Erriksen

There are many recovery programs which advocate a return to controlled drinking and many, many people have done it successfully.

I was under the impression this board was open to different approaches to recovery from excessive drinking, not just AA? I know there are separate AA forums, but this isn't one is it?

nandm

For many people moderated or controlled drinking is not an option. For them it is a death sentance. I have seen people that after a period of not drinking believed they could go back out and moderate their drinking. Three took less than a year to wind up dead. Five came back to a no alcohol recovery approach. Several others are still drinking but their lives are steadily becoming as unmanageable as they were prior to their period of not drinking, finances, health, personal, etc... problems have started. I have watched enough people come in and out of sobriety to know that moderation is not something I personally am willing to try. I don't need to touch the stove to know that I am likely to get burned. My life is better without having to worry about whether or not I will drink more than I am should, what I might do when I am drunk, where I might wake up, who I might kill in an auto accident, how I am going to afford to drink and pay my bills, how I am going to find the time to work to pay my bills and still have time to drink, etc..... With sobriety I can live life, plain and simple. Life can be complicated enough without having the added stress of trying to control my drinking. Just my thoughts on moderation.

But to answer your question yes, this is a site for sober recovery and technically sober can also mean moderate use. I do find it ironic though that most people who are comfortable with moderate use of alcohol don't feel the need to utilize recovery forums as they don't have to think or work at their moderation it is just natural to them.

CarolD

Erriksen.....
Please share exactly which programs
you are talking about.
I only know of one
Moderation Management

They do require a period of
sobriety before resuming alcohol.

Is that the method you use?





.

Done_With_It

Erriksen, I am not an alcoholic, therefor I do not have to 'Control' my drinking.

For 99.9% of the people who have an alcohol problem, Drinking controls them.

If I tried to 'Control' my addiction to meth, it would kill me.

Trying to 'Control' something that has Control over you can be deadly.
I've found the people on this board have tried for years to Control there
drinking without success, that is what makes them an alcoholic.

JMO

NoelleR

I'm with Carol....

....and Moderation Management; even they say they're NOT for alcoholics.....

....since most of the folks here on this forum alcoholics, moderation management/controlled drinking is not an option for them........as it is NOT an option for me.....since I am an alcoholic.....well a recovered alcoholic, anyway..... (o:


NoelleR

Katecan

Wow, what a thread. Scared me bad just reading what you're going through sobergirl77. I can't believe you didn't stay at the hospital when you went. I sure hope you're doing better. I was lucky to not really have any withdrawals, just a two day long severe hangover like I'd never had before. (made me wish I was dead my head hurt so bad) That was scary enough for me to seek help.

Said some prayers for you girl. Hang in there.

Tazman53

Look this does not have a thing to do with AA, as already stated I will repeat, the ONLY program I have ever heard of is MM and as someone already said MM flat out says their program is NOT for alcoholics.

PLEASE PLEASE tell us of one single "Recognized" recovery program that beleives that an alcoholic can drink normally again.

Like I said before, to tell an alcoholic they can drink normally again is the equivelant of telling someone that they can play russin toulette safely as long as they control it!!!

sobergirl77

Wow this thread has turned into an interesting debate...

I wanted to update again since I've been doing it almost every day now.

Today I woke up at noon (so I missed the noon AA meeting) but after a VERY hard time falling asleep last night, I slept... 9 hours!

That is a miracle for me these days... and I think those 9 hours did me a lot of good. I woke up without heart palpitations for the first time in over a week, for one thing. I woke up without pain in my stomach area for the first time in 3 days. I woke up without withdrawal symptoms. I woke up feeling... GOOD!

Last night was no picnic, however. I stuck to 1 1/2 glasses of wine. Tried to only do one but the heart palpitations were driving me batty.

I am so thankful about feeling better physically today that I got on my knees and thanked the good Lord! I even look slightly better. My skin is suddenly breaking out (which rarely happens) but my face puffiness has gone down considerably. My neck glands aren't as swollen as they have been for the past couple of weeks, either.

Today was also the first day that I was able to drink a full cup of coffee, enjoy it and not have heart palpitations afterward.

Today's plan is 1/2 of a glass and an AA meeting sometime tonight.

The end of this ordeal is near... once I am able to have 1/2 a glass of wine without any withdrawals, I will be ready to stop completely. The end of this taper nightmare is so close I can taste it...

Of course, my real journey of sobriety is only beginning. And it will be hard.

Katecan

sobergirl77, if you're not experiencing any type of withdrawal symptoms, why not skip that wine and make this your first official day with no drink?

Could be the "first day" of the rest of your great life. Thinking of it that way makes it sound very exciting!

I am glad to hear you're feeling better.

sobergirl77

Katecan, that is exactly what I am going to do... I did 3/4 of a glass last night and had only 1 quick 2-minute anxiety episode. Woke up today feeling great again except for a few body aches.

I went to a late 11pm AA meeting last night, where my sponsor happened to be at as well.

So today is my first day of sobriety... I will update again tomorrow morning to let you all know if it was successful! (And yes, I'll be attending at least 1 AA meeting today, if not 2).

LosingmyMisery

How about dumping any remaining alcohol out? You have come so far. Alcoholism is cunning, baffling and powerful. It will play games with your sanity. To play it safe, dump it! Now, focus on your plan to stay sober. Good luck!

sobergirl77

I did dump out my alcohol on the advice of my sponsor. Now all I have left is the librium that was prescribed to me last week in the ER, which I have yet to take. My sponsor said I can call her anytime day or night if I start getting freaked out or scared or tempted, which is so awesome. If I start getting shakes or anxiety tonight I will take one of the libriums, after all, that's what they were prescribed for!

LosingmyMisery

You are not alone.

It sounds like you have all of your bases coved. Great job and hold on...you are almost through the detox.

Katecan

Right on sobergirl77. "We" CAN do this!

RufusACanal

I would be interested to hear what recovery programs promote a return to successful drinking.

Tazman53

Sobergirl you are right, the hardest part is staying stopped, so many times after we get feeling better we mentally start to deny we are alcoholics and we decide we can have a drink or 2, what is really bad is some of us will be able to get away with this several times, every time beleiving "Oh yea I got it under control this time!!" The some time later we are right back where we left off at only worse and wondering "What happened?" I did this for many years.

Rufus there are none, even MM says that MM will not work for an alcoholic, the founder of MM killed 2 people proving that MM does not work for alcoholics!

Cathy31

Wow Sobergirl - you konw this REALLY can be the first day of a beautiful wonderful life for you. If you stick with AA and what your sponsor says - the desire to drink WILL be removed - that is one of the many miracles of AA.
Well done!
Cathy31
x

sobergirl77

Well, this will probably be my last post in this particular thread because yesterday was my first official sober day. My taper nightmare is over!!! The ONLY symptom I had last night was heart palpitations and occasional bouts of dizziness.

Thanks so much for all of your support during my terrifying ordeal! I know I have a long road ahead of me. Last night I attended another 11pm candlelight AA meeting, and I got SO much out of it. It's weird but as soon as I walk into the meeting I felt safe and at peace. Everyone there (except me) was smoking like a chimney and guzzling hot coffee but I felt I belonged there.

I can tell it's going to be a hard road because already there have been some drinking triggers... for example, my sister and I were smelling perfumes in a department store yesterday, and one of them smelled like a bottle of vodka to me! My brain was instantly flooded with memories of knocking back shots of Grey Goose. Also, I've noticed nearly every television show has someone is drinking scotch or martinis or beer.

So I'll be calling my sponsor today (probably as soon as I post this message) and going to no less than 1 meeting per day indefinitely.

Katecan

Good for you sobergirl. You're doing great! You made me think of something. On Friday I was washing up some dishes and went to put the cutlery away and noticed a corkscrew with a cork in it in my cutlery drawer. I immediately unscrewed the cork, through it in the garbage and put the corkscrew high up in a cupboard above the fridge. It bothered me. So, I can relate to what you said.

Kathy

Ananda

Sboer girl,
I've been following this thread and I am so exited for you. Please keep posting on the forum so we can share in the "good" and "bad" times with you.

Loving support going your way