I couldn't do anything without a drink in my hand. Yes I raced without one to an extreme, only because my mind was racing towards the next drink. Drinking was more important than breathing. Can't help with ADD, but there is a support group on DS which may help with any questions...

http://www.dailystrength.org/c/ADHD-ADD/support-group

I do think there is Adult ADD - BUTTTTTTTT - i think when one stops drinking there are too many immediate changes in the body to start jumping to other diagnosis tooo soon. You may find yourself being treating for something that is nothing more than withdrawals and chemical adjustments when not using.

I think everyone to some extent says they drink to relax - i don't normally hear to many say - i drink to get that burst of energy - i think some of us drank so much that it didn't help relax just became part of our functioning behavior.

When seeking professional and medical help the big key is to the let the professional know of your drinking history, your desires to stop drinking and the length of time you've not used - if they are educated on alcoholism and the chemical changes and processes of detox and withdrawal they maybe able to provide a more accurate diagnosis of what is at hand when you are visiting.

Also, because the brain goes thru these chemical changes, it can play tricks with your mind and body and we all know how powerful the mind can be.

That roadmap to recovery link i sent you, explains some of the changes of a 30 day, 60 day, 90 period and so on -

You have to remember all parts of the body GOT USED to the alcohol and now it has to learn to create and function with out it.

Peace!

Aren't we all a bit ADD? :-)

ADD/ADHD? Was convinced that was the ticket for me too. It felt real to me. Of course, I stayed gone to meetings often when in my first year. It wasn't until an oldtimer told me "Dianna, you have to learn how to live with your family......we go into into the rooms to learn how to live OUTSIDE the rooms", that I realized that was what was wrong.

Exactly as cabledude explains it. I was restless, irritable & discontent. Always running to something or somebody to change the way I felt. Mind racing? Hell yeh. I was still seeing spiders on my legs in the first 2 weeks. Psychs can diagnose us with all sorts of maladies until the booze gets completely out of our systems. Be careful.

Just as Coogee said, I couldn't do anything without a drink either. I had to drink to go grocery shopping or to my daughter's school programs. I had to have a cocktail for the ride to see my family, on my lunchbreak to "cope" with the rest of the day at work and in the morning to "get going".

I know you've heard this over and over Olive, but the steps are what has helped me to "just be". I was antsy and nervous as HELL for the first few months. My mind was racing and my heart was racing at all times and it sucked ass!

Now it's glorious to "just be", I can't even explain it, but I am fine and actually very happy to just sit and usually realize that I'm not just sitting, I'm smiling too! How retarded is that to sit on the couch and smile like a goober? hee hee... Get a sponsor, do those steps! But yes, go to the doc...I'm not at all advising you to NOT seek medical advice. :)

Dangit. I forgot to mention that I have been like this since I was a little kid. I started running 6 miles a day when I was 7 yrs old, races and all. I recognized THEN that I got peace of mind when I was exhausted. Yes, that does happen to be right about when I started enjoying drink, but I definitely was not getting drunk for several years after that recognition. I have ALWAYS been this way. What got me through school was my competitiveness. I am just wondering if something else is contributing to the drinking problem. Maybe not. I do know that growing up I instinctively managed my "energy" by running myself into the ground every day. The drinking got MUCH worse when I stopped most of the extreme exercise.

Thanks Coogee. I'll post on that board too.

I ditto Carebear all the way.

First things first... You are an alcoholic and should continue to concentrate on detox and sobriety. Detox symptoms can mimic all sorts of illnesses. During and after detox your brain is in a funk working very hard to level out the synthetic gludemine and dopamine levels that reached an unnatural maximum level. SO HIGH it supersedes our basic needs for survival. When brain is in active addiction or detoxing it is telling you that you NEED alcohol/drugs to survive. That's why craving is so damn painful and hard to resist.

My suggestion is to slap your ass in a detox hospital asap and then follow up with a psychiatrist for eval.

Running addiction is the same as Opiate addiction...

http://forums.askthetrainer.com/exercise-discussion/303-study-running-addiction-same-opiate-addiction.html

Anna! Great topic. This was brought up by the lead last night.

He said ADD, ADHD=alcoholish. He is a firm believer that it is misdiagnoised, which makes total sense to me.

He said his mind would race, he wouldnt pay attention, etc.....but with AA and work, he no longer suffers from what others term as ADD, ADHD.

Made perfect sense to me.

But yea, I'm good for about 2-3 days after a binge, then I am crawling out of my own skin.

I know that their are alot of symptoms of alcoholism that mimic mental illness. The books tells me I may suffer from grave mental and emotional disorders and that I need to seek help elsewhere for those answers. One of my friends suffer from clinical depression and without meds is suicidal within weeks. Another is borderline schizophrenic and ofcourse you can imagine what happens when he does not take his meds. I personally have bipolar and ptsd. It took months of my sponsor and close friends telling me before I sought out help. What a world of difference it made. By no means am I saying that my alcolism can be treated with anything other than AA but there are things that can never be treated successfully with AA. To think so is rediculous. Also how well are you really? I see scores of people who talk about how much their lives have changed. And how their dependence upon alcohol has been removed but has dependence on things to get that fix really gone?
Eat too much? Gamble too much? Depend on people to the point can't imagine life without them? Could you cope without them? There are scores of other things we seek to get that quick fix from. Shopping? So we have not conquered our dependence on worldly things just change from on to another. Unless you have degree in how the human mind opperates I would not advise people not to get it evaluated. Not a very humbling thing to do. Just my take.

I thought I had anxiety disorder for the first 2 months of sobriety, but it all settled down with time. All these disorders are real, but many can be mis-diagnosed if you are still drinking or recently sober.

Alcohol messes with your brain (chemically) and with your central nervous system. I think it's a bad idea to get on meds for these types of things if you have not been sober for at least a few months. Your body changes a lot after years of drinking.

I also believe that someone should get some dry time before med's. But not to dismiss the possibility.

Bill Wilson hoped that someday science could cure alcoholism. He even took part in the LSD experiments in the 50's before they became controversial. He often consulted doctors and psychiatrists on these issues of mental health and struggled with depression his whole life.

AA makes a terrible religion -- as soon as someone tells me I need to ignore the advice of good doctors and get on my knees and pray -- I see why AA is considered a cult.

That's not the AA I read in the big book or the 12x12.

But, you will find some members in AA who tell mentally ill people to throw away their medication. So far as I know, that would be called practicing medicine without a license.

I would love for those holy roller members of AA to shut their mouths when it comes to science and medicine which they reject.

In the meantime I will pray for acceptance.

All that said, doctors tend to over-prescribe SSRI's and other medications of the sort. We are responsible for our own medical and psychiatric care -- that means seeking out doctors and health care professionals who work with alcoholics, being completely honest with them and following their directions.

AA World Services has literature on this very subject that contains considerably more wisdom than any one of us can offer.

Agreeing with Mum. Adult aDD does exist but we get this way alot. I was this way... until I stopped the mental obsession.

guys, youre missing the point. she has had this at a very young age.

It was brought up in the meeting, what i think she is trying to say, or maybe not. That ADHD, ADD is Alcholism. if that makes sense.

It does to me, i am going to get in touch with the lead that i heard yesterday.

add is dignoised as alcoholism if that mkes sense. And through recovery you learn to be more comfortable with yourself.

the only thing that deadens my aniexty or my constand of having to be on the go is drinking, eating, gambling, or anything exciting.

i do something to completely wear me down, to where i am numb.....i dont call that ADHD, or ADD, it's called addiction, addict personality disorder or whatever you want to call it.

i tink it is all with how someone is raised. this shit where they say you have a chemical, or defect where you can't have alcohol is nonsense to me. something to do with upbringing......maybe further down the line i will agree with something else, but until then.....