Alternative Medicine
 

Hello all. Finishing day 3 sober and am so thankful I've been able to eat meals today and drank a good amount of water and Gatorade- hooray for small victories!

I've been researching sobriety programs and therapies. I've been to some AA meetings in previous sober stretches and it didn't feel like a good fit. Has anyone tried any alternative methods- I.e. hypnotherapy, acupuncture, natural supplements/dietary plans, etc? My alcohol problems relate directly to my anxiety and depression issues so wondered if any if these methods would work.

Anyway, any thoughts would be much appreciated. I'm already so thankful for these boards!

Hi Sobercm,
I tried hypnotherapy a few weeks ago - went twice. Didn't stop me from drinking sorry to say. I even downloaded some hypnotherapy apps onto my iphone and would listen to it before going to bed. Didn't stop me from drinking sorry to say.
I am reading the Allen Carr - Easy way to Stop Drinking book at the moment and I am really hoping the information in there will enlighten me to give up the poison - I have seen many people on here say it really helped them.
Hope this helps a bit :)

Hi there, when I quit drinking 4.5 years ago, I used Kudzu and an amino acid supplement called Allone. There is quite alot of evidence that amino acids can help with cravings/addictions and I do believe that these two things did help. I still take the allone as it does seem to keep me feeling better than if I dont take it. The kudzu I believe did help me with cravings and I took it for a few months.
Good luck!

I also read the Allen Carr book and I believe there is also a Jason Vale book that is very good although I havent read it

Good nutrition is very important during recovery. Your mind cannot truly heal without good food. Stay away from fad diets and avoid junk food--in general, it is good to avoid extreme changes during recovery.

As for preventing relapses, fellowship has worked for me for 50 days. First, I spent a week in detox with "kids" who were trying not to ruin their lives with heroin. They taught me my life was worth saving. We had nightly AA or NA meetings, and that was a good introduction because my expectations were not too high for my local groups when I got home. Meetings almost every night and a helpful sponsor have worked for the past seven weeks.

I am on a similar search. I've read, but haven't tried cuz can't afford, that acupuncture can really help with withdrawals. Don't know if it can prevent relapses but I imagine that it might help.

I used acupuncture to quit smoking. I was told it would reduce cravings, but not eliminate them. Success would depend upon me. On Christmas, it will be 7 years without a cigarette.

I have used vigorous exercise to achieve some sobriety and greatly reduced drinking in the past. Exercise really helped to improve my moods and confidence. It also helped to get rid of that antsy feeling that can lead to a drink. Obviously, as I am on day 2, it is not a perfect solution, but it us a useful tool.

If it worked, they wouldn't call it alternative, they'd just call it medicine.

See your Doctor and run your questions by her.

Anyone that comes up with a sure fire way to cure addiction will be a ba-zillionaire 10 times over. Until then it takes a life time of hard work. Looking for quick fixes is like chasing rainbows

rational recovery worked best for me. You might check out the AVRT threads in the Secular Connections board. self hypnosis helped me with anxiety and getting better sleep. it takes a lot of practice though.

Love from Lenina

Actually most of what is called "alternative" predates "modern" medicine by thousands of years. Acupuncture has been in use for 3-5,000 years and the human race would not even exist without herbal medicine. Most pharmaceutical meds are based on/in plant medicines.

Take care.

Lyoness that is my feeling too. Whenever I talk to a doctor about anxiety/depression they want to write a prescription and that's it. I think I'll be looking into traditional Chinese medicine which I have heard great things about from friends for all kinds of ailments and diseases.

I'm definitely going to get that Allen Carr book too.

Last Tuesday morning I went to a morning meeting in a neighboring town.

There was a good turnout and I found myself at a 3rd Step table with 8 other members, most of whom were oldtimers (my 23 yrs sober dragged down the average sober time drastically).

The total sober time at that table was approaching 1/4 Millennium .... 250 years.

That was my alternative medicine for the morning.

All the best.

Bob R

Were there dinosaurs back them? :c031: