julesonya

Like professional help? I have been trying to stop drinking for over 2 yrs now and I can't. I get to about Day 3 and then all of sudden I am like "Oh i am fine I can have one drink." Which leads to days of binging. I am at the point now where I really can't do this on my own. I have too much access to alcohol and too many people who say its not a big deal.
Just looking for recommendations

PurpleKnight

Hey Julesonya!!

I haven't been to rehab but I'm fully in favour of adding more recovery tools to the toolbox when what we've already tried isn't working.

For me breaking that few day cycle was important too, I went round and round in circles for a long time, I needed something outside of myself to keep me on track, whether it's rehab, meetings, daily SR check ins, doing something different is important!!

saoutchik

Hi July's

No experience of rehab myself but it must be a good start to long term sobriety to be away from the usual routines and the consequent triggers

Ruby2

I've been to rehab. I thought it was a great experience. It derailed the crazy train long enough that I could start stringing sober days together. While I didn't ultimately stay permanently sober after my stay in inpatient, I did put together 10.5 months. I relapsed because I stopped doing what I was supposed to do. I drank for about three months and then stopped. It was far easier to stop that time because I'd had the rehab and days and knew I could do it. That was back on December 1, 2013 and I haven't had a drink since.

I highly recommend inpatient treatment. As for specific programs, that I can't help with.

LiberatedStorm

Hi Julesonya! I've never been to rehab. I can completely relate to your situation though. I was stuck in that same cycle for a couple of years. I certainly wish you all the best in doing what you need to do to beat this. Hang close around the forum for sure.

Angelsmiln

Been to inpatient rehab twice and highly recommend it. I have had relapses but it did give me the tools I needed, you just have to keep working them. Also, rehab gives you the time to concentrate on your recovery without temptation.

NestWasEmpty

Julesonya I went and I liked it so much . As others said , your away from alcohol & others drinking . Mine was very peaceful & awaking experience
One thing I did wrong is I didn't prepare . Like in someone to care for my pet . I only stayed 2 weeks , because one I left my pet with ended up saying it was too much to handle .
Just wanted to let you know if possible , tie up loose ends before hand . That way you won't have any thing to worry about but taking care of you

Dee74

I haven't been to rehab Jules, but I think that the more you do for your recovery the more you'll benefit from it.

If rehab's an option, why not take it?

D

Gottalife

I went to a rehab and I wouldn't say a bad thing about it. It was a great learning experience, it providied me with contacts and knowledge that I was later able to use to get sober. It provided shelter and safety when life on the outside was miserable. It did not cure me from drinking.

A mistake I made was thinking, like whenever anyone goes to hospital for something they usually come out cured, and it is the hospital that does it. It is not the same with rehab. Rehab got me sober and told me what I needed to do to stay sober, but I didn't do it.

What happened to the people from my group when they left rehab was interesting. Two followed the advice of the rehab, adopted the AA way of life and are still sober today, more than 36 years later. The other eight of us knew better and we all ended up drunk. By the time a year had passed, I was the only one left alive. By that time I was willing to adopt the AA way of life as suggested, and I havent had a drink since.

So the short version is that rehab cant fix you for good, but it can give you a great start and an excellent future if you follow their advice.

Anna

Hi Jules,

If you think it might help, then give it a try. I didn't go that route, but I know when I tried and continuously failed, it was so disheartening.

Time2Rise

No, I've never been to rehab. However, from my research, I found out that the majority of rehabs use what is known as 12-Step Facilitation recovery modality. Which means, they teach you about AA's spiritual 12-Steps and you will be expected to attend AA meetings after you're done with the initial rehab (if not for the rest of your life).

I bring this up because the 12-Steps involve a reliance on a God of your understanding, and not everyone is comfortable with this spiritual approach. If you're seriously considering attending rehab, I advise you to Google and research AA, 12-Steps, 12-Step Facilitation, and non 12 Step Rehab. And I advise you do thoroughly research whatever facility you're considering. Don't be afraid to call the facility and ask the hard questions. It's your sobriety, so take charge of it.

If you prefer a non 12 Step Rehab, be sure to ask whatever rehab you're considering if they use the spiritual 12-Step model. Many rehabs don't mention the recovery model they use, so you may have to ask.

Bottom line there are many approaches to getting sober, so use an approach you feel fits you best.

Wastinglife

Rehab was great for me. 5 weeks in a bubble, safe from the outside world and it's problems. Get time to work on yourself and meet other people struggling with the sand things.

However, you go right back to your life after you get out. The problems, stresses, and temptations are still there waiting for you. I managed to stay sober for about 8months after rehab before relapsing. So, rehab is great, but it's what you do when you get out that really matters

fantail

I left rehab just 2 weeks ago, and it was exactly what I needed. I'd had a stretch of sobriety and then in the past year and a half I've just been relapsing over and over. Like you, I got to the point where I had to accept that I needed real, serious help. (I was probably a much bigger mess than it sounds like you are, I felt that same way).

It's definitely hard. And that's part of why it's effective. I worked so, so hard to get everything I could out of it. I cried a lot. I felt isolated and stranded a lot. I was angry and irritable and bored and all that stuff you are in your first month, but I was also putting in 14 hour days while surrounded by other people who were also going through a lot. It was very intense.

But the intensity changed things for me. I grew much, much stronger in that month. I gained new perspectives on my addiction, because I had to look at it through other people's lenses.

I came out feeling stronger and healthier than any other day 30 I've experienced, and 20 days later I still feel like I'm leaps ahead of where I'd normally be at this stage.

I think you should really consider it. I am so grateful for my experience.

FLCamper

One thing to consider: if you do go to rehab and get out, are those same people going to be around and will lots of alcohol be around?
I am fortunate in that I did not have drinking buddies and there is no alcohol in my house, so no easy temptation unless I make the effort to buy it.

janes ear

Great post, fantail, I wish you well on your journey.

leviathan

Went to "intensive outpatient" mostly to try and keep my career. Ended up gaining from the process. I recommend it if you feel totally alone, and lacking strategies. Licensed therapists can help you develop your plan in a safe environment, and you can have comradarie with others in similar situations.

As folks stated in previous posts, recovery methods embraced by different rehabs vary. I don't subscribe to the 12 step model, and found out too late (after payment) that it was "recommended" at my facility. Luckily there was other info to be had. I just told them, "I'm paying", and refused to attend "drunkalog" days where someone from the local chapter would rehash his story on my dime.

Soberwolf

both my sisters completed 6 months rehabs and changed their lives

Berrybean

Lol - this made me giggle. Each to their own eh.

I also felt that I couldn't do it alone. I went along to my local AA where I found lots of other people who could share their strength and experience with me, and help me on my own journey of sobriety. Funny, because as a member of AA I was asked to go along to a rehab unit and do a 'share' (or as Leviathan might call it, a 'dunkalog' - although I'm not sure it was on anyone's dime, but I did get a coffee for driving out there I suppose).

Most people I have met in AA are not 'religious'. For most of them, their higher power is just something powerful that is not themselves. So basically accepting, 'I'm not in charge or in control of everything - it's not all about me'. But the level of religious fervour probably varies from area to area, and even group to group.

AA seemed a good place to start for me. For one, it was anonymous. There is no register or trail to link me to being there. There is no obligation to attend any particular meeting or over a specific time scale. I could fit it around my work. There were lots of different meetings to try - some I haven't enjoyed so much (one because the room is so small I get a little claustrophobic in there, another because it tends to be a little too solemn - I prefer things a little more upbeat). If I go on holiday somewhere (when I might struggle a bit), chances are there's a meeting round the corner. It's free (apart from a small donation that I put in the pot to cover costs). It's allowed me to make other sober friends where I live.
Anyway - the 12-Steps have helped me to address the things that kept me in the alcoholic mind-set. My anxieties, my resentments, my fears. For me those 12-steps and the fellowship of others I've met in meeting have been life changers (even if all that 'God' and 'Higher Power' talk did seem a little odd at first ).

Olivia2011

My son went to outpatient and loved it. It's what you do with it that counts tho.

I thought one of the best parts of AA was the Wednesday night drunkalog (or whatever you called it!)

Good luck to you! Stay around here too.

fantail

In response to some of the above comments, I should add that I'm definitely not an AA-centric person, nor someone who believes in god, but I still benefited from the AA portion of my program.

Because I was paying money and wanted to get every little piece of relapse-avoiding wisdom I could, I worked even harder at the AA stuff than I did at anything else. I surfed all the anxiety and the feeling of claustrophobia that came from meetings at first. And I came up with my own language, basically. When people said "get on your knees and pray" I'd think "become open and receptive to your best purpose;" when they said "I gave up my will" I'd think, "I decided to be guided by my virtue rather than my impulses". I did the same thing for step work, like when I did the third step instead of praying to god I wrote my own little vow about the type of virtuous life I wanted to live. In general my method was to decide to assume that everything in AA had a meaning beneath the outdated words and the religion, and what I needed to benefit from it was to understand that deeper meaning in a way that felt true to me. In pursuit of this goal I read all kinds of Buddhist books, an exercise that lead me back to regular meditation, which was a part of my childhood.

I never would have done all that if not for the circumstance. I nearly checked myself out of the rehab when I found out that AA would be a big part of it. But ultimately, having to think about addiction in a way that wasn't comfortable for me was a great way to make me think deeper and more thoroughly about sobriety than I ever had before. (plus now I can go to meetings without feeling pressured religiously, since I now have my own personal AA relationship, and that's actually been really nice for me).

Basically I think the best thing about rehab was that it was EXACTLY the opposite of what I wanted, until one day I realized that I was feeling so much better.

I would guess this probably works in opposite ways as well... if you took someone who swears by AA who needs rehab and sent them to the kind of hippie yoga-based vegetarian outdoorsy rehab I was dreaming of, they'd probably get more out of it than I would because it's completely opposite of what they've tried before. If you get to the point where rehab is necessary, it might mean that you've maxed out on the ideas that you naturally would come to and need to see what other things you can add from other approaches.