PrettyViolets

My husband is in recovery. He finally took his recovery seriously in November. He enrolled in a good outpatient treatment program, and he committed to going to AA almost every day. He is living with parents who live in a smaller town, and his parents and I are committed to not drinking around him. But he has had a relapse in January and a relapse in March.

And--he drinks a lot of coffee-like 10 cups of coffee a day. I am really proud of the sobriety that he has. I guess I was just concerned about the effects of drinking a lot of coffee. Does coffee truly help an alcoholic to recovery?

CarolD

I never drink coffee
and I have been AA recovered for years.

Soooo...
In my opinion...no.

Blessings to you and your husband

mike_mass

I drank a lot of coffee in early sobriety too, but have gradually reduced my intake over the years because of anxiety. If I had to choose between coffee and booze though, I'd say coffee is by far the lesser of two evils.

NoMoBeer

First -- don't forget, you cannot get a DUI from drinking too much coffee!

Not sure why coffee is such a big part of AA... just has been from the start. Maybe it's the stimulating effects of the coffee, maybe it's just how things were back when Bill W. started this stuff... I know when I was a kid, Mom always had the coffee brewing after dinner.

For me, if I drink more than 2 cups I am pretty wired, but sometimes will do that if I need to wake up some more... but it can wreak some havoc with the adrenal system if not careful.

ken

CD-RUN

I'm a coffee addict. I have always loved coffee, but beer was my priority for a long time. I'll drink 8-12 cups a day if I'm at home. I try to mix it up with decaf if I'm going to be home most of the day. Otherwise its half a pot before work, then a 24oz. cup from the gas station at lunch. No coffee past 5pm unless its decaf. After work its usually ice water with lemon.

reed

Coffe is good. I like WaWa coffee. Mix the hazelnut with the french vanilla.

bob_sapp

Cigarettes are a big part of AA too, they just can't smoke them in the meetings anymore. Take away cigarettes and coffee and a lot of people would come unglued.

Rimmy

"Don't Drink, Don't Smoke... What do you do?"

I love my coffee but I can only drink a little at a time. I get the jitters. Lesser of two evils was mentioned, and I'd agree with that. But a little internet search on "effects of high caffeine intake" or something like that might yeald some results and answer any medical questions you might have.

Peter

I drank a lot of coffee during my early days in recovery too. I don't drink so much nowadays and I been sober nearly 12 years. Coffee is not a requirement for sobriety but I know for me it helped me to get through those early years.

Coffee never made my life unmanagable and unless you have reason to suspect that coffee is affecting his health i wouldn't worry too much about it.

CarolD

Ahem...
my home group has 19 meetings a week.
We have them all smloking.

We also have 2 coffee pots...1 tea
and a frige full of various cold drinks.

We will celebrate 38 years this month as a group.
Many of us have double diget sobriety.

Sooo...we smoke ...we drink alcohol free beverages
if we stay in focus
many many of us do recover.

mrhodes01

There's actually a sentence in the big book about coffee and cigarettes where concerned family members are encouraged to let their alcoholic partners indulge in java and smokes while getting over alcoholism...I think it's in the family part.

For me, I always want to quit everything--I didn't quit drinking to feel like crap because I still chain smoke or get jittery on coffee. But quitting other substances has always been a huge trigger for me--it's hard to quit smoking and drinking coffee, so when I fail at that I get alcoholic thoughts and relapse. Sounds silly, but it's been my experience over and over again. I'm a horrible quitter

This time around I've giving myself some space on cigarettes and coffee, and I'll tackle them one at a time. Every day without a drink is a victory, and anything else that happens happens, IMHO.