teatreeoil007

I've been working at this sobriety thing for 10 years. And had a relapse this year... My drug of choice(S) Fentanyl with Versed...Other drugs I used were Xanax and Soma...and I enjoyed my wines.

I'm just wondering if a person ever fully recovers? Cause it's been such a long process for me that I'm really starting to wonder if that's even POSSIBLE!

doggonecarl

What do you mean by "Recover"?

I have abused drugs since I was a teenager, and alcohol for over 35 years. My whole live it seems, and I've wondered if I will stuggle with addiction for the rest of my life. But as long as I don't use, I'm fine, the affliction is in remission. I have to stay vigilent. The price of recovery. And worth the struggle.

airwick

I've only been sober for about a year and 1/2, so in given time my view might change.

At my stage now, I don't feel I will ever recover. When I say this I mean "I can't just have an occasional drink" without beginning the nasty cycle all over again.

So with this being said, No....I will never recover so I will remain alcohol free!

Dee74

I prefer 'recovering' because it gives a better sense of the active process I see recovery as... I hope to improve in all kinds of ways until I stop breathing...

but yes I believe Recovery is possible...

I had to move my focus tho - my problem wasn't alcohol or drugs...it was me.

Until I addressed that void in me that I tried to fill with 'stuff', I just bounced from one addiction to another.

Do you feel that applies to you as well, teatreeoil?

D

gonzo51511

I believe we can "recover" fully.. as long as a program is worked. I beleive what we will never be is cured.. once crossing over into alcoholic drinking, can never go back to "social" or "moderate" drinking again.. avoid the first drink and there will be no worries.. at least thats what im being taught

AnvilheadII

you would have to actually QUIT all substances first.

Resetti

I dunno, I think every experience changes you to a varying degree. I mean if you were abusing something for decades like me, I can never be the person I was before I started drinking, it's been too long, too much has happened, I'm older. I don't think you can ever feel the same as you do from years back even taking out the drugs.

bigsombrero

Give sobriety a chance, teatree. Sounds like you've kind of been putting your toes in the water for 10 years, but you've not quite jumped in. It's hard to let go, but once you truly commit to sobriety you'll be able to ponder this question again. The world is yours, you can live the life you want. Get a plan together, get serious, and stick around. How can you be sober today? Now that's a good question!

freshstart57

I can't seem to understand a cure for a condition that assumes a return to consumption of the addictive substance. I was a smoker for three and a half decades, and I quit that addiction. I would never think that I could or even should return to smoking again. Or how about a crank or a crack addict? How could they feel they have quit their addiction but are still entitled to have a taste now and then? Cocaine? Heroin? Surely we would think that if they felt they could return to a speedball maybe just on special occassions that they would be bonkers.

A cure of alcoholism to my thinking is no different. A cure is the ability to live a good satisfying life without alcohol, it would seem to me. Am I cured or recovered? Absolutely. Never drinking again. That's how I win.

PurpleKnight

For me I like to think that the journey of life never ends, we can always be growing, changing, learning, and Sobriety fits into that, what I knew at week 1, month 1 or year 1 was different to what I know now, and as even more time passes I'm sure I'll have learnt a whole lot more about myself, about addiction, and absorbed a lot more wisdom from others.

However if you asked me did I drink last night or am I going to drink today, then the answer is no, that ship has sailed, the Sober lifestyle I've created for myself, the new routines, new habits, I've got tools in my Sober toolbox, and my Sober muscles have evolved over time, it's a place everyone can achieve, where addiction is kicked to the sidelines.

But the journey of life continues on!!

Roxyblues

Yes. Abstinence is not recovery. Recovery comes when one abstains and also does the works necessary to recover from the condition that causes one to take the drink or use the drugs. Recover, however, does not mean an alcoholic or addict can use again. The ability to use with impunity never returns. We are just not run by or dominated by our disease in daily life once we recover.

Are you a cna or a? Very familiar and also like fentanyl and versed. The only people I know basing versed and injectable fentanyl are cnas and as swiping it from anesthetized patients during or procedures.

Cascabel

In my experience one is "recovered" only as long as they avoid the drug of choice, in my case, alcohol. I quit drinking in 1980 and stayed completely abstenent for thirty years. About five years ago I started again for reasons not germane to this topic. It seemed to me that my brain and entire physiology remembered exactly where I was when I left off in 1980. My alcohol consumption quickly escalated to that of earlier days. It appears that my earlier drinking had "rewired" my brain so that if I drank at all. I needed to drink a lot. And quitting the second time around was much harder.

My thoughts are that yes, you can recover but only if you make the decision to stop drinking, or using, forever and to never change your mind. If one views it as a process rather than an event then I fear the thought of trying again is always somewhere in the back of your mind. I made the mistake of trying again; it didn't work at all and I have struggled with drinking for the last five years. Now, again, I am a Teetotaler, an ex drinker, and proud of it. For me, recovery, this time, was a firm decision to abstain forever. This was the way I quit smoking 50 years ago.

I know what is waiting for me if I change my mind.

BixBees505

"...At my stage now, I don't feel I will ever recover. When I say this I mean "I can't just have an occasional drink" without beginning the nasty cycle all over again.

So with this being said, No....I will never recover so I will remain alcohol free!"

I agree with this, and all the other similar comments. Abstinence is PREREQUISITE to recovery. Recovery will never mean I can drink, but it will mean I am comfortable without my DoC.

My next drink may cause me no significant issue. But the chance and the risk is too great that the next drink would ...ultimately... take me:
- to the emergency room, having killed another motorist, or my passenger (miraculously have not been here yet, through no good judgement of my own)
- to my psychiatrist moaning that the depression or anxiety is too heavy and I can't handle it (been here)
- to the darkest room in my house and darkest place in my soul with all the alcohol I need to never come up again, talking to myself about how good that drink I just swallowed feels (been here)
- to failure at all the next big opportunities for happiness that life brings my way...hell, I wouldn't even see them pass me by

I just don't want to take the chance. Why would I?

ItWillBeWorthIt

Totally agree with Cascabel... it's like I could have wrote that post. I didn't have 30 years abstinence, but 7 years and 5 years. You need to take drugs, including alcohol completely off the table, meaning you can never go back to them... you can't moderate.

Recovery is an ongoing process, but for me, I don't crave alcohol. I work on being a better person mentally and physically each day, even if it is very small things. You should be able to recover to a point to say... WOW, I love living in a sober world and to never want to do back to active alcoholics world.