Alcohol addiction, racing on Saturday. Seeking advice.

Bad Wigins wrote:

booboomagoo wrote:

look up the nearest AA meeting online.

All was correct except for this. AA is a cult, there are other, better options. You're not helpless.

So during your Skepticism 101 class did you miss the lecture on critical reading? If you say there are better alternatives, then state them.

We are lucky today that they is less of a social stigma attached to addiction. We have addiction specialists, medicines to help people more safely withdraw, AA, NA, SMART Recovery, rehabilitation programs, even Passages. All of these options were presented despite what some troll said.

If you have had problems with addiction, and none of these options worked for you, then PLEASE tell what did work for you. It would actually be helpful, as opposed to bashing one option that has worked for many people even if the success rate is low (this is true for almost all methods due to the nature of addiction).

A very interesting recent article you might like:

First, people who claim that AA/NA teaches you have to be "helpless" may be refering to the first step. It states: "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable."

IMHO, this simply means that you are not able to easily control your use of alcohol or drugs - in my case it was primarily meth. When people say "I haven't had a drink in X years" then it tends to indicate that you don't feel like you can use substances like other people... for you the desire to use is much more powerful, whatever the reason. Otherwise, if you were able to control/have power over your drinking/use, then you wouldn't really have much of an addiction, would you?

Second, and more importantly, why is it impossible to think that you can only use one of these methods? They all provide helpful tools, so I find it much better to utilize a combination of them. This is my experience:

- CBT/ACT/Group/Individual Therapy: many people begin abusing substances because it relieves the pain from other underlying mental issues or depressing experiences, like being neglected throughout your childhood. Talk therapy helps you to work through these experiences and can change the way you view and deal with the world and yourself.

- Medical doctors/ Addiction Specialists: there has been comprehensive research that shows us that substances affect the brains of people with addiction differently than other people. The pleasure/reward circuits are wired so that you more easily bypass rational thought, which is why people feel it is more important than food, hygiene, and sleep and will abandon everything else in their life for that next high. It is powerful biological component. Doctors can also provide drugs in the case of dangerous withdrawals which accompany opiates, alcohol, or benzos.

- AA/NA: these groups are well established and accessible to many people. They are free. They provide you with the ability to find others in you position that you can relate to and rely on when you feel like relapsing. They encourage the use of a sponsor, who you choose, and will help you work your way through the steps. My sponsor, for example, is an engineer like myself and likes to focus on practical things like making amends to people that I've hurt on a daily basis. The program goes beyond philosophical ideals and makes you aware of how your addiction affects other people and teaches you to change many parts of your life. I go to two NA meetings a week and it helps a lot. Sometimes I go to meetings online. Without their network and their hotlines I may have relapsed three or four times.

- SMART Recovery: this is a relatively new group and it definitely appeals to the rational side of me. Their network isn't as big but I meet other engineers/scientists and lawyers with whom I can more easily relate to than some of the hardcore felons I know in other groups. Plus they are free. My friend just started one up in San Diego and it is building in attendance. It is a little too theoretical for me to rely on solely, but it a great alternative to spiritually-based groups. I think it has tremendous potential to keep growing and somebody on this forum just told me they have online meetings.

-Meditation/accupuncture: I've had less success with these methods but I know they work well for a lot of people. Funny story: the one time I tried acupuncture/meditation in group rehab the guy next to me was chronically flatulent. There was new age music playing and every minute this guy would rip ass like no other. Best part was he was trying to play it off like he didn't know who was doing it. I was dying inside from laughter, which helped me through a bad day.

- Rehab: I went to a 90 day program and it incorporated all of the above. It was the single best experience for me. It temporarily isolated me from the shit storm I had created at home and allowed be to come back able to put things back together. Unfortunately, most of the guys I know from there relapsed, but they are still trying. They tell you up front the odds of overcoming addition are not good. I was lucky to have insurance and still attend the outpatient program at my HMO.

-Nutrition: After I quit meth I was severely underweight and malnourished. I suffered injury to my brain, nose, lungs, and heart. Most of it has repaired by now. Essentially, I hadn't ate or slept for years. The longest I went without sleep was 13 days, and I started seeing things and losing touch with reality. When I quit, I ate so much that I became 30 pounds overweight. I eventually learned how to eat better and exercise.

-RUNNING: the only reason I am on this site is because of how much running has helped me during my recovery. It gives me a natural high. I don't want to smoke or put anything bad in my body because I am chasing that next PR. I sleep better, think better, and stay in tune with my body. Two years ago I couldn't run a quarter mile, but I am doing my first HM this weekend.

So, if somebody told me that RUNNING didn't help anybody quit using drugs, made fun of my beliefs and experience, and gave me a bunch of discouraging studies, then I'd say "thank you and I'm sorry it didn't help you." I know it helps me and it doesn't hurt anybody around me. Next I'd ask what DID work for them because I might want to incorporate it in my life.

This is why I don't understand the need to tear down any of these alternatives. I relapsed after 10 years of sobriety because I stopped doing any of these things. So, if they help one person stop from ruining their lives and possibly hurting or killing other people in society, then is it such a bad thing?

booboomagoo wrote:

First, people who claim that AA/NA teaches you have to be "helpless" may be refering to the first step. It states: "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable."

This is why I don't understand the need to tear down any of these alternatives. I relapsed after 10 years of sobriety because I stopped doing any of these things. So, if they help one person stop from ruining their lives and possibly hurting or killing other people in society, then is it such a bad thing?

Awesome post. Thank you.

Make every second drink a glass of water. I've got a friend who does this.

Alcohol actually decreases sleep maintenance. You fall asleep easy, but you sleep restlessly, not deeply, and not infrequently you can't stay asleep into the morning. If sleep is what you're after, take a melatonin. And cut way back on caffeine.

Wigs is your cookie cutter liberal. He'll rail against anything religious no matter how much good it does and no matter how many lives it betters. Unless of course it's linked to the church of Satan or to a radical Islamist cleric or some other edgy hip group with anti-American sentiments.

Get help but don't stop running and racing.

Therapy and a support group work for many. You are to be commended for taking the hard road.

Or sub a non-alcohlic beer every second one:

http://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/non-alcoholic-beer-taste-test

Doughboy Cutter wrote:

Wigs is your cookie cutter liberal. He'll rail against anything religious no matter how much good it does and no matter how many lives it betters. Unless of course it's linked to the church of Satan or to a radical Islamist cleric or some other edgy hip group with anti-American sentiments.

You should put on a movie with all the projecting you're doing. He's a contrarian and hardly a "liberal", ya dingus.

Thanks, KudzuRunner, runnerwhoprofesses and Far Out West.

I drank less than usual, stuck to beer and drank a lot of water before sleeping, a couple of times during the night and before breakfast.

Heading out now.

Thanks all for the suggestions, information and support.

I'll post when I get back.

booboomagoo wrote:

It would actually be helpful, as opposed to bashing one option that has worked for many people even if the success rate is low (this is true for almost all methods due to the nature of addiction).

I appreciate that you may have an emotional attachment to AA but "bashing one option that has worked for many people" is more than legitimate; it's necessary in the quest against snake oil.

There are scores of people out there that swear by homeopathy. That does not mean that when someone recommends homeopathy that they should not be shot down and asked for evidence to support claims of efficacy.

Thanks for adding to the discussion. Sorry one of these options didn't work for you or made your life worse.

You comment is not applicable, but that's due to my never needing such an option. Regardless it is unlikely that I would turn to sugar pills given that thankfully my career has equipped me with the skills to spot them.

The reason I'm commenting is because sugar pills, like AA, cause harm. Despite the protestations of those who take sugar pills and swear they help (whilst avoiding things that actually do).

This tit-for-tat stops now by the way. Regards.

UK Limey far away wrote:

You comment is not applicable, but that's due to my never needing such an option. Regardless it is unlikely that I would turn to sugar pills given that thankfully my career has equipped me with the skills to spot them.

The reason I'm commenting is because sugar pills, like AA, cause harm. Despite the protestations of those who take sugar pills and swear they help (whilst avoiding things that actually do).

This tit-for-tat stops now by the way. Regards.

It should have stopped after my post above where I described several more options that have helped me and other people.

aLcorunner wrote:

Hi guys.

I have had problems with alcohol for over a decade but keep on running and racing.

I have a 10k on Saturday

Thanks in advance.

Race results? Hello?

This was helpful. Thanks

Forget what UK Limey says. The guy thinks going to some meetings and being sober is worse than abusing drugs and alcohol.

You are probably very low on glycogen all the time due to alcohols inhibitory effect on glycogen synthesis. This is esp true if you have liver disease (likely after 10 years, even if not yet obvious.) you should carbo load like you are running a marathon. 600 grams carbs a day for 3 days (or the time you have left.)

You should consider getting a medical evaluation of your heart health before racing. Long term alcohol overuse can cause heart problems that put you at risk of sudden death during extreme exertion such as racing.

Most people don't know this, but you can actually fart the alcohol out of your system.

Many years ago, I was an alcohol abuse counselor in the United States Air Force. Some of the options recommended here didn't exist back then and we had to produce results within 30 days or my client would be discharged, so we needed something that worked fast. If they hadn't yet hit bottom, I'd force them to imagine what that bottom would be like.

What I would do would was to ask the client to tell me where they would be in six months if they didn't stop drinking. Then one year. Then five years. Usually they'd balk at some point, so I would fill in the gaps.

Kicked out of the Air Force. Divorced. Unable to see your own kids. Your own kids will hate you. Unemployed because you can't keep a job. No friends. In poverty because you can't manage money. Everything you care about will be destroyed... and it will be your fault. You did it. No one else. You.

At this point, big burly men who were willing to fight and die for their country would be crying. It would take us both to a place you would never want to be. It was a horrific, brutal, raw experience for both of us. Often, it would work... fast... not immediately, but far faster than anything else I had ever tried or anything I had ever seen another counselor do.

I would urge the OP to try to do this or find a professional to guide you through it. When you want to drink, you'll have to remember this experience. Alcoholism will eventually take you to the bottom, whatever that bottom is for you. You don't need to go all the way to the bottom to change. You just need to recognize what that bottom would be like. Then, you can change.