My grandfather died before I got sober. My grandfather died before I had a relationship with my father. I managed to pull together a couple of days clean before I drove 300 miles to the funeral, but you know the toll addiction takes. I was 40 pounds under weight. My eyes were sunken in. I was gray. I did a lot of terrible things when I was still ‘out there’ but being a source of additional pain to my family at that difficult time made me burn with shame.

I was so happy to be sober the next summer when my…

etta--every day prior to 2 years, 4 months, 1 week, and 4 days ago:

I am not an alcoholic.

I am not an alcoholic. I only drink because I have depression. My problem is depression. I can stop. I stopped drinking for 10 years! The only reason I started again is because of the depression. Depression chased away my spouse, led to my illegal firing, caused the loss of almost every penny I had, and finally took my house! What the hell reason do I have not to drink? If you had the uncontrolled, suffocating, debilitating darkness of my life, you would drink,…

I’m ready to bed one hundred million dollars that my husband will be using again within 48 hours. He is boiling addict behavior all over the place. In a 5-minute phone conversation, he demanded that we let go of all the boundaries I’ve set (Let me use the car. I’m going away soon, just let me use it one time. I don’t feel like working today. Why don’t you call out for me and say that I have to go home to meet the repairman or something? I feel like lying on the couch and thinking about things. I don’t…

Consequences really piss my husband off, I’ve noticed. Nothing makes him more furious than for me to observe that he has done something foolish in feeding his addiction…when he has pawned things that belong to me, the worst part of it for him is my noticing, finding out.

He is facing a big dose of consequence, the biggest he’s faced yet as a result of his behavior over the last year. It’s scaring him, and it’s making his mood foul. How dare the state notice that he hasn’t been fulfilling his obligations? How dare there be consequences for spending a year…

Like a lot of us, I have this astonishing history of making exactly the wrong choice at the worst possible moment. It’s like I’m a prodigy at failure. Even more baffling is that in so many respects I’m a pretty bright guy. People close to me agree that I’m probably the smartest really slow learner they know. Obviously they’ve never hung out with a bunch of other addicts and alcoholics because I’ve found in recovery that I am hardly unique. Many substance-dependent individuals appear to exhibit a decision-making impairment similar to that of patients who have suffered injury or disease of…

Have you ever gone to the grocery store and walked off without your change? Or your groceries? I have.

Have you ever gone through a fast-food drive through and paid for your meal and driven away? I have.

Have you ever been looking for something, like your keys, only to discover them in your hand? Or been looking for your glasses for like 15 minutes only to discover that they are on your face? I have. Seriously. I’m not joking. On my face!

Just now I was broiling a hamburger and pulled out a bottle of Worcestershire and immediately lost the cap. Brand…

Try really, really hard to be nice to people you don’t like. The more you don’t like them the farther you should be willing to go out of your way to be helpful to them. If someone is irritating to you, practice being patient with them. If someone makes you angry do everything you can to be loving toward them.

There is nothing altruistic or pure about this suggestion. I’m not going to feed you some line of crap about how it makes you a better person and makes you feel wonderful. It would probably be a lie. At least I’ve…

This excerpt on alcoholism and drug addictions comes from the online Ezine, Opinion Editorials, a project from Frontiers of Freedom. Check it out…

By Lou Peters

February 01, 2008

“It’ll never happen to me.” That’s the line you hear everyone say about becoming addicted when it comes to alcohol and substance abuse. To the user, that first drink…that first experience on any given drug is “amazing”…especially if you’re in your teens. What’s really amazing is the percentage of the people who don’t get addicted from the first use. Even more amazing are the reasons for the initial use. Back in the 1980s, the…

This reality show takes on the reality of dealing with fame and and the stresses that may lead some to addiction…

The Monitor
January 13th 2008
By Jon Caramanica
Special to The Times

HERE’S how “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew,” which premiered on Thursday and will run on VH1 for eight weeks, ends: It didn’t work.
At least, for some.
Drugs and alcohol may not be the only demons affecting the C- and D-listers on ‘Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew.’
In the five months from when the show was filmed and now, a few participants have very publicly fallen off the wagon. TMZ has aired video of two…

More and more Hollywood actors are heading to rehab, here is an article excerpt from The Sydney Morning Herald…

February 5, 2008

Needing support … Eva Mendes has become the latest high-profile name to check into the Cirque Lodge clinic in Utah.
Photo: AFP Eva Mendes is in Rehab.

The actress is reportedly being treated at Utah’s Cirque Lodge rehab clinic for an undisclosed addiction, after deciding herself she needed “professional support”.

Her spokesman said: “Eva has been working hard for the past year and made a positive decision to take some much needed time off to attend to some personal issues that, while not critical,…

Since the death of Heath Ledger more Hollywood stars are checking into rehab…

Marie Claire
Friday 8 February
Kirsten Dunst is reportedly ‘not doing well’ at the Cirque Lodge rehab facility, sources close to the singer claim.

The Marie Antoinette actress has checked into the Utah centre, which specialises in substance abuse issues. Eva Mendes is also currently being treated for suspected prescription drug addiction, and Lindsay Lohan spent two months there last summer.

Speaking to People magazine a source claims, ‘She’s not doing well. People were pushing her to go in there but there was no intervention… She has been partying hard for a…

Here is an article on drug addiction in the central Virginia area… close to home.

By Bob Stuart
The News Virginian
Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Valley Community Services Board counselor Roy Evans is gratified by the victories he accomplishes in his job working with adolescent substance abuse victims.
“Sometimes you are able to make a difference, and that is extremely rewarding,” said Evans, who counsels young people in Waynesboro, Staunton and Augusta County. “The little, small victories we have keep us trying that much harder.”
Evans and other substance-abuse professionals will gather tonight at Augusta Medical Center for the annual meeting of The Community Alliance for…

An excerpt from The Battle Creek Inquirer…

From the Substance Abuse Council
Reader Submitted

Millions of Americans are in long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs, yet one in four Americans still had a family member who is struggling with addiction. Of these 22 million people who still need help, only nine percent are receiving the help they need to recover and get their lives back on track. We need to come together in our community to understand addiction and take action so that more of our friends and neighbors can get the help they need.

In partnership with the Robert…

This is an article that was posted on Orato.com, please check our Videos category to see an interview with Heath Ledger on the Ellen show.

By Ken Seeley , USA

Date Posted: 01/25/08

I think all of us were in denial that there was any kind of addiction problem with Heath Ledger. It’s very difficult to draw conclusions about what he really did die from before the autopsy toxicology tests come back. We can only speculate. For me personally, I saw an accidental overdose.

 

 

I don’t think Heath Ledger woke up in the morning thinking, “I’m going to kill myself today.”

Heath had stated before…

We just want to pass it on…

Update on Father Martin’s condition
Greetings!

Thank you for your thoughtful prayers and kind wishes for Father Martin’s continued recovery via e-mails, cards, etc. Father remains in the hospital and is undergoing physical therapy and dialysis. During our recent visit, he confirmed his ongoing belief in the power of prayer and is inspired by the outpouring of encouragement from his friends. So, his spirits are good but he does miss home. Please continue including Father in your prayers and we will provide periodic updates. E-mail address : fathermartin@fathermartin.com

Cards can be mailed to:
218 Fulford Ave
BelAir, MD 21014

…

Middle East Online
Meysam Aqakhanlu – TEHRAN  In an attempt to check the effects of strong new varieties of illicit drugs that are flooding the market, the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has revived some of the punitive methods seen in the early days of the Islamic Revolution. Yet neither punitive action nor the continued use of preventive strategies introduced in later years seem to be working.

Estimates of the number of Iranians who use drugs vary wildly. The commander of Iran’s law enforcement forces, General Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, has said there are about 1.2 million addicts and another 700,000 who can be…

I just thought this was pretty amusing… hope you do too. I nabbed it from blogger Stop, Drop, Recover. Click here to check out his entry…

Catching back up with some bloggers we have not posted in a while… let’s see what Geisha Interupted has been up to.

January 3, 2008

Go Me

Truth be told, I’ve had a pretty depressing holiday season. It was the first time I spent the holidays as a sober alcoholic, and I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t totally suck. Maybe the holidays have always been this depressing, I’d just never noticed it so sharply before. And now that I like my family and don’t totally blame them for everything that’s ever gone wrong in my life, I have had to deal…

January 2, 2008
By Associated Press

HOUSTON - Two Baylor College of Medicine researchers in Houston are working on a cocaine vaccine they hope will become the first-ever medication to treat people hooked on the drug. “For people who have a desire to stop using, the vaccine should be very useful,” said Dr. Tom Kosten, a psychiatry professor who is being assisted in the research by his wife, Therese, a psychologist and neuroscientist. “At some point, most users will give in to temptation and relapse, but those for whom the vaccine is effective won’t get high and will lose interest.”

The vaccine, currently…

Recovery, there’s always a first time, as tells blogger What Winners Do…

January 7 2008
Go After Addiction Recovery Like A Newcomer

Do you remember what it was like when you were a newcomer to addiction recovery? If you were anything like me, you pursued recovery. You went after it, you studied it and you spent a lot of time building up your addiction recovery fundamental skills.

As time goes on, you feel a little more comfortable in your addiction recovery. You feel that you can take on some new things that aren’t directly related to addiction recovery. You have begun to develop some…

An excellent entry from Gospodi Pomiluj…

Thursday, January 3, 2008
Constant Vigilance

You know, I hear all the time at meetings the stories of people who let their guard down, who thought they could handle it, maybe questioned whether or not they were an alcoholic at all. Or maybe they didn’t even think about it. Didn’t question anything. Like Jim the car salesman who on a whim decided a whiskey in his milk would be a good idea. I feel good right now. I got through the holidays with nary a desire to drink. A passing thought maybe, but that was more due…

x DoGotoGod x gives us a great entry…

Thursday, January 3, 2008
On Discomfort

Each of our recovery paths is like this.

I was in a meeting last night and three words jumped out at me, “Acceptance of Discomfort.”

We tend to have ideas, how our recovery should go. How it should progress. What the timing should be for milestones. And we have this fantasy that each day it should get more comfortable. After all, we suffered through a painful bottom, came to understand we had to give up executive control of our lives, so shouldn’t it get better, now?

Problem is, we have our own ideas…

Aha! A New Year, A New Resolution… Recovery Road blogger sets things straight!

Wednesday, January 02, 2008
A Happy New Year! to you all. I hope you had a good one and, where appropriate, a safe and sober one.

I spent most of New Year Eve with Private Equity Girl. I managed a whistle stop tour of Brixton, Hoxton and Soho. She cooked and I ate. It was cool - I guzzled ninety three liters of Perrier and she had wine. I’m still amazed at how non-alkies can cork a bottle, put it in the fridge and forget about it. Incredible.

I’ve been thinking of…

Here is an excellent New Years entry by the captivating blogger, Shadow… a definite hit for 2008!

Monday December 31st 2007

my thoughts for 2008

2007 is drawing to a close
the future called 2008 lies just ahead.

plan for the future, yes,
but live each day as it deserves to be lived.
to it’s fullest, with gratitude that you can enjoy another day.
appreciate what you have every day.
appreciate who you get to spend your days with.
you may not like summer, but you have been granted another summer, to experience and capture memories, treasure that!
you may not like going to work, but you have been granted another…

Sober Chick strikes again! Perfect for a quick pick me up…

Santa Boot Camp!
Friday, December 21 2007

Hola Family!

Sorry I have not been blogging. I am still trudging . . .

When I first got sober in 2005 I did very little to maintain my sobriety. It felt so good to be sober, and I was riding what they say in the fellowship “a pink cloud.” Bad things stopped happening to me as a result of not drinking. I grew comfortable; complacent. I would soon realize that my emotions had no memory of the pain and despair and complete state of hopelessness I experienced…

All the way from London, a Merry Bloody Christmas from Recovery Road….

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

This Christmas was my fourth successive sober festive season. It was fairly quite (although Long Joe livened things up), spent with family and that was all I wanted. I’m grateful I wasn’t drunk or drinking this year.

Three and a half months to go to my FOURTH AA birthday (I’m nearly four, the blog is three…**bangs head on desk**). I was talking to my sister about the past three and a half years and what the first three months of sobriety were like. **shudders**

Sober. Very grateful. Better eye…

Another great entry from blogger, In Repair…

Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Withdrawal Method
I am noticing a withdrawing of friends. I have friends I have met online and haven’t heard from them nearly as regularly as I did when I was *party girl*. Hmm. Interesting stuff, that. I have a friend who is a sommelier at a schmancy restaurant who I met at the liquor store and we became friends thereafter, but am wondering how long this relationship will really last as we no longer have the *big common thread* that wove through each of our tapestries at one time. Have only the…

The News Tribune Tacoma, WA
M. Alexander Otto
November 2nd, 2007
The first study comparing a new addiction treatment, Prometa, to a placebo was released Thursday by Hythiam, the Santa Monica, Calif., company that owns the rights to Prometa. In the 30-day study, 67 meth-addicted subjects got Prometa, and 67 got a placebo. Meth cravings dropped in both groups, but dropped more in the Prometa group. A combined-craving score dropped 31.1 points in the group that got Prometa, and 20.9 points in the placebo group, a statistically significant difference, according to a Hythiam press release.
However, the difference in the two group’s self-reported meth use…

Take a look at this site, Right Turn, dedicated to sobriety through music, musicians and safe and sober live performances…

Treatment for Creative People on the Road to Recovery

Right Turn is a non-profit organization founded in March of 2003 by Addictions Specialist Woody Giessmann with a vision of providing innovative programming, individual support, rehabilitation services and ongoing encouragement to New England artists and entertainers (and their families) who’ve been affected by alcoholism, addiction, and psychiatric issues.
…we understand that artists and entertainers are a population that is typically isolated and unlikely to enter into traditional treatment facilities, we have developed a unique…

Parker L is, “a 50 year old recovering alcoholic artist. Since I had my moment of clarity a few 24 hours ago I cannot stop drawing and creating things out of found objects. Outsider/visionary in the truest sense of the word.”

Check out some of his artwork…