Aa
I'm doing it! CT off alcohol
I have been drinking about a magnum of wine(red or white) plus a few vodka drinks a day. Or, I have about a fifth of vodka a day. It's the first thing I thnk about in the morning instead of coffee!!!!!! Any suggestions? I really need to do this privately.
Thanks.
Charlie
Thanks.
Charlie
I'm can't go to a doctor for benzos. To embarrassed. Plus, I have already been on Xanax on and off. Once I told her that I wanted to increase my dose for anxiety from .5mg twice a day to 1mg twice a day, she cut me off. That isn't even a high dose. The doc told me I had to go to a psych for anxiety meds. I did that and am on Effexor 75 mg. and Adderall30 mg for depression and ADHD.The psych is against Benzos... I have Soma and Ambien. Would ambien work for sleep and I could cut down the alcohol slowly? Does anyone have any suggestions on tapering from Alcohol?
Thanks,
Charlie
Thanks,
Charlie
hello - I was an alcoholic for well over ten years, and now have been sober for over 8 years. I vividly remember waking up and the first thought being alcohol, the last thought being alcohol, and in between bleakness, depression, panic and anxiety, and total hopelessness.
I am not familiar with the meds you are on, or how long you have been drinking at these levels, and how generally healthy or not you are - all of these things would impact on your detox experience. I understand very much your reluctance to tell your doctor - however, alcohol and benzos are two withdrawals that can kill, and I have actually seen a person in alcohol w/d have a seizure and nearly die. In my mind, this puts these detoxes in a special category, and if you do go CT, I would definitely do it under medical supervision.
Taper suggestion (entirely a guess, I have no medical background at all, so this is just how I would do it. Go slowly): cut out your vodka drinks for a start, just drink your magnum per day until you get accustomed to that. Then cut it down by 1/10th a day - the point is to go gradually.
But I think the most important issue in stopping drinking is to look at the underlying issues, and for that counselling and/or support groups are required. Staying sober and having freedom from the obsessive cravings and the restlessness and discomfort requires a lot of effort and a lot of input. Regardless if you try tapering or detox, the after care has got to be put in place, and you have to ask yourself if you are willing to do whatever it takes to get free of this prison. For me, AA worked, though it took a bit of getting used to, and I had to overcome a lot of anxiety and judgmentalism to get through the doors. Once I was more comfortable there, I really began to work the program and have gained huge freedom from that.
I wish you all the best, and I would encourage you to seek medical help, don't let pride and reluctance and embarassment get in the way of a safe detox process. I tell you, watching that lady have a seizure all those years ago has never left my mind, it is terrifying. Give yourself the best chance of success.
Alex
I am not familiar with the meds you are on, or how long you have been drinking at these levels, and how generally healthy or not you are - all of these things would impact on your detox experience. I understand very much your reluctance to tell your doctor - however, alcohol and benzos are two withdrawals that can kill, and I have actually seen a person in alcohol w/d have a seizure and nearly die. In my mind, this puts these detoxes in a special category, and if you do go CT, I would definitely do it under medical supervision.
Taper suggestion (entirely a guess, I have no medical background at all, so this is just how I would do it. Go slowly): cut out your vodka drinks for a start, just drink your magnum per day until you get accustomed to that. Then cut it down by 1/10th a day - the point is to go gradually.
But I think the most important issue in stopping drinking is to look at the underlying issues, and for that counselling and/or support groups are required. Staying sober and having freedom from the obsessive cravings and the restlessness and discomfort requires a lot of effort and a lot of input. Regardless if you try tapering or detox, the after care has got to be put in place, and you have to ask yourself if you are willing to do whatever it takes to get free of this prison. For me, AA worked, though it took a bit of getting used to, and I had to overcome a lot of anxiety and judgmentalism to get through the doors. Once I was more comfortable there, I really began to work the program and have gained huge freedom from that.
I wish you all the best, and I would encourage you to seek medical help, don't let pride and reluctance and embarassment get in the way of a safe detox process. I tell you, watching that lady have a seizure all those years ago has never left my mind, it is terrifying. Give yourself the best chance of success.
Alex
Dear Charlie,
You're on the right track, girl. And you can do it. Nearly 18 years ago I also drank a lot of Vodka and some wine and some beer and whatever else I could find to take away the pain and make it through the day. Until one day I knew I couldn't live like this anymore, I felt that I would die very soon. My liver had failed once before and I had all the symptoms that it was going again, glowing yellow eyes, orange skin, swollen liver. I was 29 years old and had a two-year-old son at home who depended on me to take care of him while my husband was at work. Because, you see we were the perfect family -- I was a housewife and he worked and we went to church on Sunday and I got drunk every day all day, but I thought no one knew that. I couldn't go to treatment, my family needed me at home. So I tried off and on to quit drinking by myself, but was never able to make it past a week. I never thought about what my family would do when I was dead!
So on that one day when God gave me that one lucid moment I called someone to take me to the doctor and get me into treatment because I wanted to live more than I wanted to die and I wanted to be there for that little boy. We can't quit drinking for someone else, but in the beginning maybe we just need to have something we'd like to just stay alive for. I thought I would just go to treatment, but I had to go to the medical hospital first because it took them five days to get my organs functioning and get me able to go across the street to treatment. Apparently that shove from God on that day had saved my life. We need to listen to that still small voice when it comes.
I learned a lot while I was in treatment. But one of the most important things I learned was that alcoholism is a physical disease. It is not a moral failing. A lot of people have trouble with that concept. Maybe they just like to try to feel superior to other people and that's one of the ways they try to do it. But I learned that it is sort of like if diabetes runs in your family. Alcoholism was passed down to me from both sides of my family and all I had to do to find that out was to ask my parents and have them grudgingly tell me about that aunt and this uncle and my grandfather's four (!) brothers. (My family is all about secrets.) If it was possible to go farther up on the family tree I can guarantee you that in each generation there would be some one or two who were unlucky enough to have carried the gene that caused them to be addicts -- to whatever it was they found they were addicted to. My brother is not an addict.
Doctors and psychiatrists are professional people who deal with addiction every day. It's not a unique disease. They will know what to do to best help you and are certainly not going to shame you. Would they shame you if you had cancer or a cold? They will help you with what they know is going to be the most important decision you'll ever make and the one that will change your life forever into what you never dreamed it could be. Talk to your psyciatrist first and she/he will help you locate a good treatment center. Many have free beds if that is your need. Do not stop all at once on your own with the alcohol intake you've got going! For sure, at least talk to your medical doctor. But for me, treatment was the way to go. It got me on the road to recovery in an situation where I was totally surrounded by other sober people all trying to do the same thing I was doing.
And when I got out the first place I went to was an AA meeting that I made my home group -- another important thing you might look into. Find a support group there and get some good sober friends to hang out with. You can have fun in sobriety! Go to 90 meetings in 90 days, get a book and read it, work the steps, most important--get a sponsor. She'll help you through the hard times and be available to you whenever you need some guidance or a shoulder.
But most of all give yourself a break. You didn't get in this situation all in one day and you're not going to get out that quickly either. It's going to take some time, but don't you think you're worth it? Hold your head up and do whatever it takes to take care of you. That's your job now, one day at a time!
Best Wishes
Needsreaders
You're on the right track, girl. And you can do it. Nearly 18 years ago I also drank a lot of Vodka and some wine and some beer and whatever else I could find to take away the pain and make it through the day. Until one day I knew I couldn't live like this anymore, I felt that I would die very soon. My liver had failed once before and I had all the symptoms that it was going again, glowing yellow eyes, orange skin, swollen liver. I was 29 years old and had a two-year-old son at home who depended on me to take care of him while my husband was at work. Because, you see we were the perfect family -- I was a housewife and he worked and we went to church on Sunday and I got drunk every day all day, but I thought no one knew that. I couldn't go to treatment, my family needed me at home. So I tried off and on to quit drinking by myself, but was never able to make it past a week. I never thought about what my family would do when I was dead!
So on that one day when God gave me that one lucid moment I called someone to take me to the doctor and get me into treatment because I wanted to live more than I wanted to die and I wanted to be there for that little boy. We can't quit drinking for someone else, but in the beginning maybe we just need to have something we'd like to just stay alive for. I thought I would just go to treatment, but I had to go to the medical hospital first because it took them five days to get my organs functioning and get me able to go across the street to treatment. Apparently that shove from God on that day had saved my life. We need to listen to that still small voice when it comes.
I learned a lot while I was in treatment. But one of the most important things I learned was that alcoholism is a physical disease. It is not a moral failing. A lot of people have trouble with that concept. Maybe they just like to try to feel superior to other people and that's one of the ways they try to do it. But I learned that it is sort of like if diabetes runs in your family. Alcoholism was passed down to me from both sides of my family and all I had to do to find that out was to ask my parents and have them grudgingly tell me about that aunt and this uncle and my grandfather's four (!) brothers. (My family is all about secrets.) If it was possible to go farther up on the family tree I can guarantee you that in each generation there would be some one or two who were unlucky enough to have carried the gene that caused them to be addicts -- to whatever it was they found they were addicted to. My brother is not an addict.
Doctors and psychiatrists are professional people who deal with addiction every day. It's not a unique disease. They will know what to do to best help you and are certainly not going to shame you. Would they shame you if you had cancer or a cold? They will help you with what they know is going to be the most important decision you'll ever make and the one that will change your life forever into what you never dreamed it could be. Talk to your psyciatrist first and she/he will help you locate a good treatment center. Many have free beds if that is your need. Do not stop all at once on your own with the alcohol intake you've got going! For sure, at least talk to your medical doctor. But for me, treatment was the way to go. It got me on the road to recovery in an situation where I was totally surrounded by other sober people all trying to do the same thing I was doing.
And when I got out the first place I went to was an AA meeting that I made my home group -- another important thing you might look into. Find a support group there and get some good sober friends to hang out with. You can have fun in sobriety! Go to 90 meetings in 90 days, get a book and read it, work the steps, most important--get a sponsor. She'll help you through the hard times and be available to you whenever you need some guidance or a shoulder.
But most of all give yourself a break. You didn't get in this situation all in one day and you're not going to get out that quickly either. It's going to take some time, but don't you think you're worth it? Hold your head up and do whatever it takes to take care of you. That's your job now, one day at a time!
Best Wishes
Needsreaders
Question: Can a person successfully go through the AA --12 step program without God in their life and/or religious? I'm an atheist and always wondered about the policy.
Sounds like you're doing quite well with your sobriety. Congratulations on your recovery and turning your life around. Great inspirational story too. Thanks for input.
Sounds like you're doing quite well with your sobriety. Congratulations on your recovery and turning your life around. Great inspirational story too. Thanks for input.
I think that depending on a person's commitment to getting sober and working the program that anyone can make it work. I don't need to believe in God, per se, but I do need to be willing to believe in something larger and more powerful than myself. Some people choose to draw strength from the the group. No one there is going to tell you that you must believe in God. As far as I know the only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking. Keep an open mind and give it a try ;o)
needsreaders
needsreaders
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