[silverlining23]

I have been lying to myself and so many other people for so long...I have a drinking problem...and I don't know how to stop. And it is getting out of control...

[kaliope]

good job! the first step is admitting it. there is help out there. you just need to decide what is going to work for you. many people get sober with the help of 12 step programs, you can look in your phone book for a local chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous. if your problem is more severe, you may need treatment. there are different types of treatment, IOP, or intensive outpatient where you go to group counseling several times per week or inpatient which keeps you safely sequestered for thirty days of more and is often needed for severe cases if you need to medically detox to address withdrawals. you can also do individual counseling with a therapist that has drug and alcohol certification. beginning with an AA meeting and talking to others can help you make the choice that is best for you. just stopping isnt usually successful for very long. there is a reason why you drink. one of the avenues above helps address the problem so that you dont have to return to drinking. good luck and take care.

[Altered Moment]

You might want to explore how other people have overcome their drinking problem.

I am not advocating any one method but for me personally I went to a 30 day drug and alcohol treatment center and then went to AA. It has kept me clean and sober for twenty years. That is just my experience.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Swabbingred]

I have a friend who used Ibogaine to abstain from it.

[elevatedsoul]

i started taking zyprexa, it seems to stop some of the desires

[Altered Moment]

Me and my brother were talking over New Years about how we both first got sober. I can remember this like it was yesterday and it was twenty years ago.

I pretty much knew when I was 18 that I was an alcoholic and someday I would have to do something about it. I had no desire to do anything about it. Then in my late twenties my tolerance fell of the cliff and it was causing lots of problems. I tried so hard for years to quit under my own will power. I just couldn't do it. I got into coke and meth and things got ugly. My wife at the time and my Mom had been telling be for a long time that I needed to go to treatment.

The absolute scariest thought in my life was imagining life without alcohol. It was totally beyond my comprehension. I just couldn't see it. Then I was laying in bed very depressed one day (at my bottom) and I made the decision I was going to go to treatment. I got out the phone book and started calling. It was in that exact moment that I made that decision that it dropped from my head to my heart. I lost all my fear. I knew it was going to be ok. I can honestly say that at that moment the desire to drink and use left me. I can't explain it. I went to treatment. I have been to thousands of AA meetings since then. It has never been hard to stay sober since then. Not that I haven't thought about it. I have even experimented with pot for anxiety and depression, so you could call those a slip or some people would call it relapse. The obsession, craving, desire was gone though. It baffles me how it could be so out of control and the obsession so overwhelming one minute and then admitting I needed help and knowing it in my bones took it away.

Now living sober is a whole other thing. That has not been easy.