PeCeDe

38 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Not good advice. Doctors know nothing about alcoholism and can't help. Only in detoxing are they useful. They diagnose, not taking into account you're in your early sobriety, where depression, anxiety, paranoia are normal. Thai doctors fill you up with pills, and you eventually get drunk again or become the walking dead. I met the head psychiatrist in a city here to discuss AA, and he told me I could drink again after  5 years abstinence, bloody idiot.

Obviously the degree that your psychiatrist had was not worth the paper it was written on. I strongly hold the opposite view to you and our MD's should be amongst the first people we contact when trying to get sober but mainly for advice on who to get help from, because often many hours of one on one or group therapy are needed and an MD is too busy for that. An MD can also recommend programs such as medically supervised withdrawal, if allowed in your country.

2 hours ago, superglue said:

I was fortunate in that my GP was a l/t member of AA.

 

My Canadian GP was hot on my trail long before I was ready to admit it. During an annual he noticed my red blood cells were out of kilter, saying alcohol kills red blood cells leaving a predominance of young cells, then he asked how much I drank? To which I answered oh, 2 or 3.. No idea how many in a 750ml bottle of vodka, but you know the story. By the time I got to the UK I was desperate and "finally" outright told my UK Doctor exactly how much, by then one and a half bottles a day, he was ex military and knew right away it was PTSD. If only I'd been honest years previous I'd have saved all kinds of heartaches for myself and those around me... spilt milk, but at least I'm alive now and enjoying life in good ole Thailand.

Just wondered how the OP "Wanderluster" was doing with the "alcohol" thing... Any changes?

38 minutes ago, PeCeDe said:

 

Of course  the real work starts afterwards and joining AA or some similar organization is in my opinion absolutely essential, perhaps do that now! The now sober addict has a new life, and has to learn how to "Walk" in his beautiful new shiny world. When I think back, the veil of horrors was finally lifted... And the world is beautiful, it's there to be appreciated.

Don't think I was specific enough about the "Medically" supervised part of the program I was in, if the OP tries the drug assisted withdrawal method it absolutely has to be done with a physicians help, no exceptions (that's what doctors are there for, to help you, they won't judge). The OP refers to "Semi-Sober" and that is a non-existent state, it's a dream which doesn't exist coming from an alcoholic mind, you're either drunk or sober, take your pick. To me the best reward for sobriety was finding the people who had loved me throughout my and their trials but withdrawn because they couldn't help, and were resigned to watching me die.

21 minutes ago, wump said:

But I think you just described some inherent flaw there... as if alcoholism was completely in your physical make-up and not just a co-factor. I'm pretty sure your "unlimited" person will also become an alcoholic if he suffers from some trauma and starts drinking a liter of vodka a day.

Agreed. But, there's nothing wrong in having an inherent flaw, type 1 diabetics can't help their health, it came from their parents and parents parents, familial tendencies to cancer also, the same is true of alcoholism, the list is long. But as you say, often what kicks people who have this tendency to alcoholism from regular non-problematic drinkers into practising alcoholics is life's events and continually resorting to alcohol to hide those events or memories whatever they may be, then at some point according to our individual makeup compulsion takes over, and we know the rest.  Alternately there are those to whom no "life changing" events happened but they just became alcoholics because they drank themselves over their limit.  For example, their are presumably lot's of Mormon alcoholics (perhaps 1 in 10) who don't know it because they don't drink and therefore never reached that limit.

Hope this makes sense.

10 minutes ago, wump said:

I don't agree with the concept of some inheritent flaw in someone's make-up that makes you an alcoholic. My take is that it can happen to anyone if they just kept drinking long enough and/or went through some tough times. There always is some underlying problem which you need to look at. Once you sorted this out, your desire to drink will eventually subside. 

Absolutely agree. My way of expressing that concept is everyone is born with a credit card for alcoholic drinks, some fortunate people get unlimited credit, for some it's zero drinks and yet others maybe 5000, 100,000 etc.but eventually if you drink and don't have unlimited credit on that card you'll become alcoholic. Guaranteed, and no use complaining. The OP is to be commended for looking for help, as they say, that is the first step.

To the OP, you need professional help, not just friendly advice,  as has been said, everyone is different. In my case I finally became aware my drinking was a problem was when a Federal guard at a fed building I was entering at 8 in the morning reached over and smelled my breath saying ugh drinking in the morning (but it was from the night before), and she said you need help. for me things came to a head when I was seeing images of a woman in the corner of my room and I could no longer function... Scary. I was in the UK at the time and went to see a Physician there who happened to be a retired military doctor, he took one look at me and gave me a form to fill in, to which he announced I was suffering from PTSD... For thirty odd years I'd drunk excessively (functioning drunk) and finally here was the reason, I was trying to forget my military past which was violent, but I had to face it. I spent six months in counselling with other vets, and came out of that able to function normally without a drink. Now I have one beer when appropriate.  I am alcoholic but I appear to need more than one to go into a relapse. Good luck my friend... Just maybe your bad dreams are things you're trying to forget and you're using alcohol to do that.

In case we didn't know, no one starts the day thinking, "Oh, goodie, todays the day I become addicted!" It just happens.

As the song says, God dam the pusher man.

The addict is not the criminal, those who supply the stuff are. If she's a supplier then she will get what she deserves, but if she's addicted that's a different story. Either way, it's very sad. Destroyed lives, families, relationships, friendships, wealth,  all gone in the twinkling of an eye.

If those of us who have no addictions were honest with ourselves we should be grateful, because, there, but for the grace of God (or whoever) we all go.

6 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

Just back from the market. Most are Muslims. I've never been welcomed by so many vendors. Truly amazing.

Hi Craig3365,

It's only "amazing" because there's a lot of "media grooming" going on, and us westerners are being trained to expect the worst from Muslims, when in fact, surprise surprise, they are normal people just trying to make a living like you and I. I was in NYC on Sept. 11, 01  but far enough away to not be affected, ever since then I've been exposed to all the cr#p coming from whatever source,  perhaps 95% of muslims are not radical, but the more hype aimed against them the lower that number will become and more will fight back.

The Rohyngia probably never heard of Sept 11, and are just looking for help, and as we've heard from several of the sane people on this forum, they don't have many (if any) friends, mostly due to misconceptions, and are becoming the most vile pieces of human detritus because of our media machine... This is just so wrong, it makes me cry.

2 hours ago, Farma said:

The cartoon in yesterdays saudi newspaper arab news.

Can't really say it better than this "Not funny" cartoon. God help them.

39 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

Shouldn't this thread be in the Farming sub-forum?

I'm mortified!  

Come on now, tell me someone here who didn't want'a Hawg at some point in their lives!  

Had my first experience of speed cameras on the UK Motorways years ago now, couldn't figure out what all the flashing was, turned out it was the cameras taking my selfie, one after the other... They eventually found me in Canada. Grrr. Multiple infractions.

On 2017-08-26 at 9:32 PM, Klong Song said:

The literature says that they like to hang out near water and he was about three meters from a flooded field. Thanks


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

So close and yet so far!

I pity the UN people trying to sort this mess out. Regardless of religion they are Human, and as such deserve the same respect you and I have, to give them any less is to descend to the same level of depravity as ISIS (DAESH).  To all those naysayers I say try putting the shoe on your own foot. Their ancestors arrived in Myanmar hundreds of years ago and they still don't belong and have no State to protect them... at least for us Westerners, even if we overstay for years, we always have somewhere to call home, these people have nowhere to call home and are hated, despised, abused, hunted down and shot, raped, pillaged etc. It's no wonder they are starting to fight back.

The Chinese and their accomplices seem to have no understanding, or even care of the damage they are doing to the world for their silly beliefs. More power to the Thai customs for catching yet another merciless shipment.

6 hours ago, worgeordie said:

I am sure Faux News will be sadly missed by a few people in the UK, very few.

regards Worgeordie

Like my blasted Brother in law you mean. 

Things like this can quickly become all the rage with people who have nothing better to do. Back in the late 70's it was happening almost daily in downtown areas of the US, eventually pretty much every freeway pedestrian walkway had to be caged in. Still feel a bit nervous going under these things when there's no cage.

13 hours ago, Artisi said:

A nuclear device might help. 

Try borax powder with a bit of sugar mixed thru'- it constipates them -  end result -  dead. 

I prefer the more genteel approach, a 12 gauge!

3 hours ago, BuaBS said:

So the Saturnians will see their first alien ship crashing . They can call it area 51.

 

But it's true , it's a shame to waste trillions of printed $$ on propping up stock & bond markets , making the 1 % even richer , while NASA could waste it just as good on spacecrafts going to other planets.

Would be mildly amusing if the last message from Cassini was, "Now can you please $#%@ off and leave us alone!"

I don't know but I'd say that goalie could be in line for a very serious accident. 

That would be a life changing shock to the poor grand daughter.

The Rohingya are very desperate people, completely stateless and hated on all sides. It shows how dire this situation is when they can't even escape to Bangladesh of all places. Shows me how lucky I am.

18 minutes ago, BuaBS said:

Just hours after North Korea fired a ballistic missile across Japan, South Korea has released footage of its testing of a new ballistic missile, in a show of "overwhelming force."

link

Not just NK (or SK) , but China sure hasn't forgotten !

That's my point, forget it and move on.

The Irish still fight over battles fought 400 years ago, the English, Americans, French etc. lost millions 70 years ago to Germany, the Jewish lost 8 Million or so. How about listening to Israels motto after the Holocaust, "We can forgive, but we can never forget." Fighting over history is nothing but a fools game.