Question about relapse
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: New York
Posts: 69
Question about relapse
When someone starts drinking again after not drinking, is each relapse worse than the one before? I've been sober for 40 days and feel great but am very afraid that If I relapsed would the alcohol effect me worse and would it be harder to stop than before?
Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Los Angeles, California
Posts: 8,326
gr8t,
Congrats on your 40 days sober! My experience was that each relapse was worse and the detox was harder. I am convinced alcoholism is a progressive deal. My body didn't reset, in fact, it was like I had never quit drinking at all.
I hope this answers your question.
Love,
Lenina
Congrats on your 40 days sober! My experience was that each relapse was worse and the detox was harder. I am convinced alcoholism is a progressive deal. My body didn't reset, in fact, it was like I had never quit drinking at all.
I hope this answers your question.
Love,
Lenina
A work in progress
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 16,633
Relapse is really nothing to kid around about. I hear a lot about "Oh, well, you'll do better next time." Doesn't always work that way. I know folks who went out and it took them months or years to get back. And, of course, some never make it back.
Relapse, though not unusual, is NOT inevitable, nor is it a requirement. I haven't picked up a drink in two years, and it was my first attempt at quitting. That doesn't mean I'm immune from relapse, but it does mean it's possible not to relapse in early sobriety.
Relapse is serious stuff. I never wanna go there and find out for myself.
Relapse, though not unusual, is NOT inevitable, nor is it a requirement. I haven't picked up a drink in two years, and it was my first attempt at quitting. That doesn't mean I'm immune from relapse, but it does mean it's possible not to relapse in early sobriety.
Relapse is serious stuff. I never wanna go there and find out for myself.
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,498
Yes, for me it worsened every time and I am certain that alcoholism is progressive.
I'm glad you're doing well, and don't think about relapsing, rather focus on all the positives that you have acquired in being sober.
I'm glad you're doing well, and don't think about relapsing, rather focus on all the positives that you have acquired in being sober.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Lowcountry
Posts: 2,762
Gr8t,
I never relapsed until over 7 years in sobriety. It was my attempt at "normal" drinking.
As hard-headed and determined as I was initially,....and later, just helpless to quit, it took me another 8 years to get sober. Eight long , wasted years.
Grateful to be part of the living , today.
I agree with everyone who says "relapse isn't a requirement "
It's not really even an option for me, now.
I never relapsed until over 7 years in sobriety. It was my attempt at "normal" drinking.
As hard-headed and determined as I was initially,....and later, just helpless to quit, it took me another 8 years to get sober. Eight long , wasted years.
Grateful to be part of the living , today.
I agree with everyone who says "relapse isn't a requirement "
It's not really even an option for me, now.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ireland
Posts: 1,641
Hi Gr8t,
It took me from Dec-Mar to get sober and then stayed sober for 2yr 2mths and took me 1yr 5mths to get back. So yep, in my experience it was very hard. I think it is because of self loathing/disgust/disappointment.
Wouldn't recommend it unless you like to suffer A LOT! Stay, and get to 90 days and get back to us.
It took me from Dec-Mar to get sober and then stayed sober for 2yr 2mths and took me 1yr 5mths to get back. So yep, in my experience it was very hard. I think it is because of self loathing/disgust/disappointment.
Wouldn't recommend it unless you like to suffer A LOT! Stay, and get to 90 days and get back to us.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,432
My experience was the same as the others - each return to drinking was a little more spectacularly catastrophic - and each detox generally a little harder.
I wasn't really in recovery tho - I was trying to 'manage' my problem - most of the time that meant abstinence, but I still figured I could drink one or two every so often...
Since I've come to SR it's all been good tho. Sober since April 2007.
I think if you find a method that works, keep working at it - try never to get complacent, and try and remain self aware, and keep reaching out here or elsewhere, and you'll not have to worry about relapse
D
I wasn't really in recovery tho - I was trying to 'manage' my problem - most of the time that meant abstinence, but I still figured I could drink one or two every so often...
Since I've come to SR it's all been good tho. Sober since April 2007.
I think if you find a method that works, keep working at it - try never to get complacent, and try and remain self aware, and keep reaching out here or elsewhere, and you'll not have to worry about relapse
D
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: dayton, oh
Posts: 487
Better just not go there. Like LaFemme said, Feeling ill just thinking about it. Well that is where this progressive disease will take you. You will eventually be ill everyday.
But if it happens, just remember how much better you felt the day before when you woke up not hung over and begin again.
SH
But if it happens, just remember how much better you felt the day before when you woke up not hung over and begin again.
SH
New to Real Life
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: I come in Peaces
Posts: 2,071
When I've relapsed in the past my drinking has not gotten worse (probably eased up a bit actually) but the affect it's had on me has been greater. I remember the first hangover I had after I quit for 3 weeks. Felt like I'd been hit by a truck.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 782
Yes, in my experience the relapses usually lead to catastrophic drunkenness with all the consequences that follow.
I attribute this to several factors - the drinking rapidly picks up where you left off but your body is no longer adapted to it, the sense of failure and resultant anxiety tend to prolong the relapse (you start to think 'what the hell') and the fear of going through withdrawals all over again make it harder to stop.
I'm told that if the relapses are prolonged, the detoxes also get worse each time, potentially leading to seizures etc. Thankfully I have no experience of this.
However, if you do relapse, stopping drinking immediately is the key (if you can...). For me detoxes after short failures were not nearly as bad as the withdrawals I went through on first quitting - more like a very, very bad week long hangover.
Never again though...
I attribute this to several factors - the drinking rapidly picks up where you left off but your body is no longer adapted to it, the sense of failure and resultant anxiety tend to prolong the relapse (you start to think 'what the hell') and the fear of going through withdrawals all over again make it harder to stop.
I'm told that if the relapses are prolonged, the detoxes also get worse each time, potentially leading to seizures etc. Thankfully I have no experience of this.
However, if you do relapse, stopping drinking immediately is the key (if you can...). For me detoxes after short failures were not nearly as bad as the withdrawals I went through on first quitting - more like a very, very bad week long hangover.
Never again though...
Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Merritt Island, Fl
Posts: 1,164
Congrats.
Relapse is a word, drinking is an action. Its not something that just happens, it must be thought out and followed through with. Remember alcohol has no power over you until you put it in your body. Good luck.
Relapse is a word, drinking is an action. Its not something that just happens, it must be thought out and followed through with. Remember alcohol has no power over you until you put it in your body. Good luck.
Canine Welfare Advocate
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 10,962
gr8t, timely question. I'm just over a month sober and have similar concerns. I'm glad all the responses seem to confirm what I thought. That our sobriety is too hard earned to risk losing to a relapse.
No matter how long I'd been sober, no matter how much I drank in my relapse, the withdrawal was horrible and I never want to go thru another one.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Chantilly, VA
Posts: 216
As we have seen here, and as I have experienced for myself on two occasions, I'd clean up my life and get things straightened out, feel pride for the first time in a long while, then, go out and do the most amazingly stupid thing I could do... bought _A_ bottle. Everytime I bought that FIRST bottle, it was at least TWO years (and longer) before I had the courage and strength to put it down again.
Please, whatever you do, after going thru the pain and emotional trauma of stopping, no matter WHAT your brain tells you, do NOT go out and start again. If you do, the odds are Very high that you will be back in the same mess you found yourself in, for years to come. Just an observation....
..Mike
Please, whatever you do, after going thru the pain and emotional trauma of stopping, no matter WHAT your brain tells you, do NOT go out and start again. If you do, the odds are Very high that you will be back in the same mess you found yourself in, for years to come. Just an observation....
..Mike
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