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How long does a craving last?

Old 03-31-2012, 03:29 PM
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Originally Posted by winslynn View Post
It is an obsession,not a craving.Your mind will not leave it alone,it is stronger than you are and will sooner or later kill you.These are the cold hard facts of being an alcoholic.
Your body can't take it and your mind will not leave it alone.
For alcoholics of our sort you are absolutely correct. There is no "easier, softer way" for us than AA.

All the best.

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Old 03-31-2012, 03:32 PM
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After about 2 weeks, you will no longer have any ever again.
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Old 03-31-2012, 03:38 PM
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Originally Posted by onlythetruth View Post
Importantly, they DO STOP COMPLETELY after awhile. I can't remember having anything even approaching an urge for at least 10-12 years.
Yes, they do eventually stop completely. Not everyone agrees, and that's okay. Experience is such a subjective thing. I don't remember having an actual alcoholic obsessional urge for well over 28 years now out of the 30 yrs sans alcohol. And even then, the vast majority of any alcoholic urges was all within my first 12 months or less, and the strongest of those in my first 90 days.

Even when I had strong suicidal ideations at 10 years sober, I did not have related alcoholic obsessions along with the ideations. I took some appropriate gestalt therapy counselling and none of the counselling targeted my alcoholism because my alcoholism was still as always arrested and in a coma

Originally Posted by Winslynn
It is an obsession,not a craving.Your mind will not leave it alone,it is stronger than you are and will sooner or later kill you.These are the cold hard facts of being an alcoholic.
Your body can't take it and your mind will not leave it alone.
Winslynn, IMO, your words speak with rhetorical generalizations showing a deeply awkward misunderstanding of alcoholism illness theory. You would do yourself a favor by not applying your projections and conjections on specific individuals. Although its true an unknown number of alcoholics are killed by obsessional alcoholic drinking, it is untrue that every alcoholic is killed in such a manner.

Simply, all alcoholics by definition are of course only at risk of dying from alcoholism. Risk is what it is, and all the doomsday rhetoric in the world won't help a single alcoholic stop drinking. If words alone could do the job, what a wonderful thing that would be, eh.
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Old 03-31-2012, 03:41 PM
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Each craving bout lasts for as much as 20mins at a time, sometimes i would get these all day everyday, then i went to AA...And work the steps, and somewhere along the line of steps 1 to 4 the obsession to drink got removed, so that begs the question...why doesnt everyone try it?? Its much better than white knuckling the cravings with self will..
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Old 03-31-2012, 03:51 PM
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Originally Posted by JustBreath View Post
Impurrfect: I look forward to the "next" before the craving hits. That is a wonderful thing to hold onto in my efforts Thank you

And Onlythetruth: I haven't started any treatments or programs yet but Wow! That is a very refreshing post. I do sometimes have the "whats the point" thought but I wait it out and it does pass. And you are the first person that has told me that they will stop completely over time. I love that statement! Thank you It means to me that there is an eventual end to the madness.

I am still very early in recovery. Day 20 today and my cravings have obviously dwindled over this time because I truly can't remember the last time I even had a week of sobriety. So its not like I have all this experience in the matter but I do know what has worked so far for me.

I am nervous though about starting a program because I am not sure which one to try.
It seems that people feel very strongly about how they achieved their own sobriety which is completely understandable, I would also swear by whatever keeps me sober. But hopefully I will have an open enough mind to remember everyone is different.
I have also been told I will fail on my own which I try to pay no mind to because my #1 goal is to never have another sip and I don't believe anyone can predict how I will end up.
I don't want to be the person that people say "Everyone slips" to and comforts.
I don't want to believe that everyone slips... It seems like an out to me. Like "Well if everyone slips then it's ok for me to" Not that I would act on these thoughts but I never want it to be a possibility for me.

I am sorry if I am offending anyone It truly is not my intent.
I am just trying to figure out what I have to do for myself to stay sober for the long haul.

Thank you all for listening!
Great share, JB.

And fwiw, you're right of course, everyone dosen't return back to drinking. I never did after my detox, rehab, AA, Gestalt therapy, etc.

No slips, No relapses, Nothing, and I had never asked for help from others for my alcoholism before my first and last detox. So I got it right first time. I always ask for help now for whatever, and I always offer help in kind too of course. So, yes, slips and relapses are not a requirement for recovery.



Have a great day!
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Old 03-31-2012, 10:56 PM
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At five months of sobriety I don't have cravings or obsessions. For the first month or so I would get them pretty bad, my mouth felt like sand and I was uncomfortable like I needed to scratch an itch under a cast. I don't work any kind of program. I'm just not a joiner of anything, except SR. Luckily, I am naturally a very spiritual person with deep honest relationships. This has helped keep me on the path. It has been a lot of work, some of it painful some of it joyful. Some sober friends of mine who are AA have seemed to imply that my sobriety is somehow inferior to theirs. I do not appreciate powerless misery and so I will certainly relapse directly. Maybe I'm just staying sober to prove them wrong but, hey, whatever works!
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Old 04-01-2012, 04:16 AM
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Originally Posted by nel68 View Post
JB, I am 91 days sober thanks to SR :-) In the beginning my cravings came hard and strong.... (makes me think of labor pains...lol.. breathe in & breathe out) I had to keep myself occupied right when I was getting a craving. I notice over time they got very weak, I get them.. but it last just a minute or two. If I get a strong one... I just tell my acoholic mind...STOP!..then I get myself busy with something. Hang in there, you are doing great!! 20 days awesome

Thank you for this! SR and the people it holds have been the only tools I have used to stay sober so far, utilizing the blog option to keep track, poking around, researching, and talking in chat.

Thank you Dee for the link! I have been reading up on somethings and I think I may just mix a few programs and see what best suits me. The thing is I just need to stop reading and actually DO something other than experiment on my own because like I said I am still young in recovery and don't know fully how this is supposed to work. I just know I can't pick up a drink.


At five months of sobriety I don't have cravings or obsessions. For the first month or so I would get them pretty bad, my mouth felt like sand and I was uncomfortable like I needed to scratch an itch under a cast. I don't work any kind of program. I'm just not a joiner of anything, except SR. Luckily, I am naturally a very spiritual person with deep honest relationships. This has helped keep me on the path. It has been a lot of work, some of it painful some of it joyful. Some sober friends of mine who are AA have seemed to imply that my sobriety is somehow inferior to theirs. I do not appreciate powerless misery and so I will certainly relapse directly. Maybe I'm just staying sober to prove them wrong but, hey, whatever works!


Gaffo HA! Yes! I think I am the same way 'a naturally spiritual person' but I hear about staying sober to prove them wrong. I get this competitive thought going on like 'Oh yeah?! You can't tell me what to do!' lol. As for 1 persons Sobriety being superior or inferior to another, isn't that kind of like saying 'my child is prettier than yours', or 'my life is better than yours'? I guess whatever keeps them from having a drink.

And RobbyRobot: :ghug3 Seriously, Thank You!

SR is this huge melting pot of beliefs, support, and understanding.
The people here are fantastic, driven, a bit crazy at times and exactly what I need.

Thank you all

Oh and Keepfinding2:

After about 2 weeks, you will no longer have any ever again.

Holding you to this



Thanks again everyone!

P.S Yes... I don't know how to quote different text in 1 reply so I know this post looks a mess.
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Old 04-01-2012, 07:04 AM
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i disagree that cravings keeep going and going. that's only if we interact with them and give them strength. all things pass. thoughts pass. a craving is a thought and a physiological reaction. they will pass if you don't give them fuel.
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Old 04-01-2012, 08:43 AM
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Originally Posted by JustBreath View Post
How long does a craving last?
I think you're very smart to ask this, it shows that you're aware that the craving will pass if you let it.

For me the length of time they last varies, but funny enough, they never outlast my (program's) reaction to them. For my own personal program, sometimes that reaction is to call my sponsor or talk with my husband, sometimes it's to read the BB or other recovery material, it could just be I eat a little something, or I write, go on a walk, treat myself in some way...whatever it is in my program that I choose to do that day to ride out the craving always seems to outlast it. I hope this helps in some small way.
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Old 04-01-2012, 08:57 AM
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Originally Posted by zxcirce View Post
i disagree that cravings keeep going and going. that's only if we interact with them and give them strength. all things pass. thoughts pass. a craving is a thought and a physiological reaction. they will pass if you don't give them fuel.
This is the point I was making about not paying attention to the cravings as they come but they do still come. They are strong in the first week but subside to the back of your mind after that. Nevertheless, the brain synapses that have been altered over many repeated instances of alcohol use do not easily change on their own for most of us.

I have learned to manage beyond the impulses but they remain for me just buried beneath the surface. Maybe some day they will stop but they still lurk in the back of my mind. It does get more manageable with time though and for some of you maybe it stops all together within the first few months.

I think it also partly depends on how long you abused and how much time you gave your brain to make changes that are hard to reverse. I used almost everyday for twenty years, maybe someone that only went a year or two will get rid of the side effects faster.
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