choublak

Okay, I have a question for those in recovery. Let's say you're out somewhere, being social, and you accidentally take a sip of an alcoholic beverage. Is one accidental sip enough to put you back where you were before you started?

Anna

Well, for me, alcohol is alcohol, but your sober time is your own to decide.

choublak

But, what if it's an accident? Like on that Seinfeld episode?

Dee74

There's no one size fits all answer.
You'll find various threads about this where people have experienced this.

I'm siding with Anna tho - I once ate tiramisu, not realising it had alcohol in it.

I had a few days of mind games with that so now I'm always very careful about what I ingest

D

aasharon90

Share with us how you accidentally took a sip?
Did someone force you you take that sip, twist
ur arm? Was it conscience choice to drink it, or
could u have spit it out?

Staying away from people places and things having
to do with alcohol has kept me sober a many one
days at a time since 8-11-90.

suki44883

To avoid that from happening, one should smell before they drink. It is possible to pick up the wrong glass, so sniffing the contents will alert you if there is alcohol inside.

So far as one sip causing a relapse, anything is possible. Once the brain recognizes that alcohol has been ingested, it starts wanting more. Sometimes it does cause someone to start obsessing about it, and that's when a relapse is likely to happen. It doesn't always happen that way, but it certainly can.

choublak

Football games? A college alumni football game, for example?

Dee74

was this your accidental sip or someone else's choublak?

D

choublak

Neither one, just thinking hypothetically.

Dee74

Then Sukis answer is a good one

D

onlythetruth

A few months after I quit drinking, I ate what looked like a chocolate candy at a friend's house. I had no idea that it was filled with liqueur and it was in my mouth and down my throat before I knew it. Total mistake. I had no intention of drinking. Was that a slip? I sure didn't count it as such, but I did learn to be more careful and that chocolates sometimes are filled with alcohol!

aasharon90

There are many situations, events, weddings and so
on where alcohol will be available. Football games
where there are tailgate parties and so on....

You will find many do attend these events and can
stay sober because they are surrounded by a network
of sober friends.

When you place ur recovery, sobriety above all then
you will go to any lengths to protect what will become
important to you and your life.

You may eventually replace those drinking buddies
with sober ones because you have taken a new
direction or change in ur life. It's not the end of the
world for you but the beginning of something more
meaningful and important to you.

cb01361990

Yes, I believe so. That one sip I have learned from many of my elders is enough to do it. "It only takes 1 tiny little spark to ignite a fire if their is enough fuel".

SomethingBetter

I was walking in the grocery store past some wine bottles (didn’t plan to) and my mouth watered, it's like I tasted it through the glass bottle, certainly ‘a sip’ would be harder to deal with than remembering the taste but even that had me working some thoughts back in the right positions.

If alcohol is around heightened thinking would be a good idea, as if a poisonous creature was loose in the same area you were in…

LaFemme

I dont think an accidental

Nirvana1

My personal opinion is if you Knowingly and Willingly take a sip than that is a relapse. If one of those is not intact, than I wouldn't count it, in a spiritual sense, against me.

For example, if someone handed me a beer and put a gun to my head and said "drink it or I shoot." I would knowingly take the beer but since I was unwilling, I wouldn't count that beer as a relapse.

In the case of accidental, If I was in a state of willingness or was thinking about drinking, but then accidently took a sip, I wouldn't count that against myself because I was unknowingly taking it.

My mind and thoughts have been "willing" to drink in my early recovery, but I don't get penalized for thoughts. If I were in that "willing" state of mind, but working on my recovery, I wouldn't want an accidental sip or swallowing of mouthwash to throw me off course.

eJoshua

This almost seems like a useless philosophical/semantics debate, sort of along the lines of is alcoholism a disease or not, but I would say for myself if it was an accidental sip I would not consider it a relapse, and as soon as I realized what itw as I'd probably be grossed out and spit it out.

ReadyAndAble

I actually had a dream a few months ago in which this happened to me—and I was horrified. To me that would be the real test: how you felt after you realized your mistake.

Similarly, if Nirvana's gun-weilding maniac is demanding that you have a drink, and you're thinking to yourself, "It's so lucky that I ran into this guy," well that probably counts as a relapse...

GettingStronger2

I think you think too much. Hasn't happened, no reason to think it will happen, why worry about it now?

I have been sober for over 15 months, and have not had any opportunity to accidently sip alcohol. In fact, over all my years of drinking or not drinking, i do not think i have accidentally sipped alcohol.

Worry about today, now, not what may never happen sometime in the future.

LoftyIdeals

I take stock in SomethingBetters response. Be on guard, just as Bilbo Baggins was against the power of the ring in Lord of the Rings. He knew it was powerful over him, but as a temptation and a curse, not a blessing. He did what he needed to do to rid himself of it, but was nonetheless tempted when I came back into his life. I, too, get the Pavlov's dogs response around alcohol; the heightened senses of smell, memory of taste, etc. They all tell me that my disease is still hungry, but I know I must be on guard not to feed it. Ever.