visch1

I’ve never heard ANYONE say it did after picking up again. For 99.9% it’s worse, especially between the ears and having a bit of time without going back to the same old, same old. I too bounced around for the first two years and fortunately they kept saying KEEP COMING. After 12-20K meetings for some reason I’m getting remember whens of my difficult years until I became sick and tired of being sick and tired. I recall all the AH BUTS, the feeling of being unique, I’m not that bad, (YET) defiance, counting the holes in the ceiling, the anxiety of trying to do normal things like answer the phone and on and on. I’ll end by saying any bad day in the last dozens of years has been better than any good day in my drinking days. Mainly because I didn’t pick up and try to get sober AGAIN.

RDBplus3

My last drink was a living trip to HELL. I did not drink much, because I got caught drinking at work right after my 1st half-pint. I stopped immediately, called my wife and my sponsor. I went to a meeting at lunch, my wife and I met with my sponsor later that afternoon. The emotional wreckage was horrendous. That was my 2nd drinking episode after making a sincere commitment to get free from my drinking addiction 4 months earlier. That was 3 weeks ago. I fully believe it was my LAST self-imposed trip to HELL. I would not trade my worst day since then sober, for ANY day drinking previously.

ScottFromWI

I think the reason you don't here it is that the very small percentage that can somehow got back to drinking aren't alcoholics in the first place. We all know better!

FlyerNation

It gets tougher each time. Trying to get sober each time after relapse becomes tougher and tougher. It's a powerful lesson that is one of the keys to keeping me from picking up again.

tomsteve

there are people who end up ( court ordered or maybe arent sure if alcohol is a problem, but investigating) in AA who really arent alcoholics. i have ran ont some of them over the years. their reaction shows me they really arent alcoholics. always good to run into them and hear how they are doing.
then theres the ones who i havent seen in a while and i run into them. thier reaction tells me they may very well be alcoholics and still drinking.its usually in a store and they turn around real quick when they see me, trying to act like they are int he wrong isle.
then theres those that make it back.i havent heard one say it was better.
i try to keep in mind a man with 23 years of sobriety who went back out. 3 weeks is all it took and he was back. he said he didnt pick up where he left off 23 years prior. he said it was as if he never stopped.

visch1

I feel that some of our going out reasoning’s are
1 forgetting REMEMBER WHEN.
2 thinking I’m not that bad.
3 not realizing that the alcohol in their takes awhile to be removed and clearer thinking takes awhile.
4 we are emotionally immature due to our drinking/drugging
5 fear of the loss of our best friend which worked for a period then turned and destroyed a lot of us in a heartbeat and will continue to do so
And on and on, I couldn’t start to fix it until the plug stayed in the jug.
BE WELL

empiriotrash

As someone who just relapsed..definitely does not get better.

I think I know one person who I was in rehab with who went back after and is still doing well, because he was never an alcoholic. He just had poor luck getting a DUI while moving his car so he wouldn't block someones driveway down the block. He was planning on getting a cab home.

Going back out didn't make things exactly the same. For instance I still have money in the bank, my tolerance is not as high for opiates as they previously were and my relationships with my family are still decent (they do not know of my relapse).
However mentally I am right back to where I was. The obsession, emotional pain and distress and overall "falling apart" mentally, emotionally and spiritually started as soon as I took the first. For me, that was what drove me to seek help in the first place. It is only a matter of time before my money is gone, tolerance is through the roof and relationships turn to sh*t. It is almost worse this time, because I know what I threw away and can honestly see the progress I made disappear.

Just my 2 cents

visch1

I repeat myself by saying that you don't have to get SOBER AGAIN if you don't pick up the first drink. I'm not saying it's easy but it's simple. For many it helps more than a little to attend live meetings like AA.