scared1

I finally found an AA meeting I really like last week. Im going again tonight and they were so nice and welcoming (not the case in other meetings I attended elsewhere) I got the AA book and in the first few pages I read something that really hit me. It said we are "Allergic" to alchohol. I read that and realized that made alot of sense to me. Like some one who is allergic to peanuts. If he eats peanuts he gets a bad reaction and suffers the pain and consequences and can even die. If I injest alcohol, I get a bad reaction and suffer the pain and consequences and can accidently kill someone or myself. Very interesting

Itchy

Hi scared!

Looks like you have 4 days under your belt! Congrats! I am a fellow AA member and love it when someone starts to get the message. Atay on it and here, together they make a powerful support group.

TTOSBT

hi scared1,
Good on you for going back until you found a meeting you like!
I really identified with that concept as well.
There is another AA approved book called Living Sober that speaks more about this. I loved it! If you get a chance, check it out.


Keep it up! Sobriety just gets better and better.

keithj

Here is something to ponder, scared1, when it comes to that physical allergy being one part of the whole alcoholism picture.

Let's say I have that peanut allergy, and I have a horrible reaction to it, and have to be rushed to the hospital for an Epi stick after ingesting peanuts. I'm not very likely to consume handfuls of peanuts a week or a month later. Lesson learned.

But with alcohol, I kept repeating the experiment. I knew I had an abnormal reaction. It led to a craving for more, which led to horrendous consequences. But when I got out of the hospital (or treatment or rehab or jail or the motel or whatever), there I'd go again, trying put my response to the test one more time, always with the same results.

You won't catch someone with the peanut allergy continually trying to get away with eating peanuts. But with booze, whole different story. Check out the 'jaywalker story' in Chapter 3 of the BB for another analogy.

least

I am also allergic to alcohol. If I drink, I break out in hopelessness...

scared1

Keithj, I did read the jawalker story and it is interesting how we easily run right back into the habit after a day or two or some of us even hours. It is a horrible pattern and a dangerous one.

Itchy

I can relate too, just see my avatar.
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keithj

Interesting, yes, Scared1, but also kind of insane don't you think? What sane person chooses to go back to that, time and time again?

'Oh, man,' the jaywalker says after fracturing his skull, 'that reeeaaally hurt. Now I'm serious, I'm done for good.' Only to pick it back up next month.

If that's a choice, then it certainly can only be the choice of an insane mind. So what is the solution? How does that same, insane (alcoholic) mind, get itself un-insane (recovered)?

Just like the insane mind, that alcoholic mind has difficulty seeing past the delusion. It can't heal itself. The power just isn't there. So, here come the 12 Steps, which (pg 45) has the purpose of tapping the alcoholic mind into the needed power. A clearly defined set of actions that work for the alcoholic mind.

Pretty simple program isn't it?

Kjell

I, too, could identify with the allergic concept.

To me, this allowed me to jump miles ahead into my sobriety. Before, I just couldn't honestly connect the dots, even though the proof was right there all along.

Truly, cunning, baffling, and powerful alcohol is (said in Yoda's voice)