another new person, feeling pretty lousy

[nancy]

another new person, feeling pretty lousy

Hi there

I saw some of your other posts and love the website you put up. I really am glad you joined and think you could have so much to offer.

I know you said that you haven't found things on this site about it, but believe me, some of the threads that excited me the most were about mindfulness, including MBSR, buddhism and meditation. We used to have a wonderful member named Satori who posted a lot of great stuff. so please do search around. The holistic section is pretty quiet so you could actually just scan there for great old threads.

I think Buddhism holds so many positive things for people trying to escape addiction, living in the moment, not reaching for substances to soothe pain, learning to accept the chaotic nature of the mind. It's all wonderful stuff with relevance to people of any religion.

I am sorry you are going through challenges, those are the times we still reach for booze. But it never works does it? You wind up worse off than when you started drinking.

I COMPLETELY agree with your ideas about AA. I don't even care if I offend people by saying that anymore. It's really dogmatic. Sure you can take what you want (I suspect the sober social networks developed at AA deserve a lot of the credit for success stories) and leave the rest, but is there some subconcious effect on your mind from all the dogma?

Anyway, about hypno. I can see why you are skeptical. I was pretty surprised when I read somewhere that it should make sense that you can reach the subconcious with hypnotherapy but that this is not proven. That is why I stopped listening to the background CDs. Also they took a lot of time. You only hear ocean waves and seagull sounds.

However, relaxation, visualization and positive thinking are good right? The hypnotic CD in the set offers all of these things. I did a body scan meditation CD and I found that the technique is incorporated into the hypno CDs. There are sections in the hypnotic Cd where you visualize yourself with a happier, more balanced life, being moderate and you think about why you want to be moderate. I think there is an abstinence version too. I find these really useful. So even if you are a skeptic you could give it a whirl if you believe in relaxation and visualization (though you might only have interest in one CD of the set in that case.) The hypnotic CD can be bought separately from the hypnotist's website and MWO gets credit so they must get a good share off sales. (I don't want to undercut sales here.)

Good luck and hope you stick around.

Nancy


PS Regarding RJ's lack of craving, read through the medication threads and I think you will find that a lot of people lose craving with the seizure medication topomax. But it has so many bad side efffects that people quit or never start. It is possible. If you try it, try low dose.

[A Work in Progress]

another new person, feeling pretty lousy

Thanks, Nancy! Actually I did do more searches and found some older threads about meditation, etc. Good stuff. I will keep posting about all that if/when I have something brilliant to say (https://www.mywayout.org/community/im...ilies/haha.gif
:H!!), or when/if I find something that might interest people...

I have ordered the topa and will follow your advice (and this agrees with what I was beginning to conclude, from reading more about it) to keep the dosage low.

BUT... I am not at all sure that "craving" is all that big a problem for me. I think that people use the term "craving" in different ways... for some it feels like is a very intense NEED for the substance, a feeling that the need MUST be satisfied; for some it has a large physical, or physiological component; for others it is more a knee-jerk response to all the triggers that have been created in our brains (stimulus-response stuff, like Pavlov's dog)... Or it can be pretty low-grade, just: I wish I could have a drink...

And then the biggest problem for me is that when I do decide that I can, indeed, have "a drink," I truly lose control quickly, very often consuming way, way too much.

I don't know if my own experience of wishing I could have a drink ever really matches what I hear from others about their extremely intense perception of a NEED for a drink. It's really impossible for us to compare subjective experiences.

I do know, from past experience, that eventually I will begin having those internal debates about whether or not I can "mod." That's the dangerous time for me; I've been there before (although not while using this program) and it turns out BADLY.

So I am going to try everything, and see how it goes. I love the format of this program; it allows so many to participate and benefit, people who NEVER would go to AA. But, like you, I strongly suspect that one of the most potent ingredients of AA is the social support, just being in a group of people who do not drink and who support each other's choice not to drink... and I wish that somehow there could be an (optional) face-to-face component of this program, too.

best wishes,

wip

[frogging]

another new person, feeling pretty lousy

Me too, Jez and Bandit! Same discipline (psychology); different area (research academician).

R. Jewell's reliance on empirical data to support the use of supplements and pharmacological agents are what attracted me to the program. It's something I can trust. I'm used to it. I'm comfortable with it. There is scientific evidence. I'm not knocking other programs that, in my opinion, rely on spiritual beliefs, because I know they work for many. It just wasn't for me. I'm a monist.

[SKendall]

another new person, feeling pretty lousy

Welcome to newcomers. Nancy is so wise and has given you the most relative advice. I have never found AA to be helpful, and I was fored to go because of a DUI, it sunk me into a deep depression, feeling unworthy of myself.

I'm glad you're here, climb on board to be in a crowd of fabulous people who only want the best for each other.:welcome: