Hi Mongo
What a great thread, exactly what I was looking for! I've read that DIY recovery actually has a better success rate than AA. There's no way of knowing though as, by the nature of both methods, there can't really be any firm statistics.
I know what is working for me though is DIY. I had been unhappy with my drinking for years, completely fed up with the lost productivity and the awful hangovers and guilt and fears about my health.
I've been to a few AA meetings in the past and just knew that they weren't for me. Really nice people but I just didn't want to do a Program I just wanted to stop drinking.
I developed alcoholic gastritis last year which is inflammation of the stomach lining and I used that as my final wake up call and decided that my drinking arm was broken beyond repair. I decided that a body will take a finite amount of drinks and that I had reached the finish line.
My father was an alcoholic and he has not had a drink for 40 years (I'm 38 and he's 74). He did not use any program, he detoxed in hospital for a week then had antabuse for a month and that was the end of it all for him. My eldest sister was also an alcoholic and has not had a drink for 14 years, she detoxed in hospital and then never drank again. Neither of them have any desire at all to drink. So I take great hope from that.
The thing that I find has helped most is being really honest and open about my struggle to stay sober with my friends and family. For instance tonight I was desperate for a bottle (or 3) of wine and phoned a friend and told her I was gagging for a drink and would she please come to the cinema? So tonight I've done something to distract myself and I feel absolutely fine.
So, I think common sense can help. Phone a friend, go to the cinema, eat chocolate, have a bath, go to bed - just anything at all until the feeling passes. I remember saying to a CBT counsellor "but what will happen if I am angry or sad and I don't have a drink to deal with it?" he said "nothing, you'll go to bed and wake up the next day, don't be so dramatic".
Best wishes
Jane