yeahgr8

I have been looking into rehab centres for the past 4 weeks and made a decision on one. There are so many different methods out there?! This is great but how the hell do you continue to get support and continue your treatment after rehab when the centre uses their own bespoke method of treatment. In the end i went for a 12 step place of treatment that is used for a stepping stone into AA when you leave, they have sad from the start this is only to give you a kick start to get your ass down AA when you leave. I don't know why i can't just go to meetings, but i don't particlarly want to sink even lower before i crawl into a meeting begging for help..anyways i've got high hopes for this 28 day treatment, i am quite a receptive kind of guy and think that i will be get it at some point in my time there to be able to follow up by going to meetings, getting a sponsor and working the steps.

Regardless of cost, this place is €5000 (which i have aready paid), at this stage i consider this alone a cheap price to get 28 days sober and any information on how to lead a sober life, regardless of what happens after!

McGowdog

Yeah, well... I feel strongly both ways. (for example, I feel stongly that there is one way. We have a way out that we can absolutely agree on. I feel stongly that we don't in practice.)

AA was and is my path.

As far as spending 5000 somethings... is that like BSP's? What is that in US currency? 7,304 bucks? More or less? Spain currency?

Well I'd ask you to just give that money to me and I'll give you an AA book in return and just tell you to "do the deal" if I thought I could stay sober doing that.

But I couldn't so I won't.

Do your treatment deal and get the most you can out of it, then go to AA. If that fails you, you can always drink again and if you survive it, try again. If you find you can't afford the treatment centers in the future though, you might just step right on into AA. It's really really the easier softer way. I hear that AA is all over the world and has been for some time.

Freedom1990

Rehab was a great place to start for me, and we were transported to AA meetings all over the area. You'll get some tools in rehab that you can put to use later on, as well as attending meetings once you are out.

yeahgr8

Hehe it's euros in Europe, yeah it's about that much in dollars. I respect what you are saying and i hope that i will be looking at it like that at the end of the year, having been sober since entering rehab, i.e. 'i could have spent that 5k on a nice holiday, after all that i should have just gone straight to AA meetings'...that would be great!

Anyways as i said i have high hopes and will do all they tell me to do whilst there including after the time...so providing i am honest and do all the work required i should be able to lead a happy and sober life through AA...right?

gravity

No direct experience but my sponsor went to a 28 day rehab - needed the structure & daily support. He is now 7 years sober.

Never heard anything bad about treatment in my area. May be €5000 well spent.

Best wishes!

Mark75

When I was in rehab someone said it was up to me... my rehab stay could be worth a dollar or a million dollars... it was up to me.... yeahgr8, it sounds like you are ready to make yours a million euro rehab... I think you will do fine... give it 110% of your effort and you won't have any regrets, no matter what happens.

Mark

McGowdog

Agreed. You can get a whole lot out of it. Then why not just claim indigent and pay a buck for it? Don't get gouged for $8000.00 needlessly like I did. I have a resentment against insurance and a floating scale that they use.

But AA! Best show in town for a buck or two! That's been my experience.

Mark75

8K $$ was my tab too... had no choice if I wanted to save my career... so, I made it worth as much as I could and poured my heart and soul into it, better than sitting in my resentment during those long 2 months...

Also, made my bottom higher than it might have been.

I agree... AA is the best, always has been. I needed the intervention though, wasn't ready to go on my own... Makes for occasional first step issues, but I am an alcoholic and AA and the 12 steps are keeping me sober.

Mark

Pinkcuda

Yeah, but I've never seen a ping pong table in an AA meeting.
Anyways to answer the original question as to why the antequated method.
Pg 24 For reasons yet obscure.... 70 years later those reasons are still obscure. We can't figure out why alcoholics are the way they are. Probably because we don't want to. I'm not interested in why things are the way they are. I'm not interested in a cure either. (I wish they would find a cure for alcoholism so I could drink as much as I want) That doesn't make any sense now, does it?
The medical industry stands to lose billions of dollars if they cure alcoholism. The legal system would lose billions of dollars and half the Cops wouldn't have a job.
I can't think for the life of me why anyone would want to find the cause and the cure. Except for alcoholics that are struggling with sobriety and want to drink instead.

Mark75

McGowdog

Yeah, I guess that's true. But there was a ping pong table a foosball table, a pool table, a hot tub, a swimming pool, natural hot springs near by, 3 square meals, coffee, fresh water, and tea at this spiritual retreat that I just got back from... with about 62 sober recovered alcoholics. We had meetings, meditations, mentations, ping pong...







What about alcoholics who HAVE TO drink instead?

Pinkcuda

My mistake.

Charmie

imgoing to say first of all that i dont usually get invloved in these sort of threads.kati you sound just like the bitter person i was until i followed a path that works.all i know is AA works and is giving me something that nothing else could.i tried everything to find an easier way out.its not out there.oh and you were dissing AA.if its not for you then fine and you were right when you said you should have posted this in secular.im so glad i dont have to listen to this sort of vitriol anymore.my experience in AA rooms is that people are thoughtful of others,and have a peace and tranquillity about them.and one last thing,i had to laugh when you mentioned your friend that has left AA after 18 and has a good life apart from "the occasional bender" either he is not a true alcoholic for which the BB and programme was written for or his "occasional benders" will progress.if they do i wouldnt expect you to tell us as certain people who cannot get well are those with an inability to be honest.

Mark75

Nice pix... your retreat??

least

I went to more AA meetings in my very early recovery. It helped me to be with people who were going thru, or had gone thru, what I was going thru at the time. I don't go much these days, but I still like my home group members and go to that meeting sometimes.

There are aspects of AA, or of certain meetings, that I'm not crazy about but I take what I need and leave what I don't need or want. I've never gotten a sponsor or done the steps and I'm doing alright so far. I'm happier sober than I ever was while drinking and don't have the problems I had while drinking. That's enough to keep me sober.

FightingIrish

I can identify. A week before I "decided" to go to rehab, I was not planning anything of the sort, and definitely not planning on A.A.

I also wasn't planning to end up in jail with a 0.3-something BAC and thus miss an important work meeting that Monday.

When I was sitting in front of my boss after being asked the question, "do you actually *want* to work here?", I decided for the first time not to lie. I said, "I need to stop drinking." From there it was mandatory treatment.

I don't know if this makes my bottom high, or low, or what. I do know it's very likely I would have continued to drink daily, wake up hungover, shake and sweat my way through the work day, and repeat the process for as long as there were no consequences.

I also poured my heart and soul into treatment. I had had a pretty great life in many ways before I became a drunk recluse and gave up everything that had made it great. So it was pretty easy for me to just let go and stop fighting. (Not that I stopped arguing...LOL.)

I have occasional step one issues because I don't make it the ontological riddle that some people seem to or have the attitude that seems prevalent among the "real alcoholic" crowd. I just answered a couple of questions honestly and moved on to step two.

M

McGowdog

This idea of a bottom to me seems like an illusion. I think this thing called bottom is more of a bottomless pit... or an elavator going down.

Whether you've been slammed into a brick wall or have "quicksand" stretching about you in all directions is immaterial to the fact that you can stop and look at your experience with alcohol right here and right now to see if you lose control once you start and you can't stay stopped on your own power.

Having a 0.3 bac is pretty evident that you could die drinking. We don't all become "continuous hard drinkers" as the book says. I was more of a binge drinker myself, but there were times that I maintained a steady flow of booze for a long time. Either way, control was ridiculously lost and it was getting worse, whether I quit for a time or not.

I just went to a treatment center meeting last night and it was a powerful meeting. I don't like their exact format, but it is what it is. A gal had evidently relapsed on pain meds and hit a bottom of some sort with booze and her husband and kids came to see her in her 1st meeting and day in the Treatment Center. The husband wants to get back to AA himself. There was talk of doing 90 meetings in 90 days and all. I personally don't do that. I suppose it couldn't cause any harm. Unless, of course, it got in the way of actually reading the book and doing steps. It's not guarantee that you'll get and stay sober, but it may be a good idea for some... if they are so situated. What's important for me is that I do steps every day. I do like 1,936 in 1,936 when it comes to doing steps and I hope I step again tomorrow. So like 1937 in 1937 is my goal for tomorrow.

But that's just me. I don't want to preach to the treatment centers. I just want to say that there is hope. There is life after treatment center. And for alcoholics it's in the AA book and in a healthy step-doing AA group near you.

You know, in James it says something to the effect, "Faith without works is dead." Is that antiquated? I know AA borrowed it as it's quoted in the BB at least 3 times and referred to again without the quotations.

McGowdog

Sorry to ramble on here. But I forgot something... at that treatment center. I was there and two other guys that I know from another group (both have been coming to my closed Monday night AA meeting too) were there too. They are both new and shared some really powerful Step 1 experiences. They are each only about 40 some days sober, but one is like me, a chronic slipper, but more importantly, on his 4th Step and pluggin' away.

This treatment center reads something now that I don't so much agree with; they say something to the effect, "During your shares, we're not so much interested in the specific amounts of drugs/alcohol you took as we all over-indulged... so try to describe you experience in a general way..." Something like that. I don't agree with that so much because, your experience is your experience. There's no need to embellish your story, but tell the truth.

We in AA aren't and shouldn't be afraid to talk about what it was like or the fatal and hopeless nature of alcohol because as the book says in Working With Others I think, "we offer a solution." And it's nice to follow that "what it was like" off with the Solution.

In the Monday Night Group in Denver, when they share on their birthday, it's for 10 minutes and all they talk about is "what it was like", or as some people say, "qualify."

I think the important thing here is the fact that the 1st Step is not a comfortable experience. It shouldn't be and it isn't for me. It should drive you to God.

yeahgr8

Apparently the rehab i am going into uses, and only, the first edition of the Big Book...sounds serious!

McGowdog

Kewl.

You know, I'm new to SR and am hearing about this 1st Editions stuff and all. I bought a "fake" copy or replica of the 1st edition BB and the a copy of the original manuscript and all...

Now besides the moving of the Dr's Opinion from page 1 to Roman Numeral i and all, the lack of a Forward the the 2nd, 3rd, etc. editions and the lack of the 12 Traditions, what's the big deal about using the 1st Edition BB? Is it a copyright issue or something?