hello all :)

emy · Member

hello all :)

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Hello Emy and welcome to the board.

justadrunk · MIP Old Timer

Welcome!

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

Welcome! I would go with your original date if you haven't drank. You worked to stay sober even though you didn't go to meetings and that does count for something. You also were using skills you learned in AA during all that time I presume.

Anyhow, at one meeting I went to which was a more candid one than others, the topic of psychotropic meds and "outside help" came up. Go figure at least 50 percent of folks in that meeting had been on meds before. We don't come to AA for lack of problems. You are not alone in terms of having mental health struggles. Others just don't talk about it as much. I have depression that has been treated since I was 25. I self medicated with alcohol and of course alcohol made the depressive episodes worse and more frequent...they also stopped meds from working the way they were supposed to.

Anyhow, glad you are here!

Pythonpappy · MIP Old Timer

Welcome Emily, ...

1st, I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your friend in the Aurora tragedy ... I used to live just off E. Colfax in Aurora years ago ... so I know the area ...

Congrats on staying sober through all the changes you've gone through ... my thought on your 'sobriety date' is that it's the first day of your 'NOT taking a drink/drug' ... and aside from prescription meds, if you've been clean and sober since that date, great ... use that date ... BUT we need to keep in mind the most important day of sobriety is TODAY ... cause we cannot revisit the past nor change it ...

I am also in agreement with you regarding your search for a sponsor ... my last time to return to AA, I did the 90-in-90 that was recommended and found myself watching other members and listening to them intently ... after a few weeks, a couple of guys stood out to me as enjoying recovery AND attending most all of the meetings ... this was the type I wanted to be my sponsor ... someone who 'sobriety' looked good on ... (and after 4 years, I finally moved on to a new sponsor to help further my spiritual development) ...

Glad you're here, keep coming back and letting us know how you're doing AND if you need any particular guidance, feel free to ask questions ... we're all 'full of it' here ... the good stuff I mean!!! ... LOL

Take Care and God Bless,
Pappy

mich · Senior Member

Sorry for your loss. Welcome. I have found this sight to be helpful, kind, and loving. Stick around it helps.

Mich

gonee · MIP Old Timer

Welcome.

Mr_David · MIP Old Timer

Welcome aboard, Emy.

Closer · Senior Member

Your not alone Emily. Theres people with conditions in AA besides you. It's probably a good thing to be getting help for drinking since alcohol can make those things worse. Drinking can be like throwing gas on a fire for your problems if you have an illness, so its all the better if choosing to get sober and recover. Best of luck to you.

mikef · MIP Old Timer

Welcome to MIP,,its what WE are Miracles in Progress!!! smile

emy · Member

Thank you all for the welcome :) I am happy to be here!

Tanin · MIP Old Timer

emy wrote:
I've been attending meetings at least once a week for the past month or so. I've always been very shy, and after the way things ended with my previous sponsors I am hesitant to just blindly ask a woman I don't know to sponsor me. This is leading to a little bit of frustration because it is constantly suggested that I "find a sponsor and work the steps". I would rather take a little time and get to know these women on a more personal level first, but I'm not sure if that's okay to do.
I am also unsure about how to count my sobriety time - should I use my original sobriety date, or should I start over from the first meeting I attended last month, even though I did not drink in the time I wasn't attending meetings? Any insight on this would be much appreciated.
Also, it is sometimes difficult for me to feel completely welcome in AA because of my mental disorder. I know that there is a Dual Recovery Anonymous but it is not nearly as wide-spread as AA (only one official meeting in the state of CO!) It took me a while to come to grips with the concept of "a power greater than myself" returning me to sanity. But while I know that I will never be 100% functional, I also know that if I were to ever drink again (especially while unmedicated), I would end up killing myself, and that is why I want to be sober today.

Welcome, Emily. Glad you found this forum. My input to your points/questions are:

1. It usually takes some time for a newbie to find a sponsor. According to AA, only 73% get a sponsor within 90 days. It took me about 4-5 months to get a sponsor when I came into AA. Picking a sponsor is a crucial event. But just as it should not be delayed, it should not be rushed. So, it can be OK to take a little time. Some members (about 20%) of AA don't even have sponsors. Just the way it is. Thre are some really good tips on this in a pamphlet titled "Questions and Answers On Sponsorship." Check the Sponsorship Pamplet thread at:

http://aa.activeboard.com/t50146639/sponsorship-pamphlet/

2. I would say that 99% or so of AA members count sobriety from either the first day of not drinking or the last day drinking.

3. Mental disorders other than alcoholism are distributed (normally?) in the AA membership population. AA and AA groups/meetings display varying sensitivity to and understanding of these "outside issues." Most of us, though, understand that nothing in AA conflicts with appropriate treatment for such disorders, including properly prescribed drugs. There is a declining contingent of fundamentalist AAers who look askance at outside treatments of any kind, based on errant application of vaguely formed AA principles. I would suggest staying away from those folks.

Welcome aboard, Emily. Hope to keep hearing from you here.

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

Actually, mental disorders are distributed abnormally amongst alcoholics. This makes sense given that alcohol abuse/dependency will hasten the development of mental problems and/or directly cause them. There is a 37 percent lifetime prevalence rate for alcoholics to have a mental disorder, whereas the lifetime prevalence in the general population for mental disorders is 22 percent.

Comorbid alcholism is listed in the DSM as a poor prognosticator for most mental disorders and it is also tied directly to some because the correlations are so high.

Tanin · MIP Old Timer

pinkchip wrote:
Actually, mental disorders are distributed abnormally amongst alcoholics. This makes sense given that alcohol abuse/dependency will hasten the development of mental problems and/or directly cause them. There is a 37 percent lifetime prevalence rate for alcoholics to have a mental disorder, whereas the lifetime prevalence in the general population for mental disorders is 22 percent.

Comorbid alcholism is listed in the DSM as a poor prognosticator for most mental disorders and it is also tied directly to some because the correlations are so high.

Is that the population of alcoholics or the population of AA members?

I'd guess it's the former. Very important to your conclusion/implication...

Col · MIP Old Timer

Welcome emy:)

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

I know Tanin. And I knew you were going to ask that :) I dont' know where you are finding stats from AA but I presume there probably are not stats on the mental health of actual AA members because AA has anonymity at it's core and doesn't much lend itself to research. I wish I could make that distinction, but I cannot.

I would guess that the prevalence of mental disorders even in AA is higher than the general population though just from my observation and cuz it is MUCH higher in general for those meeting and/or having ever met criteria for "alcohol dependence."

Not to say that AA is just a bunch of crazies (take in mind - I know I fit this bill as someone that does have major depressive disorder) but we are a group of folks who have struggled harder and had more issues than the general population.

On the flip side, I am relatively sure our mental health outcomes are much better in AA than in comparison to alcoholics not in AA at all. I wish I could find specific stats on that but, like I said, I dont' think the study would be allowed though any group or intergroup.

From what I have read, even Bill W. fell into this category of "the dually diagnosed."

Tanin · MIP Old Timer

pinkchip wrote:
I know Tanin. And I knew you were going to ask that :) I dont' know where you are finding stats from AA but I presume there probably are not stats on the mental health of actual AA members because AA has anonymity at it's core and doesn't much lend itself to research. I wish I could make that distinction, but I cannot.

I would guess that the prevalence of mental disorders even in AA is higher than the general population though just from my observation and cuz it is MUCH higher in general for those meeting and/or having ever met criteria for "alcohol dependence."

Not to say that AA is just a bunch of crazies (take in mind - I know I fit this bill as someone that does have major depressive disorder) but we are a group of folks who have struggled harder and had more issues than the general population.

On the flip side, I am relatively sure our mental health outcomes are much better in AA than in comparison to alcoholics not in AA at all. I wish I could find specific stats on that but, like I said, I dont' think the study would be allowed though any group or intergroup.

From what I have read, even Bill W. fell into this category of "the dually diagnosed."

I would make the same guess too. But the guess could be wrong. I'm thinking more and more that the population of AAers is not significantly different from the general pop on many important attributes. Other than smoking, I really can't think of any offhand.

All the historical accounts support your statement about Bill W. He saw psychiatrists for years.

Rob84 · MIP Old Timer

Hi Emy,

Welcome to the MIP forum. As was mentioned by others, normally we consider our sobrerity date as the day after our last drink, and it is not a bad idea to get some phone contacts of women who can help you at first, then as someone to be your sponsor after you know them a little better.

I would keep checking to see if generics have come out on the meds you need, my wife is on seroquel for Bi-polar and there is now a generic and the cost is much less, they where billing our insurace co. over $600 per month previously.

Pythonpappy · MIP Old Timer

Hi Emy, ...

'Total honesty' is the key here ... Regardless of our mental handicaps! ... the AA BB, pg. 58 tells us:

There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.

So, if you know your mental liabilities, and you CAN be honest with yourself, then you can therefore proceed with recovery ...

God Bless,
Pappy

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

sorry Emy didn't mean to hijack your intro thread.

-- Edited by StPeteDean on Monday 3rd of September 2012 02:52:50 PM

Paul M · Veteran Member

Hello Emy, Welcome to the site! :)

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

Yah emy - I was thinking what Rob84 posted too. It concerned me that you couldn't get meds you needed. If I didn't have mine, I wouldn't be able to function at work and it would go downhill from there.

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Tanin wrote:
pinkchip wrote:
I know Tanin. And I knew you were going to ask that :) I dont' know where you are finding stats from AA but I presume there probably are not stats on the mental health of actual AA members because AA has anonymity at it's core and doesn't much lend itself to research. I wish I could make that distinction, but I cannot.

I would guess that the prevalence of mental disorders even in AA is higher than the general population though just from my observation and cuz it is MUCH higher in general for those meeting and/or having ever met criteria for "alcohol dependence."

From what I have read, even Bill W. fell into this category of "the dually diagnosed."

I would make the same guess too. But the guess could be wrong. I'm thinking more and more that the population of AAers is not significantly different from the general pop on many important attributes. Other than smoking, I really can't think of any offhand.
All the historical accounts support your statement about Bill W. He saw psychiatrists for years.

Tanin really? If AA is a group of members suffering from a strong indicator of mental illness, how could the percentile of members with other mental illnesses be equal to or less than the entire

population outside of AA? Where's your rational for that logic?, besides "But the guess could be wrong. I'm thinking more and more that the population of AAers is not significantly different from the general pop". For this to be the case, wouldn't it help (your argument) if 50% of the population were addicts/alcoholics or 50% combined with all other mental illnesses? You do know that approx. 50% of inmates have substance abuse problems, and to be fair, 50% are there because of alcohol or substance abuse convictions, but in AA 100% of us are here for alcohol abuse related problems. Under your logic, wouldn't the convict's issues be equally reflected (percentage wise) in the general population? Isn't this sort of thinking (yours) a carry over from thinking that most people drink like we do, and now aren't we all quite "normal"? Afraid not lol. A good percentage of those who walk into AA have already been convicts or will be shortly, same can be said for stays in other institutions. And now, sadly, a high percentage number have also had dependencies on pain killers or other addicting meds, prescribed or otherwise.

justadrunk · MIP Old Timer

It's all very interesting, but I don't see how knowing a bunch of statistics or what have you, really helps anyone stay sober.

I figure... my HP has the fact sheet. I better just leave that to Him so I can do His will...

-- Edited by justadrunk on Monday 3rd of September 2012 10:17:38 PM

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

Yes, and 80 percent of the inmate population can be diagnosed with mental illness (most commonly antisocial personality disorder) so there a big skew on things right there. Another huge chunk of dually diagnosed females are out there who self medicated anxiety disorders and depression with alcohol to that point that alcholism took on a life of it's own. Many of us in AA come from homes where our parents were alcoholics. Hence, we are way more likely to be exposed to childhood trauma and that can also make us vulnerable to a host of other mental problems.

I will say that I thought my "depression" was so bad it would keep me from being like everyone else in AA. Like emy, I though it was something that made me different than other folks in AA. Turns out, it really doesn't because a huge percentage of the folks in AA have these issue and also, your mental health will improve drastically when you work AA as best you can (provided you can get appropriate mental health care while participating in AA to the best of your ability).

Hope to hear an update Emy. How are things going? Did you make it back to meetings yet?

emy · Member

Tanin - thank you for the link to the sponsorship pamphlet. That was really helpful.

Rob84 - thanks for the suggestion! Seroquel was the most expensive med I was on. I'll definitely look into the generics.

I'm headed to a meeting shortly but thought I'd check in. Thanks again for the welcome, everyone!

billyjack · Senior Member

So anyway, what pappy said. Regardless of other afflictions and a lot of us have them, we can recover if we have honesty.

Pythonpappy · MIP Old Timer

'BRAVO' Tasha ... Well put!

emy · Member

very well said, JAD.

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

53% of people like that post.

justadrunk · MIP Old Timer

LOLOLOLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Mark - 3% of the time I read your posts, I laugh so hard everyone in the room stares at me and I almost pee my pants. I wish we lived in the same town : )