Please Pray for Me...

[Unshakled]

I have had chronic back pain for 10 years now. I became addicted on pain medication in 1997.

Now, I am off all pain medication but trying to get off alcohol addiction. I still have chronic back pain.

I have been "trying, trying, trying" to get off the alcohol. I was off it for 20 years in the past.

God has/is healing me of many underlying issues having to do with my addiction such as 35 years of verbal abuse.

Today, I finallly knew I would rather be sober than drinking or using the pain medicines. But to stop the alcohol is harder than I remember. It is very hard due to nervousness, lack of sleep, etc to get off.

I believe, Jesus has already set me free due to His blood being shed for me. Please pray that I would "realize" that in personal experience and get through the next few days (to begin with) without drinking...

Thank you, so much...

Unshakled

[kelsh]

Hi Unshackled,

Well I quit drinking 19 years ago but haven't started up again. My brother quit for 14 years due to a 10 year jail sentence over his head and he hasn't attempted to stop again yet. He is 65 now and I am 67.

I also quit smoking about four years ago and was that ever hard for me. I tried at least three times to do it before it worked.

I was so sick with my alcohol addiction and had clinical depression at the same time. They had to wait six months to see if my depression was from my alcohol abuse or if I really had depression. They had no record to go by...just my word...so I was on just a small amount of Doxipin and my counselor and doc almost waited too long...I became wigged out and had to be admitted to the Emotional Health Unit for a diagnoses of depression and the psychiatrist said he had not had anyone in his unit for a long time that was as depressed as I was. He said the amount of antidepressant I was taking might just as well have been an asprin. Anyway things started to progress for me after I got up to a theraputic dose of Doxipin.

My husband takes pain pills...oxycotin for chronic pain due to his old amputation of his left leg and a bone infection that went into his pelvic area and he had to have part of the pelvis removed. He was injured in a logging accident in 1964 but has done about everything a person can do with two legs. His shoulder, knee, and hip joints have worn out through the years of the prothesis and crutches. He did have a knee replacement and it works wonderful.

He was worried he was getting addicted to the oxycotin and he was even though the doc started with 20 mg. worked up to 40 mg. and now he takes 80 mg every six hours. Sometimes he fudges and then has to cut back some so his pills will last until they can be refilled. He has had nothing but trouble getting them refilled with our mail-delivery pharmacy with our insurance. Now we send the prescription certified mail so we know when it gets there. I can track its progress through the pharmacy on our computer. What a headache! You must know what it feels like to know the medication is almost gone and it takes time to get the doc to re-write it and then get it at the pharmacy. My husband starts to get agitated and angry when the pharmacy makes up lies about where his med is...when we can see exactly where it is on the computer!!!!....hard to live with every three months when we go through this.
I can't take pain meds...found this out when I had my back fused due to my arthritis so I just take anti-inflamatories and Ibuprofen when desperate.

I hope you manage okay with the alcohol addiction. It must have been hard going off pain meds...it needs to be slow and consistant so you won't go into bad withdrawals. I quit taking Xanax once not knowing this and thought I had a bad flu and I was going into withdrawal and the doc had me start a small dose and taper off slowly. Quitting alcohol is another story. I was put in the local hospital to detox for six days. I had been drinking every day for four years after a catastrophic event led me to a self-distruct mode. I had stopped for a year once before and then drank 14 more years until I stopped this last time. I will have you in my thoughts and prayers.

Keep posting and let us know how you are doing.

[mike_mass]

I will remember you in my prayers tonight.

[cmc]

unshakled,
Welcome to our forum. I'm glad you are ready to stop drinking. Remember that to quit drinking without medical help can be very dangerous. I hope you will seek professional assistance.
I will pray for you and look forward to seeing you here in Christians In Recovery!

These two forums offer good support for you, too.
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/alcoholism/
Alcoholism

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-step-support/
Alcoholism-12 Support

[toad]

Unshakled,

Welcome and thanks for sharing your experiences. Congratulations on being able to get off you pain medication. I am sorry that you still have pain, but sometimes the side effects of medications can be worse than pain. I will pray that your pain ceases, you pray too, and we will have a prayer of agreement.

Alcohol is a subtle foe. It will rob us of everything if allowed to have it's way in our lives. I was on medications for ten years that were given to me by the VA. When I quit taking them my alcohol consumption increased and almost killed me. I just celebrated 9 years of being clean and sober. I could not have done it without the help of Alcoholics Anonymous. AA gave me a support group of like minded people who understood what I was going through and continued to love me inspite of my failures. Through the program of AA I was educated into the nature of my problems and given the solutions. Today I am "happy, joyous, and free." The life I am living today because of AA is one I had only dreamed of previously. If you don't attend an AA meeting, may I suggest you one for you.

Here is a link http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/...rmation_aa.cfm

Please keep us informed.......and thanks for letting me share also......toad

[simplysober]

i pray that the Lord eases your pain and you can find the help you need to quit drinking-
there are so many wonderful people here are SR you are not alone in this

hugs
maria

[dave47]

Best wishes Unshakled,your in my prayers.

[David]

i will pray for you, as often as i pray, you are doing the right thing and keep being strong in the Lord, he loves you

[serenityqueen]

You have already been added to my mental Prayer List. Remember this though, when you were getting off the pain meds, I'm sure you thought that was the worst thing ever. I'm a Recovering alcoholic as well as a Recovering Addict (doc pain pills) so I can relate to both withdrawls. I do encourage you to have someone with you through the entire first three to four days. Alcohol withdrawls can be dangerous. I'm not trying to freak you out, just make you cautious. My neighbor found me on the floor seizing out and I was rushed to the hospital and had to be admitted and monitored and medicated closely for a few days. And also you do have something very important that most don't have when first getting off alcohol or drugs, FAITH! You seem to be a very strong person. As in "Footprints", God will be carrying you. Once again you're in my Prayers. Keep us posted throughout.