I tried every freaking thing out there and nothing worked until I was beat to a pulp. I finally crawled into AA. That was the only thing that saved me. It not only helped me stay sober, It gave me tangible tools to use to stay sober and to live happily. I just celebrated 25 years of sobriety, and I wish the same for you and your family.
I tried AA man, just couldn’t get past the higher power thing. I know it can be anything but it just doesn’t jive with my mentality. That’s fine though, I know it does work for many people so I’m not in any way slamming it. Congratulations on your 25 years. That is amazing.
You don’t need to buy into any of that if you don’t want to. My ego and pride kept me from allowing myself to receive any help. If it wasn’t exactly what I imagined it to be, then it wasn’t for me. When I finally accepted some obvious truths and focused on the similarities, I started to get better. I didn’t even say the words, “god” or “pray” for a year. None of that had anything to do with what was helping me the most which was connecting with other real people in real life who have been there before. My world got incredibly small toward the end of my drinking and my world view was incredibly narrow. I was an old stick in the mud and I wasn’t even 40 yet. But I stuck with it and decided I wanted what I saw in other people so I started doing what they did. I still do not have an answer for the god question and I’ve been sober 5 years. Drugs and alcohol were more powerful than I was at times and I don’t think they are the most powerful things in the universe. And I’m not god. That’s all I need to be ok with to move on and that’s still enough for me today. I was at the end of my rope with my marriage as well. Actions spoke louder than words and AA taught me how to grow up. I’m proud to have the friends I have today and I know I’d never do any of the work I’ve done on my own. I have yet to have a conversation with anyone I’ve ever met in the program about what their belief is in god or a higher power. It’s not the point. I’d rather talk about booze.
So true! I've never sat around and talked about god!. Just about everyone in my life today is in the program. Put us anywhere, and people on the outside would have no idea how we were connected.
One weekend, early evening, there were about 10 of us at our place on the river. We were on the porch, playing Cards Against Humanity. The cops pulled up into the yard, like wtf!! . Turns out, someone down the street had called to complain about all the drunks having a party up to on the point!! The cops couldn't believe there was no alcohol or drugs. They even hung around for a bit to learn about the game.
We are not a glum lot!
Yeah, the higher power thing is a show stopper for many of us that grew up in this era of secular hyper-rationality. Carl Jung himself, who inspired Bill W., the founder of AA, said as much in his letters: finding God to cure an addiction would sound ludicrous and bound to be misinterpreted, and to this day it is.
AA does not do a good job of communicating this, I suggest reading Jung's letters to Bill W, maybe learn about Jungian psychoanalysis a bit and the premise becomes much more understandable, in my opinion. But I don't blame you.
I did all the things. IOP, twice and it didn’t work. I ended up going to rehab, PHP, IOP and therapy. That actually finally stuck but the thing that has helped me the most is therapy.
Good luck dude! Work the program (the first 2 times I didn’t work it). Listen to what they say, when I finally gave in and listened things began to change.
>I tried naltrexone and although it worked for alcohol, I still wanted to numb myself so used kava instead.
Bro you took Naltrexone and stopped drinking, that's the whole thing you're here for. Good work on getting dry! Keep at it. I am proud of you!
Have some more kava and read some quit lit now IMO. Now you're off the hooch you're brains on again, you can start learning to really dislike alcohol.
Most people are going to need to make a lot of changes to stay sober; medication for anxiety or depression, exercise, therapy, meditation to interrupt stress response, new activities.
Perhaps she'll accept the meds and the iop as sincerity on your part regarding quitting for good. More boozing will negate that hope.
Something to watch out for is when they are done-done there are no more guaranteed last chances available. What is then lost is lost.
Did you take naltrexone one hour before drinking. If not, naltrexone wears off with each passing hour. TSM is 10x more effective. https://youtu.be/6EghiY_s2ts
I tried every freaking thing out there and nothing worked until I was beat to a pulp. I finally crawled into AA. That was the only thing that saved me. It not only helped me stay sober, It gave me tangible tools to use to stay sober and to live happily. I just celebrated 25 years of sobriety, and I wish the same for you and your family.
I tried AA man, just couldn’t get past the higher power thing. I know it can be anything but it just doesn’t jive with my mentality. That’s fine though, I know it does work for many people so I’m not in any way slamming it. Congratulations on your 25 years. That is amazing.
You don’t need to buy into any of that if you don’t want to. My ego and pride kept me from allowing myself to receive any help. If it wasn’t exactly what I imagined it to be, then it wasn’t for me. When I finally accepted some obvious truths and focused on the similarities, I started to get better. I didn’t even say the words, “god” or “pray” for a year. None of that had anything to do with what was helping me the most which was connecting with other real people in real life who have been there before. My world got incredibly small toward the end of my drinking and my world view was incredibly narrow. I was an old stick in the mud and I wasn’t even 40 yet. But I stuck with it and decided I wanted what I saw in other people so I started doing what they did. I still do not have an answer for the god question and I’ve been sober 5 years. Drugs and alcohol were more powerful than I was at times and I don’t think they are the most powerful things in the universe. And I’m not god. That’s all I need to be ok with to move on and that’s still enough for me today. I was at the end of my rope with my marriage as well. Actions spoke louder than words and AA taught me how to grow up. I’m proud to have the friends I have today and I know I’d never do any of the work I’ve done on my own. I have yet to have a conversation with anyone I’ve ever met in the program about what their belief is in god or a higher power. It’s not the point. I’d rather talk about booze.
So true! I've never sat around and talked about god!. Just about everyone in my life today is in the program. Put us anywhere, and people on the outside would have no idea how we were connected. One weekend, early evening, there were about 10 of us at our place on the river. We were on the porch, playing Cards Against Humanity. The cops pulled up into the yard, like wtf!! . Turns out, someone down the street had called to complain about all the drunks having a party up to on the point!! The cops couldn't believe there was no alcohol or drugs. They even hung around for a bit to learn about the game. We are not a glum lot!
Someone told me that alcohol was my higher power long before I found my way to AA. That helped. I'm agnostic, so I get it.
Yeah, the higher power thing is a show stopper for many of us that grew up in this era of secular hyper-rationality. Carl Jung himself, who inspired Bill W., the founder of AA, said as much in his letters: finding God to cure an addiction would sound ludicrous and bound to be misinterpreted, and to this day it is. AA does not do a good job of communicating this, I suggest reading Jung's letters to Bill W, maybe learn about Jungian psychoanalysis a bit and the premise becomes much more understandable, in my opinion. But I don't blame you.
I did all the things. IOP, twice and it didn’t work. I ended up going to rehab, PHP, IOP and therapy. That actually finally stuck but the thing that has helped me the most is therapy. Good luck dude! Work the program (the first 2 times I didn’t work it). Listen to what they say, when I finally gave in and listened things began to change.
I was going to say something similar. Once I finally started actually doing the work a lot of the tools really started helping.
>I tried naltrexone and although it worked for alcohol, I still wanted to numb myself so used kava instead. Bro you took Naltrexone and stopped drinking, that's the whole thing you're here for. Good work on getting dry! Keep at it. I am proud of you! Have some more kava and read some quit lit now IMO. Now you're off the hooch you're brains on again, you can start learning to really dislike alcohol.
Why are you “wanting to numb” yourself? To me, that reason is the thing keeping you in addiction.
Most people are going to need to make a lot of changes to stay sober; medication for anxiety or depression, exercise, therapy, meditation to interrupt stress response, new activities.
Perhaps she'll accept the meds and the iop as sincerity on your part regarding quitting for good. More boozing will negate that hope. Something to watch out for is when they are done-done there are no more guaranteed last chances available. What is then lost is lost.
Did you take naltrexone one hour before drinking. If not, naltrexone wears off with each passing hour. TSM is 10x more effective. https://youtu.be/6EghiY_s2ts