aasharon90

Hi Im Sharon and Im an Alcoholic.

By the Grace of my HP and people
like you here in SR I havent had a
drink of alcohol since 8-11-90.

For that and you I am truely grateful.

If i know something has alcohol in it
and I knowingly take a sip of it then my
conscience would emmediately let me know
I slipped.

I couldnt continue on in recovery
honestly know what i did was intentional.

For me....to take a sip ...well..what the he**
I dont want a sip of something if i like it
that much....in fact i know there would never
be enough alcohol in this world to satisfy
my craving for it....

And thats a fact.

When i was in rehab back in 90 for 28 days....
via the back seat of a police car...my first
stop and night was there in the crazy ward,,,,

See i had tried to end my miserable life by drinking
and a hand full of pills.....it was family intervention
that saved my life....

Anyway,,,,that first night...everything i had in
the way that might cause harm to me was
taken away....my spray cologne,,,mouth wash....

Later in group i learned that people actually
drank that stuff in desperation....

Then yrs down the road i gained wisdom and
knowledge of my disease and took the suggestions
so freely shared with me to help me and guide
me thru recovery without alcohol.

I also learned about change and replacing people
places and things that would remind me of
alcohol....

Odouls would remind me too much of alcohol...
and thus if i want the real thing then im not
skimping on the taste....Dam** i want a REAL drink.

Any kind of alcohol is poison to me....
To drink poison would mean i would die.

This is an honest program and so I have
to be thoroughly honest in all aspects of my life.

Including what i put in my body with food or liquid.

Thanks for letting me share.

Peter

O'douls and its likeness may have infinitesimally minute traces of alcohol (as may many of the other foods we consume on a daily basis, sometimes without even knowing it,) but drinking so called "non alcoholic" beers is too close to the real deal for my alcoholic brain to be comfortable with it......

Rob B

There is a reason it is called non-alcoholic beer. It is for nonalcoholics.

Tazman53

I am an alcoholic, I will not deny that fact nor try and fool myself that I am not.

I hated the taste of beer when I first started to drink it, but there was something in beer that made me feel like I belonged, like I was "The Man"! I did not like the taste, but that feeling it gave me when I first drank it was AWESOME!!!

The reason I drank beer was for the ALCOHOL!!!

I like the taste of 100s of different drinks that in no way, shape, form, or fashion even give the apperance or resemble the taste of an alcoholic beverage.

Hey how many people would drink near Vodka? What about near whiskey, gin, bourbon, or near white lightening?

Near beer to this alcoholic would be just like being near an exploding hand gernade!

Would simulated sex be okay for a sex addict trying to recover? I mean it is not real sex, it is just simulated so it would never make them think about real sex right?

leeside

I think that an alcoholic cannot have even a drop. Near-beer has at least a drop. Try drinking a sparkling apple juice or cider. :beerchug:

degadar

Good for you Fiat - if you can drink n/a beer and enjoy it without it leading to a problem, that's great news.

Personally I'd find it a step in the wrong direction. Both slippery and slopey.

Deg.

Tazman53

near beer for an alcoholic is kind of like sprinkling little drops of gasoline on a fire, one day there may be a flash fire!

Debaucher

Lets cut to the chase...

It is the same issue (for me at least) as me going to bars... they say you shouldn't go into bars... the big books says it is ok to go if you have a good reason... or business there (forget the exact quote but I am sure someone could quote it if you need it)...

I see NA beer as the same... the science says it is no different than a whole host of things that most folks wouldn't consider a slip... like drinking a big glass of O.J. etc.. etc... I probably get more alcohol from rinsing my mouth with mouthwash... but I digress...

You have to ask yourself if you are drinking NA beer as a replacement for beer... if it is a substitute then it is getting you one step closer to another REAL bear <--... nice spelling of BEER ... was going to fix it but i thought it was funny.. so I left it!

Same thing... I go to bars once a week to throw darts... My sponsor tells me over and over not to go... he says if you stay in the barber shop long enough you are going to get a hair cut... BUT he also says that if I am going there JUST to throw darts then it is ok... but if I am going to a bar for the atmosphere or because I like being in bars then... I am on the slippery slope again...

The point is the NA beer is a grey area... and for many they choose not to even take the chance... it is impossible for others to know if it is ok for this person or that person to have NA beer. It is impossible because only the person can know his TRUE intensions... on that person knows if they are engaging in justification.

So... if you ask then the answer is easy...

if I answer it is ok to drink NA beer then I will assist the person enguaged in justification in convincing themselves that NA is ok into believing a personal lie... and yet for some I will be right... so in that case 1 outcome the person relapses and becomes drunk again... in the other outcome all is well...

If I answer NO... then I could be wrong and I could be right BUT NA beer will not cause the person to relapse...


THE easy answer is no...

Debaucher

I should also add to what I wrote... that just because your intentions are good with respect to NA beer today... doesn't mean that 2 weeks from now you won't be enjoying that NA beer reminising about all the REAL beers you had before... !!!

Steve58

Someone here once likened it to holding hands with a hooker.
S

ghostgirl

reminds of a woman who was giving a lead at a meeting a few weeks ago. she shared how one time she went to a bar and had 42 odouls... love that effect that alcohol has!

parentrecovers

i used to drink it some - please keeping in mind that i am not an alcoholic.

then i realized that when i drank it, i just had to pee more often.

not worth it!

diet coke with lime please..

k

Ten Chips Down

LOL Hi Fiat,

That is why I stay farrr away from any alcohol-based rinses! Personal preference, obviously but I agree with Peter!! -->

It helps a lot that I NEVER, EVER, EVER liked the taste of friggin' ANYTHING I "had" to suffer to get the alcohol in my system... lol ...lol But damn you know?? I cannot see going back to a thing so close to the thing that liked to killed me.

Hehe. Oh - welcome aboard too, Fiat.

Ten

RedFox

Since drinking is a habit that I'm trying to break, I feel like drinking near beer would put me back in my old ways and just eventually lead me to drinking the heavy stuff again. I'm too scared of that and I never liked the taste of beer anyway, so I have no reason to try NA beer. I'm just speaking for myself. Some people can do it without it causing problems, but I'm not one them.

St_Kurt

LOL!

This totally reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend the other day. I'd never realized how many gas stations and convenience stores sold little half pint bottles of alcohol in my town (it's a college town with a big drinking culture). He thought it was hilarious that I'd only just discovered this (figuring I'd know all the places to buy liquor within a 100 foot radius of my home I guess).

But then I said something like, "why would anyone want to buy a bottle of vodka that small anyway? That's ridiculous."

Which he thought was even funnier.

And then when I was trying to explain that a half pint of vodka would just make me think "well, where's the rest of it?", he just laughed at me some more.

This is how our friendship works.

He drinks NA Beer though so... draw your own conclusions. ;-)

-e

Lost Sailor

Anyone have any thoughts on vanilla extract? My bottle I have in my pantry is 35% alcohol. I don't think many people realize it has it in there, but I thought it was interesting when I went to visit my father, who's an alcoholic, a few months ago. He doesn't drink (intentionally) anymore, but I noticed he had a GIANT bottle of vanilla on his counter. Like commercial sized. He said he puts it in his milk. I know he had no idea, and was completely innocent and likes vanilla, but I just thought that was interesting.
I'm not saying someone could get wasted by drinking vanilla, but subconsciously I wonder if he developed a liking for it or felt something and didn't realize it.

Creekryder

I found several years back, I was attempting quitting alcohol. I went to non-alc beer and after several sittings, I was guzzling the stuff. I was going through the actions but not getting the buzz. I compensated by drinking greater amounts, unconsciously. Not a good choice for me. Set the stage, to which I began drinking shortly after. This time, nothing that even resembles an alcoholic drink. (Except OJ)

Peter

Yes vanilla does contain a certain amount of alcohol. But even though I wont buy vanilla I still enjoy the flavour in ice cream and some pastry.

I think there may be a difference between vanilla extract and vanilla flavouring.

laurie6781

Just my .02 here.

Most of you know that I have many many ODAATs now. And yes, periodically I have an O'Douls.

Of course, I was never a beer drinker, would only indulge in one on a hot day, for the taste and the carbonation, never ever used beer to get drunk or stay drunk (took too damn long, rofl).

Neither my sponsor nor her husband ever had a problem with me having one now and then either. My roommate and dear dear friend Lora who has even more years than me, enjoys one also now and then.

We just opened our 2nd 12-pack of this year, roflmao and now have 4 cans chilled in the refrig.

As has been said above, there is as much or more alcohol in some foods naturally ie orange juice as O'Douls.

This is definitely an INDIVIDUAL DECISION. I would no more tell someone they could not drink it, than I would tell someone they can.

J M H O

Love and hugs,

came2believe

You can buy alcohol free vanilla extract at whole foods. It is a bit expensive but how much vanilla do you use at once anyway? Unless you are trying to get wasted... lolol

I keep very careful tabs on alcohol based products in my home now. This is what I have to do to preserve my sobriety so I am not telling anyone else what to do. I use alcohol free mouthwash, alcohol free fragrances, etc etc. Even Purell bothers me.

I do not want to be the girl who relapsed on Listerine! Or on vanilla extract, or, saints preserve us, PURELL for that matter!