Medication and sobriety

[an anarchist]

Venting a bit to you guys

I had to kick my habit of intoxicating myself. I’m (mostly) sober now, don’t drink or take hard drugs anymore. I was an alcoholic, would drink half a bottle of whiskey before my clerk shift when I was at my worst. I could and would drink a whole bottle of liquor in one sitting. Downing a full cup of liquor was my party trick haha.

My psychiatrist started me on meds over a year ago that are processed by my liver, so he told me I can maybe have a couple of beers once or twice a month. I haven’t really even bothered, until last weekend I went to a party. I brought a huge bottle of whiskey, intent on drinking half of it myself. I don’t even remember how it feels like to be drunk, I just remember that I always got really happy when drinking. Anyways, I took a sip of whiskey and I couldn’t stomach it! I looked around at everyone else drinking, and had a sobering realization; my drinking days are over.

My medication is like reverse psychedelics (anti psychotics). The neurons that LSD and mushrooms turns on, my medication turns off. So now I’m like getting a reverse high, going low.

Sobriety. I’m not completely there yet, just mostly. That’s all I’ll say about that. It’s a whole change, going from being wasted all the time to being sober and medicated 24/7. I’m extremely medicated haha.

Anyone here willing to share their past struggles with sobriety? What helped? I’ve been to group substance abuse therapy quite a few times, I’m not sure if it really helped, I never really vibe with group therapy in general.

 

[Secret Chief]

Venting a bit to you guys

I had to kick my habit of intoxicating myself. I’m (mostly) sober now, don’t drink or take hard drugs anymore. I was an alcoholic, would drink half a bottle of whiskey before my clerk shift when I was at my worst. I could and would drink a whole bottle of liquor in one sitting. Downing a full cup of liquor was my party trick haha.

My psychiatrist started me on meds over a year ago that are processed by my liver, so he told me I can maybe have a couple of beers once or twice a month. I haven’t really even bothered, until last weekend I went to a party. I brought a huge bottle of whiskey, intent on drinking half of it myself. I don’t even remember how it feels like to be drunk, I just remember that I always got really happy when drinking. Anyways, I took a sip of whiskey and I couldn’t stomach it! I looked around at everyone else drinking, and had a sobering realization; my drinking days are over.

My medication is like reverse psychedelics (anti psychotics). The neurons that LSD and mushrooms turns on, my medication turns off. So now I’m like getting a reverse high, going low.

Sobriety. I’m not completely there yet, just mostly. That’s all I’ll say about that. It’s a whole change, going from being wasted all the time to being sober and medicated 24/7. I’m extremely medicated haha.

Anyone here willing to share their past struggles with sobriety? What helped? I’ve been to group substance abuse therapy quite a few times, I’m not sure if it really helped, I never really vibe with group therapy in general.

As I read this, I'm sipping an alcohol-free whiskey.

- Non-Alcoholic Whiskey | Highland Malt | Lyre's

- Non-Alcoholic Spirits | Shop Online | Lyre's

I didn't struggle with sobriety, I had to give up the booze because of meds. There's a whole world of alcohol-free drinks. I write a blog reviewing AF beers, and I'm up to number 217. You might find an online group helpful/useful. I recommend the Nontoxicated app and facebook group (it has members all around the world).

- NonToxicated - The Alcohol Free Drinks Club

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Venting a bit to you guys

I had to kick my habit of intoxicating myself. I’m (mostly) sober now, don’t drink or take hard drugs anymore. I was an alcoholic, would drink half a bottle of whiskey before my clerk shift when I was at my worst. I could and would drink a whole bottle of liquor in one sitting. Downing a full cup of liquor was my party trick haha.

My psychiatrist started me on meds over a year ago that are processed by my liver, so he told me I can maybe have a couple of beers once or twice a month. I haven’t really even bothered, until last weekend I went to a party. I brought a huge bottle of whiskey, intent on drinking half of it myself. I don’t even remember how it feels like to be drunk, I just remember that I always got really happy when drinking. Anyways, I took a sip of whiskey and I couldn’t stomach it! I looked around at everyone else drinking, and had a sobering realization; my drinking days are over.

My medication is like reverse psychedelics (anti psychotics). The neurons that LSD and mushrooms turns on, my medication turns off. So now I’m like getting a reverse high, going low.

Sobriety. I’m not completely there yet, just mostly. That’s all I’ll say about that. It’s a whole change, going from being wasted all the time to being sober and medicated 24/7. I’m extremely medicated haha.

Anyone here willing to share their past struggles with sobriety? What helped? I’ve been to group substance abuse therapy quite a few times, I’m not sure if it really helped, I never really vibe with group therapy in general.

I'm not sober per se, I occasionally dip my toes into intoxication, but I monitor it because I saw what doing it too much was doing to me.

The thing for me was the addiction to the 'feeling' that you get from being intoxicated, I relied on it for happiness. I think the best thing is to find suitable replacements - physical exercise and accomplishing things can be good ways to give you that serotonin boost. Coffee helps, not necessarily because of the caffeine but just having something there to relax with to create a familiar vibe. Really getitng used to any recreational activities that are entertaining on their own without intoxication.

 

[PureX]

For an alcoholic (or any addict, really), being drunk becomes the preferred alternative to dealing with any sort of difficult and unpleasant thoughts or feelings or experiences. And if we engage in this escapism repeatedly over a long time, we render ourselves emotionally stunted, and unable to cope with life's emotional difficulties. Which then makes us all the more dependent upon the drunkenness to feel "OK". Thus: addiction. So that when we have to stay sober, and we no longer have the means of escaping from ourselves as we always had, before, it can be very painful. Because we not only find ourselves feeling all the normal emotional difficulties of life, we also have a very long backlog of unaddressed and unresolved unpleasantness to feel, as well. AND we have never developed the coping skills to deal with them, so we end up kind of drowning in them.

Early recovery can be very hard.

But, the good news is that we can learn how to process those feelings, and get past them (as we would have done all along had we not escaped into our addiction). And that puts time and sobriety on our side. There are plenty of ways of obtaining help with this process, and they do help if we engage in them sincerely. But the good news is that just staying sober and feeling your feelings, and practicing different ways of dealing with them to see what works, will work, guaranteed. Meditation, exercise, socialize, work, play, create, ... ALL of these are great, positive methods of dealing with the unpleasantness of life. And there are many more. And then try to avoid boredom, pessimism, blaming, complaining, tiredness, and so on as they leave you vulnerable to all that unpleasantness. If you feel these coming on, take the appropriate action. Eat, sleep, call a friend, read, exercise, do something fun.

Addiction recovery is really all just personal retraining. It can even be fun once you see it that way, and treat it like an adventure. But feeling all those bad feelings is gonna be hard, in the beginning. So you gotta hang in there. Sober time is your best friend even when it feels horrible. It won't feel horrible forever. It will get better.

I will be sober 30 years this coming Jan 23rd. After 20 years of active alcoholism.

 

[Brian2]

Venting a bit to you guys

I had to kick my habit of intoxicating myself. I’m (mostly) sober now, don’t drink or take hard drugs anymore. I was an alcoholic, would drink half a bottle of whiskey before my clerk shift when I was at my worst. I could and would drink a whole bottle of liquor in one sitting. Downing a full cup of liquor was my party trick haha.

My psychiatrist started me on meds over a year ago that are processed by my liver, so he told me I can maybe have a couple of beers once or twice a month. I haven’t really even bothered, until last weekend I went to a party. I brought a huge bottle of whiskey, intent on drinking half of it myself. I don’t even remember how it feels like to be drunk, I just remember that I always got really happy when drinking. Anyways, I took a sip of whiskey and I couldn’t stomach it! I looked around at everyone else drinking, and had a sobering realization; my drinking days are over.

My medication is like reverse psychedelics (anti psychotics). The neurons that LSD and mushrooms turns on, my medication turns off. So now I’m like getting a reverse high, going low.

Sobriety. I’m not completely there yet, just mostly. That’s all I’ll say about that. It’s a whole change, going from being wasted all the time to being sober and medicated 24/7. I’m extremely medicated haha.

Anyone here willing to share their past struggles with sobriety? What helped? I’ve been to group substance abuse therapy quite a few times, I’m not sure if it really helped, I never really vibe with group therapy in general.

My wife says I have an addictive personality, and she does not mean that everyone who meats me gets addicted to me. In my life I have gone from one addiction to another and they have not all been substances. It has been tobacco, sudoku, watching TV, staying in bed, running, marijuana, alcohol and other things. It's usually things that are OK in small amounts but I end up doing it in excess. Even coming to this forum could be considered part of it at times.
With alcohol I was lucky I guess in that the low for a day or 2 after being drunk was so bad that it turned me away from alcohol, and I did not like being around people and not being able to think properly after a couple of drinks. So my preferred drug was marijuana, to which I was psychologically addicted for many years.
At the moment I still have this forum, but that has it's turn off side, and being retired means that I can sleep in and do find it hard to get up in the morning.
I guess part of it is that I am lazy and a bit of a depressive anyway.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Honestly, I'm an alcoholic (or a drunk, really, since I'm not physically addicted to alcohol) - I know it, my doctor knows it and my closest friends know I have a drinking problem - but I have no plans to stop because life sucks, and it's not like I have any sort of support system to help me. Also, I really enjoy alcohol (the taste and everything), so I'll never go cold turkey, anyway. I have borderline personality disorder and substance abuse is a big feature of it. Alcoholism and drug addiction run strongly on both sides of my family, along with mental illness in general.

I've tried some meds but they don't really work for me. There's that med that can cause you to become sick if you drink any alcohol that I haven't tried, but I don't see the point of torturing myself.

I don't believe in AA, either. I view it as cultlike and unreasonable. The best part of it is the social aspect, but that's it.

 

[an anarchist]

I don't believe in AA, either. I view it as cultlike and unreasonable.

I have only gone to one AA meeting. I was taken back by how much it seemed like a church gathering sorta and there was the thing with the higher power or something like that. Don’t really know enough to agree with you, but I can see the sentiment.

 

[RestlessSoul]

Honestly, I'm an alcoholic (or a drunk, really, since I'm not physically addicted to alcohol) - I know it, my doctor knows it and my closest friends know I have a drinking problem - but I have no plans to stop because life sucks, and it's not like I have any sort of support system to help me. Also, I really enjoy alcohol (the taste and everything), so I'll never go cold turkey, anyway. I have borderline personality disorder and substance abuse is a big feature of it. Alcoholism and drug addiction run strongly on both sides of my family, along with mental illness in general.

I've tried some meds but they don't really work for me. There's that med that can cause you to become sick if you drink any alcohol that I haven't tried, but I don't see the point of torturing myself.

I don't believe in AA, either. I view it as cultlike and unreasonable. The best part of it is the social aspect, but that's it.

Have you actually spent any time in AA? I had similar doubts at one time, based on my own opinions (alcoholics always have opinions) and very little actual contact. In the end I had nowhere else to go, and they not only saved my life, they showed me how it was possible to embrace life and enjoy it sober.