bearcat22

sorry, I wanted to add some things, but could not figure out how to edit my post.

I saw a psychiatrist about a year ago, and described my trouble with drinking. I said I would like to detox at home, and explained why. I asked him for a medication that would ease the withdrawal symptoms.

He barked at me, "There IS no such pill!"

Well, I was discouraged. I thought about it, and it made no sense. Just because he was not AWARE of any such pill, that did not mean it does not exist. This seems to be quite common with doctors. They tend to be very arrogant, and actually are often quite ignorant.

I did a little online research, and found that three pills have been used with some small success to help ease withdrawal. Naltrexone, Campral and Topamax.

Each of these drugs was designed to treat something different, none were designed for alcohol abuse.

I decided none of them would help me, because they all appear to just block the pleasure receptors that alcohol triggers. I have been drinking daily for 16 years, and no longer get any pleasure, no "high" from drinking, no matter how much I drink. My tolerance is too high.

However, I'm addicted to the internet, movies, and computer games, and don't want to block the endorphins that those very few things in my life bring.

&&&&&&&

I also wanted to to bring attention to an article about AA that had appeared in the April 2015 issue of the Atlantic Monthly magazine.

If AA is not working for you, maybe that article is worth reading. You might also be interested if you Google search the term "Rational Recovery".

I know that there are a great many people who believe in AA.
However, I ask you this:

Would you work in a place where people had been sentenced by a court to work beside you as an unwilling slave?

Would you go to a church where people sitting next to you had been forced to come to church, not out of belief, but by a court order?

Would you want to be locked up in a prison in which all of the guards had committed crimes even worse than yours?

Courts routinely force people to attend AA meetings, rather than doing anything to change the practical circumstances of life that may have caused them to get into trouble in the first place.

All the blame and all the burden is put on the drinker, and none on society in general. I have a serious problem with that.