Posted by Dragon Black on September 25, 2007, at 13:39:05
In reply to Re: legal substitute for acohol????, posted by blueboy on September 24, 2007, at 15:55:02
I hear ya, thanks for sharing. Maybe I'll come to that point but for now I'm still set on trying to learn to control it. My feeling is, I have to get a handle on everything else that's wrong with me, my drinking will take care of itself. for example, when i'm not depressed, i exercise pretty regularly and quickly become obsessed with it. in the past i've basically been able to use exercise as a substitute, in part b/c it is so incompatible with heavy drinking, but also because i hate the calories in alcohol more than anything. plus if i can get back into morning cardio, i basically can't have more than a couple of beers at night, which i think is healthy within moderation. so i've been asking myself, what exactly am i doing when i drink? stimulating the release of GABA and serotonin, right? so i'm trying some l-theanine and GABA at night to try to address some of my anxiety and help me get so sleep without needing more than a drink or two. i've also found that melatonin works wonders as a substitute b/c i get too tired to stay up and drink, plus i can fall asleep. problem is, it makes it harder to wake up. not sure what to do about that yet. thanks again.
> I went to AA and did other stuff for like 15 or 20 years, off and on. At one point I got so I'd have one or two beers every night and not even want any more. Then I fell off the edge and I had to have 1-2 pints of hard stuff every day. I started showing signs of liver and brain damage, cuts and bruises from falling down, shaking hands every morning. I went back to AA and I've been sober for about 3 1/2 years now.
>
> IMO, you can't substitute another chemical for booze. You have to figure out how to cope with the addictive personality problem. It is such a huge blessing to be sober, I wake up every morning and thank God. Even with my depression and anxiety, I have this basic happiness that comes from sobriety and the lessons I learned getting sober.
>
> I don't think I know everything about anything, including booze. I do know that the woman who started the "controlled drinking" AA-alternative society killed someone while driving drunk. I know everything else failed for me, and I know what AA gave to me is something I enjoy the hell out of and appreciate, every single day of my life.
>
> Personally, I'd be dead now if it wasn't for that organization and it wouldn't have been a pretty death. I wish it had stuck 15 years earlier so I had back some of my health and money it cost me, but at least I didn't ever commit a felony.
>
> Best of luck to you buddy. I'm sorry, I know you didn't want another AA story, LOL, but I just felt like I had to tell you what happened to me.
poster:Dragon Black
thread:784276
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070919/msgs/785113.html