skid650

has anyone read or heard an explanation of what is actually happening inside the body when a craving for alcohol hits?

Murray4x5

I give it a shot;

Cravings are your brain stem and limbic system wanting to fill the extra pleasure receptors they created because of their over reaction to alcohol. The cravings are your primitive brain trying to coerce your thinking brain into giving them an alcohol bath. They know nothing of the pain and negative consequences or the after effects of your getting drunk, they only want to fill all those extra pleasure receptors. It took time for your brain to adapt to the excess alcohol and to create all those extra receptors, and now those receptors are going to cry out for more as it adjusts back to a normal number of them.

This is deep seated primitive stuff...the same mechanisms which make procreating and falling in love so nice, and help us remember things like which house gave the biggest chocolate bars last year at Halloween when you were a kid.

When they hit, recognize them for what they are and that they will lessen in frequency and severity with time. They are also a bell curve kind of experience, where they sneak up on you kinda slow, build and build and build in intensity, then kinda fade away.

That's the way I've thought about them. Nothing more than a physiological consequence of my bodies over reaction to alcohol which will go away in time, as long as I never have another drink again for the rest of my life.

Murray

Zencat

Murray4x5's explanation is spot on in my book.

Understanding the latest scientific findings of addiction has shaped my treatment program to best fit my recovery needs. I see there is nothing mystical about addiction nor anything supernal need to recover from addiction.

NoAlcoholToday

Murray is about right.

Here is a pretty comrehensive explanation of the biochemical side of things (if you have insomnia and have run out of reading material)

The precis is that you need to change your diet to make up for all the long term difficiencies in vitamins, minerals, lack of natural seratonin production etc

SSIL75

It's been really helpful to me, too. Rational Recovery's AVRT tool is helpful in slogging through the cravings which for me (3 mos in) are virtually non existant now. I had one this weekend b/c I found myself in an old familiar drinking scenario. Before that it had been a long time and I've had none since, either.

least

AFter getting thru the physical withdrawal, I think my cravings are just a manifestation of my mental addiction. I've lost the desire to drink but still sometimes get cravings out of nowhere. I deal with them by 'playing the tape thru to the end', in other words, understanding fully where that desire to drink would lead - to sickness and misery and lots of trouble.

With time the cravings get dimmer and fewer and easier to fight off. At least, they did for me.

tsmba

Since alcohol is a carbohydrate, the rehab center I attended offered orange juice and Polycose (a nutritional supplement) to break cravings. Polycose is a highly-refined sugar. A similar thing is how some AA meetings have bowls of candy available.

Isaiah

Sort of. I've looked into the physiological side of it. It was interesting but I find it hard to apply that information usefully when a craving comes. But when simplified a bit it's been helpful to me.

Just about every feeling of discomfort in our bodies is a sign to change something. Some discomfort is useful, like the sensation of hunger lets us know when we're running low on fuel. And when a positive sensation happens it's how we teach ourselves how to act in the future.

Problem I suppose is that our brains can't quite distinguish one good sensation from another. With a chemical like alcohol, over time our body starts to think of getting alcohol the way it thinks about getting food, "if it's not there, cause pain; if it's there, cause relief."

I believe even non-chemical problems often have the same cause. I understand that people with anger issues ("rageoholics") struggle because their brain just becomes hardwired not to calm itself or release the stress until it gets a high jolt of adrenaline. And aside from being an alcoholic I also consider myself a recovering cutter, an addiction, which is not drug-induced but functions a whole lot like my alcoholism.

LaFemme

Like many I find knowledge about what is going on to be a useful recovery tool. There is a thread dedicated to that knowledge....you can find it here:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...rch-links.html

I've heard about appeasing alcohol cravings with sugar. One book I read suggested that was a bad idea because the craving was still there and because you were still feeding it and it made you susceptible to alcohol cravings again. Just something I read...not offering an opinion on it.

doggonecarl

Can I assume you are going through episodes of cravings? While the explaination might be helpful, how are you dealing with them?

I didn't have physical cravings, but I thought about drinking [beer] all the time for the first two and a half months of being sober. Here in my third month they are much reduced.

loveon2legs

I can relate to the cravings early in recovery....carbs were my new best friend for the first 6 months!! Now like least, it's a mental thing...thoughts about drinking.....not actual cravings....I'm learning how to send the drinking thoughts down the river...mostly by meditating...works wonders for me....and also to recognize the thoughts...as just thoughts..thats it....you don't need to act on them....
all the very best on your journey!!