FunnyOne

I have heard several people say that alcoholism progresses, whether you are drinking or not, unless you go into recovery. Well, we have also talked about the folks that are in AA but not in recovery. I certainly understand that the behaviors can stay the same until they are really in recovery. So I guess I am asking how alcoholism can progress if you are sober?

isurvived

The first time my AH was in treatment, the counselors told him that it is progressive. And, that if he should ever start drinking again, he would pick up right where he would be if he had continued all along. He didn't believe them.

Fast forward several years, when he relapsed... darn if he didn't prove them right!
He had a case of "I can manage my drinking now, I no longer have a problem with alcohol." A false sense of confidence... and he soon realized that "just one" was one too many.

Seren

I'm not really sure...I've always understood it to be the health effects associated with drinking. But I thought that those health issues stopped or even reversed in some cases as long as the A is not drinking.

Well, sorry, that was no help...someone wiser will be along soon, I'm sure!

Hugs, HG

Freedom1990

For me, my disease is threefold-physical, mental, and spiritual.

Simply arresting the physical aspect (ie, no longer drinking) does absolutely nothing for my mental or spiritual health.

I can also tell you from firsthand experience that when I drank after 4 years sober, I quickly progressed to where I would have been had I drank those entire 4 years. It was frightening and demoralizing.

I have also known men to be sober in excess of 20 years, drink again and be dead in a very short period of time.

laurie6781

The 'alcoholism progression' is this. A good example would be a friend of mine.

She was sober for 12+ years and ......................... things happened, she ended going back out and drinking. Now you would think that her drinking would start where she left off. WRONG ................................ it was like she had been drinking the whole time, and was far worse within 3 days than she had been when she has stopped before.

Just because we in recovery have chosen not to drink, the 'progression' and how the alcohol 'affects' us and how 'quickly' it affects us continues to GET WORSE.

J M H O

Love and hugs,

Still Waters

That is so amazing to me, that it progresses while not being "fed" so to speak. And it's frightening also.

steve11694

I think it is the individual perception that it is as if they had never stopped drinking during the period of sobriety.
If one were to measure/test body deterioration I don't think they would see the same damage had the person never stopped drinking. Liver enzyme tests would be abnormal, brain function tests as well, not to mention other end organ damage.

Probably, when they relapse they hammer themselves hard and that has got to hurt.

If a normal social drinker that overdid it 15 years years ago and suffered a horrific hangover repeats their antics, they will repeat a horrific hangover, no different from years past.

Lilly Burn

My experience of my soon to be exAH, was that after 6 months of sobriety when he wouldnt even let me buy mouthwash with alcohol in it was that his holier than thou attitude as a drinker, spilled over into his new sobriety and he became holier than thou about not drinking, annoying social friends with this and trying to get his drinking buddies to join AA too...

but the key thing was that having been to AA for six months and deciding they were this and that and he didnt need them (a common reaction I believe), he started drinking just a few then wham, he was, within two months, as bad if not worse than before he stopped and he was very bad at that stage. As steve says, he really hammered it and that is when he left me for the umpteenth time but this time for good, he knew he couldnt continue drinking if he was with me...he also started mixing drink with cocaine (I recently found out about this and have just posted about it), he was rude to lots of people and totally out of control. He could still "control" it where needed ie in front of his siblings, but it was a cliff hanger. He left everyone and everything for the bottle.....

naive

funnyone-

i'm no expert but i feel it is because true recovery requires a spiritual connection opening up; therefore, if the A doesn't connect with his HP, recovery at the end of the day cannot take hold and heal the soul of the A.

remove the drink, the A is just a person not drinking but still lost in the sea of life and damaged from things they cannot forgive themselves for. they are still carrying around this horrible burden, as they don't know god, therefore cannot repent and be healed.

it is the connection/embracing of god, that ultimately heals the A forever. without that, the next time life sends them a blow they cannot stomach, they return to the alcohol, rather than turning to god.

self-introspection and abstinence alone cannot free the A from the cycle they are in. in my mind there are two cornerstones of AA (and Alanon) and they are surrender to god and service to others.

just my feeling,
naive