neat and simple trick early on that helps a lot. Very simply, I sit up at the very front. This way I'm not distracted by people (or distracting myself by staring at some girl's ass and not listening). It also makes it easier to share from the floor because you don't see everyone looking at you when you are speaking.

If I sit in the front row I have no way of noticing someone that's high until the end of the meeting (and they usually roll out as soon as possible)

 

[b4rd]

I must partially disagree.

When I was attending AA and it was obvious that someone in the room was intoxicated, whether they were sharing or not, it made me very uncomfortable. It certainly did serve as a trigger for me.

I am not a member of AA. However, the only prerequisite for "joining" AA is the desire to discontinue drinking. Someone who shows up at a meeting high or drunk is essentially spitting in the face of the people who go there because they WANT sobriety.

You don't want to quit, so you shouldn't be there, and if you don't get the support of the people who want you to make better decisions about your future, then, well, tough shit. AA and I differed on a few key issues, which is why I do not attend. I was also not forced into AA. But I never disrespected the fellowship by attending a meeting drunk.

I also felt very uncomfortable sharing my own issues when there were intoxicated people in the room. If I'm to stand up in front of a bunch of strangers to share a problem that is a very private matter, I expect them to be as receptive to me as I am of them. That cannot be done while drinking/high. Attending meetings high/drunk is disrespectful. Stay home and go to the next one if you want to get fucked up first. Let the rest of the people who are serious about quitting their habits express themselves in front of someone who is not being disingenuous.

tl;dr: don't front, and if you don't have the desire to get sober, then AA/NA is not the place for you.

Fuck the "Fellowship". Buncha toothless, mindless fucks.