Hi Tom, sorry I have to hijack too - maybe we should start an electricity thread. When I was 7 I got a serious shock. It would have been deadly had my dad not run across the room and hit me full force, knocking me out of the circuit. I remember exactly what that electricity felt like as it was running through my body. I remember "seeing" the juice in my vision, and most of all I remember the helpless feeling of being unable to move and free myself from the shock, no matter how much I wanted to.

Willpower alone wasn't going to win that one any more than it was going to win this one.

Anyway, Hey, wasn't this Tom's story?

Tom, not sure where I posted this to you but I am in Cheshire, just outside of Waterbury. I get lost with these posts sometimes and my memory well we just won't go there. Glad you were able to find a good doctor. I have not found one that is worth a grain of salt here.

Thanks to all. I am so glad that I found this site. The support, insight, and laughs are priceless and very helpful. Don't worry about "hijacking" the thread. The stories and comments let me know that I am dealing with a great group of real people.

I do not want to make this an AA bashing becaue there are a lot of good people there just trying to get better - it just didn't work for me. But I just want to say to cessation that it is too bad the Bill Wilson died before TSM came about. If you read his speeches to medical groups he was hopful that science would find a way to help the alcoholic. He was open to any and all methods that would stop the death and destuction. He took LDS in hope that it was the magic bullet. It's a shame one story in the "Big Book" has been taken out of context and now medical science is viewed as the enemy. If I thought I'd be welcomed, I would go to my old meetings and shout TSM from the roof tops, but I would not be welcomed. That saddens me.

Best Regards,
Tom

II am in total agreemnet with you about AA. I was really trying to be open and showing up. I literally got pushed out of a woman's meeting after I was asked to say the evenings ending "prayer." I asked if I could say an affirmation I have found to be very helpful and the group said "sure." So I did and it was just a nice affirmation.

The next meeting, the group was informed that after last meeting the steering committee voted that for the ending prayer, there would be not deviation from the prayer of their choice, I forget which one they choose.

And at the prior meeting a woman "chaired" and her story was so dark, like nothing I had ever experienced in my life, and I thanked her for her share, and explained it was a little hard for me to relate to her share because my life was so different. Then the next thanker of the share says,"Thank you for your share, we are all different but we all suffer from the same story........" She was really putting me down, like I was acting superior to the chair of the evening.

Then I told my "sponsor" I was taking the nal and she dropped me like a hot cake.

So I can absolutely agree, I do not think Bill had this in mind. Oh, yes and "NO CROSS TALK" at a meeting. I mean Bill started AA so alcoholics could SHARE their experiences.''

It's too bad, as it was a good idea.

Grateful for these sites and all you kind and good people.... ART

That's why I continue to say that AA is currently a cult. It has contributed greatly to the recognition of alcoholism as a disorder/disease as Bill and Dr. Bob wanted, but it has morphed into this rigid structure and ideology that precludes any other ideas and certainly not dissension! Personally, I have been interrupted by "senior members" in about a third of the many meetings I attended. And have been asked by the chair to be quiet twice.

I must admit that if it were not for AA, I would not have tried to find alternatives. AA unknowingly taught me that there were other methods. Eventually, after 9 months effort, I found my way to Sinclair.

It is a shame that Bill's vision has been corrupted into what AA is today. Bill was looking for a medical answer before he died; something shunned by current AA hierarchy. He tried LSD to see if that would work on cravings. If only he had been alive long enough to experience Naltrexone... The world of alcoholism and AA would be a very different place.

My opinion,

Bob

Bob,

You nailed it. AA taught me a lot, for that I am grateful. However it morphed into a cult that does not tolerate dissent - very sad.

Best regards,
Tom