Alcoholism Support Group
Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.
Greetings!!
I discovered this site yesterday and read posts literally throughout the day and well into the night.
On June 1st at 11 p.m. I had my last drop of alcohol.
I literally hit the wall. The past year has been a personal hell of which I didn't want to face. I was laid off (downsizing not drinking) from a very well paying job, started my own business which is still struggling am finding myself behind on bills due to the financial strain due to the layoff.
Ive been drinking heavily for years however with the stress and more idle time, along with working from home I ramped up to consumption. Drinking from early morning to late at night. Bottles upon bottles of vodka a week...big bottles. I no longer cared about my wife or kids, business, friends, social events, going out or anything...jest the booze and how I was going to sneak another drink somehow.
My body hurt...stomach, shaking, loss of voice.
Monday night my wife, who has been well aware of my problem, found a bottle stashed in my car. I was embarrassed, ashamed and really hated was I was doing to my family. At that moment I got rid of the bottles and looked up the first available AA meeting. 10 am yesterday morning. I told my wife how I felt, admitted I had a problem and told her I was going to the meeting.
As the time got closer I began trying to find some excuse, anything, to get out of the meeting. I headed to the church anyway. I contemplated just driving around for an hour and returning home and just telling my wife I went. 10 am on a Tuesday I imagined about 3 people would be there. As I turned the corner I was shocked at the amount of cars. I slowly with my head down went inside and took a seat at the back.
We read from the Big Book and ironically it was the Wives chapter. As we read I was floored. This could have been written for my wife and described my life.
Nonetheless, I am so very happy I went. It marked the start of a lifelong journey I plan on completing. I'm also glad I found this site. It helped me through day one and surely will help me in many days to come.
Throughout the day the devil kept entering my brain. It would be for a second and I would push it out. My goal is minute by minute, day by day. This morning the headache is gone, the shakes are minimal. I did have strange dreams of snakes last night and sweated like a pig.
This morning I am filled with hope and determination to get through today. Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers.
Sorry for the long post but I have so much to say and share...I kind of feel like a genie that has been let out of the bottle.
I discovered this site yesterday and read posts literally throughout the day and well into the night.
On June 1st at 11 p.m. I had my last drop of alcohol.
I literally hit the wall. The past year has been a personal hell of which I didn't want to face. I was laid off (downsizing not drinking) from a very well paying job, started my own business which is still struggling am finding myself behind on bills due to the financial strain due to the layoff.
Ive been drinking heavily for years however with the stress and more idle time, along with working from home I ramped up to consumption. Drinking from early morning to late at night. Bottles upon bottles of vodka a week...big bottles. I no longer cared about my wife or kids, business, friends, social events, going out or anything...jest the booze and how I was going to sneak another drink somehow.
My body hurt...stomach, shaking, loss of voice.
Monday night my wife, who has been well aware of my problem, found a bottle stashed in my car. I was embarrassed, ashamed and really hated was I was doing to my family. At that moment I got rid of the bottles and looked up the first available AA meeting. 10 am yesterday morning. I told my wife how I felt, admitted I had a problem and told her I was going to the meeting.
As the time got closer I began trying to find some excuse, anything, to get out of the meeting. I headed to the church anyway. I contemplated just driving around for an hour and returning home and just telling my wife I went. 10 am on a Tuesday I imagined about 3 people would be there. As I turned the corner I was shocked at the amount of cars. I slowly with my head down went inside and took a seat at the back.
We read from the Big Book and ironically it was the Wives chapter. As we read I was floored. This could have been written for my wife and described my life.
Nonetheless, I am so very happy I went. It marked the start of a lifelong journey I plan on completing. I'm also glad I found this site. It helped me through day one and surely will help me in many days to come.
Throughout the day the devil kept entering my brain. It would be for a second and I would push it out. My goal is minute by minute, day by day. This morning the headache is gone, the shakes are minimal. I did have strange dreams of snakes last night and sweated like a pig.
This morning I am filled with hope and determination to get through today. Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers.
Sorry for the long post but I have so much to say and share...I kind of feel like a genie that has been let out of the bottle.
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Dick Van Dyke’s path to sobriety was a turning point in his life and career. Here’s what happened:How He Got SoberStruggles and Realization: Van Dyke began drinking as a teenager, largely to cope with shyness and social anxiety. Alcohol made him feel more comfortable in social settings, but over time, his drinking spiraled out of control. By his mid-40s, he recognized that he had an addictive...
I too remember my first meeting... I didnt want to go , but I was so tired of the endless merry go round of drink, shame, remorse, drink , and on and on and on.
I too went to my first meeting in early June and it was also after finding this site. that was three years ago.
Just hang in there and get thru the first bumpy little bit and things get exponentially better. Its like Star Wars and the Death Star and its tractor beam... If you can just get far enough away then the pull gets less and less. I can now look back and just wonder what was i doing to myself.
The root is im an alcoholic. I have a compulsoin to drink and when I do START i drink till its gone.
Remember you are amongst friends here and keep going to AA , I would be dead if it werent for my program.
1is2many
It gets much easier to stay sober more quickly than you'd imagine. As your body and mind start to feel better, never forget how bad you felt physically, mentally and emotionally before you decided to no longer live in active addiction.
All the best!
You are very welcome to the forum. You are now at an important crossroads in your life with two very different paths to choose from. One road leads to an avoidance of reality and the vain hope that you can somehow control your drinking now or in the future. The outcome of choosing that path is a life of misery, not just for yourself but for all of those that you are into contact with. The other road is one of acceptance of the reality that you cannot drink safely and this is the path to great freedom.
Around this time seven years ago I was where you are now. The future looked bleak and I believed that there was no hope. Yet, I have not taken a drink since the night that I walked into that first AA meeting. In that time I have seen many people come and go at AA meetings. Some cannot accept that they are alcoholics and they keep alternating between periods of drinking and going to meetings. Others do accept the new reality and become willing to do whatever it takes in order to get and stay sober. If you align yourself with the second group you need never drink again.
The Doctors Opinion in the Big Book explains the exact nature of the problem. Once you understand the problem it becomes easier to apply a solution that works. The video at the link below explains it very well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pVBDQPC2XQ
I had already been out on stress and started drinking after 8 years.
The whole year...drank..
I'm wondering if it is the same company since you live in CT and I live in RI. The company I worked for wasn't too far from CT depending on where in CT you live.
You sound ready my friend. And it is ironic how AA works that you walk in and the story of the meeting hits home directly....a similar experience happened to me when I started my 8 years.
You HEARD your story....you know your in the right place for now.
Don't give it up....keep fighting...it does get easier especially with the help of AA and forums like this.
Congratulations on pulling yourself UP. I'm not doing so well in that area...still reeling from not working after over 30 years of working.
As the craving hit, just know that they will pass and you can get through them. Drink lots of water over the next few days and eat good food -- it will help.
Good for you for facing your problem and taking action by walking into that meeting.
Keep it up!
Thankfully work kept me busy today and I smiled as I drove past the liquor stores I would usually stop at for a bottle. It's also nice not being paranoid about being pulled over or seeing a cop. I think I got more work done today than I have in about a month.
The shakes are gone and the anxiety is way down. I will say I keep getting a slight headache over my left eye. My back muscles keep cramping and tightening. My gut is going wild though...I think it's getting back to normal and beginning to actually be able to function again. That or it's all the treats I've been allowing myself...Taco Bell, McDonalds, ice cream.
Very surprisingly there haven't been cravings. I do get sudden flashes, like a brain blast of "alcohol" but thankfully it's instantly gone. I'm just keeping busy and enjoying spending time with my wife & kids with clarity I haven't had in years. I'm really digging this.
You will find so many more benefits along the way.
Its good to hear the positivity in your voice.
You got this!
Not easy, but simple.
Awesome job. Keep it up!
Keep up the good work and keep coming back here!
What enticed me about AA was the similarities I encountered in my personality asI tended to be blinded to how I tried all my life to shield myself with either a power struggle or if that did not produce the desired effect I used the guilt factor on others.
Once I heard others share about that in AA I could not deny it anymore.
Yes! I was chameleon who just needed to begin to understand the agenda created as a child for safety did not work as teenager, a drunk teenager or in my late 20's after I was sober.
Keep your eyes and ears open and begin to utilize what you see and hear about yourself through others as I have and drinking or thinking about drinking becomes far overshadowed by getting better emotionally! Woot!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXETnaD3Ho4