Group Addiction Recovery

I dont know if eating can count as an addiction, but when ever I get upset or depressed, i eat until I dont feel well. It is disgusting and it makes me fat, but I dont really have any other way to deal with my tough situations. I always figure that it is better than drinking, so I just let my self do it, but that is probably not so healthy.

Anyway (excuse my depressive eating rant), Angel, it sounds like your problem is alot more serious than mine. You should be very proud of your self that you are making a serious effort. It will mean alot to you and those who love you. Good Luck

 

addiction: Cutting

how long you've had it: About...3 months?

reason for deciding to stop: Cutting myself hurts others. It's destroying what's left of my self-esteem. Cutting attempts can lead to suicide attempts, or mistakes can cause severe injury/death.

other(what else should we know?): While I haven't been cutting for long, it's a hard habbit for me to break. I've been clean for a little while now (I haven't been counting just in case I relapsed), perhaps a few weeks, but I still get regular urges. I'm supposed to be on anti-depressants and mood stabalizers, but I haven't been on my mood stabalizers for a few weeks now, and I won't be able to get any more until the end of this week. My greatest fear now is a severe mood swing that will dip me into a cutting mood faster than I can fight it.

 

I hope this thread helps not only those that recognize they have an addiction, but also those that don't yet recognize it, but may see themselves in some of the things that are written here.

What's an addiction? Well, are you doing something destructive that is making your life unmanageable? Have you decided on more than one occassion to stop, and been unable to stop? You may have an addiction.

Why do people develop addictions? An addiction is a response or a coping mechanism for some people. They 'use' or 'medicate themselves' with their drug of choice (alcohol, drugs, sex, cutting, food, gambling, etc.) to avoid dealing with difficult problems or emotions. It isn't their fault, and they aren't 'weak'. For what ever reason, they just haven't been given the tools necessary to cope with some of the challenges they face in life.

How do people deal with addictions? One of the most proven approaches is the "12 Step" approach pioneered by AA. Why? Well, meeting with others that have the same problem automatically gives you a sense of belonging where you probably have felt very lost and alone in your addiction. Plus it brings the addiction out into the light, and without the secrecy, it starts to lose it's power over you. Having support, sharing with others, working with a therapist - these are all ways to deal with addiction.

addiction: sex and lust.

how long you've had it: I'm not sure. Perhaps my entire adult life. But as with many addictions, they evolve over time. You develop a tolerance to the 'high' that you receive from a given activity, which pushes you to do more extreme activities to acheive the high. My life started to become unmanageable about 4 years ago, and I finally acknowledged that I had a problem and started to deal with it about a year ago.

reason for deciding to stop: Life had simply become unmanageable. I'd become extremely depressed trying to deal with the shame and guilt that I was carrying around with me. Not only was I being unfaithful to my wife, I was having sex with other men - and I hadn't accepted that I was gay. She didn't know what was wrong, but my wife gave me an ultimatum - get help or I'm leaving. I'm SO thankful that she forced me to get help. She may have saved my life.

other(what else should we know?): I've been in 'recovery' for a year now. But it took 9 months for it to really 'click' with me. I've now been sober for 90 days (90 days today, actually - which I find VERY IRONIC! :icon_bigg ). They say that 90 days is a significant milestone because it is enough time for the brain to 'reprogram' itself to better deal with emotions without automatically resorting to the addiction. What does sobriety mean for a sex addict? It means "no sex wth self or others unless it's with the spouse".

I hope this wasn't TMI! :icon_redf But I think it's important that people understand that addiction can come in many forms. I may not have gotten to the point that I did had I recognized my problem earlier. Had I been drinking or snorting coke, perhaps I'd have come to the conclusion that I was an addict faster. For me, the lack of clarity I had around my sexual orientation caused a lot of confusion for me when I was acting out - and that could be something that others on this site have or will experience.

Don't hesitate to PM me if you want to discuss this in private. Thanks. And good luck to the others here dealing with addiction.

 

Holy cow! Um - that's quite a ritual!

I stayed sober yesterday, and I'm sober so far today as well. 91 days in a row.

I simply went to my SA meeting last night. The usual moderator / facilitator was away, so I lead the meeting last night. Doing that kind of 'service work' is helpful - gives you a sense of purpose. After the meeting one of the newer guys was saying that he was having a really tough time right now and he thought he would benefit from seeing a therapist of some kind. I recommended mine - because I think he's great - and he said he would give him a call. Again, just being there, and being 'present' for another person that is suffering, is quite rewarding.

I'll be seeing my therapist today - which I actually look forward to!

Good luck everyone!

 

Wow! That's some powerful stuff! I feel kinda bad that I didn't do anything near that, hehe! My ritual wasn't much, but it meant a lot to me. I simply ate my dinner with a steak knife, the type of blade I use to cut. I haven't eaten with a steak knife since I started cutting, because it's usually triggering for me. But this time it was different, and it felt really good to just eat with the damn thing like nothing was wrong.

As far as urges go, this morning as I was walking to work I had a pretty bad one, but at work I kind of forgot about it, so that's good ^^ I'm just tired now -.-

So far so good, right? ^^ we can do this!

 

Although I have no addictions to add to this thread, I am following the discussions with great interest. I am really impressed with the efforts you are all making to beat your addictions, and your honesty and openness in your posts here.

(&&&)

 

addiction: Eating

how long you've had it: Several years.

reason for deciding to stop: I've gained a lot of weight the past couple of months and it's gotten to the point where I've been making myself sick. I need to kick this habit soon before I end up causing myself serious problems.

other(what else should we know?): I've had a problem with eating for years but even though my eating has been excessive it's never been completely out of my control. Lately though, it's gotten really bad. I find myself eating all the time. It's almost automatic.

 

I think they only way you can overcome this is with help of a therapist. You can stop difinitively to smoke, to drink, to cut yourselves, etc. you won't die. You can't stop definitively to eat... you will die.

I know this is silly to say but it is true, my brother suffers from constant eating, he just can't stop himself because even if he manages to resist for several hours sooner or later he has to give in and eat again just to stay alive (well you see what I mean):icon_sad:

Please get help, you can't do it on your own it is a particularly perverse and cruel addiction because you CAN'T just stop the best you can hope for is to control it to a reasonable level! Good luck.(*hug*)

 

Unfortunately, I can't afford a therapist.

I'm usually okay as long as I can keep busy. The problem is that there hasn't been too much to keep me busy lately. See, I live at home. My mother's practically bedridden and she needs almost constant help to take care of the house and my sister. I spend my days at home cooking, cleaning, etc. It's when those chores run out that I have the problem. It's a small condo so the kitchen is always about 5 feet away. It's hard to resist food when it's always that close and I've got nothing to get my mind off of it.

 

Leon481. Jim1454 talks about the 12-step plan pioneered by AA. There's an organisation called OA - Overeaters' Anonymous. It's exactly the same as AA but focusses on overeating. Best of all, it's free apart from a voluntary donation at the end of each meeting. It may not be for you, but you've got nothing to lose by going along. You can look them up in your phone directory. So far as I know, they're widespread in the US.

Just some advice, but you owe it to yourself to try everything. Good luck.

 

I looked up overeaters anonymus and it seems interesting, but I'm not ready to resort to support groups just yet. I'm going to start by trying to take responsibility for my own eating and see where it goes from there. I'll definitely keep that group in mind if I have trouble though.

 

OA! That's exactly what I was going to recommend as well - but you beat me to it!

Recognizing that you have a problem is an important first step, so having an awareness will help. Louise is right as well - eating is something that you can't simply stop doing. You need to eat. Working with a therapist, as well as a support group, will help you develop a healthy (healthier) attitude towards food.

Food addiction is very closely linked to sex addiction - the pleasure centers triggered in the brain are supposed to be quite similar. And as with food, sex is not something that you should be expected to do without for the rest of your life. So developing a healthy attitude towards it is the goal. Good luck! It can be done. Let me know if you want to chat.

 

Day 2​

I maintained my sobriety yesterday with regard to my primary addiction. However, I know that I also have a problem with food. I ate a whole container of mini cinamon rolls! Why? I don't really know. I was kind of bored, lonely, tired... All things that set you up for relapse.

Has everyone heard of HALT / BSS?

Hungry
Angry
Lonely
Tired

Bored
Scared
Stressed

These are common emotions / physical states in which we are suceptible to our addictions. Become aware of your emotions and try to deal with these emotions in a healthy way, or avoid them if possible (i.e. don't let your self get tired by getting enough sleep, don't go hungry - have a (healthy) snack, don't allow yourself to be bored - have an alternative activity to turn to, etc.)

Otherwise, I had a good day yesterday. I went for my run, saw my therapist, and watched the kids for my wife so she could go out on a 'date'!

 

Re: group Addiction

Hello Fellow Addicts,It's been over a year since I drank my last whiskey.At that time I was drinking about 26oz's a day.I was very sick .Also over a year ago I stopped smoking.I was smoking about 50 cigarettes a day.
For the drinking I went to detox and then various groups and constant therapy.
For the smoking I had what I called a smoking "Geru" who guided me through time and my
desire and the patch I finally stopped.
12 Step Groups are very good.Lots of support from fellow addicts.
Hitting bottom is a good start for stopping but it's not completely necessary to go that far.
Recently I've become convinced,for me,that a lot of answers lie with Mindful Meditation.
I'm reading a book right now called "Eating Mindfully" by Susan Albers.It's about how we look at eating.I've put on about 25 pounds in the past 8 months and want to deal with that.
The power of a group can overcome anything.

 

DAY 3

I missed my post for day 2 because we lost power to our apartment for 24 hours. Our phone service went out too, but we won't be getting that back for another two weeks at least.

As for how I'm doing, I could be better. I've caught myself about to do bad things, like lighting a match and holding it close to my skin, or playing with a knife, but so far I've been able to stop myself before things got out of hand.

I'm down to two anti-depressant pills, and it's been about a month since I've had a mood stabilizer. I absolutely need to get new meds tomorrow, or I could be in deep trouble. If I run out of anti-depressants too...it won't be a question of if I go back to cutting, it'll be a question of whether or not I can fight off the suicide urges that are sure to follow being completely off of my meds. As it is, I've had two suicide urges this week, one yesterday morning and one this morning, on my way to work. Once at work, I was able to forget about them.

I'm kind of down at the moment. In a couple of hours I'll be at a friend's house at a minor get-together. I'm going to have to try very hard not to cut. I feel an urge coming on.

 

Days 1&2

I've been able to cut down on my eating to a managable level. I'm managing not to completely pig out and I've gotten myself to choose healthier foods. I know that I'm still eating a higher than normal amount of food, but right now I'm more concerned with controlling the binge eating and letting my body adjust to getting so much less food. Right now is about getting myself stabilized and I'm managing so far but I have a strong feeling that it's going to become harder before it gets easier. The next few days will tell I guess.