oldr_n_wsr's alcoholic adventure

[oldr_n_wsr]

Youth is wasted on the young.

[Crackpot]

Retirement is wasted on the old

[oldr_n_wsr]

I should have retired at 20 then gone to work around 50.
Of course had I done that, I probably would have died around 35.

[Rick]

I often find wonder in the fact that I am still alive...

[oldr_n_wsr]

I do to, it is amazing.

[Jarlaxle]

Don't know how old you are but I will be 55 in June. The older and wiser handle came about from some of the really stupid things I did in my youth. The movie Jackass and their stunts were tame compared to what me and my buddies did when we were young. Had any of us died we would have won a Darwin award hands down.

I think lots of us did...the difference being, we had no way to videotape it and show our stupidity to the world!

And remember: A wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age!

[Joe Guy]

When it's all over, I'd rather have had a fun and occasionally risk taking life with the scars to show it than to have walked a straight line that enabled me to leave behind a flawless corpse.

[Lord Jim]

That reminds me of an old joke....

A reporter goes to interview an old guy, who's just about to turn 110....

And the reporter asks the old codger, "to what do you attribute your long life?"

"Well," the old gentleman replies, "I never drank, I never smoked, I never did drugs, I never engaged in casual sex, or took risks with my safety, or acted in any irresponsible way...."

"And tomorrow, I'll be celebrating my hundred and tenth birthday...."

And the reporter thinks about that answer for a moment and then asks;

"How?"

[oldr_n_wsr]

Started the "deathly ill" pill Saturday. It's called Antabuse (don't know the pharmacy name for it). No ill effects from it other than having to read just about anything I come in contact with. My shrink didn't know if the hand sanitzer would trigger a reaction, but he said check shampoos and mouthwashes (I knew that already) and all OTC medicines. Basically I am reading anything and everything's packaging that I may come in contact with or ingest. What I am fidning is there is not a lot of organic ingredients in a lot of things. And a lot of ingredients I can't pronounce.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Didn't know ethylene glycol was such a widely used ingredient. Isn't that in antifreeze?

[Joe Guy]

Years ago I knew someone who was taking Antibuse. It worked for him very well with no side effects.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Years ago I knew someone who was taking Antibuse. It worked for him very well with no side effects.

Good to hear. ou read the literature that comes with it (and just about any drug they put you on) and you wonder if the side effects are worse than what your are being treated for.

[Gob]

Most medications these days are a bit like that, they have to cover all the potential side effects for fear of being sued.

[oldr_n_wsr]

A week and a few days into taking the pills. I actually feel really good and calm. Talked to my shrink buddy over the weekend and he said a lot of his patients that took the pill felt the same way.

Just knowing that if you do drink you will get very sick is "liberating" (for lack of a better word). Before it was mostly my will power (although AA says to turn your will over to your higher power) I have a tough time with turning my will over. At least now there are consequences that would harm me. Not that there were not consequances that would harm me and others while I was drinking, but those did not play a part in what little thought process there was to get the next drink. Denial, rationalization, excuses, all part of the allergy.

So far, so good. Very little in a way of the "itch" and nothing I can't handle on my own or a phone call or two. Of course I should have been making calls all along, but I am a stuborn German who has trouble asking for help.

Guess I needed this kick in ass the with the threat of a BIGGER kick in the ass if I do drink.

[Rick]

A will turnover, put a little icing on it and it would be easy enough to swallow...

[oldr_n_wsr]

Still feeling really good and the urges are all but gone. Every once in a while I say to myself "a month ago I would be having a pint right now" but that's about it and I go about whatever I was doing.

Sleeping very well. Gp to sleep around 10-11pm and don't wake up til the alarm at 5:30am. Pretty much fully rested also.
Haven't taken a nap during the days on the weekend and get a lot of work done around the property. It's spring and there is plenty to do.

Did I say I am feel really good?

[oldr_n_wsr]

At a "suggestion" from my sponsor (who is not religious but is spiritual), I do say a little prayer every morning and night. Don't know who/what I am praying to and he said it doesn't matter, say it anyway. So in the monring I just say "please help me to stay sober today" and at night I give gratitude for not drinking and for anything good that happened that day and gratuity for still having a loving wife and family.

Hey, whatever works.

[Rick]

If you don't know pray to gravity that way the Earth doesn't suck so much...

[dales]

Hey there, Oldr....

You might find this URL helpful...........http://www.barefootsworld.net/wilsonletter.html

Here's an excerpt:

Coming from you [Carl Jung], one he so trusted and admired, the impact upon him [Roland H.] was immense. When he then asked you if there was any other hope, you told him that there might be, provided he could become the subject of a spiritual or religious experience - in short, a genuine conversion. You pointed out how such an experience, if brought about, might remotivate him when nothing else could. But you did caution, though, that while such experiences had sometimes brought recovery to alcoholics, they were, nevertheless, comparatively rare. You recommended that he place himself in a religious atmosphere and hope for the best. This I believe was the substance of your advice.

There is something out there far greater than you or any other man. If you wish to cal it "god" or even "frank" that's up to you.

One freaking day at a time cannot be emphasized enough, for how do you even know that you have tomarrow ---- you don't.

I'm glad you have a support system in place.

[oldr_n_wsr]

I'll have to check it out at home, it's blocked here at work.
I prefer to call it a "spiritual" experience rather than a "religious" experience. I find most religions wanting as they were created by man and thus have the fallibilities of man.

Thanks Dales.