Is this Forum Better Than AA-NA Meetings

[chi-town guy]

Alot of us have attended AA-NA meeting and it is mixed on the results that ppl get from those meetings. I did 90days-90meetings after a 30 day rehab so i was kinda pumped to go to the meeting to stay clean until the pains in my back and neck came back and the pains of life came back so it was off to the doctor a short time after the 90 days. I just got tired of doing the same thing each day and seeing the same people come in every other day or week to start over and had a pocket full of one day or one week chips. Athough the rules are loose here and there can be some drama (please dont bring anything up) on this forum but it just seems to work better for me and i want to keep coming back and i am staying clean so was is it about the forum. Any thought why it works or is AA-NA better. I know we dont have sponsors here but we have emails.

[Savas]

I happen to like this sort of set up too. But then again, I suppose it depends on the group you get. I wonder if they have groups in NA designed specifically for "old timers", people who want to be around other addicts who have at least six months or so of clean time? You aren't the first I've hear complain about "one weekers" as you put it.
I don't know enough about NA/AA to say so myself. Most of the meetings I went to seemed to be comprised of "New members".

[tzt2lady]

There are "old-timer" meetings where I live.  There is something about the 5 year mark that kind of bumps addicts into oldtimer status.   I used to go.  Oldtimers understand oldtimers.  
I havent heard of any that require a 6 month clean time.   Sometimes when there are meetings with many newcomers the area will ask folks with more clean time/recovery to caravan to those meetings.  Its pretty cool.

Im not so worried about chronic relapsers as I am people with years clean who are still making immoral choices (boinking newcomers) or stealing from NA and/or others.

NA's program and some good folks in those room helped me stay clean for many years.  But I had to be willing to show up and do the work.  
I still go to some of the functions, talk to my friends in recovery (including my sponsor I had in 1988) but am still searching for something else.   Maybe Pills Anonymous or something.  

This site has also been very helpful in getting off the drugs.

[011207]

You'll find crazies everywhere, even in AA and NA and just because they're clean doesn't make them sober.
To answer your question about whether this is better than NA or AA, I say a resounding NO, but that's my opinion.
I think this forum is a good addition to meetings but that meetings should come first. Just my opinion folks.

[011207]

Everyone has to find their own recovery.  What works for one might not work for the next.  For me it was program but I can't generalize and say that's how it should be for everyone.      

[tzt2lady]

good point 011297.   Even in churches there are people stealing and gossiping, etc.  You will find that everywhere there are large groups of people I guess.

[TimH2]

You really should find something better to do than harrass people on a drug forum. Did you ever think of taking up a hobby?? I have a suggestion...go play "bobbing for french fries in hot oil" it will be fun, I assure you.

[TimH2]

Tzt is a great source of info for you. I am rooting for you and keep up the fight.

Tim

[Savas]

Some are some aren't. It also depends on your definition of recovery. Is finishing out a medically approved taper and then taking a regime of meds you got in a book/from a friend to help stay clean "in recovery"?
*shrug* I don't care what the answer is. As long as it works. And you get where you can be clean eventually.

[tzt2lady]

so true, Savas!
Cherry - I hope you are not under the illusion that YOU are in recovery when you hang out playing 'whack a mole" with addicts on an online forum where you dont even have to face them in person.   If you think you are in recovery, please, help yourself to a therapist cuz we might have some major dual diagnosis going on here.  There is help for that you know.




Tim, I love the hobby suggestion!  LOL!!!

[chi-town guy]

I just think AA-NA is to much starting over if you slip and until that magic drug comes along to help addicts stop using,  forums like this seems to work better in the beginning of recovery and once there is some clean time under your belt, that the meetings should work ok. On another note i feel there is to much eye for an eye going on here with the "old timers" starting to back stab as much as the ppl causing some problems. Lisa was given so much good advise to let it go and just dont pay attention to a negitive comment but i see old timers throwing punches when they are not needed. When a good post starts with a new person and things are going fine, then a negitive comment is made by someone we think or know is causing problems, we need to first see if we can just IGNORE it and stick to the subject or make a short statement to the new person, like, sorry for that last persons' commit, he or she is in a real stuggle with themselfs lately or something like that, and get back on subject to the new person.  I see to many ppl having fun with this and it makes the person who has been here a long time look just as bad as the person trying to cause problems. You know the person causing problems needs just as must help and support as we all do (more than we do), so we can help these people by showing them how to act on this forum. How would we all like to get up one day and find this forum GONE and MedHelp saying they are not going to support this kind of behavior of to many people causing problems on top of problems and miss the point of the forum and have to spend a ton of money to police the site. Unless a person says something that was said to Lisa, we just need to Ignore it and these people will leave or MedHelp will move them. So please dont make it worst than it is already. Thanks everone, this place rocks whem we get into a groove.

[anotherfinemess]

This is my first (and last) detox ever, 35 days now, and I did go to an NA meeting about 2 wks ago.  I didn't go back.  My reasons:  It was an hour and a half long and I had too much anxiety to sit through it comfortably.  I HATE cigarette smoke.   The speaker was pretty bad;  I couldn't wait until she stopped talking.   I had a ton of questions and no one to ask.  It was very, very clique-ish.  Maybe my timing was bad-- I had hellish PAWS symptoms and was anxious and teary.  But if you have to wait until you feel good before a meeting can help you, then what's the point?

[Calzy]

Way to go on 35 days. I felt the same way at the meetings i went to and felt out of place and did not feel i could say what was on my heart, to many rules and to much of the same thing.If i am going to sit in a meeting that is run like a prison, i will go to a my city town hall meeting and see business and ppl who care about the city which are usually uplifting ppl and i would feel better in a place like that. AA-NA meetings are not for everybody and it seems to me the simple minded folks go there but i have not gone to enough to know for should. I did 90-90.

[Savas]

People in NA are people just like everywhere else. When you go down, you should be prepared for the kind of good/bad behavior you'd get at any "party".
     The difference here is you try to keep your goal in mind, and slice through the **** to get your results.
Here's another hint:

Good people tend to cluster around other good people. So if y'all are good people, eventually someone will give you the "secret handshake" and say "Hey, you want THIS door, friend!"  :)