Does anybody here go to N/A meetings?

[beachtowel]

Two things I have learned cause more relaspes than anything else.
1. Lonliness
2. Core Issues (unresolved)

If you don't go to N/A to deal with these two issues where do you deal with them?

[Marce4]

I do not go to NA mtgs. I could make up a million reasons but the bottom line is I'm scared to go again. I went to one after my first detox and felt very alone and out of place...the people were very young and I just didn't leave with a great feeling. Felt like some were just going through the motions. My own hang up i guess. This is the only place I have come to for support. I guess because it has been great support but still somewhat anonymous and "safe".

[beachtowel]

I hear ya, I think you and I have talked about this before. I have been to so many different places and that is why I travel 60 miles each way from N. of Detroit to Bowling Green Ohio to attend my meetings. I have one tonight I was hoping to have a guest with me, maybe next week.

[beachtowel]

Hey Marce what does Michael think about all this?

[vicaddict]

I was at a AA meeting years ago, back when I used to drink alot. I never stuck to it, and eventually 4 years ago quit on my own. What is very odd about that is...I had NO desire to drink, and never a w/d symtom ever. I broke my ankle in 3 spots, and was given : YOU GUESSED IT, Vicodin!...and I did not drink while on the meds so I just continued to not drink as it felt so great to be sober..How ironic is that? Sometimes I wonder if the vics is what made me quit drinking!
I think also it is because I KNEW I wanted it, and was done with that ride. I have though drank ON RARE occasion..I think maybe 5 ( if that) times in 4 years I have been out and only a couple drinks and would feel nothing but tired and ready to come home! Everyone calls me the party pooper, but they also know what I went through when I did drink, so they understand.

I know I want the same here with these pills...but maybe I am not ready. Ready or not, my plan is to jump on this sobriety train and stay on! I have to , for my kids and myself- my health and my whole well being.
I am just soo sooo scared.

[Marce4]

He read your post about men being supportive during this time.  He really did have a bad day and overall has been very supportive.  I know the "Craving" part is hard for him to understand as he saw what the w/d's were like for me. He thought that would cure me. I explained that I need this site and asked him if he truly understood that I am an addict.  I think he was in denial about that fact and it is just now slowly sinking in. I never had a problem before with drinking (social) or drugs (recreational and stopped) until these pills which I started taking 2 1/2 yrs ago. I have an alcoholic father and sister so I guess it's in the gene's.  Always thought I was "better" than them...guess who was in denial???????

[CATUF]

I go to AA meetings, 5 or 6 a week - in fact, I'll be at one in 10 minutes.  I haven't drank since 1988, but AA just seems to fit better.

[Marce4]

I think I may try an AA meeting. Do many substance abusers v alcoholics attend????  Are the meetings similar?

[beachtowel]

Marce, you just brought something up that is very true.
In my last 6 month inpatient intense rehab there were 64 of us sitting in a huge circle in a big day room. This guest drug Therapist told us to write down a family member parent or grandparent who was either an alcoholic or addict. What amazed me was all 64 of us wrote down a name. That is not a coincidence there is something to it and doctors are now trying to prove it.
The amazing thing is there are still Doctors out there that think alcoholizim and drug addiction are still a choice. They think you can walk up to an alcoholic and say booze is no good for you why don't you just stop.
Or an addict just stop.
Addiction is a Disease and that is a fact!!

[vicaddict]

HEY HUN! How are you???? Glad to see you still here, and how many days now is it clean???

Well doesn't matter does it? (I don't mean that in a bad way!) Your clean and I know you have a hell of allot of clean time behind you! WAY TO GO! And also I have to thank you for always being here for us even though you are doing so well on your own recovery.

Huggs hun
Tracy

[beachtowel]

Marce it depends if it is a closed meeting.
an addict cannot go to a closed A/A
ironicly N/A looks at alcohol as a drug so there welcome to attend A/A

[Skyfoxglitter]

Your guest is working on it....I really do need to go to meetings and I really hate them around here... The good thing is that I am on your way to Bowling Green..... So let us plan on starting next Wednesday.. You said they start at 7 right? so what time do you leave to go?

[beachtowel]

LOL, I wanted to keep your name quiet....

But since you blew your cover  I would enjoy having your company very much. I'll drive since I'm on my way that way anyways.
It is good to have a friend when you go to NA or AA it can be a very scary place by yourself.
Thank you the lady of glidder I except your offer.

[addictedtoloratab]

They didnt work for me, but, then again, here I am not clean.  They say it works once you work the steps, but, I got a few bad sponsers, trying to work the program like someone else was.  I saw a lot of people fail which starts leaving a hopeless feeling and I got to know a few people on a more personal basis, to much information is not a good thing.  For example, I know one person that was speaking at a local detox and this person was still using.  What a let down.  Here these people are looking at this person for some inspration and hes lying right to all their faces.. I might try to go back though and not get so personal..

[beachtowel]

There are bad plumbers, mechanics, lawyers, etc.
You can't Condemn the whole basket of apples for one.
I agree you have to work the steps and I still to this day one year of sobriety the first step is the hardest.

Once you get by the first step you go to two then three.
You have to work the tools and the steps of recovery to succeed. I have been on this site for two weeks I am the only one here I know who has been sober for at least a year. I work the steps not because I like them but because today I have other friends from NA who have many years of sobriety and they all go to NA faithfully.
There is something there that works, but you have to use the same motivation in getting drugs with recovery. It amazes me how addicts can kick King Kongs ass to get drugs but go to one NA meeting and quit.
Recovery is very difficult, earning back respect from your family and friends is very difficult. Admitting that your powerless and your life has become unmanageable is very difficult. Recovery is there for those who truely want it I promise you!!!!!

[CATUF]

Vica - I'm doing well, thank you.  I've only got the days memorized as being 365 through 6/7/06, then I have to start adding . . . and today it comes to . .  623. I'm not really counting the days, but I do take comfort in them.  It's not that I think any number of days will keep me safe from the Reptile.  It's more like those days say to me during rough times "you made it through all that already, this is nothing."

Marce4 - In my area there are MANY people at AA meetings who identify themselves as being addicts.  At every meeting I go to I say "My name's Brad and I'm an alcoholic and a drug addict."

I have heard of some meetings where it's taboo to mention drugs or addiction, but they are noteworthy only because they are the exception.  They are clearly not the rule.  Most of the meetings I go to are "closed," but even if we were to get hyper-technical about it I qualify because as AA Tradition 3 states: "The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking."  It is standard NA that Recovery requires abstinence "from all drugs . . . and alcohol is a drug."

From the NA Basic Text: "Thinking of alcohol as different from other drugs has caused a great many addicts to relapse. Before we came to NA, many of us viewed alcohol separately, but we cannot afford to be confused about this. Alcohol is a drug. We are people with the disease of addiction who must abstain from all drugs in order to recover."

My suggestion is that you check out both AA and NA and go for whatever combination you like best.  For easy access to the resources of both, check out www.aa.org and www.na.org.

[CATUF]

Oh, I forgot, you asked if the meetings were similar.  Yes, they are very similar, both in form and function.  The differences are mostly stylistic.  NA program is almost identical to the 12 Steps developed by AA, which were based on the 4 steps of the Oxford Group, which were Surrender, Sharing, Restitution and Guidance.

From my experience, NA seems to be a little younger and a tougher crowd.

[Marce4]

Thanks for the info. I found just from the one meeting that I felt out of place but I don't think that qualifies me as an expert. I really am just scared to go...I feel so vulnerable but Iknow I will have to do something to maintain myself in recovery!  I have been on the website for NA but will go to AA and look up some meetings.  I think I would like to get out of my neighborhood so I can feel more Anonymous! Thanks again!