Drinking yourself to death

[Bubbs]

I’m an alcoholic of sorts, I had massive problems with anxiety in my teens and early twenties and alcohol had become my medication. I would drink every day, and if it was only one bottle of wine then I wouldn’t really consider it drinking… but my anxiety got worse and my drinking eventually became 3 bottles of wine a night… but it was only wine… it’s not like I’m drinking whisky…. Then the whisky started, 1 ltr bottles would go a night. I found I would drink to feel normal, not to get drunk. If I didn’t maintain a certain level I would get crippling anxiety and would be jones’ing for another. The pain of stopping drinking was terrifying, I felt that life would not be worth living if I had to suffer through sobriety. It’s taken many years of being on and off the wagon and many many hours of therapy to sort my head out.

What people don’t get with a lot of alcoholics is that they are drinking because they feel so terrible. When you have anxiety disorder, alcohol is like a magic pill that takes away the pain and makes you feel great. But then you need more and more and more, until you’re truly stuck in a deep hole. They’re stuck in a trap that they don’t know how to get out of. To them, quitting drinking is equivalent to death. The challenging part is getting them to see this cycle and guide them out of it. They need that support system to help them figure out the root cause of their original anxieties, and start the healing process. However they have to want to change or it's not going to happen.

It’s a long road, I’ve been trying to quit drinking for 5 years and am currently 2 years sober.

I still struggle during high stress periods. That voice never really goes away, the little gremlin that sees the drink as the elixir of happiness. My problem is I love a drink, I really love it. But as soon as the effects start wearing off, the neural pathway in my brain reactivates and anxiety flushes my system and that voice goes from a quiet whisper to a screaming banshee… anxiety will stay with me for at least 2 weeks following. I know for a fact that if I didn’t have my family and friends to help me I would be a raging alcoholic today… I may well not be here.

If you can get the person to accept help, I've heard very good things from Ibogaine therapy. It's killed addictions stone dead in many people, ranging from Heroin to Pain Meds and Alcohol and even smoking. For those who don’t know… it’s a very introspective hallucinogenic that forces you to see yourself clearly. I heard one experience where this guy was shown his entire life before him and what was at the end of his current path, he was terrified by what he saw and he stopped drinking that day, and has not touched a drop since. I don’t know a lot about it, but it sounds like a quick way to kill an addiction.
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Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

[Easy-X]

Wow... that sounds like some dramatic brain re-wiring! I don't think that would be a magic pill for all as it sounds like the recipe for a psychotic-break

The problem with habits, addictions... unwanted behaviours is that the brain is, at the very least, the most complex neural network we so far know and one that can end up with "bad training" and form undesirable pathways...

Even though it's in its infancy current machine learning has already discovered one has to be very careful not to imprint the biases of the creators on the creation.

Anyhoo, it's not just breaking the cycle of addiction it's also a long slog for the brain to re-learn how to function without the previous status quo.

Personally I've only had the "trivial" addiction to cigarettes. Its been 5 years now and I can't even imagine myself ever going near a fag again but that resolve didn't happen overnight!
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[bhinso]

I've heard from a few people who have experienced Ibogaine therapy and it really scares me.
The one thing they all seemed to recount was lying in a hospital bed surrounded by family, with the message 'this is what will happen if you don't change'.

[Ribenapigeon]

My conclusion after working for years with alcoholics is that lonelyness can be a big factor. That along with anxiety disorders is a powerful combination to drive a need for alcohol. Its such a convivial drug.