dsmaxis10

Why leave cause in my area at least 75% are drug addicts. Chairing meetings sponsoring new comer alcoholics it's just insane. The most important thing is one alcoholic identifying with another alcoholic. Why would you go to AA if your not an alcoholic. Either your alcoholic or your not alcoholic addict means drug addict. For a real alcoholic drug taking just untreated alcoholism. It's an epidemic!!!

Dee74

Hi dsmaxis

leaving AA would be kind of like cutting off your nose to spite your face though
Your priority should be your recovery, yeah?

I'm sure there are meetings around that better reflect your view of what AA should be - hunt them out

D

paddyjnr1

They could be your best Teachers as to why you shouldn't dabble in Drugs when trying to get spiritually well.
I totally understand what you mean and I'm embarrassed to say I was one of the 75% at one point in my life,
What happened to "There for the grace of God go I"
Stick with the winners, you need this program for you.

esinger

Um, alcohol is a drug. If your addicted to booze your a drug addict just different drug of choice. Everyone at the meetings are ultimately there for the same reason.

FLCamper

Are you getting anything out of the meetings?

Fly N Buy

I know very few alcoholics that weren't using drugs as well. Why does it bother you - powerless, unmanageable - came to believe - made a decision - write it / read it - willingness - ask God to remove it .......etc

A Rose by any other name

CAPTAINZING2000

What's your format say? This a closed meeting? If the meeting is closed it's supposed to be for people with an alcohol problem.

We have many dually addicted people at our meetings and we do stress to keep it alcohol related.

This can be addressed at a group conscious after a meeting.

dsmaxis10

Ya I do need this program. What I'm resentful for is I have schizophrenia and they all say don't take mood and mind altering drugs. I have to take an antipsychotic or I'll be hospitalized put in four point restraints up to 18 hours. The big book says never belittle a good dr or psychiatrist. And Bill W took something mood and mind altering I won't say what because it could effect a new comer all I have to say is he did it under Dr super vision. Well I feel better now. Oh and I drank to much coffee and quit nicotine six weeks ago so I was on edge. I just love the Big book and 12n12. I kept coming and coming even when a sponsor said if I were you I would of given up. My best friends an addict he says he has four years clean but only off his drug of choice heroin. He still does meth and stuff. I've got good news JB the hibitual relapser has lost the obsession to drink I'm so excited. I admit with out aa I'd be dead or lock up permentally in a psychward. Now that I think about it I was in real bad shape when I came in and no won would sponsor me except a drug attack I love that guy.

dsmaxis10

Sorry for all misspeling i even mest that up.

sg1970

You have more than earned your seat in there. Their attitude towards doctor prescribed medication is wrong and could get cause someone to end up dead. You probably can't and won't change their mind but you can be the voice of reason in the group. Counterbalance their opinion with yours.

ScottFromWI

Prescribed meds from your doctor for your schizophrenia are perfectly ok to take no matter what anyone tells you dmax. I am glad to hear you are feeling a bit better after getting this all out....do you have a sponsor you could call too? Sounds like there's more good than bad that you are getting from the program, I hope you can work out your issues so you can continue going.

Thumpalumpacus

I think alcoholism is the symptom of the underlying disease, an addictive mindset.

DayTrader

A drug is not a drug. Alcoholism is different than drug addiction. The phenomenon of craving is different in each group. That said, they could share the same solution but NA decided to branch off and form their own program with their own book and.....yes, it's different. The addictions are different and it goes without saying that middle of the road / watered down non-AA meetings purported to be AA meetings are not good meetings - at least not one that I've ever been to in over 8 years.

Sounds like it's time to step your game up. A common peril / common solution. If you've not found it so far, it's time to get out there and seek. Typically "groups" (which to me is a much more cohesive group than just ppl who regularly attend a meeting) will have strong lines of sponsorship which generally puts the majority on the same page and limits the amount of outside issues that are discussed at meetings and take away from conversations of steps, spirituality and recovery.

They're out there dsmaxis.....start asking around. Ask the stronger ppl what meetings they like, what meetings they go to, what meetings they've heard are strong. You're in a wonderful spot......where the status quo is no longer acceptable. Now it's up to you to do something about it.

Ken33xx

Are members who identify as a drug addict attending because there aren`t a lot of NA meetings? Or do they identify as alcoholic/addict?

In the AA meetings I attend in Southern California a good half identify as cross addicted.

Personally, the drink was my downfall and I identify as an alcoholic. However, like many others who grew up in the 60`s or later drugs were tossed into the mix as well.

In any event I would agree that dropping out of AA because the shares tend to focus on drugs usage might not be the wisest move.

As was mentioned try looking around for other AA meetings if possible.


He was also seeing a shrink.

Any medication you take is between you and your doctor. It`s really nobody else`s business.

Steely

Don't let anyone at AA tell you to stop your antipsychotics. The rule here at SR is to not give medical advice the same should apply within AA though I think that might be changing a bit. There is schizophrenia in my family and these really rigid attitudes towards 'drugs' really freak me out.

BarbieKen

I live in So Cal too. I personally go with D.O.C. And mine was alcohol. However during the decades, when I was younger, I abused cocaine and alcohol. From time to time I've been at AA Meetings (my HG) where the Secty asks for a show of hands who are ONLY alcoholics. A few hands are raised. Alcoholic & other drugs?? The majority of the room.

I attend weekly C.A. Meetings as well, though I haven't used that drug in over 2 decades. Because....I think of myself as an addict who can benefit from either 12 Step Meetings. In March we're going to our 3rd C.A. Convention in Laughlin. We could attend the last 2 years of CAWS Conventions because they were in Long Beach and Vegas. I just personally see so many similarities between AA & CA.
Bobbi

BarbieKen

I also am on an anti-depressant, since 2001. I'm here, alive, and now with recovery in such a great spot. From word of mouth testimony in the Rooms, I find Depression and other mental disorders to be quite common. Just my opinion.

dsmaxis10

Well I'm not leaving because I'm a chronic alcoholic. I did have four years sober and lost the obsession to drink threw a spiritual exp but I did not have a personality change. Look I went back to step one followed by step two followed by three. A very new exp with three were I shook off my family's religion cause all it did is make me feel shame guilt and remorse and judge the hell out of everybody. That right there was anuff to lose the obsession to drink what do you know I don't know. All I know is what the book says it won't last unless I go thru the steps with a recovered alcoholic that's completely unselfish. I started my fourth step I listed a hundred things in fifteen minutes. Never ever seen a sheet harms done to others other then sex conduct. You know what I'm not going to do that now I'm going to do that in eight. Will I always have to take meds I don't know all I know for now. last night I was talking about killing people. Because I'm psychotic with and without alcohol. Maybe I'm so screwed up I have to be put on some med or I'm really schizophrenic 15 mental hospitals sober so maybe I have to quit be so delusional and except I got the schiz. It says we straighten out mentally and physically that it's the psychiatrist job to break us down. I'm broken can the big book exp put me back together. Look I went to ten mental hospitals the four years I was sober by quitting my meds. We will employ are mental facullties with ansurrance. It's not like I like taking antipsychotics but every time I quit I become enraged. Sorry for the babble it took me nine years of AA to identify with someone at the table a man with forty three years said I crave a drink all day me I can crave a drink I drink right now I don't have cravings. It's an act of ? that I don't.

Adillac

Read the BB and connect with those who do the same. It clearly states in the BB that AA is about not drinking and as laymen, the opinions of AA stop there. I resented "addicts" and the "everyone gets a participation ribbon" culture that permeates the rooms of AA these days, but thanks to the courts and rehab centers, it is unavoidable. Stick to church basements and the early morning meetings if you want to avoid the riffraff, lol. It took me years to stop giving a $hit what every other AA person believed was right. When you know the BB and the core principles of the program well enough, and believe it for yourself, you won't let all the other crap you hear bother you. Stick with the winners ( I hate that phrase), but its true.

LiveInPeace

This is a very old-fashioned view of AA in my opinion.

No matter what the addiction--drugs, alcohol, gambling, gaming, sex, binge-eating, bulimia, pills, porn, shopping, work, rage, people--WE ARE ALL THE SAME. Replace the word "alcohol" with whatever your chemical or behavior of choice, and it's all the same problem and THE SAME EXACT ONE SOLUTION.

WE ALL HAVE THE SAME ALCOHOLIC MINDS EVEN IF ALCOHOL ISN'T WHAT WE CHOOSE OR BOTTOM OUT WITH.

I strongly believe if Bill W was alive today, he'd welcome people with any addiction into the rooms of AA.

The only people who shouldn't be in an AA meeting are ones who do not have an addiction.

We need to stop this harsh exclusion of people just because their drug or behavior of choice was not alcohol.

Anyone can help an addict of any addiction through the steps of the big book to get a spiritual awakening to solve their problem. It doesn't matter what they are addicted to. Just replace the word "alcohol" with the word of your addiction and the steps out of the big book work exactly the same way.

Sure identification may be important in the beginning, but if I'm in a room listening to someone talk about their addiction, just because I don't have the same addiction, all the thinking and behavior and unmanageability is exactly the same. Liquor and bottles is "but a symptom". It's the symptom of our spiritual malady, which isn't about alcohol but about our minds. Alcohol is what we used to try to solve our spiritual malady.

Take away the alcohol, and our life is still unmanageable. It's not about the alcohol. It's about the ism

God I am so freaking grateful to the person who started my home group and taught me this. It completely changed my understanding of the addictive mindset.