tmbg

I'm at the turning point. AA meetings have not kept me sober nor have the steps.. Although my drinking career has been relatively short, it's done the job...and I just cannot stop the every-so-often, which has ended up with devastating consequences. Every relationship in ruins. I have ended up back in isolation.

Truth is, I am afraid of what "rehab" is going to mean. A doctor advised me to get it together and not "ruin my career" by going, but that's not happening. I relapse and relapse.

PaperDolls

Well, rehab doesn't cure you.....I should say it didn't cure ME.

I went to a 30 day rehab and now work the steps of AA. I needed both.

As far as ruining your career ..... I don't know about. Alcoholic drinking can do that pretty darn quick on it's own.

Sapling

Just curious...How many of the steps did you do?

Terminally Unique

You do realize that in rehab, they will just have you 'work' steps 1-2-3 and attend lots of meetings, right?

Sapling

That's why I left early TU...I was ready to work the program on my own..

Lenina

Being in rehab gave me a chance to get a clear head, to put my less pressing issues on the back burner while I learned about what my addiction to alcohol was doing to me. It helped me a lot. I was in a safe place, learned new coping skills and started to get my body healthy again.

At first, I was just horrified that I had let myself get so far gone I needed to be inpatient. Looking back, it was the best thing for me. I wish I had known about about other ways to get sober but at that time AA was the only game in town.

I do think having the 30 days in a secure place was the best thing for me.

Hope this helps.

Love from Lenina

RobbyRobot

I've successfully lived in rehab getting sober, and I've successfully worked in rehab helping others. So I'm familar with both sides of the rehab experience.

Rehab does not prevent relapses. Rehab does not make things better or easier. Rehab does not give you a better chance at always staying quit.

Rehab does give you a place to forget about the outside world long enough to get a fix on your bearings. Rehab does provide fellowship shoulder to shoulder 24/7. Rehab does simplify your early start at staying quit.

A history of failed rehabs would absolutely have an undesirable paper trail for a professional career. A successful rehab would be a plus, of course.

Rehab is not a solution in itself. It is an option and like all options must be weighed with consideration.

sugarbear1

I'd tell you rehab didn't work for me because I wasn't willing to stay stopped when I got out of rehab and into the world..... My friend worked the steps, she drank again. She still isn't sure she has a problem, though. She still has problems at work, she just doesn't see what's coming if she continues to drink.

I did learn some things in rehab, though, which in some ways just prolonged my drinking history because I would "play" with my tolerance levels....but I kept drinking.

Are you ready to stay stopped? Will it take losing your career? I lost mine...

I can't turn back time, but today, I can be honestly and truly willing to do what it takes to keep from drinking. Today, don't drink.....today is it.....

I wish you well!

dawnrunner

What kind of doctor equates rehab with career ruination?!?

I did a very helpful Out-Patient rehab which was worked around my job hours. I learned a lot: about addiction physiology, about strategies for rebuilding life and relationships, about what leads to relapse and how to avoid it, about meditation and self-awareness, about emotional damage that feeds into substance abuse, etc and I went into it with a Ph.D. and a lot of prior reading. I also gained human knowledge from my fellow group members, and a sense of how others have struggled and won, lost, won again.

We did do sessions based on the 12 steps of AA, and we were encouraged to get in the habit of meetings, but there was a whole lot more.

I'll tell you how to ruin your career: keep relapsing. Seriously.

The role of a physician is to direct you in the way of health, not keeping up appearances. That's like telling a cancer victim to avoid chemo as it makes people think you are ill.

Best wishes to you for a sane and healthy future, however you find it.

Terminally Unique

One who is more forthcoming than most, and apparently aware of the implications of addiction 'treatment'. The OP didn't specify what his career entails, but it isn't always merely about 'job hours'. Many professionals would be far better off taking their vacation time and going it alone, allowances for medical detox notwithstanding, than going to rehab. Addiction 'treatment' can and does ruin careers.

2granddaughters

I found that I had a gun to my head and just before pulling the trigger I went to rehab in '89.

Does rehab work ??.... I'm posting today so I guess it did in my case.

Had I pulled the trigger, it would have messed my career up more.. along with the walls and ceiling.
And my granddaughters and I would never have met.

All the best to you.

Bob R

Lenina

TU, for once I have to disagree with you. Not knowing all the details here, I surmise perhaps this doctor is not familiar with the fatal nature of continued drinking. And that being told to quit drinking is not so easy for those of us with the lizard brain. Or maybe doesn't know how to write a honest but creative note to the employer as to why time off is needed for treatment.

I knew full well I had to quit drinking way before I knew how. And that knowing I had to quit drinking was not the same as wanting to quit. For me, the hardest part was actually wanting to quit.

Love from Lenina

Terminally Unique

Hopefully the OP will return and give us more details regarding his situation.

PaperDolls

Not treating addiction often leads in death, thus a ruined career, among other things.

Terminally Unique

If you believe addiction is 'treatable' -- I do not. Either way, the OP stated that neither AA nor the Steps helped him, and rehab would be more of the same. It would be helpful to know just how long 'every so often' is, though. If he can already go 30 days without a drink, rehab is definitely going to be a waste of time and money.

PaperDolls

Getting into semantics a bit.

"Treatable" or "Do something to change it" ........ same same.

aasharon90

Rehab became an option when my family
stepped in to get me help I so desperately
needed in my life 21 yrs ago. It was them
doing for me what I couldnt do for myself.

For them and for the program of recovery
I am extremely grateful, thankful and blessed.

keithj

From my experience, inpatient rehab ranks as 'less serious' than AA in terms of recovery.

Rehab was a stepping stone, a brief vacation from my life, a great way to detox, and a wonderful education and introduction to some of AA's principles and concepts. I did not, however, stay sober after a 30 day spin-day. Most don't.

Staying sober, for good and all, required a much more serious abandonment into the Steps than I was willing to do after rehab. It wasn't until I got beat up some more, that I can became willing to go the lengths necessary for me. Those lengths were continued, lifetime, solid progress in AA's Steps. Much more serious than rehab.

Linz

I have found time after time that I am quite incapable of getting sober by myself, and that it takes much more than just willpower (for me.) I have been to a handful of meetings, and then drank after a few times of going. I wasn't willing to put my all into my sobriety/recovery... and I have found it extremely difficult dealing with triggers, because everything is a trigger to me. Or at least it seems that way!
That being said, I am going into a rehab facility for a thirty day stay beginning this Monday. I believe it works for some people...

TheEnd

When I went to rehab, I was on a 11 day relapse....that landed me in detox, then baker acted twice, and finally back to detox. Had I not gone to rehab, I wouldn't be here today. It's not something I wanted to do, but it's something I had to do. I needed to be away from the world so I could concentrate on myself.

It's a great start, but you will have to be willing to work for it, and it doesn't guarantee sobriety once you get out. Hell it doesn't even guarantee it when you're inside, because if you really want to drink and use, you will find away.

Currently I'm a teacher and had to take a leave of absence for 3 months when I went to treatment, and this did not affect my career. I don't know what your profession is, but I have met many people who have also gone to treatment with all types of careers from Doctors, police officers, lawyers, nurses, firemen, dentists, news anchors, computer programmers, city workers, etc.... You name it. None of these people had any negative consequences as a result of going to rehab.

Most companies will actually work with you and have stipulations in the policy that allow for leave in cases such as these. Like I said, I don't know what your profession is, but if you're the kind of alcoholic like I was, you stand to lose more by not going than you do by going.

Think about it, can you really have a career if you're in jail or dead?