Is There a cure for alcoholism

[mario]

There are many who believe that if you?re an alcoholic , then no matter what treatment you go through, you?ll still be an alcoholic for the rest of your life.
This is not a position which holds much hope for anyone considering treatment or a rehab. The idea that you will always be liable to relapse and descend into alcoholism again could easily dissuade many people from bothering to make changes at all.
Now i am just asking a qustion here, but Would it be more useful to encourage people and remind them that lasting change is possible. If you can heal the underlying causes of the addiction, then a former alcoholic no longer has such a tendency. Of course they would be prudent to be very respectful and observant of their relationship to alcohol. But can people in recovery always believe that they are just one drink away from their previous excesses.
Can a former alcoholic ever drink sensibly again ?

[IAD]

Is There a cure for alcoholism

Mario...there's a cure...death ! ha! I can remember when I first started going to AA a friend of mine that knew I was going asked me, after several months; Are you cured yet ? Ha! Alcoholism is a progressive disease..........it hides in you just waiting to come out. I had stooped drinking for 5 years....and bam ! it caught me again. Always be on guard.....Alcoholism is a snickey SOB. IAD

[caysea]

Is There a cure for alcoholism

Hi All
This is my way of dealing with this question. I have taken on blind faith that i am wired differently than other people. I view it as I have a crossed wire in my system and if al is introduced it causes a short. This short may last one night or one year or for the rest of my life. Considering my history with al I will not test this circuit again. I will try to see if I can find out why this x wire exists and try to work on repairing it with the thought of being a more complete person. Not so i can reintroduce al into my life.
My view on al has placed it into the same category as smoking which i don't do because of the health ramification. I enjoy the way I feel minus al and all that is possible in an al free lifestyle. If you did have a pill that would repair the x wire i wouldn't be interested. I no longer what to introduce a drug into my body that is harmful. I don't view smoking as sensible or drinking al.

Stay Healthy and Keep Fighting
AF 5-16-08

[Sunbeam]

Is There a cure for alcoholism

WIP was a counselor who used to post here. I believe she said that through alcohol abuse we have permanently changed our body's biochemistry. Our body will always respond in a manner similar to the past. The cure for alcoholism is to stop drinking. If for example you attribute the cause of your drinking to stress, getting rid of stress will not change your body's response to alcohol.

[JimBeam911]

Is There a cure for alcoholism

Overall, I am sceptical of the possibility that people with a long history of alcohol abuse will be able to resume drinking safely after a prolonged period of abstinence. However, it does happen. This phenomenon has been well-documented in alcohol addiction research over the past 50 years. The notion that alcoholism is "incurable" is a by-product of the "alcoholism as disease" movement. However, whether or not it is a disease (my own view is that it is not), there are clearly good reasons why certain people should NEVER drink.

I think this last point often gets missed in these discussions. If alcoholism is not a disease, some people naively assume that they should be able to drink normally through sheer willpower. But this needn't be the case. For a whole slew of reasons, which may include biological, mental, etc., certain people will likely never be able to drink normally. I count myself as one of these people.

But the key thing to bear in mind is that from the fact that I may not be able to ever drink normally again, the inference to the claim that I am suffering from some incurable disease is not logically warranted.

[Sunbeam]

Is There a cure for alcoholism

[QUOTE=JimBeam911;821679]Overall, I am sceptical of the possibility that people with a long history of alcohol abuse will be able to resume drinking safely after a prolonged period of abstinence. However, it does happen. This phenomenon has been well-documented in alcohol addiction research over the past 50 years.

I believe I've never "met" anyone anyone who was able to resume drinking safely after a prolonged period of abstinence, certainly not if that person was a daily heavy drinker over a period of years. I'm referring to standards of no more than one 5 oz. glass of wine daily, or 7 weekly total for a woman, twice that for men. Where has it been documented? I'm just curious. This sounds more like an urban legend, but I am not a specialist in this field. Perhaps the answer lies in the ambiguity of "drinking safely" and "people with a long history of alcohol abuse".

[DeeBee]

Is There a cure for alcoholism

Can a former alcoholic ever drink sensibly again ?

Mario, I've never achieved long term AF success like you or others here but I have read about the changes, spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally that you go through to attain your sobriety -- my question is 'why would you want to throw that away'?

[gyco]

Is There a cure for alcoholism

hi mario interesting question i am glad u asked it,the other question,is it worth it,ive known i had a problem since early in my drinking career,40 years off and on,think about it,people with careers arent in there career for that long,but they still will be remembered,will the heavy drinker,hahahaha,a person can drink any time they want,its how they drink,that could become a disaster,i call it like it is,pandoras box.dammed if you do,and dammed if you dont,i drank normally many times in those days,years,but sometimes it got out of hand,ive said it many times,and ive been in and out of the one and only recognised treatment ever known AA,for 10 years,1st step says 1st,admittance to being an alchoholic,that 1st step was put there 1st for a reason,admittance with no dought,when one admits to that there is no turning back,a real aclcholic knows that,gyco

[Funny Girl]

Is There a cure for alcoholism

The other issue around resuming drinking after abstinence if one is alcoholic is the state of the body at the time. Whether or not you believe alcoholism itself is a disease or not, the residual effect the alcohol has on the body itself - the organs after sustained abuse creates disease on its own. Then, even if the body has attempted to repair itself, disease can be accelerated again by resuming drinking even at so-called 'normal' levels. so . . . .depending on how severe prolonged drinking was prior to abstinence, once could say the any drinking could lead to disease or death. The problem is that there are so many variables based on the habit itself, and the individual partaking in the habit . . . . hard to say or generalize.

[JimBeam911]

Is There a cure for alcoholism

[quote]Sunbeam;822088 wrote:

Where has it been documented? I'm just curious. This sounds more like an urban legend, but I am not a specialist in this field.

A few among many sources are:

Schuckit, Marc A. 1984. Drug and Alcohol Abuse. New York: Plenum Press.

Keller, Mark. 1972. "On the Loss-of-Control Phenomenon in Alcoholism." British Journal of Addiction 67: 153-66.

Merry, J. 1966. "The 'Loss of Control' Myth." Lancet 1: 1257-8.

Donovan, D.M., and Marlatt, G.A. 1980. "Assessment of Expectancies and Behavior Associated with Alcohol Consumption: A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach." Journal of Studies on Alcohol 41: 1153-85.

[Lo0p]

Is There a cure for alcoholism

What is this the twilight zone? You can talk to people that are cured over at thesinclairmethod.com I'm sure you guys know about it.

Talk to bob3d over there. He's celebrating his one year anniversary of starting TSM today. He drank 50-60 units a week for like 30 years and he's been drinking sensibly for like 7 or 8 months now. He has a couple of drinks almost every week, usually somewhere in between 0-6. He has no cravings and doesn't ever 'want' or 'need' more. He's cured.

[mario]

Is There a cure for alcoholism

[QUOTE=Lo0p;822350]What is this the twilight zone? You can talk to people that are cured over at thesinclairmethod.com I'm sure you guys know about it.


No loop this is not the twilight zone, what is it about you, can you not just give your opinion without some snide remark,

[MauMcL]

Is There a cure for alcoholism

I don't know, Mario, I'm no expert (obviously), but I find it hard to believe that most people could reverse their situation and drink moderately. I remember one raging alcoholic, the Father of a friend, who considered himself cured except that he could have expensive red wine with dinner only. That worked, I guess.

Then there is my good friend from HS who started drinking in an alcoholic family by probably age 9. She has been clean and sober since her 20s (we are now in our 40s). She has relapsed once after a particularly stressful time (her Mother's death). I remember being out to dinner with her and she ordered a glass of wine. I was stunned. I looked at her and said, "Are you sure?" She said, "Oh yeah. I've been having a glass of wine here or there and it's not a problem...." Well sure enough she ended up back in Rehab after a few weeks. Her husband is fortunately totally "in on it." He gets it when she's at risk and nips it in the bud by having her hospitalized. Because her original problem was so incredibly severe. She was not just drinking, but she was also using some really bad drugs and now has Hep C! (Her treatment for that has been successful, thank God). I love her to death, and we talk about "my issues" a lot. She's a great resource and friend. I'm so glad she figured out she can't do anything -- nothing at all -- without going back to Square One.

I think she's very very aware of that...I think she goes to AA occasionally now but doesn't need to constantly. She knows when she needs a "tune-up." I give her so much credit. She's one of the strongest people I know. There are so many strong people out there winning the battle against this "dis-ease."

[clare]

Is There a cure for alcoholism

If others are willing and able to assume the risk of taking pharmaceuticals in order to continue drinking and consider themselves cured as a result, I am happy for them and wish to learn about their successes, but I think it can be done in such a way without insulting those of us who choose a different mode of treatment.

Sheri
Well said sheri,I dont understand these people who come here and insult & criticise other people who dont take there meds, They seem more extreme than the AAers, and imo they might have,might have there drinking under control but they dont seem to have the compassion or kindness or patience for others who cant or wont go there way .well said again sheri

[godschild]

Is There a cure for alcoholism

I just came across this post and wanted to share a little of my experience with my alcoholism. I was severely alcoholic and drug addicted by the time I was a teenager. I went into treatment for the first time at age 22 and had 4 more stays in rehab after that. I was in and out of AA for about 10 years before I finally hit bottom and surrendered and made the decision to get sober. I was 32 at that time and had been told at 27 that my liver was losing its function and I would not survive many more relapses. I stayed sober for over 7 years and drank again. It took 6 months of drinking and I was as bad an alcoholic as I was when I quit in 2002. I thought that after years of sobriety I could safely drink and I was cured, but I was wrong. I will always have this problem and I choose to not drink today. I do believe that alcoholism is a disease that affects me physically, mentally and spiritually. I get an uncontrollable craving for alcohol that normal drinkers don't get, and I can never get enough. Mentally though my mind keeps telling me it will be "different this time". Since my disease centers in my mind, no matter how long I stay sober, I have these thoughts, and my recovery depends on my staying spiritually fit to have the defense against the first drink when my mind tells me "it will be different". I don't believe today that I can ever drink again and I am OK with that fact. I have tried many times to prove that I could drink like other people without success and even after years of sobriety, I couldn't drink "normally".