tedseeker

I know that many in recovery still have cravings, some for years, maybe some till they die. I know that in general they diminish in frequency and in intensity the longer one remains sober and works on him/herself and the more one refuses to give in to the cravings.

What I am really curious about is what I've read from some posters here and elsewhere: Some have said that they no longer desire or have cravings for alcohol at all. One I recall saying she remembers the exact 'event'/circumstance that was the last time she ever had a craving. This is what I want to know:

For those of you who never have a craving anymore--haven't for a long, long time --what do you think or know is the reason? Please share your 'miracle'. Your input maybe can help others here who still struggle with cravings.

thanks,

ted

GlassPrisoner

God removed my craving and obsession to drink.

The cravings stopped after my 3rd step, the obsession after my 10th.

GrouchoTheCat

TedSeeker,

I commend you for trying to understand your brother. I harkens to a deep love and committment.

I am a middle aged white male of european decent. I live in a pretty nice house. It was built in 1955. It is in a suburban neighborhood. It is white with black shutters.

I have no clue whatsoever of how it feels to grow up as a poor inner city minority kid.

I will never understand what it is to be black, or asian, or an undocumented mexican.

These things are completely out of my experience and I will never fully understand.

If I wanted to understand what it is like to grow up a person of color, I could interview every person with dark skin I could find, I could go to events or clubs where these persons are a majority, I could go to the Carribian islands, the African continent and search the ansestery. I could devote my entire life, get a PHD in anthropology and one in sociology. Heck, I could write books!

And you know what, I might come close, I might think I really know, I might try my entire life,

but I will never know what it is to grow up a black man (or for that matter a black woman!)

TedSeeker, I do applaud you for trying, but it is my belief that you may be more at peace if you can come to the conclusion that you will never fully understand your Brother's addiction and with this knowledge, you will be able to accept your Brother and his disease as he is.

Without judgement.

Without the pain and obsession of needing to know WHY.

Then you can help him from a mental position of loving and compassionate detachment.

I truly wish you the best. Your Brother is a lucky man.

Groucho

Tazman53

I was a bit quicker then GP, like GP after my 3rd step the cravings went, the obsession went after my 5th step.

I do occasionaly think about it in fleeting thoughts, I actually laugh at the mere passing thought, I am amazed at how free I am today of the bondage of alcohol.

But I do know that the freedom from the cravings and obsession with alcohol is a daily reprieve contingent upon me maintaining my spiritual condition and contact with my HP. So I work my program on a daily basis and I live the steps to the best of my ability daily.

splendra

The thought that I could do something different with my life other than drink was my miracle cure...

Debaucher

I believe the obsession and craving were lifted from preparation and acceptance then believing they would be (lifted).

Preparation: I stopped drinking...

Acceptance: I accepted I could and would never drink again. *******

Believing: I asked God and believed he would remove the cravings.

***** I believe you must reconcile this point... either you believe you will never drink again and you are working on spiritual growth... or you are working on spiritual hovering ("treading water") until you can find away to drink safely... as long as you retain any hope/belief that there may be some way you can drink again the cravings will exist...

At least that is my opinion... only time and more experience will give me the wisdom to know if there is truth in my beliefs.

CarolD

Hmmm...

My physical cravings vanished by 6 or so weeks.
I think that was mostly the time it took for my body
and mind to adjust,
I also did a meeting a day...used the Serenity Prayer

Obcession? That is a recovery miracle....

At 3 years sober.,...I had recently completed my formal 12 Steps.

I had a job with a home health care agency..
I was doing 12 hour night shifts .

Sooo....I am sent to a new patient... early .demencia and bedfast.
Miss W. wants a small silver bell from her dining room.

Off I go....looking for the bell. I open a door and find
Case after case of booze! My favorite brands! Really expensive alcohol!

I just hit the jackpot ...no one would know

I slammed the door...fell on my knees and asked God to remove my obcession
Zap! Zing!
A calm clear feeling of peace flooded me.

I worked there for 7 months and never again thought of opening the door
or of drinking.

That was 15+ years ago....and He still has my back.

GrouchoTheCat

Thanks for the PM Ted,

To answer your actual question...

I don't seem to have real nasty cravings anymore. I do have the occational passing thought about drinking, but it's kind of like seeing a really awesome car at a stoplight and thinking, "wow, I sure would like to have a car like that!". Then the light changes and I drive on and forget about that cool car.

When I get frustrated or angry, I can feel myself slipping into a mood where I might be getting into trouble. Now, when this happens I call my sponsor and the feeling passes. For me this is a huge step and one that my sponsor has discussed with me.

A huge part of it is that I no longer feel so alone.

Ted W.

miss communicat

I would love to believe that I have lost the craving "for good"....BUT, experience has shown me that i only have today.

thisisme

No miracle.
I freed my mind and saw alcohol for what it really is.
I have Allen Carr to thank for that.
I knew when I finished the book that I would never drink again. My last craving was 11 months ago.

Zencat

No miracle either.
The cravings stopped day one into treatment. I committed myself to addiction recovery with greater intensity than any craving could surmount.

paulmh

I had a vital psychic change necessary to bring about recovery. I consider that to have arisen from a moment of genuine, existential surrender or acceptance. I no longer need to drink to salve my isolation, for I am no longer alone. I lived in an egotistical mistake. I was alone in that mistake, but I was not the only one.

And I can describe it, but I don't expect anyone who's not an alcoholic to understand.

Russelrb

Fear got me to quit. Like Carol I would say the physical cravings lasted about 4-6 weeks. The mental ones a bit longer. At this pint in time I have no cravings or desire to go back. Note, I said "at this time". I am sure this monster will lurke for my lifetime but I can live with that. All I have to worry about is today. God granted me this day by his grace and I will accept it graciously.

Peter

My "miracle" occured as a combination of several different factors.

1) Step Work

2) Positively enforcing myself that I could no longer drink.

3) Developing a lifestyle free of alcohol. Not just by NOT DRINKING but also by actively avoiding places and events associated with drinking.

4) Time. The healer of wounds.

barb dwyer

When I first came to work here, if I was stressing,
I'd have them take the booze out of the breakroom
fridge until my shift was over.

Now, I don't care. Stressed, or not.

I'm not sure when that happened.
I haven't had that 'feeling' since the big one on St Paddy's day.
And that was a situational 'trigger' ...
Doesn't mean I 'won't' get another one ... just means it's been a while.

I know I have another relapse in me ...
what I also know, without doubt...
is I DON"T have another recovery.
This is my last chance.

done2

Hmmm. Miracle. I never thought of it like that before. I suppose it is a miracle that I found the strength to commit to quitting, I'm not known for my strength. I would have to say that my miracle was knowledge and support. Knowledge is power, and I have done a lot of reading on my way through this journey. Support from other sober people, who "get it" was key too, and maybe it was a miracle sent from the gods of google to find that support.

SaTiT

I just trun is over or i ask god to remove the craving everytime i had
a craving. The craving drove me crazy or insane. I couldn't bare it.

Instead of of reacting like i used to..i just did those corny things..
Recovery at first was very corney to me and i had a heck of a time
with a HP or God first. But i applied it inspite of what I thought,becuase
i had tired everything else already. I didn't wnat to go back to using or drinking..
I was clear headed enough to relize that..
I have a desire to stop drinking or using..

Even though i had a hard time with religion, but I read the bible a lot.
There were phrase in the bible that I hung on to..
" be of good cheers becuase I'm over came the world"
" with god all things are possible"
" according to your faith it'll shall be done on to you"
" the kindom of heaven is like a childish belief"

So..it kind of made sense to me...i just became to have a childish belief.
I stopped analyze it. i didn't understand god or a lot of spiritaul principles,
but I just belive that god could overcome my cravings or my alcoholism,
I didn't have to fight it anymore..it wasn't my battle anymore.
And hopfully it was possible the my craving would get removed.

I kept going back to meetings for that miracle to happen..
I didn't want to leave five minuts before the miracle happened..
and oneday after writing or journaling..I notice my craving was removed.
There's a feeling that I get when I enter a room of recovery or a meeting
room...I sense that peace. Sometimes I'll go early just so i can rest my weary
head for 15 mins..That's when i was asked to do service work..
Since i was showing up 15 mins early anyways and the secutary was getting
tired of holdind down the fort and his was continuing on his recovery journey,
so he passed on the key to me..
I hang out in the meeting room 15 mins before and 15 mins after
to set up or clean up...but it was just time alone for me and that peace.
maybe it was god...i don't know...

To me it's a miracle...I'm an alcoholic. it might not mean much to the world..
But it meant everything to me...
and other phrase started making sense to me''..
" I didn't come into the world to save it...I came so that you may live"

nolonger

I haven't had a drink in nearly eight months and I don't have cravings just very fleeting thoughts, like Tazman said. Alcohol seems a very long way away, and that's a blessing.

But I know from the past that I'm always much closer to a drink than I think, and so I don't want to say the serious cravings are gone "for good." They won't come back any time soon, inshallah, and if they do, I hope I'm a lot stronger than I used to be.

One day at a time.

RedFox

I've been saying that over and over recently. You hit the nail right on the head for me.

Just when I get confident and think I'm out of the woods something comes and pulls me back in. All I can hope for is that I'm strong enough at that moment to handle it. That's when I say to myself what I quoted Barb.

citychick

I believe God removed my obsession and craving to drink. In a moment of complete surrender. I realized I couldn't do it(life or not drinking) and I sincerely asked God. Took me a about a week to notice it was gone.

I don't crave alcohol or drugs anymore, though if I let myself get angry or frustrated, the mood could take me to that place again. So I work the program to the best of my ability.