Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselling Thread

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No harm in going to both NA and AA, or swapping back and forth based on your needs of the day. I know lots of people who regularly bounce among the various rooms, and at one point or another in my 22 years I have visited most of them myself.

I commonly hear people in the rooms say "Well, my drug of choice is X, and I'm staying off of that, but instead my disease has decided to take the 'Scenic Route' so today I am here in Y meeting". I always get a chuckle out of that line because I can so much relate to it!

Congrats on your time!

I've been sober so far for about one year and three months. It feels good but the trade off is a strong return of my childhood behavior like isolating, not relating to people or saying the wrong things around them. Lights and sounds are also more disturbing to me so I try my level best to avoid the city, supermarkets and malls. A baby crying in a library used to annoy me a little. Now it annoys me to the point I want to jump out a window. I also notice I shake my legs more and even tap the floor. I've also developed a peculiar new habit of using my fingers to count out the syllables and words I'm saying at the moment.

I've been addicted to every drug you can think of, and others you can't (or maybe you can if drugs is your special interest, like it was mine). I did it, so I could retreat into blissful, colorful oblivion, in order to mask the coldness of the unforgiving world we live in - a world that teaches its ways only through punishment. Some are able to handle that constant punishment, paradoxes, double-standards, and the unfavourable ratio of awful people to good people - awful people being the more dominant group. When there is a high enough group of awful people, the good people become demoralized, and if mistreated by society badly enough, graduate to fully fledged awful people themselves - perhaps worse than those that turned them.

The ones that can't handle that world, do drugs, drink to excess, and develop pathological addictive behaviours to cope with the unbearable emptiness inside.

These are also the ones that think, and feel more deeply than the average 95IQ normie.

Thankfully, I'm clean now. Have been for a few years, now. My drug use was more a symptom of my environment, than anything else. I stopped using pretty quickly when things became more stable for me. I've been clean for years.

I tried the meetings, the therapy, all that garbage, it didn't work.

The only thing that works in recovery is maturity, and that's a daily struggle. That is something that just comes on it's own with time. For some it comes faster or slower than others. Even just recently, I realized that I can't blame the world for my problems. I can, but no one will listen. I still believe the world "owes me" for everything its put me through, but I've been working on that attitude and it's gotten a lot better.

Recovery is about accepting that the world is a sh***y place, and the best thing a person can do is survive and take whatever little moments happiness they can from this bleak, unforgiving existence.

Our system creates addiction, profits heavily off it, and has no desire to stop it. I can go into a huge rant on the hows and whys, but that's for another thread.

I'm sober right now, because I choose to be, and I'm better off without drugs, although I do miss them from time to time.

I guess its about time I post in this thread,

I am addict and alcoholic, I have been better and I have been worse. I am not abusing a whole lot of drugs right now but I am struggling cause I found a new drug dealer that wants to sell me hydrocodone. I have used alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and painkillers such as hydrocodone and oxycontin and basically anything I can get my hands on. I am trying to quit so right now I am only abusing hydrocodone and alcohol, sometimes together to increase the high. I have been clean for a half a week to a week, not sure but will probably relapse, haven't really made up my mind to quit. Really nothing feels the same since I got off marijuana, been very depressed and any drugs I try to substitute marijuana with just makes me more depressed that its not weed.

I have always self medicated. For years as a teen with marijuana. Then later, and until now, with alcohol. And a 5 year Ketamine habit also a few years ago. I have used most other drugs and meds occasionally too.
I feel I would never have been able to cope with social exposure without these substances and really that I owe a lot of my current ability to communicate socially to learning experiences achieved through being able to be around people under the mask of being high. (mostly drunk)
Wishing to become sober has occurred hand in hand with my recent adult diagnosis history (I am finally having my diagnosis appointment in the new year). My regular use of alcohol, which i would have to use in every social setting has led to a dependence which i am now trying to free myself from. This in turn raises the social behavioural issues that encourages my drinking in the first place!
For me atm, diagnosis and the wish to be sober are deeply linked

I don't see why not this one more glass of wine.

Well, I do.

But I still want to.

I'm an addict. No matter how much I'll deny it.

I just noticed this thread, I'm glad it's here.
I'm a recovering alcoholic, nearly 6 years sober.

The biggest surprise? I've learned just how little alcohol and drugs "helped" me "deal with my problems". In fact I now know that I deal with my problems best when I'm cool, calm, and sober.

The biggest takeaway I can offer: this life really is better than active addiction.

Addiction is a life or death situation. Whoever reads this: I hope you choose life, because I care about you as a fellow Autistic, and I truly believe the world is better with your specialness!! !

I'm not a therapist, I don't give advice on alcoholism; rather I share my experiences and strengths with those willing to share. If you have questions feel free to PM me.

If you are having a substance abuse or mental health emergency, call 911 or go directly to your nearest ED- Do not post a message and wait for an answer.

I'm a functioning alcoholic

there I said it!

I'm at about 4 months, first time in recovery but not the first time I've tried to quit.
I had quit a few times on my own, but had never admitted I had a problem to anyone else before this, and was always very secretive about it. If there was anyone to see, I had no problems refusing alcohol in every circumstance. To the outside world, I was a non-drinker.
Thing was I locked the doors and drank by myself at night, every night, until I passed out. I could drink a whole bottle of 40% proof in a night.
No one wants this. It's the bottom of the barrel. But there's a certain liberation in owning it. Not running away from it or denying it. Been in AA at least three times a week since I quit. At least there, we have something in common. And most of all, there, no one expects you to be ok and it's fine if you're not, because neither is anyone else. That was significant to me - there, I dropped the facade, and didn't bother projecting that I was always fine no matter what. I doubt that I was ever a "functional alcoholic." That was chemically impossible with the amount I drank. That and mixing alcohol with industrial painkillers, antidepressants and sleeping pills, I should be dead.
But I'm not, and I think I may have stopped in time, even though I got "the talk" from the doctor.
It's good to be alive, regardless of what that entails.

Thanks for telling your story C2V, I appreciate it!

Hi there, guys. I'm dealing with a really tough problem right now and I don't know what the right decision is. It takes quite a bit of explaining to give you the full picture, so I've made my own thread for it, but I'd appreciate it if any of you guys in this thread would take a minute to read it and post a response: viewtopic.php?t=306722

I've never been a heavy drinker by any stretch of the imagination, but I realized that I was addicted nevertheless and I went through quite serious withdrawal after deciding to stop. Now I'm feeling worse and worse instead of better and I don't know if there is any better way to deal with my extreme hypersensitivity other than one or two beers a day. As I said, there's a lot of details, so if you can take a few minutes to read the whole story and post a response it would be appreciated. I'm open to all viewpoints and ideas. Thanks a lot.

So I feel the need to post an update here, I posted in this thread a while back and for me there is drugs which includes alcohol and weed which is separate. I really don't feel much different on weed but I have relapsed completely with weed which is both good and bad.

For me weed helps me get off other drugs, I don't desire other drugs so much and can function on weed so there really isn't an issue but I feel much less safe using or "abusing" weed. I don't consider it abuse but at the same time I feel less safe on it because of its legal status which sucks. I know other drugs are illegal too but for some reason I never felt unsafe buying a bunch of pills cause with no smell and taking them right after you buy them, I would think its damn near impossible to get caught that way.

So alas, this leaves me between a rock and a hard place, I can use weed which is safer and better but possibly get caught or I can abuse dangerous drugs that could ruin my life and run virtually no chance of getting caught. Unfortunately this would be a non issue if weed was legal but since its not I feel I have to choose between these too and I have no intention to break the law. I did it a lot when I was homeless, serious crimes that could have hurt someone but I can't understand why using a drug like marijuana can cost me so much.

I tell myself I am ok with the risks but I am not really, I do however know what I would do and thats run away to Colorado if caught.

Alcohol and other substances are seen as solutions by many.
These solutions can become problematic.

I'm guessing many have heard of self medicating.

Seeking help is a personal decision. It could be through a spiritual guide, doctor, treatment program, 12 step or Celebrate Recovery.
Getting and staying off certain subjects leads to acute and post acute withdrawal. Also facing issues without the masking effects sometimes intensifies them. Roots and conditions are not fun to look at- though humor does have its place.

There is something seriously wrong with this website, and posting.

f**k it. I got a powdered benzo solution, and I'm about to get #rekt.

Sobriety sucks. Been there. done that. Not for me.