Alcoholic or an Addict?

[MajestyJo]

I once was speaking at a meeting and a oldtimer told me I had no right to be at that closed meeting let alone speaking because I was also a addict.
I drank I shot dope
Drugs got me to the program faster than just drinking.
Later in a smaller meeting which was a speaker disscussion the same man was there.
I told of Doc Bob story and how he was a addict and a alkie.
This man was in rage at my comment about our co founder.
He came to me later after carefully reading the part about how Doc Bob had to time it right when he gave himself a shot not of whiskey but drugs and told me he was sorry and wrong.
Why does it matter if someone is court ordered or comes in with family intervention.
Or if someone used drugs
The 12 steps in each program are almost the same just a few word's changed.
I relly get pissed when someone past judgement on how I found my way here to this program.
I was never appointed judge in thia program.
If you have a problem with a addict going to a AA meeting READ DOC Bob story again.

Why is there a problem this is a program with no governing body.
A meeting may choose not to sign paper's
but a meeting has no right to refuse fellowship to anyone who has a desire to stop drinking or using.

I was not lifted above all others when I decided to quit drinking
I actually had to climb back out of the hole i dug .
Which kinda puts me below most.
What does it matter which addiction I choose
What really matters is I found my way here

Posted by mender, in 2004 used with permission.

When I got here, I knew I was an addict, but in denial about my alcoholism. I went to AA for my denial. I got a sense that NA looked at me as an AA reject. I was told that AA doesn't reject anyone, but that isn't true. I have been at a meeting where people were turned away because they had never drank and had only done drugs. The thing was, their father's were alcoholics and they made a vow that they wouldn't be like him. They never drank. They were affected by alcoholism. Alcohol was a part of their choice to pick up drugs for themselves.

It was the story Doctor, Alcoholic, Addict that kept me going to AA. It is my understanding that this story isn't about Dr. Bob. I figured if the co-founders used drugs, I qualified too. It is my understanding that Bill was on drugs too. I heard someone say once that they were experimenting with speed, and used LSD to help chronic alcoholism. I am not sure of the whole story and yet how often do we substitute one for the other. For me it was pills, food, work, relationships and alcohol. Even in sobriety, I can slip back into those old patterns. I had to address my problem with food, burnout from too many volunteer hours, and my computer and web site obsession. The program worked for them just as they did when I quit smoking.

Many people have crossed my path and they carried a message to me, "It isn't any better out there" and did my research for me. You can only help those who want to help themselves. I remember the first time I smelled someone on the bus who got on and sat behind me and a newcomer. We looked at each other and said, "Did we smell like that?" The girl was dressed to the nines, all set to go out on the town and her night was just beginning. All she was going to attract was someone who smelled like her, because no one else would have wanted to get close to her. You can't help those who don't want it.

Just this week I was able to share with a long time friend who is a long-timer member of AA who lost everything she owned duhe e to her son's addiction. I told her I go to Al-Anon, she said, "I need my AA friends right now." It is her choice. I know both programs helped me.

Posted by me in 2009

I use to question if I was and alcoholic or an addict. I found it did not matter, the 12 Steps were applicable no matter what I applied them to. The Steps are a common denominator and the substance is but a symptom of my dis-ease, the problem was me. I used alcohol like I used drugs and for the same purpose. It was the thinking behind the using that I had to change.

When I went to NA, I learned that alcohol is a drug. I have been put on Lyrica for my pain, and the more I take it, I find it to be mind altering. It does NOT take away the pain, and my head feels wonky, not sure if it is that or the affects of poor circulation, or it is a side affect of the swelling and loss of balance. I do not like feeling stoned. Did not use to get high, I used to take away the pain. The drugs and the alcohol were coping tools and then they stopped working and I kept thinking more and that did not work either.