Hi, it's Miss Kris. Had a appt with my fam DR yesterday, no luck, but I had one with an addiction specialist today and......GOT MY SCRIP! I am going to get it filled and start tomorrow. YAY! I am soooooo excited. Thrilled! May 13, 2009 will be my start date. I have a family camp day for my son's preschool all day and then my mom wants to (unexpectedly) take him overnight, so it's a perfect day to start. when i think about being able to be 'normal' and do things like go to dinner with people, take a weekend trip, sleep over my grandmother's house, make new friends, have guests over, have a boyfriend who can respect me, all these seemingly little things that people take for granted but are actually so huge when alcohol robs them away from you and isolates you into a prisoner from shame and embarassment of what you might do, who might find out, or they do and then they leave you, to have that freedom back, the choice, to do those little things, and to know that my son will not have to be ashamed of me when he gets older and that i won't lose anymore moments with him bc of stupid alcohol. i will be so grateful! i know it takes time, but i just hope it really really works!

Congradulations misskris76, that is most excellent!

I wish you all the best in the start of this brave new journey. YAY indeed!

Good for you, miss k. We're looking forward to following your progress as you journey back to 'normal land.' I'm happy for you, your friends, and family!

This forum is SUCH a great example of how alcoholics really feel, and allows us to share without that overwhelming sense of guilt and shame. I suspect the members here are going to do great things to help others, once we're out of the woods ourselves.

i guess it is quite a run on sentence, but i tend to ramble when i get excited. its just that alcohol has made me feel so hopeless, and here is a ray of hope! to be free of the demon alcohol that posesses us. every other vice i have been able to handle, but if i can't get a handle on this one, it WILL kill me, i am sure. i am only 32, a beautiful, gentle, kind person, with so much that i could have going for me and so much to offer, but so much of my life is a mess and hidden from others bc of the drink problem. if this works, it will be a miracle for me!

kris, I'm so glad you found out about TSM, and are on your way. My beautiful 38 y.o. daughter has an amazing 4 y.o. son. She has been drinking (and smoking, and occasionally into other drugs) since her late teens. I think she does about a fifth of vodka a day. By the end of every day - really, by the middle sometimes - she is totally blotto. Calls my cell phone and leaves long, rambling messages that make no sense whatsoever.

I've tried to talk to her about her drinking in a loving way. . .but she insists she has no problem. It breaks my heart, as there is no way she can continue to live this way and not eventually suffer serious consequences. Already she looks pale and unhealthy. Her son will never know his 'real' mom, as she is when she's not drunk. She may not live to see him grow up, and if she does - how much of it will she remember? And how will this affect his future?

I'm hoping that once I get my demons under control (and I'm well on my way!), I can sit her down, give her the book, and encourage her to give TSM a try. I know that at the last family get-together my kids were quite surprised at how little I drank. Sooner or later, that's got to leave a positive impression.

In any case, I'm glad you've found this answer to your problem and are taking advantage of it, before losing even more time at the bottom of a bottle. Living that way is such a waste of dear human life.

G4M - I am sorry to hear about your daughter. It breaks my heart for her boy and for you that she can't see or admit she has a problem. She may know, but once one admits it, then one must take responsibility to try and fix it and we all know how difficult, even impossible ...up until now (i hope)...that can be. Sometimes I wish I never admitted I had a problem because people who love/ed me freaked and of course hate me if I drink, which, of course, they should expect because, hello, I told you I am an alcoholic! I lost a lot drinking and I lost a lot asking for help and admitting i had a problem. It's like people think, "oh, you're one of...those..." that's why AA f***ing sux. it is ostracizing both in and out. I sometimes wish I never told anybody or admitted anything or asked for help, but then I never would have made it here and I am hoping so much that this helps. So I am keeping it positive, because everything happens for a reason, I believe that! If you didn't have yesterday, you wouldn't have today! Day one. Took my medicine and drinking wine. No side effects. But I rarely have side effects from medications. Feel fine, just emotional bc of stuff going on in my life and wanting so much for this to work and feeling lonely.

ok AA doesn't suck. because if AA didn't help define "alcoholism" as an "incurable disease" and the American Medical Association didn't accept it as such, who knows if the Sinclair Method would have even been developed to cure the disease of alcoholism? is that a run on sentence enough for you there WTExhale?

Although I hate AA, it did, in fact, play an important part in getting the medical community to finally classify the condition as a disease/disorder. I prefer the use of the term disorder because that is what it is, an addiction disorder and not a lack of willpower.

However, AA is stuck in the 1930's, with it's pseudo-christian dogma, repeated mantras, self-loathing, the deprecating and crushing agenda to reduce people to nothing more than incapacitated drones that must give up their lives forever to their incurable condition. And on top of that, to recruit more members to the cult.

It has a 95% recidivism rate surpassed by almost every other method INCLUDING spontaneous remission! In any given year, 1 in 20 alcoholics will stop by spontaneous remission - they just stop with no obvious effort on their part. So doing absolutely nothing to control your alcohol intake has a greater success rate than AA.

OK, I ragged on AA enough, but as I stated in the first sentence of this post, they have established alcoholism as an uncontrollable addiction, which was an extremely positive step in allowing the medical community to develop medications for controlling it: Antabuse, Naltrexone, Campral, and the list goes on.

So kudos for AA and their contributions, but shame on them for not progressing with current and future treatments.

By contrast, TSM is cutting edge.

Bob

well, first morning, all i can say is, felt the same, except i slept like a baby. usually would wake up to have a drink to fall back asleep but nothing. woke up at 8 and feel the same, but just slept great. and don't feel like drinking this am, which is nice!

oh, bob, thanks for all the info on AA, informational. It didn't work for me, but I have to say, I just COULDN'T let it, it was just TOO WEIRD! I did try though.