gerryBScot

The reality is that he is likely through the worst part of the physical withdrawal process by now and I would suspect he's unlikely to go into delirium at this point...  he would have experienced the DTs and things that can kill in the first 24 - 36 hours of his last drink. However I am simply a sober drunk, and while I've been in your mate's situation thousands of times I am not a medic of any description. The sort of symptoms you describe are what most people will  experience after a piss up and there'll be plenty in that position right now. Detox beds in hospitals might be in great demand right now! I'd simply watch him over the next 24 hours and if his condition gives any further cause for concern to head to the hospital. If he does go to hospital advise him to be completely frank about what he's doing so he can get the right kind of help. More pertinently you might engage your mate in some consideration of how he intends to maintain this sobriety in the long term - there are various options. I think it helps most people in this position to go to a supportive environment where he might get some positive affirmation that he has done the right thing and has already really achieved something in his journey.

2 minutes ago, sanemax said:

... and the next thing you know , you are waking up in bed with no recollection about how you got there and then  checking your body to make sure that everythings still working and too make sure that theres no cuts and bruises , then going out feeling rough and go and opoloise to everyone that you annoyed the night before 

This was one thing at the very start that really made me appreciate the benefits of not drinking - I never had to find out if I had been bad. 

It's my experience that more drunks go back out drinking in January than at any other time, especially those who have survived Christmas and New Year. I have no scientific evidence to back up this assertion but it is based on personal experience and that of others. It seems we become less vigilant after being very careful throughout the holiday season. So if you have survived Christmas and the New Year this is not a moment to relax but rather a time  to up whatever it is your doing to stay sober. Of course the truth is any time can suddenly become a bad time, problems emerge from nowhere. It's my experience that I get through the big stuff: deaths, illness, getting fired but I can get knocked for six by the simplest irritation - the scenario when  tripping over your shoe lace can turn you into a homicidal maniac. It's also my view that there was nothing rational about drinking myself into alcoholism and so it follows from this that the way out is equally irrational - this is a way of saying that  for me my alcoholism is these days essentially a form of mental illness which is characterised by an ability to distort reality, for instance, to allow myself to believe that I could safely have a few drinks. As I contemplate my seventh decade on the this planet, yup I hit 60 this year, and, subject to doing the days, my fourteenth sobriety birthday, it will be without doubt the most challenging one in my life to date during which my children will come of age and my working life will likely end at some stage. The only thing I know is sobriety makes the uncertainty manageable and I owe my continuing sobriety exclusively to the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. Hopefully I'll see some of you guys as we trudge onwards. If you're thinking about it, please feel free to get in touch or post here. As I have said many times here, I'd stick with sobriety if I was told I could now drink safely. I am so grateful that I am not coming to after a festive season bender that had been ongoing for the previous 25 years. Good luck to all and may your God bless you and yours in 2018 and beyond.

Thanks for the replies. We'll cross this bridge when we have a  buyer .... !

How does my wife get one which would enable her to sell our truck whose documentation is all in her name? She's a Filipino, worked here on Non B and Work Permit for 11 + years. We moved to China last year and she's now a foreign resident there, my dependent. I'm thinking she could apply to Thai embassy in Shanghai for Non-immigrant Visa and then return to Thailand, get certificate of residence and flog truck. As always any help gratefully received.

Realise this relates to current topic regarding buying but need to know that I can sell my truck while here on a 30 day waiver. Was here previously for seven plus years on Non B and WP when truck bought. Any advice gratefully received.

Year 2008 Black, 3 door Mitsu Triton 2.5L, Diesel Engine, manual transmission, r/h drive; cab has rear bench so ideal for two adults and two kids. Owned since 5k on the clock. One previous owner.

I have some Thai language learning stuff for sale and other stuff, (like a copy of Teach Yourself Thai), I'll throw in for free if you buy these for sale items:

Thai-English Student's Dictionary         Haas, Stanford University Press, 1964. In reasonable condition but showing a trace of  mildew on the lower cover.

Thai-English Dictionary    + CD              Domnern & Sathienpong, Matichon Publishing , 2006, (3rd Edition). In good condition.

Thai Reference Grammar                       Higbie & Thins, Orchid Press,2002. In excellent condition.

Thai-Isan-Lao Phrasebook                     Mullerup, White Lotus, 2001. In good condition, though CD missing.

Located in Ratchaburi so you can either come to collect or pay EMS. We're emptying a house right now so there's a load of stuff for sale, (at ridiculous prices - basically no reasonable offer will be refused!) So PM me if you want more information.

Dear all we're in the process of emptying the contents of our house in Thailand right now as ongoing recovery has enabled me to pursue bigger dreams, currently in China. I have got a small box of recovery/spiritual/personal growth books  that I would be happy to pass on to anyone for free if you are able to pay the cost of the postage. There is official AA stuff in here, including a very worn and rickety copy of the Big Book, and other more generalist stuff. ( Don't worry, I haven't apostasised, just don't want to pay freight costs or chuck this stuff out!) I'm located in Ratchaburi , about 100 km west of BKK, so you can collect if you wish. We're getting rid of the entire contents of our house right now so you might also be interested in some of the general household  stuff we're flogging off - basically no reasonable offer will be refused for anything ! PM me if you want more information. 

I remain indebted to those people who said to me: keep coming back, you're better off in here thinking you are an alcoholic than out there thinking you are not. If I had been interrogated about whether I had experienced delirium tremens and dismissed because I wasn't sure, then in all likelihood I would be dead today. The DTs might be a clinical indicator of chronic  alcoholic dependency, similar to Korsakoff's Syndrome and other indicators of chronic alcoholism, and therefore of considerable use to the medical community in terms of diagnosis and prognosis, but these only are indicators of chronic alcoholism, ( ...and there are others), not requirements for membership of AA. I was advised to focus on my alcoholism and my character defects, not other peoples'.

I am going to be back in LOS and want to know what's the best current package for a 1 month stay. I want to be able to take calls make calls access online all the usual stuff. Any suggestions.

We of AA need to be careful to avoid professional definitions regardless of how helpful they maybe. Membership of AA does not require an individual to have experienced the DTs. The medical profession often distinguish between alcohol misuse and alcohol dependency and as Neeranam indicated above the DTs would generally be evidence to a medic of dependency. This is a useful distinction in medical terms, for instance, if a professional judgement is being made about a person's fitness to drive or operate machinery. However it has no place in AA - 'come back, son, when you've had the DTs' rings in my ears, in other words, prove you're an alcoholic. I believe the changes to the  preamble quoted by .Patrick show just how perspicacious Bill W really was. We owe much to him notwithstanding his abundant shortcomings. 

Isn't the reality that those who do not belong simply drift away over time or the meeting simply folds? Isn't it the case that most of us chose to go to groups where we can relate to the other members?

I feel fortunate for my early years where I was exposed to both traditional AA and the cult people. I avoided the latter's groups after a while. I did not want to do things like jump in the air and kick my heels because I was happy; I did not want to instruct newcomers to phone me at a prearranged time and <deleted> them if they failed to do so and I did not want to tell raw beginners to get on their knees and pray. Likewise I did not want to say I was deliriously happy since I quit drinking because I had found a higher power. Au contraire I had a sponsor who used to say to me : normal people work and this programme is a bridge between alcoholism and normal life - get a job!  When I started to work I needed that sponsor and the programme to stay afloat and deal with the crap involved in having a crap job!

To be honest I found love and tolerance in the rooms I chose to hang out in and do service. I always went to meetings when I travelled and so I also got a lot of exposure to meetings up and down the UK. That first crap job involved selling and travelling and I had to deal with all manner of nonsense - working 12 hours a day and then being expected to travel 50 to 60 miles to the cheapest hotel! Most places I was welcomed and looked after - no one ever asked if I ever had had the DTs! 

As I've said many times I would chose not to drink today if the doctors told me they had made a mistake. Incidentally they never diagnosed me in the first place - I did and I picked up the phone. Life is simply better. When I drank a small amount of communion wine at my wedding, without thinking about it, I collected myself and said no worries. Yeah I could feel it warm my insides as it went down and I cold feel its effect but I walked away from it and didn't drink at all at the reception despite laying on a substantial free bar for my guests. I remember looking at them as the night wore on and being grateful I didn't drink. By a strict interpretation of some of the stuff posted here I cannot be an alcoholic because that one drop should have set off an earthquake. I really don't worry about what others think about it - the people that mean the most to me are grateful I don't drink anymore, they see the transformation. More than anything I am saying to anyone reading this that I am an alcoholic, name Gerry and I haven't had a drink today.

God bless you all.

AA is successful because of the 12 x 12. Everything that anyone anywhere needs to know about getting sober in AA is there; our approved literature provides a very powerful commentary on these matters.If it doesn't float your boat, there are many alternatives including:  counselling, group therapy, medication, death, insanity, a miracle, a Damascene conversion, an act of God and imprisonment to name a few of the many possibilities. 

AA has stood the test of time. We do not concern ourselves with 'performance' because the only success in AA is a period of 24 hours without a drink. The entire addictions' field is bedevilled by the problem of producing 'performance' statistics that are valid and/or reliable. How do you measure the successful rehabilitation of an alcoholic?  A member has just posted ( thanks for sharing AL)  that he went out for further research after 19 years and is still out there. This member would have been classed as a success by most alcohol agencies but would we in AA really say things to him like : you probably weren't an alcoholic to begin with, or well after 19 years it is ok to take a few drinks every now and then especially if you don't really think you're a drunk ....? 

If you say you are in, you are in. There's nowhere anywhere that has such an open door policy and long may it continue. 

On 10/31/2017 at 11:03 AM, MrPatrickThai said:

 

 

Do you have the guts to stand up in a meeting and tell the "'slogan people' to shut the fk up"?

 

 

AA would grind to a standstill if such behaviour became normal. AA is not a debating society. There is a reason why we practise tolerance and sometime indulge people. I would suggest you are missing a big part of AA if this is your approach.

Against advice I entered China on a tourist visa at a school's behest and then at the same school's expense travelled to Hong Kong to apply and get a Z visa which in its turn became a Foreign Resident Permit. I ended up working in a very dodgy school where I was treated like a piece of dirt. This insistence on entering to work on a Tourist Visa was basically an announcement that the school in question was dodgy and intended to screw me which it then did. I paid and paid big in order to break contract at the end of one academic year but I got the paperwork to transfer and work in a new and much better school where I now have all the trimmings of an international standard teacher's contract.

The problem is the best jobs are in the international sector and as in Thailand they tend to do 90% of their recruitment through job fairs and in the  NES countries; they are looking for qualified teachers with PGCEs and Qualified Teacher Status  and experience teaching either a national or international curriculum. These guys always enter on Z visas which they apply from in either their home countries or wherever they are working.

You can obtain a Z visa in Bangkok and the consulates in other parts of Thailand but you'll need to have a Non B and a work permit. That should suffice. You'll also need to get  a police clearance and notarised copies of your academic credentials certificated by a Chinese embassy too. It can be a protracted and expensive process .

Of course nothing is straightforward; in Guangdong province you are barred from obtaining a Z visa in Hong Kong - they require you to return to your home country. In provinces like Jiangsu you can go to Hong Kong. Different provinces have different rules, different bureaux in the same province have different rules  - sound familiar to anywhere you know?!!!

There's bundles of work though the majority of it is in training centres. Franchised language schools are opening up everywhere and NES are in huge demand. TEFL qualification usually suffices for these places. There is work in schools but often in dodgy places which are trying to cut corners and costs. Just be careful when they tell you they want you to come in on a tourist visa.

The problem with the big cities is the cost of housing. You would likely need a housing allowance of 6,000 CNY per month to get something basic in either Shanghai or Beijing and you might need to travel a little.

I would say I took a big risk, had a very stressful and expensive year but now I am reaping the benefits. Plus my wife and two kids walked in effortlessly on the strength of my residence permit though the translations, notarisations and certifications cost a tidy sum.

https://www.memrise.com/courses/english/thai/

There might be something of use to you here.

Alternatively try here:-

https://www.a-plusservice.com

There is a process by which you can get this done apparently but the links to the relevant pages are down at present. You can check out this website: http://www.pcscenter.sb.police.go.th/eng/# .

The best option might be to contact a translator in Bangkok. I have never used one myself for this purpose but in the last twelve months used one to get all manner of documents - wedding and birth certificates etc - translated into English, legalised by the MFA and then certificated by the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok. This was to enable me to bring my family into China when I started working there after being in Thailand for several years

I got my police clearance in person in Bangkok. The problem for you might lie in the fact that the Royal Thai Police take your finger prints as part of this process of clearing you. I am sure, however, that there must be some way around this and that you can get prints taken in your country and then have them sent to Thailand.

I suggest you find a translation service. If you want a personal recommendation please send me a personal message.

Wilson you need to get your Thai missus to stick the boot in!  She should be looking after you and making sure you don't get taken to the cleaners!

During the eight years I lived and worked in Thailand I hated visiting the big resorts in Thailand especially those in the south. It didn't matter that I could speak Thai, read menus, etc, I was always overcharged. So I stopped visiting these places. I remember buying a day package to Murder Island from a resort in Chumphon. I was charged at the local rate but when we showed up at the pier the hydrofoil people attempted to extort the difference. I said very loudly in Thai that I am not paying a special price which led to stand off; eventually they relented as my two kids started piping up: what's the matter dad they started asking. On the coach on they way back to Chumphon the bus stopped a little bit shy of the railway station, like 400 metres and the guide announced that my fellow passengers could use the facilities in the hotel/restaurant outside - internet, shower, food etc - and that they would then take folk to the railway station to connect with trains northwards later in the evening . She went ballistic when I told the bus load of foreigners that the railway station was four hundred metres down the road, turn left and your there and suggested to them they would encounter very special prices in the hotel/restaurant.

But of course this is not just happening in Thailand. Tourist are fair game all over the world. What about London's 'smudge' men way back when. Put on a suit and shirt and tie, get a camera, and hang out at London's well known tourist attractions. Snap tourists and get them to pay up front on a promise of delivering the pictures to their hotels. A nice scam especially as there wasn't any film in the camera in the first place! 

Similarly don't expect people who are promoting sex shows to exercise discretion. You're the target and they have a job to do. It always amazed me that anybody ever considered being led away to such shows.

Funnily enough I have never felt I have been overcharged in China where I now live, even though I don't speak a word of the lingo and most of the locals don't speak English. But it never appears to be an obstacle. I had to get some documents printed before signing them, then get the signed copies scanned and then email them. Eleven pages in total, cost for everything 13 CNY, about 65 THB; then some ID photos, four standard size at 25 CNY; then send original documents etc by EMS at a cost of 8 CNY; lunch in the local Indian canteen today: chicken curry, dal tarka, potato and vegetable curry with rice and four scrumptious freshly cooked chapatis -  33 CNY, just south of 200 THB.

Here's the thing - if you think something is expensive then don't buy it.!

Hey thanks for the help. I think the problem will be with the airlines. No worries. We'll see how we can work around it if at all possible.

24 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

 

 

Edit: You can enter your info here to check if you can enter the country. https://skyteam.traveldoc.aero/#input

Thanks Joe a great link.

Can anyone confirm if it is a requirement to hold a passport with more than six months' validity in order to enter Thailand as a tourist on a 30 day waiver? Just trying to juggle dates and  my daughter's passport expires in October. So wold like to come for holiday in July, return to our home in China and then apply for new passport. Any help greatly appreciated. G

I would suggest that you take your BP readings about the same time everyday - I do it first thing in the morning before getting up between 600 and 630 am. This also means I'm horizontal in bed. The same time means you'll be comparing like for like. There is no point comparing horizontal 6:00 am with 9 am in the office on a second cup of coffee. My monitor averages three readings so I take three readings in quick succession, during which there can be variations, average them  and record the average. I  put the daily average into a spreadsheet and then average this on a monthly basis; I also record monthly highs and lows of both top and bottom reading and review the difference between the two.

Basically anything can raise your BP and so no real worry if measures vary from second to second. Be aware that taking readings after a dump or a shag, for instance, will result in higher numbers; alcohol and drugs from the night before will also impact adversely, likewise tobacco.

The best solution is undoubtedly reduce salt intake, reduce weight and exercise. Easier said than done. I like my pies.

22 hours ago, TumblinDice said:

 

Congratulations!
I wish there would be more current posts on staying sober. Yours is the most recent & it's two weeks old already!
Where are all the non drinkers & sober peoples support groups?





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Hi Tumblin Dice it is sad that there is not much activity on here nor more up to date postings. I am now living in China and so not very active here. I visit this sub-forum fairly infrequently but as has been suggested you can start your own thread. Good luck in your own journey. Stick at it. Fourteen years is in sight for me and I can say to you I felt as grateful today for the gift of sobriety as I felt at any time since I quit. My recovery today is about having a life - I denied myself this for the many years I was a practising alcoholic. Funny old life!

On 3/12/2017 at 1:12 PM, Dagnabbit said:

The 'trudge' to happiness sounds rather depressing.

If you are still miserable and 'on the way' to happiness after 13 years clean, I feel sorry for you.


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You have a point. The trudge to happy destiny is an AA oxymoron - go figure that one out!