Posted on 09/16/2007 5:30:25 AM PDT by RobFromGa
I have had a few FReepermails from people lately that are ready to deal with their addiction problems and want to quit but it is challenging.
I can't post details but do they really matter anyway? Anyone that has been there knows the feelings that are provoked by the thought of quitting. And the deal-making behavior that we try in order to be able to continue to consume.
I myself will be 4 years sober on October 8, and I appreciate all the help that I got along the way, and continue to get.
I am asking the Recovery community to psot their messages of encouragement and to give useful advice to our fellow human being that might be on the cusp of quitting and who need our best advice.
What would you tell a friend that asked you:
I want to quit booze (or drugs), I really do, but I need help...
Thanks in advance for your great advice...
Note: If you are just going to be negative, please find another thread to post on, please.
I feel the same way.
Although we may never agree on a primary candidate, I stand firm with you in the end. I wish there were more like you that could have helped in my family before things hit bottom. Thank You!
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What would you tell a friend that asked you: I want to quit booze (or drugs), I really do, but I need help
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Take your pride and fear by the hand and walk into an AA or NA meeting TODAY. Cancel the cookout or shopping spree. Online or in the phone book find the nearest meeting and BE THERE.
Tomorrow, go to another one. While your hand is shaking, raise it and let them know you’re a newcomer. Remember every single one of the people at the meeting were once at their first meeting, too. Ask someone who you seem to relate to for their phone number. Give them your phone #.
Today is the ONLY day you don’t pick up a drink (or a drug) Just today.
Eat chocolate.
Go to another meeting.
Try that for 7 days.
On the 8th day, go to a meeting.
If you’re confused and bewildered, remind yourself it’s normal, and go to another meeting.
The hours will turn into days..the days will turn into weeks, the weeks will turn into months. Fear and confusion will no longer permeate your being.
This is what I did, starting 25 years ago. I still do. So far it’s been working.
P.S. Remember, not one person getting sober ever died from lack of sleep. You WILL sleep again:)
Drop any of us a FReepmail, or post on this thread. We are happy to share our experience, strength and hope:)
All good advice, except for the chocolate. :-)
It don’t matter how you color, carbonate or flavor it, Alcohol is poison to the body. Although some drugs may not work like poison, they are a poison to the way a brain operates.
In a nut shell, I watched my brother on hard liquor, stumbling, bumbling, drunk. It was enough that I never want to have anyone see me like that. Feb to Oct, he was most in jail(2 dui’s), 2 treatments, home detention, I was renting from him, and was probably the only thing that saved him from losing his house.
10yrs sober, at 32 I quit cold turkey, and it has been the best decision I have ever made, no dui’s, hang-overs, brain damage, or liver failure, ect.
I too want to thank you for offing this mode of help for people who need it. Good for you for overcoming.
“I want to quit booze (or drugs), I really do, but I need help...”
I’d take them to a professional for assessment to see which route would be the best for them. (Unfortunately, sometimes this needs to be done by force or an intervention. Abusers tend to change their minds on this once they’re sober for a few minutes; it’s easier being a drunk.)
And then I’d watch them fail a few times, until they truly have their “Ah-Ha! Moment” and get completely serious about it.
And then I’d support them in any way I could, while not losing myself (or my own marbles) in the process.
That’s pretty much what happened with my husband who is now clean and sober for close to 6 years now. :)
My sobriety date is 11/11/06 so I am quite new at this.
For me, there was, and had to be a crisis point - a bottom, if you will. For me, that did not involve immediate homlessness / bankruptcy / prison / death. But, I had to realize and understand that those scenarios were indeed possible if my existing behavior continued.
I was also a happy, congenial, hale fellow well met, when I was in my cups. I held down a good job; got excellent reviews and promotions.
I also had (and have) a truckload of character flaws and emotional issues that I dealt with by applying the anesthesia of ethyl alcohol.
My bottom was facing the loss of my job, due to drinking on the job. By the grace of God, my employer allowed me a final chance to get my act together. I seized that opportunity with the desparation of the dying, as our literature tells us we must have.
I initially reached out to this board and this group.
I was directed to AA and I went. From the very first meeting, I began to understand the nature of the battle. I was told that I did not have to drink and I could not drink “one day ay a time.”
I had to begin to learn humility and acceptance of reality. And that is a daily thing.
HAHAAH! I realize there’s disagreement regarding eating chocolate when getting sober. I’m relaying what worked for me in the first weeks of getting sober. I was hard-core, awful shakes, itching - all of it. Chocolate played a big role in helping me get through the physical part.
Here is another big thumbs up for chocolate. My home group keeps big bowls of it on the tables.
Gaining 20 pounds for sobriety was a fair trade off.
Pretty much sums it up... and cirrhosis is a slow, humiliating way to end it all.
Coming up on 22 years next month...
A special BUMP to you for having to cojones to write so openly about this.
Or to quit drugging, apparently. A young-charge demonstrated something new to me recently. And I was particularly skeptical, having seen so many “new” experiments” fail when we know “rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed this simple” program.
So, I have a special “niche” message to all those out there in chronic, intractable pain and who have become opioid-dependent. Like every compulsion, “if you’re ready” and you’re dread of withdrawal is making drug-seeking (usually having more than a few doctors on your payroll) crowd out more than about 40 percent of your life, than check out naabi.org . I’m monitoring a success story right now, and after watching literally hundreds of heroin and vico/oxy addicts go through physiological withdrawal, I’m feeling like I’m watching an episode of Star Trek.
It works if you work it, and Bill and Bob were pretty revolutionary in their time, too. Dipsomania used to be a death sentence.
Holding on to any possible excuse to drink again will get you drunk.
Great thread......coming up on 5 months and its the BEST thing I’ve done in my life
God Bless you and keep you sober, don-o!
Congrats on ten years sober, I look forward to attaining that milestone in six years...
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