So what do you do?

Kat · Member

So what do you do?

Toni Baloney · MIP Old Timer

Hi kat,

If you are having a Problem with Alcohol, you have come to the Right Place.

And Welcome, it sounds as if you are describing the story of the Cucumber that has turned into a pickle, all though all most all of us would love to get back to that Cucumber state, no can do.

And what came to mind when you were talking about the sad stuff, made me think of how the comsumption of Alcohol, well Alcohol is a depressant, proven. So the way I experienced that was I would drink because I felt depressed or unhappy, but the stuff I was putting into my body was perpetuating the Depression.

My own feeling is that if you want to venture to this site, and get to know us, my own feeling is that you just might see the sad or bad stuff dissapear. It could happen.

So are you giving some thought to quitting, or are you just looking around, checking out different sites, that was not clear.

But I just personally wanted to say hello, and ask to give us some more info, on what is it that is bothering you, is it your drinking, or is it something other than drinking. I for one would be very interested to hear some more about you.

So Welcome to this MIP Forum, we are not an AA meeting, but we do try to stay somehow within the generalized arena of AA, We are here for fellowship, but the most important reason we are here is for the new person that desires to quit drinking.

Good to see your Post,

And thanks for checking in with us,and again WELCOME

Toni

-- Edited by Toni Baloney at 21:35, 2006-02-21

Phil · Veteran Member

How It Works Chapter 5 Big Book Of Alcoholics Anonymous

How It Works

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average.

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.

Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it -- then you are ready to take certain steps.

At some of these we balked. thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.

Remember that we deal with alcohol, cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power that One is God. May you find Him now!

Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. we asked His protection and care with complete abandon.

Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

The 12
Steps

Many of us exclaimed, "What an order! I can't go through with it." Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.

Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventure before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:

(a)
That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.

(b)
That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.

(c)
That God could and would if He were sought.

amanda2u2 · MIP Old Timer

The reasons you are giving for drinking to a mind altered condition are ones that I'm familiar with, being my reasons too,, I have other reasons too... I drank when I was happy, and I drank when I was sad,, and I drank to feel better,, and I drank to obliterate my feelings....

But the thing is.. after the hangover wears off,, everything is still the same,,, unless I made it worse with my drunken behavior.

I have found, and many others have said, that it was in AA that we first found people that understood us,, and that we could listen to and learn from, and that we could share with. The best thing is to find a local group that you feel comfortable with,,, as Toni is right that this is not the same as a face2face meeting. Phil posted a general description of the AA program.

There are alternatives to drinking that work better, and we learn a lot of them in AA. Sometimes some of us need to go into counseling too, since AA is a support group that can't really go into the deeper levels of the underlying situations in our lives.

Welcome to the board, that can be a first step to a better life,

amanda

Sick of being sick · MIP Old Timer

Welcome to Miracles In Progress (MIP), Kat.

There is only one requirement for membership in AA, the same as it is here-a desire to stop drinking.

You will find, once you have summoned the courage to get to that first meeting, that there are lots of people who can relate to how you are feeling. You will also feel welcome, as you are welcomed here.

You will find support here, as we all offer all the encouragement we possibly can to each other to stop drinking and to stay sober.

Have you visited a regular M.D. about your depression?

Sick of being sick · MIP Old Timer

Hi Kat.

I'm Dan and I'm and alcoholic.

If you haven't read any of what we in AA call the Big Book, here is a link to it online.

http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/en_tableofcnt.cfm

Chapter 2 is titled "There is a solution", and I'm here to say that there really is. Phil posted a segment from the chapter titled "How it works".

Stick with us. We care about what happens to you.

GammyRose · MIP Old Timer

Welcome Kat, Glad you have found the board...keep posting and reading. There is a lot of experience, strength and hope shared here.You may be an alcoholic,you are the only one who can decide that.

I found when I was drinking even in the happiest times, my drinking was out of control...in the worst of times it was out of control. There was no middle ground when I decided I was indeed an alcoholic. I now live life on lifes terms without consuming alcohol, ever, one day at a time.

Investigation is a good thing and there is certainly enough info on the internet about alcoholism, it will keep you busy. As suggested you might want to go to a face to face AA meeting, there will be people there who have gone through what you are going through now.Friends just don't always understand, can't always help, and my experience is money doesn't solve the problem of alcoholism.

Please keep posting.

(((Hugs)))

GammyRose

Doll · MIP Old Timer

"I drank for happiness and became unhappy.
I drank for joy and became miserable.
I drank for sociability and became argumentative.
I drank for sophistication and became obnoxious.
I drank for friendship and made enemies.
I drank for sleep and woke up tired.
I drank for strength and felt weak.
I drank fo relaxation and got the shakes.
I drank for courage and became afraid.
I drank for confidence and became doubtful.
I drank to make conversation easier and slurred my speech.
I drank to feel heavenly and ended up feeling like hell."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Step 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable.

Big Book Chapter 3 More About Alcoholism

Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.

We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.

We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals usually brief were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better.

We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones. Neither does there appear to be any kind of treatment which will make alcoholics of our kind like other men. We have tried every imaginable remedy. In some instances there has been brief recovery, followed always by a still worse relapse. Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing a making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish this, but it hasn't done so yet.

Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By every form of self- deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic. If anyone who is showing inability to control his drinking can do the right-about- face and drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to him. Heaven knows, we have tried hard enough and long enough to drink like other people!

Here are some of the methods we have tried: Drinking beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drinking only at home, never having it in the house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to brandy, drinking only natural wines, agreeing to resign if ever drunk on the job, taking a trip, not taking a trip, swearing off forever (with and without a solemn oath), taking more physical exercise, reading inspirational books, going to health farms and sanitariums, accepting voluntary commitment to asylums we could increase the list ad infinitum.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kat, welcome. I am so glad you are here. If you desire to stop drinking, my suggestion is to call your local Alcoholic Anyonymous and tell whoever answers the phone exactly what you have posted here.

You're in my prayers.

Love and hugs.

-- Edited by Doll at 05:33, 2006-02-22

Rick · MIP Old Timer

hi WELCOME

i CAN RELATE TO YOU, TONI , AMANDA, GAMMY**I DRANK FOR ALL KINDS OF EXCUSES

W ITH OUT A TON OF TYPING i CAN ADD NOTHING EXCEPT; SOMETIMES WE DRINK TO MEDICATE AND AS SAID THE MEDICINE ( ALCOHOL ) WORSENS THE CONDITION.

I'M NOT A DOCTOR --YOU TRIED CELEXA--WERE ALL DIFFERENT--THERE ARE LOTS OF MEDS IF NEEDED** HOWEVER A GOOD DOCTOR IS NEEDED, A PERSON WHO DEALS REGULAR WITH ADDICTION OR ALCOHISM IN PARTICULAR.

TONI SAID IT RIGHT**MORE INFO COULD HELP US ON THE BOARD TO HELP U

U have to decide if your one of us, but we can help u figure it out

good luck Rick

BEST TO U RICK