__________________________________________
This is how we are perceived by our foes at ST...
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
The Green Papers
http://www.green-papers.org/
I am sure I am not the only one to have read from this site. I just wanted to get your opinions on the credibility of this site.
I found it to be very informative. I learned a few things I had not really thought about before. Like more clarity on the statistics.
Quote from the site;
"Research has shown that there is no sharp distinction between alcoholics and non-alcoholics. Instead, alcoholism can be rated from zero to extremely severe according to the number of symptoms. People are spread out all along the scale, just like with blood pressure or IQ. We're in the 21st century, but the sad fact is, there is no medical cure for severe alcoholism. All medicine can do is provide detox services and crisis management and help people to heal themselves."
I am sure I am not the only one to have read from this site. I just wanted to get your opinions on the credibility of this site.
I found it to be very informative. I learned a few things I had not really thought about before. Like more clarity on the statistics.
Quote from the site;
"Research has shown that there is no sharp distinction between alcoholics and non-alcoholics. Instead, alcoholism can be rated from zero to extremely severe according to the number of symptoms. People are spread out all along the scale, just like with blood pressure or IQ. We're in the 21st century, but the sad fact is, there is no medical cure for severe alcoholism. All medicine can do is provide detox services and crisis management and help people to heal themselves."
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
I Didn't Get That Memo
I was at am meeting tonight and got to talking with a friend who been in the program for 20+ years. He was really pissed about an open speaker's meeting we had both gone to on Monday night.
I immediately thought that he was upset because the speaker gave a rambling drunkalog as sometimes happens. But this wasn't the case. My friend was irate because there's the mother of a (female) home group member who also attends the meetings, although Mom isn't an alcoholic. Don't ask, she just does. Helps with the setup etc. and generally makes herself useful.
It seems that this Mom, not an alcoholic, had the utter gall to join in the Lord's Prayer at the end of the meeting, our normal way of closing. He was fucking incensed that she said the prayer as she had no business doing so and it was a flagrant, wanton violation against all AA's traditions. Blasphemy!
In my usual suave manner, my brain froze into a block of ice; a survival tool I've learned when encountering extreme examples of WTF????
Having thought about it for a while now, I'm willing to concede that maybe I didn't get that memo. Perhaps I've been under the misconception that open meeting were just that - open to everyone. That being allowed to attend an open meeting didn't automatically deny any non-alcoholic the right to join in our prayers.
So can you guys help me here, perhaps send me a copy of the memo? My friend, with his many years of sobriety (er, attendance at meetings), has tried to make me understand that he's a far better non drinker than I am and thus knows what he's talking about.
Anabuse?
I'm gonna go off-topic and preface this with the fact that I offer no medical advice here. Just my experience.
I was suggested to take Anabuse twice in my lifetime and I complied both times. The first time, I was going through level II alcohol education and therapy.. back when I was about 20 years old. I complied and after about a few months, the fine folks at the therapy sessions said I was doing so well in alcohol abstinence and was nearing my commencement of their program, that they just took me off it to see how I did on my own without it. I left there and stayed sober until I eventually drank again. I did not drink on the Anabuse though. I had no intention to drink on it or off it for a time. I say that I had something in me, a desire to stay stopped and I was able to do that. I did not feel tempted to be stupid and drink on it. I had no craving as alcohol was long since out of my system and would only battle the obsession.
Now, fast forward to my next treatment stint, the prior one being when I was 18. I'd be volunteering a treatment center stay as conditions to stay employed with my job after having confessed to having a problem with alcohol and in a place to seek help. While successfully completing my 14 day stay at a local treatment center, I was scheduled to see a dr there as part of setting up my "aftercare" program. He recommended Anabuse. I disagreed, saying that I would be doing A.A. among other things and that I felt things were going well in treatment and my aftercare, as I had an A.A. homegroup, sponsor, group of folks whom I'd seen at least twice a week, plus I was doing the treatment center meetings, etc. Heck, I was chairing A.A. meetings and was working on my 9th step amends by then... with my A.A. group. But no, the doc said, "If you want to show us that you're really commited to stay sober, you'll do this."
So I took the damned Anabuse. My wife told me that she and my MIL had noticed that I stank like rank garlic. I don't really remember noticing too many health related issues, as I was not ingesting booze and was careful about cologne, etc. But on Thanksgiving Day, my appendix almost burst and I had it removed. I took myself off the Anabuse at that point and never looked back. My old doctor, not the treatment center one, had requested an appointment to discuss some things about my liver. I never went to see him. I just stayed away from that Anabuse and recouped the appendectomy and never looked back.
I've heard of some folks that drank on anabuse. Could the courts and docs be partly blamed for this? If you're gonna drink booze, don't take anabuse. That's crazy. We knew a guy who did this and his face turned beet red. I stopped hanging around the guy. I had the power over booze, at the time to not do that. I guess some don't.
Any other experiences on Anabuse? Oh, I do remember some of my A.A. peers telling me that it was bad and don't take it. I told them I wasn't doing it so much for me. I was doing it to keep other folks off my damn back. I remember this one gal who showed up when I did to take our Anabuse. She seemed very nice and all... but it seemed like the more I saw her, the more her face broke out in acne. Could the Anabuse have caused this?
I stopped smelling like stinky garlic when I stopped taking it.
I was suggested to take Anabuse twice in my lifetime and I complied both times. The first time, I was going through level II alcohol education and therapy.. back when I was about 20 years old. I complied and after about a few months, the fine folks at the therapy sessions said I was doing so well in alcohol abstinence and was nearing my commencement of their program, that they just took me off it to see how I did on my own without it. I left there and stayed sober until I eventually drank again. I did not drink on the Anabuse though. I had no intention to drink on it or off it for a time. I say that I had something in me, a desire to stay stopped and I was able to do that. I did not feel tempted to be stupid and drink on it. I had no craving as alcohol was long since out of my system and would only battle the obsession.
Now, fast forward to my next treatment stint, the prior one being when I was 18. I'd be volunteering a treatment center stay as conditions to stay employed with my job after having confessed to having a problem with alcohol and in a place to seek help. While successfully completing my 14 day stay at a local treatment center, I was scheduled to see a dr there as part of setting up my "aftercare" program. He recommended Anabuse. I disagreed, saying that I would be doing A.A. among other things and that I felt things were going well in treatment and my aftercare, as I had an A.A. homegroup, sponsor, group of folks whom I'd seen at least twice a week, plus I was doing the treatment center meetings, etc. Heck, I was chairing A.A. meetings and was working on my 9th step amends by then... with my A.A. group. But no, the doc said, "If you want to show us that you're really commited to stay sober, you'll do this."
So I took the damned Anabuse. My wife told me that she and my MIL had noticed that I stank like rank garlic. I don't really remember noticing too many health related issues, as I was not ingesting booze and was careful about cologne, etc. But on Thanksgiving Day, my appendix almost burst and I had it removed. I took myself off the Anabuse at that point and never looked back. My old doctor, not the treatment center one, had requested an appointment to discuss some things about my liver. I never went to see him. I just stayed away from that Anabuse and recouped the appendectomy and never looked back.
I've heard of some folks that drank on anabuse. Could the courts and docs be partly blamed for this? If you're gonna drink booze, don't take anabuse. That's crazy. We knew a guy who did this and his face turned beet red. I stopped hanging around the guy. I had the power over booze, at the time to not do that. I guess some don't.
Any other experiences on Anabuse? Oh, I do remember some of my A.A. peers telling me that it was bad and don't take it. I told them I wasn't doing it so much for me. I was doing it to keep other folks off my damn back. I remember this one gal who showed up when I did to take our Anabuse. She seemed very nice and all... but it seemed like the more I saw her, the more her face broke out in acne. Could the Anabuse have caused this?
I stopped smelling like stinky garlic when I stopped taking it.
Monday, March 7, 2011
More Charlie
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Charlie Sheen claims AA has a 5% success rate -- is he right?
http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-sheen-aa-20110302,0,1684470.story?
I posted this because Stinkin Thinkers, Ex-AA'ers, ex-spouses of AA'ers and just about every other uneducated, uninformed and non-sober individual propped up Charlie (probably literally) as their poster boy. It also gave everyone one a reason just to complain because living by principles is hard and they don't want to. Thinking about the spirituality is complex for some just better to not care.
Many of our brethren spoke out on this thread, I found it to be enlightening.
I posted this because Stinkin Thinkers, Ex-AA'ers, ex-spouses of AA'ers and just about every other uneducated, uninformed and non-sober individual propped up Charlie (probably literally) as their poster boy. It also gave everyone one a reason just to complain because living by principles is hard and they don't want to. Thinking about the spirituality is complex for some just better to not care.
Many of our brethren spoke out on this thread, I found it to be enlightening.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)