What was always the hardest for me was just getting thru the first week. The anxiety was crippling and that's what so often led me back to drinking. It was a lot simpler when I had medical help during w/d. Just enough to get me past 'the shakes' so badly. I didn't want a benzo addiction on top of drinking but the doctor wisely only gave me enough for three or four days so could not get hooked on them. But it got me past the anxiety that was always my stumbling block.
Once you're thru the initial physical w/d some program of support can be very helpful. Some do AA, some do SMART, some do other programs, some do counseling, some get back into the church - it all depends on what you're willing to do to stay sober.
I started out with AA and counseling and this site, now I use counseling and this site and a few meetings of my AA home group just because I like the meeting (a discussion meeting) and cause I like the people that go there.
There are a lot of people here with long term sobriety without using any formal program at all other than SR. Anna is one, so is Dee.
Get yourself a support system, no matter what it may be, and put all your effort into it. You CAN stay sober. How badly do you want it?
