Mind Games

fenners · Veteran Member

Mind Games

thywillbedonegmh · Newbie

Do you have a sponsor? Dive into the Big Book of AA get a sponsor and work the steps. If you dont have a solution it will continue

Baba Louie · Senior Member

Neal, just out of curiosity, do you drink a lot of coffee?

hopefulone · Senior Member

Keep in mind that when we are in early recovery, we have days when anxiety is higher than others. We have days we consider "bad" days as well as "good" days....and it is so much easier to accept the "good" days; however, once we learn how to accept the bad crap that happens as well, we are on our way to being happier folks. The Serenity Prayer helps me sometimes too--not always--depends on how determined I am to stay miserable....I have been quite stubborn.

I cannot remember if you said you found meetings in your area. If my butt was in a meeting my mind became calmer. Or try to find an online meeting. You will hear plenty of people share how they get through days like the one you are having, and it is comforting to know that you can do it too.

(And hey.....You taught me a new word today, Fenners. "Bollicking".....I'd never heard that and had to look it up. Just think....I could have lived my whole life without hearing or knowing that word. You helped teach me something today. Thank you.)

hopefulone · Senior Member

Also...one more thing....you have 34 DAYS OF SOBRIETY!!!! That is HUGE! Some alcoholics cannot manage to stay sober one whole day, and you have 34 of them! I now have 38. I was really depressed and beating myself up for relapsing after having over 2 years of sobriety. I am not doing that anymore. After almost a year of suffering from depression, which I couldn't pull myself out of, and going through what I thought was more than my fair share of "crappy" and "anxious" days, I wasn't doing all I could do to help myself. Since I have gotten sober again, I have learned how to deal with crappy, nasty, disgusting days! I have learned how to let things others say and do not have hardly any affect on me at all. I have such a deep feeling of peace and calm that I did not have for months and months of sobriety. I am just so glad that I was able to get sober again. I don't care about all that "sobriety time" I had anymore. I just care about the sobriety time I have today. Now if I get down again, I will tell myself "This too will pass....and tomorrow it probably won't be such a pain in the ass."

fenners · Veteran Member

Yes I do to much why

fenners · Veteran Member

Thanks H1 brilliant advice as the previous message said I must start the steps with a sponsor. Today was very painful but I got through it so I am thankful I asked my higher power and he delivered I am doing this daily today just came out of the blue. Bollicking it's a great word but I was raging inside at my manager banging on for an hour to the whole team after work regarding sales what a muppet

Baba Louie · Senior Member

Coffee causes anxiety. That's why.

Baba Louie · Senior Member

You keep talking about all this anxiety, so, I'm going to tell you something. You can believe it or not. Fricken caffeine is evil. (For some people, not everybody). I've been feeling really crappy lately. I woke up 2 weeks ago, got up real fast to take a piss, and while I was standing there, pecker in hand, I started feeling REALLY dizzy. And nauseous. I stopped my urine stream (a tricky thing to do), and tried to make it back to my bed to lay down, but I didn't make it. I passed out on the floor.

I came to, and walked outside to get my neighbor to help me, maybe get me to a hospital, and I made it about 20 feet out my door, and hit the ground again. I woke up on the asphalt, bloody elbow and knee, and somehow stammered over to her house. She was outside walking her dog, and she saw me. I layed down on the ground. She took me to the hospital. other than my abnormal floppy heart valve, and reverse electrical current in my heart, they didn't find anything abnormal with me. Blood tests came out ok.

i came home. I said to myself "something is making you feel like shit. Either too much sugar, or caffeine, or SOMETHING. Now, I'm not like really out of shape, or anything like that. I'm not the epitome of health, but I weigh about 170-175, (5'10"), I'm pretty active, and I don't use any drugs of any kind. EXCEPT NICOTINE AND CAFFEINE. So, I decided to quit the coffee. I was having anxiety problems lately, also. And generally just feeling like crap. Little aches and pains throughout my body, stomach not feeling right. I even went and had my blood tested for prostate cancer. nothing. But I really thought I was sick with something.

I went through 4 days of headache (not like excruciating, just bad enough to hurt), and all sorts of caffeine withdrawal symptoms, including ANXIETY, REAL BAD. Then, on about the 6th day, the headache went away entirely, the anxiety was gone, and I felt great. I did some reading about caffeine withdrawal. Man, that shit ain't no joke.,dizzy spells, anxiety attacks, lethargy, pain in the hips, all sorts of bad stuff. But if you quit the caffeine, it might allieeviate your anxiety issues.

But if you quit the caffeine, it might alleviate your anxiety issues.

neal, caffeine causes anxiety. along with quitting the booze, (which can also bring anxiety attacks on for quite some time after quitting).

whatever you do, Neal, DONT DRINK ALCOHOL TO RELIEVE YOUR ANXIETY. It will go away eventually, when your brain heals up. I was just letting you know that I think caffeine was causing me major problems, anxiety attacks being one of them.

Thats why I asked you if you drink coffee. I kinda figured you did.

Pythonpappy · MIP Old Timer

A little caffeine is okay, I think ... but too much will give me the jitters ... after talk'n to Baba in some PM's, I decided to cut down on my morn'n coffee and drink 'decaf' the rest of the day ... no anxiety here ... but like Baba said, and I do remember have'n it bad my first few months out of detox, anxiety attacks are part of the gettin' well process ... and the AA coffee I think was some of the strongest coffee ever, LOL ... I did finally learn to cut down on that stuff, LOL ... and finally the jitters went away ...

hopefulone · Senior Member

I was drinking 15-16 cups or more of coffee at one time. I was concerned about cutting it down and stopping smoking. My sponsor and my mom as well as others in AA said....don't worry about the coffee! Don't worry about the cigarettes! Just worry about not drinking! They said to put too much on my plate in the beginning may sabotage my attempts to stay sober. So I focused on staying off the alcohol.

Interestingly enough, I had quit smoking and had cut down on caffaine not long before I relapsed.

I am focusing on just staying sober now. I have my cigs, my sweets, and I drink half caffaine and half decaf. When I get anxious, I pray, go to meetings and get busy. I wander to a meeting, wander to a scrub brush and scrub the devil out of the toilet/floors or I wander into the kitchen and have a face-to-face with my favorite therapy couple--Mr. and Mr. Ben & Jerry I. Scream.

Sweets are good for recovering alcoholics, Fenners.....research it and you will see why it is recommended that we keep some kind of sweet treat(s) nearby-----especially when you are new in recovery.

-- Edited by hopefulone on Sunday 13th of December 2015 03:09:56 PM

fenners · Veteran Member

Thanks all great advice as always. I am at meeting tomorrow looking to get a sponsor another big decision as have no idea who to ask

Pythonpappy · MIP Old Timer

It's not a lifetime commitment Fenners, but it's one you need to make ASAP ... maybe you could ask if someone will be your 'temporary' sponsor and hope for the best ... I went through several before I got serious about sobriety ...

Tanin · MIP Old Timer

fenners wrote:
I am at meeting tomorrow looking to get a sponsor another big decision as have no idea who to ask

You might do well to read the AA pamphlet: Questions & Answers On Sponsorship

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

This is an excellent publication. It is so good that all prospective sponsors should be familiar with it. If one is not, that is something to be concerned about.

Pythonpappy · MIP Old Timer

Amen to Pickle's post ... this is an excellent pamphlet with very good info ... I highly recommend everyone read it ...

Thanks for post'n the info Pickle ...

hopefulone · Senior Member

That is a great pamphlet and really covers so much.

hopefulone · Senior Member

Hi Fenners....how are you doing? Miss you on here.

PatriciaPhilips · Newbie

Anxiety is not good. I read your forum and I have to say you are doing a good job. There is a lot of information in it for all of us. Many countries around the world struggle with the decision on whether it should be legal or not. The problem is irresponsible gambling or gambling addiction which plays a huge role in the consensus among the citizens of a particular state you can play gambling through the internet in both countries. Online Gambling Laws Comparison: Canada and Japan are different; there are no land-based casinos in Japan. If you were to open up a gambling joint and allow users to wager money on casino games you would get in trouble. Sure anyone can organize a poker night in a private setting, but its illegal to gamble in any public place. Much like Japan, sports betting is legal, but up until recently only parlay bets were allowed.

Brolan · Newbie

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