You don’t pick up where you left off....
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Join Date: Sep 2010
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You don’t pick up where you left off....
"They really mean it when they say you don’t pick up where you left off, but pick up where you would be if you never quit."
I understand what this implies... but does anyone know why? And can anyone share their experience with this?
I understand what this implies... but does anyone know why? And can anyone share their experience with this?
Last edited by Dee74; 04-22-2011 at 04:57 AM. Reason: Tried to delete and redo... heading too long.
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,371
I adjusted your title best I could 
I never stopped drinking long enough to offer any real experience with this ARB...my longest 'record' before 2007 was 2 months.
I know others will have experience to share and maybe some science too
D
I never stopped drinking long enough to offer any real experience with this ARB...my longest 'record' before 2007 was 2 months.
I know others will have experience to share and maybe some science too
D
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Los Angeles, California
Posts: 8,326
ARB,
I don't know why this is true but it was in my case. I drank after eleven years of sobriety. The first binge I drank slightly less than when I left off. After that, it was business as usual drinking for me but I was feeling worse for it. Not just mentally with the guilt and shame but also physically.
Love,
Lenina
I don't know why this is true but it was in my case. I drank after eleven years of sobriety. The first binge I drank slightly less than when I left off. After that, it was business as usual drinking for me but I was feeling worse for it. Not just mentally with the guilt and shame but also physically.
Love,
Lenina
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: New England
Posts: 5,285
Not really sure for similar reasons to Dee...however, I do know that it is when I De used I should probably quit and started trying that alcohol sunk its teeth into me with a vengeance.
Prior to this I was a heavy drinker...once I started quitting I became a problem drinker....drinking until I vomited, blacking out, falling down, walking into walls, drinking in the morning.
Its as though the thought of quitting had turned a slow growing tumor into a voracious monster almost overnight.
I know if for some insane reason I picked up a drink today id probably be dead inside a year.
Prior to this I was a heavy drinker...once I started quitting I became a problem drinker....drinking until I vomited, blacking out, falling down, walking into walls, drinking in the morning.
Its as though the thought of quitting had turned a slow growing tumor into a voracious monster almost overnight.
I know if for some insane reason I picked up a drink today id probably be dead inside a year.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: NJ
Posts: 20,458
it is exhausting trying to drink like a normie....for me, there is not enough wine in the world....
it is easier (now anyway) to just be done with it....what am i missing? health problems, a bloated face and a daily headache and barfing?
it is easier (now anyway) to just be done with it....what am i missing? health problems, a bloated face and a daily headache and barfing?
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 270
Originally Posted by ARB 
"They really mean it when they say you don’t pick up where you left off, but pick up where you would be if you never quit."
I understand what this implies... but does anyone know why? And can anyone share their experience with this?
I understand what this implies... but does anyone know why? And can anyone share their experience with this?
I may come back to this and explain further, but for now, this should provide some information:
Kindling in Alcohol Withdrawal
Basically, each "quit" sensitizes the body to Alcohol's effects more so than continued drinking without quitting would have, and multiple "quits" make things progressively worse.
See LaFemme's response for a good description of how this usually plays out.
Member
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 14,911
repeated episodes of . . . alcohol intoxication followed by abstinence and withdrawal may lead to a worsening of future withdrawal-related symptoms.
I didn't participate in this research, but in my one-person, case study, I can confirm that this is true.
Thanks for the interesting post.
Zebra
I didn't participate in this research, but in my one-person, case study, I can confirm that this is true.
Thanks for the interesting post.
Zebra
12-Step Recovered Alkie
Join Date: May 2010
Location: West Bloomfield, MI
Posts: 5,797
Originally Posted by ARB
"They really mean it when they say you don’t pick up where you left off, but pick up where you would be if you never quit."
I understand what this implies... but does anyone know why? And can anyone share their experience with this?
I understand what this implies... but does anyone know why? And can anyone share their experience with this?
For the real alcoholic though (the chronic alcoholic - who's different from the acute acoholic), their drinking is just a symptom of a much bigger and deeper problem - alcoholism. Alcoholism is NOT treated by staying dry. So, over any appreciable amount of time....one's alcoholism gets worse, not better. When the person with alcoholism picks up the drink again, after a short period of physical adjustment, they're setting new personal records for consumption and self-destruction because while they were dry their alcoholISM was getting worse. Picking up just plugs in that outward manifestation of alcoholISM again - and since drinking is just the outward manifestation of an internal problem (that internal problem being alcoholism - for the chronic alkie), in no time their drinking ramps up to match the higher level of alcoholISM that they have.
........and no, not everyone with a drinking problem is a chronic alcoholic and not everyone who calls themselves an alcoholic is an alcoholic.
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Portland
Posts: 1,631
So how might one determine which type (if any) they are?
I find this very interesting. I have noticed over time that less and less alcohol makes me sicker and sicker. On the other hand, when I was drinking, I did not feel the effects of a given amount of alcohol more.
This is a hard row to hoe and I'm working on it every day. I don't like to say alcoholic, so I say problem drinker, but I'm not sure I had made a distinction between the two. For the record, though, I don't mind saying Alkie.
BTW, thanks to SR for giving me a place to say it. And I'm saying it to my husband now, and I've done a few things with my adult children during which my not-drinking was apparent. Just a matter of time before someone asks....
I find this very interesting. I have noticed over time that less and less alcohol makes me sicker and sicker. On the other hand, when I was drinking, I did not feel the effects of a given amount of alcohol more.
This is a hard row to hoe and I'm working on it every day. I don't like to say alcoholic, so I say problem drinker, but I'm not sure I had made a distinction between the two. For the record, though, I don't mind saying Alkie.
BTW, thanks to SR for giving me a place to say it. And I'm saying it to my husband now, and I've done a few things with my adult children during which my not-drinking was apparent. Just a matter of time before someone asks....
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: New England
Posts: 5,285
Missy...my humble advice is to say to heck with defining yourself as an alcoholic or problem drinker or whatever...realize that life is better without alcohol and don't worry about words to define you.
Also remember alcoholism is progressive so even if you aren't one technically yet you can still graduate to that title
Also remember alcoholism is progressive so even if you aren't one technically yet you can still graduate to that title
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 184
Originally Posted by DayTrader
Because ALCOHOLISM isn't just a "drinking problem" even though many ppl think it is. For the acute alcoholic / heavy drinker / alcohol abuser, it IS a drinking problem - A substance abuse problem.
For the real alcoholic though (the chronic alcoholic - who's different from the acute acoholic), their drinking is just a symptom of a much bigger and deeper problem - alcoholism. Alcoholism is NOT treated by staying dry. So, over any appreciable amount of time....one's alcoholism gets worse, not better. When the person with alcoholism picks up the drink again, after a short period of physical adjustment, they're setting new personal records for consumption and self-destruction because while they were dry their alcoholISM was getting worse. Picking up just plugs in that outward manifestation of alcoholISM again - and since drinking is just the outward manifestation of an internal problem (that internal problem being alcoholism - for the chronic alkie), in no time their drinking ramps up to match the higher level of alcoholISM that they have.
........and no, not everyone with a drinking problem is a chronic alcoholic and not everyone who calls themselves an alcoholic is an alcoholic.
For the real alcoholic though (the chronic alcoholic - who's different from the acute acoholic), their drinking is just a symptom of a much bigger and deeper problem - alcoholism. Alcoholism is NOT treated by staying dry. So, over any appreciable amount of time....one's alcoholism gets worse, not better. When the person with alcoholism picks up the drink again, after a short period of physical adjustment, they're setting new personal records for consumption and self-destruction because while they were dry their alcoholISM was getting worse. Picking up just plugs in that outward manifestation of alcoholISM again - and since drinking is just the outward manifestation of an internal problem (that internal problem being alcoholism - for the chronic alkie), in no time their drinking ramps up to match the higher level of alcoholISM that they have.
........and no, not everyone with a drinking problem is a chronic alcoholic and not everyone who calls themselves an alcoholic is an alcoholic.
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: San Diego
Posts: 4,451
So how might one determine which type (if any) they are?
Practice Sobriety
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: KC missouri
Posts: 885
When I quit I was drinking daily and throwing up daily, but throwing up food or something that looked like food. The second night I went back to drinking I was on the floor culvulsing throwing up black stuff. My drinking progressed even though I wasn't drinking.
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: kansas
Posts: 61
As with any chronic disease there are three periods to consider.
1. signs and symptoms of the active disease. (progression of the actual disease)
2. signs and symptoms of recovery from the disease. (remission of the disease, the active disease has stopped progressing actively)
3. signs and symptoms of relapse from the disease. (the disease begins to passively progress (imminent and impending eventual actualization of the active disease process if the relapse is not intervened upon correctly))
Note: The most often sign and symptom that happend just before the person resumes alcohol consumption is expressed as: ideations of going insane + suicidal ideations + ideations of drinking.
If relapse is not stopped before the person begins drinking again then #4. will happen. (the person will drink a drink)
4. signs and symptoms of the active disease (active progression of the disease).
#4. is the same as #1
The relapse signs and symptoms are commonly called a "dry drunk".
During the dry drunk period, the disease is passively progressing, like a smouldering fire that was not completely put out. The dry drunk can last for days, weeks and yes even years. As soon as the beverage alcohol is consumed onto the smouldering inactive fire, it bursts into active consuming flames, and requires the equal amount of fuel consumed as if it had never been out but had been burning during the period of recovery + period of relapse.
This is shared from my experience and understanding of the disease of addiction which I graciously contracted at age 12, fed the disease till I was 20, and treated the disease since then.
1. signs and symptoms of the active disease. (progression of the actual disease)
2. signs and symptoms of recovery from the disease. (remission of the disease, the active disease has stopped progressing actively)
3. signs and symptoms of relapse from the disease. (the disease begins to passively progress (imminent and impending eventual actualization of the active disease process if the relapse is not intervened upon correctly))
Note: The most often sign and symptom that happend just before the person resumes alcohol consumption is expressed as: ideations of going insane + suicidal ideations + ideations of drinking.
If relapse is not stopped before the person begins drinking again then #4. will happen. (the person will drink a drink)
4. signs and symptoms of the active disease (active progression of the disease).
#4. is the same as #1
The relapse signs and symptoms are commonly called a "dry drunk".
During the dry drunk period, the disease is passively progressing, like a smouldering fire that was not completely put out. The dry drunk can last for days, weeks and yes even years. As soon as the beverage alcohol is consumed onto the smouldering inactive fire, it bursts into active consuming flames, and requires the equal amount of fuel consumed as if it had never been out but had been burning during the period of recovery + period of relapse.
This is shared from my experience and understanding of the disease of addiction which I graciously contracted at age 12, fed the disease till I was 20, and treated the disease since then.
Last edited by Francismcan; 04-22-2011 at 02:21 PM. Reason: to add note and correct grammar
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 581
I relapsed after 11 years clean and sober.
I was drinking mouthwash and hiding bottles within a couple weeks. When I was discovered, I started driving around urban areas looking for drugs. All of these were new behaviors, new advancements in my disease.
Why is this? Because abstinence does not treat alcoholism-- it merely arrests the outward facing symptom and the nastier consequences. But the internal chaos and spiritual malady remain and evolve. So when the boil on the skin (drinking) emerges again, it's fueled by a stronger underlying condition.
I was drinking mouthwash and hiding bottles within a couple weeks. When I was discovered, I started driving around urban areas looking for drugs. All of these were new behaviors, new advancements in my disease.
Why is this? Because abstinence does not treat alcoholism-- it merely arrests the outward facing symptom and the nastier consequences. But the internal chaos and spiritual malady remain and evolve. So when the boil on the skin (drinking) emerges again, it's fueled by a stronger underlying condition.
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: I'm exactly where I should be.
Posts: 1,889
I've gone back to drinking worse off than I was so many times that I'm literally scared to even contemplate the thought of the consenquences of the dam breaking even with one drop. I'm lucky by only losing my job to alcohol not my life or my spirit from taking a life.
It is a dangerous line we cross when we continue without taking a good look inside to rectify any reasoning. I stopped for good this time, but yeah, I'm still an alcoholic...but this time I took the time to figure out why.
I think there are alot of shady areas in this disease. I wish they could just create a pill and it was cured.
It is a dangerous line we cross when we continue without taking a good look inside to rectify any reasoning. I stopped for good this time, but yeah, I'm still an alcoholic...but this time I took the time to figure out why.
I think there are alot of shady areas in this disease. I wish they could just create a pill and it was cured.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Posts: 889
I remember the last time I relapsed. I had 20 days in. Decided to have "a" beer. I then ended up drinking a bottle of wine (I don't even like wine) because it was the only thing in the house when I got home.
Not sure why this is and it's not even important. What's important IMO is that it is real. There is no going back for me.
Not sure why this is and it's not even important. What's important IMO is that it is real. There is no going back for me.
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 176
Every relapse for me has been a little bit worse than the one before it, with the exception of the latest relapse... and only because I... hell I don't know what happened, but I just realized in the middle of drinking that I may as well be downing cyanide and just stopped.
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 581
Originally Posted by Programmer27
Every relapse for me has been a little bit worse than the one before it, with the exception of the latest relapse... and only because I... hell I don't know what happened, but I just realized in the middle of drinking that I may as well be downing cyanide and just stopped.
It was my first step.
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