How long does a craving last?
Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Canada. About as far south as you can get
Posts: 4,768
All the best.
Bob R
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.
Your body can't take it and your mind will not leave it alone.
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.
Guest
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Brighton, UK
Posts: 164
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..
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!
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!
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!
Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Vashon WA
Posts: 1,035
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!
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.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 181
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.
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.
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.
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.
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)