Mark75

I had the same experience that Dee had.

I don't think we are very unique. Maybe you will be different. Maybe not. I wonder though, it seems that you would be well served to get clean and sober and understand what addiction really means, for you, before picking up a bottle.

smacked

Not gonna slam you either. Your recovery is your business. Im an addict and alcoholic in recovery. It was really freeing for me once i found that using a substance wasn't the only fun on the planet. There's a whole world out there, I was just really stuck in my own addict head when I thought like that.

simplyfab

I have a friend and a cousin who both have over 10 yrs clean from narcotics, and according to them, only had a problem with narcotics. My friend (just hit 10yrs clean) decided for herself to stay away from all. Booze and drugs.
My cousin on the other hand (has 14yrs drug free), drinks on occasion, and does so responsibly.

I've asked both why they made the choice they did.
My friend says because she doesn't want the temptation to use drugs creeping in while her inhibitions are somewhat blurred, so why risk it.
My cousin, on the other hand, says that she's never had a problem with alcohol and enjoys a couple of drinks every now and then at social functions.
That just tells me its up to each individual recovering drug addict.
I guess its just easier for some recovering drug addicts to just stay away from all "mood enhancers" to be on the safe side.
To make sure they don't trade one addiction for another or like my friend, jeopordize their self-control.
I guess people don't really see that side of a recovering drug addict as much. To be able to enjoy a few drinks on occasion and still be in 'recovery'. For alot of people, 'recovering' means 'sobriety'. I think maybe that's why there's the assumption that if you're in recovery, it's from both. Booze and drugs.

For alcoholics, it IS staying away from alcohol that sums up our recovery for us.
It's not like a recovering alcoholic can turn around and say.."oh man, sometimes I just want to relax or go to a social function and enjoy a line of coke". Thats just not normal behavior.
But I guess having a drink or two on occasion without any problems is possible for a recovering drug addict. I know one personally who does.
You would just have to be honest with yourself and know if you're really not just trading one addiction for another.
Only you know yourself and how having that drink makes you feel.

ozgoddess

I think the reason they say not to drink, even if it has not been an issue in the past, is that after a couple of drinks too many you might relax and become complacent about using your DOC. Alcohol does impair judgement.

The other thing is that because you no longer have your DOC the alcohol may eventually become an issue, especially if you are looking outside of yourself for "something else". IMO it is in our addictive nature. We don't understand moderation... in general. Gosh, I became addicted to sugar after I stopped drinking

I too don't have a problem with pills, my DOC is alcohol, however I still take great caution in what I take and can see how one day it could become an issue if I am not careful.

I guess the only thing that will tell you is time. I wish you luck, personally I am enjoying being completely sober

MemphisBlues

I'm an alcoholic, so I don't drink nonalcoholic beer. I'm an addict, so I don't take mind-altering drugs of any kind.

I never tried heroin. If I did, I'm sure I would like it. If I tried it once, well, there wouldn't be a once. So I don't try it.

I lived on beer, pot, acid, benzos, and any other drug I thought would be fun for a few decades. Longer, in fact, than I probably have left on planet. I have relative health, security, and am learning to love and live without beer, pot, acid, benzos or any other drug I think might be fun.

I'm an addict and an alcoholic. If I didn't have drugs, I would drink. If I had beer, I was OK without drugs. But my favorite adage was, "Dope with get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope."

If I smoke a joint, I'll want a beer. If I drink a beer, I'll want a benzo and a joint. I would rather be totally sober.

And I find surrendering to the fact that I can't drink one beer or take one bong hit a relief, just a plain point in fact, and I don't ever want to have the craving that one beer or one joint or one benzo would create.

It just wouldn't be enough. None is plenty. Heck, I get stoned off of Novocaine at the dentist. Something tells me most people don't, that is, normal people who can have one beer or one bong hit or one benzo. I may be normal about heroin, but if I do it once, I won't be.

stugotz

I know that feeling all too well. I am an addict who cannot drink. 2 beers and Im at the dope hole. That makes me an alcoholic. I had to stop feeling so unique and living on the edge of the pack. Just like on Animal Planet, the Gazelles on the outside of the pack are always the ones picked off first. Just sayin...

On a side note, if my earlier post that was removed made anyone uncomfortable, thats exactly what it was meant to do.

Threshold

What I hear a lot is 'if you can take the booze/drugs out and your life is great, wonderful, if you take the booze/drugs out and your life is still a mess, better start working on your life"

In your case, if booze isn't an issue, and you take the coke out and life is great...wonderful. If not, you could try taking the booze out too and see where it gets you. If life is wonderful, awesome. If not...

I was never physically addicted to a substance. I used, anything, to ESCAPE. So, take out pills, I still sought things to escape, booze, still looking to escape, I'd turn to sex, food, cutting, anything just to escape. Because I am an addict inside, not addicted to anything particular but the frenzied desire to escape.

So, those things weren't fun for me. I didn't drink or drug to get high, I certainly didn't cut to get high, I did them to escape. Take them out of my life and I was an out of control ball of panic who attempted suicide the fast way, since I was committed to not do it the long way.

Recovery for me is learning to deal with life. When I deal with it, I don't feel the need to escape it, because it's not so scary anymore. I can have fun, because I am not a seething ball of fear and panic. When I used, and lived in escape mode, I didn't deal with life and my problems got bigger and bigger and bigger. There are a lot of other addicts like me out there, and for us, not using anything is the only thing that makes sense.

For people who truly only had an issue with a particular substance, what applies to us may make no sense at all. I know people who said, I'm not going to drink anymore. Stopped, never picked it up or felt the need to replace it. I'm jealous of those people.

I never had much of a booze problem till I stopped drugging. Then I told myself I could drink responsibly, but like many others here have said, lowering my inhibitions through using alcohol made it more likely I'd pick up. The last time I drank,It was a whole bottle of bourbon, I ended up popping pills till they had to haul me off in an ambulance. Not pretty.

The part about not having fun anymore? Are drinking and drugging the only ways you know how to have fun? Dude, there's a whole world out there.