Anxiety

Old 01-11-2007, 11:54 AM
  # 21 (permalink)  
Reach Out and Touch Faith
 
shockozulu's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: On a Sailboat
Posts: 3,871
I have found this sheet works wonders for me. Its one of the things that brought me to SMART Recovery. Someone had linked me to it, and I thought "This makes sense". It's called dealing with Anxiety about Anxiety.
http://www.smartrecovery.org/resourc...statements.htm
shockozulu is offline  
Old 01-11-2007, 06:05 PM
  # 22 (permalink)  
Member
 
nevabetta's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Michigan
Posts: 5
Hello Jane,

My dr. prescribed antabuse for me.

I have been on it for quite some time and it has worked for me. I know that I do not want to get sick, or worse, die.
Of course, I am doing AA meetings and counseling as well.

I would like to hear from others who have taken it, and their success.

Hope you are doing better!
nevabetta is offline  
Old 01-11-2007, 07:42 PM
  # 23 (permalink)  
Member
 
Mongo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Alberta, Canada
Posts: 363
Welcome to SR Nevabetta.

I've used antabuse for about 8 months now and it's working exceptionally well for me. I don't adhere to any one recovery program but do use REBT and participate on several message boards.

I was a heavy drinker and was unsuccessful in the past in abstaining for more than a few weeks.

It's given me a chance to work on sober living and changing my behavior in a very positive way.

Keep well

Ron
Mongo is offline  
Old 01-12-2007, 10:31 AM
  # 24 (permalink)  
Member
 
nevabetta's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Michigan
Posts: 5
Hello Ron and Thank you. I actually did some reading up on some of your previous posts from last summer. I have always been told that antabuse is just a crutch. But...... If crutches were invented to help those in need, well then....I would say i qualify! I have been on after a brief relapse about 3 months ago. It has been very helpful, and I strongly feel that I am not quite ready to give it up yet.
I have been working on my spirituality and going to meetings too.
Happy to be sober today!

Thanks again for the warm welcome and your insights.....

Tara
nevabetta is offline  
Old 01-12-2007, 12:48 PM
  # 25 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: London, UK
Posts: 49
Hello All

I am glad to hear (though sorry you share) my - what can I say - anxiety freakazoids?

I have slipped (got p*ssed/drunk) in the past week and I really thought I wouldn't. I had almost 5 months under my belt and, despite squirrels, was at least sober.

Which has been bloody hard won - you know what I mean.

What happened? I don't know - I have an idea though. My eldest son (16)needed some help with his exam coursework and I helped him very effectively. I have been a bit behind with some reporting for my work and I completed it. Sound familiar? I "rewarded" myself with my worst nemesis.

I did well, I had a few beers. Yawn. Thankfully nothing "happened".

Doh! - I do not want to drink. I am back on path but part of me wanted to come back on here and lie (sorry!) G*d - even on a website!

Part of me is thinking - is AA the only way I will be free of this sh*t?

Antabuse seems not to be an option here (Drs will NOT do it) - I am thinking of online pharmacies but maybe AA is the way?

Bummer

Best wishes
Jane
LadyJane666 is offline  
Old 01-12-2007, 01:11 PM
  # 26 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: London, UK
Posts: 49
T-bear

What you said really resonates for me. I was fairly happy with AA for a few (maybe 4) weeks until a woman did a "share" about being bulimiac (sp?) and an alk. I was absolutely furious that I had had to sit through something that meant nothing to me and I left.

I am most scared of "ruining" my life by being an AA-goer, an "other" person. I am single (divorced) and who wants to go out with an AA dork? I agree that I have ruined most relationships through drink, but really, what normal-o wants to go out with a "follower".

It's not nice, but I've said it and I bet lots of you think it.

Best wishes
Jane
LadyJane666 is offline  
Old 01-12-2007, 04:59 PM
  # 27 (permalink)  
Member
 
Mongo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Alberta, Canada
Posts: 363
Hi Jane, good to see you back.

Sorry to hear of your slip, but I think we'll all been there. The important thing is to get back and keep trying.

There are other meds to help you, naltrexone and campral come to mind. Perhaps your doctor has seen good results with these.

Nevabetta, antabuse I think can be compared to a "crutch" which is a tool to use until healing happens. It's important, at least for me, to use the time I'm on it to change my behaviour so that I can make better choices for myself in the future.

Keep well

Ron
Mongo is offline  
Old 01-18-2007, 08:56 PM
  # 28 (permalink)  
Member
 
nevabetta's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Michigan
Posts: 5
Smile

Hello Ron-
I agree 100%. I am gonna use that crutch until i feel i am healed enuff too.... My pharmacist recently told me he heard a "rumor" that Antabuse was no longer going to be produced and available as an RX. Sound familiar or have you heard anything as such?

Thanks!
nevabetta is offline  
Old 01-19-2007, 02:07 AM
  # 29 (permalink)  
Member
 
paulmh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 1,415
Good to see you back Jane.

I'll tell you a wee story. Many years ago I had a knock at the door of my flat, dead late at night. Some police and an old woman were there. They wanted to know if I had seen my neighbour - the old woman's son - recently. I hadn't. They were concerned and they kicked the door in. He was dead in bed. A man in his forties he had topped himself with brandy and barbituates.

Weeks later his mother came to see me and she told me why he killed himself. He was an alcoholic and in desperation to quit he had gone to his doc to get antabuse. Unbeknown to him, his doc gave him a placebo. The guy went some months without a drink, but one day he caved and he took one - no sickness, no vomitting, no rush to hospital. He realised he had been taking a placebo, and he killed himself. Why? He blamed the world for failing him.

Since I have started my recovery I have thought about this man. AA gives a way of understanding his mental state, and of course of recognising myself in it too. This man had expectations about how the world should be, and was pretty much always disappointed, until finally he took his own life in, in effect, a tantrum. That's the way I was, and can still sometimes be. What does AA teach me? That drinking alcohol is a symptom of my condition. That my condition is a mental, physical and emotional one (let's not use the word "spiritual" since it just confuses some people), and that one of the ways that my condition manifests itself is in having inappropriate expectations about what's going to happen in the world, and then having great big emotional responses when the world doesn't give me what I want. William Alexander describes it as being in a state where we are perpetually saying "I want, I want, I want......". He goes on to say that the root of the "I want" is - "I want the world to be my parent".

This is the beauty of AA to me. It gives me an explanation of my condition. It shows me how to change, and that change is possible. All this G*d stuff is just a red herring - or a pink unicorn. People are different. They take as much or as little of the G*d stuff as they want.

But change requires - change. If the change required - to become an AA dork - is one that you're not prepared to make, then that's obviously your decision. For motorcycling, scuba diving, dancing, drumming, degree-doing new business-running AA dorks like me, change was the best thing that could've happened.

AA is fundamentally right about one thing as far as I'm concerned.

Change or die. Even if it's only the lonely death, inside.
paulmh is offline  
Old 01-19-2007, 02:08 AM
  # 30 (permalink)  
Member
 
paulmh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 1,415
Oh can I just add, that story wasn't a crit of antabuse. If antabuse helps you change, great. The story was about the mental state of alcoholics.
paulmh is offline  
Old 01-19-2007, 04:34 AM
  # 31 (permalink)  
Member
 
Mongo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Alberta, Canada
Posts: 363
Nevabetta, it wouldn't surprise me if antabuse were to be discontinued. My pharmacist was able to compound it with what he had at the time in stock, however. I think that because it's a med that has been around so long and is in the public domain, there's no real money to be made on it. Just a wild guess here, but I'm willing to bet that a drug company would not be inclined to use resources on something of so little profit.

Paul, sorry to hear about your neighbour. It's difficult to inderstand what mental anguish may cause a person to take such an extreme measure. For some people, AA is a choice to help them come to grips with their own issues and their emotional response to them. Some people make different choices. Sometimes our choices do not work for us. If we survive our initial choices, maybe we can eventually make the right ones for the rest of our lives.

I think that we can agree that alcoholism is a complex condition that is difficult for a person to overcome. The anxiety generated in withdrawal and beyond can best be coped with by continued abstinence and lifestyle change. I'm happy with the choices I have made lately, including the use of antabuse to ensure abstinence for an extended period to allow me time to work on lifestyle change.


Keep well

Ron

Last edited by Mongo; 01-19-2007 at 04:58 AM.
Mongo is offline  
Old 01-19-2007, 07:57 AM
  # 32 (permalink)  
Member
 
paulmh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 1,415
And I've been privileged to have witnessed the benefits and space that antabuse has afforded you over the least few months. More power to you. Like you say, what keeps us safer from alcoholism is "lifestyle change". Putting down the drink is seldom enough.
paulmh is offline  
Old 01-19-2007, 01:37 PM
  # 33 (permalink)  
Reach Out and Touch Faith
 
shockozulu's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: On a Sailboat
Posts: 3,871
Originally Posted by paulmh View Post
And I've been privileged to have witnessed the benefits and space that antabuse has afforded you over the least few months. More power to you. Like you say, what keeps us safer from alcoholism is "lifestyle change". Putting down the drink is seldom enough.
For me, it was not a lifestyle change I needed. I needed to learn how to think properly and deal with my daily problems. Once I learned this, I was ready to work a program that helped me to deal with my issues with drugs.

Putting down the bottle was enough for me, but I do not work AA/NA. I work SMART where I learn harm control. I learn what sets me off and how to deal with these issues before it leads to using. I learn how to stop myself before using.

For some people, a lifestyle change is needed. For others it is not. That is why we have a Secular Recovery section here, for those who take other views, including AA for Atheists.
shockozulu is offline  
Old 01-19-2007, 05:50 PM
  # 34 (permalink)  
Member
 
Getoverit's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Richmond Virginia
Posts: 16
Just For Today

Hey LadyJane,

Try to get a Dr to try you on Zoloft....I'm sober almost 2 yrs now and SWEAR by it for anxiety and depression. Takes a few weeks to take hold though....No side effects (except for men - used for erectile dysfuntion also!!)

There is only one "cure". AA is the ONLY thing that has ever worked for me, and - I'm an athiest to boot!!!! Go to many meetings - don't pick up a drink. IF you are ready - then you can recover.
Getoverit is offline  
Old 01-19-2007, 08:35 PM
  # 35 (permalink)  
Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude
 
Zencat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Oxnard (The Nard), CA, USA.
Posts: 13,612
"Has anyone else felt like this after stopping drinking and did they find any type of medication to be helpful?" ~ Jane

Inderal, has helped me significantly along with Cymbalta, my anxiety is manageable. I am now able to benefit from talking therapy.

Zencat
Zencat is offline  
Old 01-21-2007, 04:21 PM
  # 36 (permalink)  
Member
 
nevabetta's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Michigan
Posts: 5
No Crit taken cat....... and the info is helpful! Thanks for the insight.
nevabetta is offline  
Old 01-21-2007, 07:39 PM
  # 37 (permalink)  
Reach Out and Touch Faith
 
shockozulu's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: On a Sailboat
Posts: 3,871
Originally Posted by Getoverit View Post

There is only one "cure". AA is the ONLY thing that has ever worked for me, and - I'm an athiest to boot!!!! Go to many meetings - don't pick up a drink. IF you are ready - then you can recover.
I am glad AA works for you, but it is not the only program. I happen to be working the SMART program. I know others who work RR, LifeRing and SOS.
shockozulu is offline  
Old 01-27-2007, 08:50 PM
  # 38 (permalink)  
Member
 
nevabetta's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Michigan
Posts: 5
[QUOTE=Mongo;1179180]
I think that we can agree that alcoholism is a complex condition that is difficult for a person to overcome. The anxiety generated in withdrawal and beyond can best be coped with by continued abstinence and lifestyle change. I'm happy with the choices I have made lately,



Your communication skills are profound and it is obvious you put a great deal of effort into your sobriety. I am sure others have gained much from your comments, advice, and encouragement. I look forward to viewing some of your other posts.
nevabetta is offline  

Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off




All times are GMT -7. The time now is 02:16 AM.