Obsession and allergy

gonee · MIP Old Timer

Obsession and allergy

Larry_H · MIP Old Timer

My wife was always angry about my drinking. I used to swear off forever and I believed that I really meant it. All it would take however to lose my resolve would be to have one of my shipmates (I was in the Navy) suggest That we stop for a drink after work. Quitting forever went out the window and I would say yes that sounds like a good idea but I can only have a couple because I need to get home to my wife. We would hit the bar. I always seemed to drink much faster than others so my couple of drinks was long gone while my shipmate was still nursing his first. The next thought coming to my mind was well its still early I will have a couple more. They would also be consumed quickly and my thoughts would turn to, oh well my wife won't mind me being little late getting home besides I have worked hard and I deserve a couple more. When they were consumed my thought process now said well I am late and my wife will be mad. Oh well the hell with her and I would be off to the races with no end in site. This would happen day after day.

The obsession caused me to take the first drink then the allergy kicked in and I continued. Not necessarily till I passed out however. It was always drink until either the money ran out, the booze ran out or I passed out.

I fully agree that we need to explain this obsession coupled with a physical allergy to newcomers so they understand the mechanics of alcoholism.

I am fascinated by your statement that "Today many reach AA without having displayed a single anti-social behavior or losses." My experience after 33 years of sobriety is I have yet to see a person walk into an AA meeting that has not exhibited anti-social behavior be it public drunkenness or whatever and almost all have experienced loss to some degree and I don't mean the skid row wino who has lost everything. Certainly most of us have lost our self respect by the time we get to AA, I know I did.

Larry,
----------------
"I only drank on special occasions, like the grand opening of a pack of cigarettes."

leeu · MIP Old Timer

Interesting topic!

"A supplementary note on the meaning of disease in early Alcoholics Anonymous...: In 1938, while preparing the manuscript of the A.A. Big Book, Bill Wilson asked Dr. Bob Smith about the accuracy of referring to alcoholism as disease or one of its synonyms (allergy/LU).

Bobs reply, scribbled in a large hand on a small sheet of his letterhead, read: Have to use disease -- sick -- only way to get across hopelessness, the final word doubly underlined and written in even larger letters (Smith [Akron] to Wilson, 15 June 1938)."

This passage is from a paper by AA historian Ernst Kurtz, and reminds us that Dr. Silkworth's use of the term "allergy" in 1931 was the best medical theory of the time. As such it had utility for AA in conveying that alcoholism is not about will power and behavior. And of course, as AA's began to show the world that we could get and stay sober, the "allergy/obsession" metaphor worked it's way into the public vocabulary.

But that time was 80 years ago. Much progress has been made in the science of addiction, and in today's best medical understanding terms and concepts like "allergy" and "obsession" are not only not used to describe alcoholism, but are actually a bit misleading--and as such, not so helpful to the treatment of the disease and education about it as in the past century.

As our 10th Tradition states, AA as an entity has no opinion on outside issues, and since the science of addiction is an outside issue, it is left to us as individuals to keep on learning and helping others to use the tools we have been given for attaining and maintaining sobriety. That said, even though there are some outdated concepts, our Big Book is still the best text book on the subject!!

I find Dr. Bob's wisdom about "hopelessness" invaluable---and that only a spiritual experience could really attack the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of this unique disease. The terms and concepts may (must) change over time with the advances in the fields of medicine/therapy/science etc., but the essential imperative to replace hopelessness with the promises of sobriety will never change.

SteveP · MIP Old Timer

Thanks Gonee for an absolutely wonderful thread. Such an important insight, the obsession combined with powerlessness.

I should add that I have 100% identification, I mean 100% identification with Larry H's sharing. That is exactly my story, just substitute ship-mate with co-worker. For me, the physical allergy manifested itself in exactly that almost linear way, with its warped logic that seems so sensible and harmless at the time. It's never been the case (well, almost never) that I would go out that say "I'm going to get hammered tonight" it had always been "fancy a quick pint, Steve?" "sure". Until I discovered AA, I just didn't understand what caused that and that once I take that first sip, there is absolutely nothing on this earth that I can do to overcome that phenomenon of craving.

Steve

-- Edited by SteveP on Thursday 15th of April 2010 10:41:19 AM

AGO · MIP Old Timer

gonee wrote:

If I have an obsession with alcohol only, it would mean that I have this idea to drink when I don't have to. So I take a drink against my better judgement. In other words against my will. So I drink without the, physical allergy that Dr Silkworth talks about. On pg 20/21 of the book I am defined as a moderate or heavy drinker, depending on the extent of my consumption and the level of intervention required to quit. Medicine has a cure for such a person.

This obsession coupled with a physical allergy is what makes it an incurable disease. If I am allergic and I drink alcohol, the nominal control is not existent. I drink to pass out.

The symptoms of drunken behaviour patterns does not clearly define an alcoholic. Today many reach AA without having displayed a single anti-social behaviour or losses. Therefore our stories should disclose, the symptoms of an obsessive mind and patterns of the physical allergy. Of course this would not make an interesting story, but it will save lives.

Those that I sponsor, I make sure that they clearly understand this. If not I will spend extended time with them in the AA book, to make certain they do.

Thanks for listening to me.
God bless,
Gonee.

Absolutely, unless one "Identifies" as an alcoholic, and admits that to their innermost self, there is no first step, which the only one we HAVE to be 100% on

I have seen many come into AA with no "outside" losses, but their insides are pretty kicked in, some of the most incredible bottoms I have ever heard shared occurred in 6 million dollar homes with 2 BMW's, a Jag and a Bentley in the Garage

It's not our outsides that we lose, it's our insides, that's why it's an "inside job", the outside stuff, whether from drinking or sobriety are just symptoms.

itsmichael · Veteran Member

I'm still really new at 21 days.... I get the addiction, I get the obsession, I get that I am powerless. I can wrap my mind around all these things, but the "allergy" thing I just don't get. After reading about it in the Big Book and in this thread, I am still left scratching my head. I'm allergic to pollen and ragweed. I'm addicted to alcohol and drugs and I have used them to obliterate myself and my feelings. ???

Is there something else I can read that will really explain this "alcohol allergy" to me?

M

gonee · MIP Old Timer

Hi Michael,
An allergy is an abnormal reaction. When I take a drink I manifest an abnormal reaction to alcohol.
The AA book speaks about a physical craving. A physical craving is not in the mind.It's in the body. It's a response to a physical stimulus. If you pinch me I cry. If I put alcohol into my body, I start up a process in which my body demands for another drink. The process is progressive, so as I continue drinking, the demand gets stronger and stronger. In my case I passed out after 375ml of brandy.
When I began my drinking career, I used to be able to easily control the amount of alcohol I took.
Not only that, I used to enjoy my beer drinking. I was never a social drinker. I always drank for the effect, but I was a moderate drinker, as the book describes in pg 20. Social drinkers don't like alcohol at all. I can't understand why they drink. The moderate and heavy drinkers can stop with medical intervention. Alcoholics cannot stop no matter what. The 1st paragraph of the chapter to the agnostic describes an alcoholic very aptly. Over a period of 7 to 9 years a normal drinker can become allergic to alcohol.
I will post more on this subject as we go along.
God bless,
Gonee.

AGO · MIP Old Timer

itsmichael wrote:

I'm still really new at 21 days.... I get the addiction, I get the obsession, I get that I am powerless. I can wrap my mind around all these things, but the "allergy" thing I just don't get. After reading about it in the Big Book and in this thread, I am still left scratching my head. I'm allergic to pollen and ragweed. I'm addicted to alcohol and drugs and I have used them to obliterate myself and my feelings. ???

Is there something else I can read that will really explain this "alcohol allergy" to me?

M

Read The Doctors Opinion, Bill's Story, There is a solution, and More about Alcoholism in the Big Book, those are ALL about alcoholism

Alcoholics can kick their addiction to alcohol but still be sicker then ever, that is the difference between a "hard drinker" and an alcoholic, the "Hard drinker" quits drinking and their problems go away, The Alcoholic quits and has an untenable sobriety which leads inevitably back to drinking, which triggers the allergy, which means when we pick up the first drink we don't know what is going to happen.

That is why we are powerless over alcohol, not because we are addicted, that's why you hear old timers try to explain the difference between "addicted to alcohol" and "alcoholic" and alcoholISM at meetings sometimes, in addiction the problems are the result OF the addiction, with alcoholism the problems center in our thinking, I'm not explaining this very well, read those chapters with someone who understands, or listen to say, Joe and Charlie, or Clancy on the links in the stickies with XA speakers

-- Edited by AGO on Friday 16th of April 2010 08:11:45 PM