verity29

Hi All,

Just been to my 4th AA meeting tonight. Stories were truly toe curling and scary. I have done a lot of bad things through drinking but finding it very hard to relate to these meetings and i feel like giving up now.

Everyone else at the meeting drank daily and could not live from day to day without drink. I drank in binges- once i started i never could stop.

I do not feel i need a meeting every day because i did not drink every day. Yet i am being told "90 meetings in 90 days". I feel i am stuck between a full blown alcoholic and a normal drinker. I can't do either. I can't do the meetings yet i can't handle the drinking.

Please help me.

ANGELINA243

Hello verity29,
I'm sorry you are having trouble relating to your AA group--I had the same problem before. Are there many different AA groups in your area--or just the one. We all have different stories. Some of us never got arrested or went to jail. Some of us never lost our families or friends. Either way--that is not the important thing. My question is "What happens when you pick up a drink--whether it be once a week or more frequently? Do you say "I'll just have have a few drinks" but end up drinking into a blackout? Have you ever suffered memory lapses due to drinking. I don't know whether you are an alcoholic or not. I am--because I cannot manage the aftermath once I pick up a drink--sure I could have two drinks today (maybe) but it wouldn't be long before I was drinking my bank account away--and suffering horribly bodily/mentally from my drinking sprees.

Keep going to AA if it is helping--if not, there are many different recovery places out there--not just AA. Find one that you can stick to and that is helping you. This website was my recovery before I started going to meetings--now I choose to do both.

Thanks and I wish you well on your road to recovery.

stone

Hi Verity, If you have a problem with alcohol then you have a problem with alcohol.
Dont be put off by the extreme 'war stories' etc, binge drinking is just as dangerous as daily drinking.

I was a daily drinker who became a binge drinker.

I have been going to AA for about 90 days now and have been sober for 84 of those days, and I have just gone 30 days sober for the first time in a long time.

I attend 3-4 meetings a week. I am happy with that amount.

AA isnt just meetings, it is about getting a sponsor and working the steps, I would recommend letting some people at a meeting know you are looking for a sponsor.

AA has really helped me and I was a complete cynic about it, so please dont let yourself be put off at this early stage.

GlassPrisoner

You haven't heard the "Yets" yet ?

As in "I've never lost a job (yet)", "I've never gotten a DUI (Yet)", Etc....?

If you are alcoholic, then things will get worse as the disease progresses, and it does progress.

Angelina makes a good point. Even if you don't drink daily, what happens when you take a couple and get a buzz going ? With me, it was ON. I'd drink until I was out of booze or passed out.

baggervance

I was different when I went to my first AA meeting I knew I really knew before then but I could relate to something everyone in that meeting said. I left went home told my wife I had been to an AA meeting and then went to the beer joint.AA is not for everyone I've found it is for me.I had all these plans about tapering,moderating they were all great plans only problem was none worked.Had a hard time with the God deal I still do I thought these people might be a cult sometimes I still do but when I suit up show up and do what I'm supposed to I stay sober.Ive been drinking since I was four years old and I had more clean time in aa than any other time in my life.

Anna

Verity, an alcoholic is an alcoholic.

No one can tell you if you're an alcoholic or not, but if you can't stop drinking once you start, that's a sure sign.

And, it's a progressive disease. It will get worse, unless it's stopped.

If alcohol is causing you problems and you want to stop drinking, you've come to the right place.

igetallnumb

hello and welcome,

Nobody can tell you your a alcoholic but you. you define and know who your are inside. And if you came here to SR then you should examine that.
There are many people who are recovering from a life of drinking. And they can help you with any concern or question you have. we are not here to diagnose... but to help and support each other.

Im so glad you took the first step in talking about this with us. Welcome and stick around

Taking5

Try other meetings. Every meeting has its own "personality". Where are you located? If you live in even in a medium sized city like me, there will be dozens of meetings you could attend.

Rowan

How are you doing today, Verity?

Daisy1975

I agree 100% I started with AA and found that NA is something I can relate to more. I didn't relate to some of the "horror" stories either, but I still learned I can benefit from them. The whole, "better them than me!" scared straight type of thing, hee hee.