[madisgram]

Why do we abuse alcohol/drugs?

Of course there are a lot of reasons why. There are many reasons that people begin to misuse alcohol, for example: 1. escaping pressures, problems, or relieving stress.
2. changing a bad self-concept.
3. forgetting loneliness.
4. boosting self-confidence.
5. masking unsatisfactory personal relationships.
But probably one of the top reasons that people abuse alcohol is to escape from themselves or a situation.

The problem could be that there are underlying issues that we've stuffed, or just decided we can’t change…so we self medicate.
One thing we have to be aware of is that pain and negative emotions serve a purpose – to signal a bad or uncomfortable situation – and make us aware that something needs to change! Drinking to deal with the “pain” only serves to keep us paralyzed or even make things worse.
So a solution is don’t waste anymore of our life by drowning our emotions. Be driven toward a better and brighter future rather than our own self destructive past.

[roads]

Thanks, madisgram, for another of your timely posts. They seem to be always so timely for me that I choose to think you can read my mind & are writing directly to me.

Yeah. I've been a little nuts lately.

After more than thirty years of embracing sobriety, I've seem to come to a point where my major nemesis is Anger. It's my primary issue, tied in with notions of justice.

But im not here to digress. Thank you. This post is timely, significant, pointed, true.

To all my fellow strugglers, I'm holding hands with you always.

Roadie

[avoice]

cause we like it?

[IKellyI]

I just do it to ge drunk. I like being drunk. I have nothing better to do it seems. I´m currently seeing a therapist. Hopefully they will be able to uncover more.

[gma45]

I started drinking because that was the thing to do big parties boys and booze it was happening! Then I found the drugs and that was the REAL cool thing to do! No one could smell the drugs like the booze you could get high and get away with it easier than being drunk. But then the drugs started to DO me which I didn't like so quit the drugs and went back to the drink because it was legal. fast forward a few years then pain sets in so.......I go to Dr. what happens pain meds to help the pain WRONG!!! Bad move...Now trying to get off the pain meds and live with nothing and have no living skills. My life, very interesting book, that I would not want to live all though I have with very little training. Oh Well, guess I have to play the hand I was dealt.

....very cool madisgram!

escaping from myself was my top choice....every time.

it still nudges me with the false promises that it's actually possible?

and the illusion is a convincing one...that the 'out of it' me....the wasted new and improved me, is the better me, the identity I must cultivate.
but thats mainly because that one just doesn't give a damn!....

and that I achieved that state of existence so profoundly? ...then not only do the products used to get me there appear trustworthy....but my decision to indulge in them must simply be a marvelous one!

....but that 'out of it' me....that person is just another version of me with virtually all the good bits filtered out...and in-fact my inner eyeball is about a bee's whisker away from my darkest soul at that stage of the game....so there is definitely no escaping.

like you say....gotta spot the signals...somethin' aint right in the blueprints!......so I guess I better get used to my glitches.

[madisgram]

I go to Dr. what happens pain meds to help the pain WRONG!!! Bad move...Now trying to get off the pain meds and live with nothing and have no living skills. My life, very interesting book, that I would not want to live all though I have with very little training. Oh Well, guess I have to play the hand I was dealt.

gma45, did you advise your doc you had a prob with drug abuse and alcohol before he presribed the pain med? if so, find another doc, imho. i've found i have to be the "chemist" and research anything i am prescribed in that area of drugs. use the the web/easiest way. in my case i refuse to take narcotics of any kind to avoid disaster even 22 years sober. it's up to me to protect my sobriety at all costs.
the right doc can wean you off any of those types of drugs. but it's your choice to to speak up. i hope you do.

[Ortus]

While drinking, there was a blissful two hour period where life was great. Of course it only lasted about two hours until I'd get mad or sad. ;-) This two hour period could best be described as the "***** it" zone. Zoned out without a care and happy. My "abuse" period probably lasted from 15 to 18. When I was 17 I wondered if I was an alcoholic. By 25 I knew I was and began to drink alone. Once we move to the dependence side the reason we still do it is laregely the same for us all. But the abusing stage I think widley varies. Numbness being a bottom line. I have some Adult ADD so my mind can get terribly busy and alcohol quieted it, or seemed too. I'm also bi-polar and didn't get properly treated until I was sober. An interesting thing is that none of my bi-polar symptoms showed up until well after sobriety. When my chemicals got back to normal it turned out that my normal wasn't so "normal" after all. So some of it was self-medicating without having a clue something was wrong chemically to begin with.

Rehab reminded me of what would be called a "forced conversion" I don't use not because I fear using, I fear treatment. No disrespect intended.

[Tenrou]

I use for a lot of reasons, none of which, as you can probably guess, hold up in the light of what sometimes happens as a result. I do it because I'm bored, because I want to relax, because I don't want to feel angry, anxious or depressed and sometimes because I want to feel things I can't seem to access sober, like grief and contentment. I do it to sleep and to loosen up and to socialize because I've never been able to do those things well. I do it because, in short, I've become dependent upon it for a lot of things, and because I crave the chemical as well as it's effects.
Right now I'm working with a therapist to find ways to do all those things without alcohol or drugs, but that's always the clincher for me, how to do things without that crutch.

[DOMi]

boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrdddddddddoooooooooooom

[thickntired]

Because pot calms nerves/anxiety, and helps my ruptured discs,

[likewater]

I answered this before. I did it to escape. First time i drank i had convulsions and went blind not from bad alcohol but from drinking whole bottle of vodka plus every drink left around the party. I loooooved the feeling and didn't know alcohol could kill you i almost
died. I saw black and white , then color that night. It wasnt until i was much older i realized how close i came to dying. I think anyone that abuses drugs/ alcohol is somewhat suicidal. I was. I just always took risks and didnt care if i died. I wasnt feeling invincible like
some teens. I really didnt care to live. I had no respect/gratitude for the gift of my life because i was already dead inside.