Mekong Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Simple question, is there a Branch of Aloholics Annonymous in Bangkok, or any other similar selp help group. I have finaly admitted to myself I am an Alcoholic and have decided to reclaim my life after 20 years locked in a bottle, time to release the genie. Only gone 100 hours dry so far, small pshycological milestones I am determined to achieve, the first day, the first 100 hours, week, month six months year, an exponental time scale of goals. So if anyone knows some Bangkok group, info much appreciated, I need to chat with others in a similar position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous_Dog Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 They advertise in the Bangkok Post 02 231 8300 www.aathailand.org Well done and good luck! DOG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocThai Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Congrats! Nervous Dog already posted the link to AA here, I have a number of alcohol abuse clients and Bangkok can be a very tough place to find support. I have a few personal friends who have major problems with alcohol but they stay in denial because "everyone goes out and drinks here." A good personal test is this: If you have told yourself or someone else you are going to stop drinking for a month because you know you have gone overboard, yet a few days later you are drinking again...you have a problem! I wish you the best of success! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted July 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Nervous Dog, thanks for the info mate appreciated, and I have a meeting booked already ::. DocThai, very true observation "If you have told yourself or someone else you are going to stop drinking for a month because you know you have gone overboard, yet a few days later you are drinking again...you have a problem!" Been like that many times, lay off it for a few days, then maybe at JJ Market on a Sunday afternoon and to cool off, after being dragged around for 2 hours, I think to myself "One Beer Cant do no harm" Wrong it does the worst. I am approaching this attemt with a differant attitued than my previous half hearted failures, I accept the fact I am an alcohlic, whereas in the past I was in denile, realise I need to seek a bit of outside help, not something I can alone. Thanks for the words of encouragment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlton68 Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Mekong, best of luck! You should find out if you can sit with the same people, at the same places, and hold onto non-alcoholics. If you can do that you aren't lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted July 20, 2005 Report Share Posted July 20, 2005 Mekong, Me too dude! I am an alcoholic as well. knew it for years, lived with the denial. Each trip to the liquor store was a guilt trip as well, always felt really bad, and remorseful...I know all about it...In the end, I admitted it to my doctor, who asked who I thought I'd been kidding all those years? I needed tranquilizers to help cut the cravings, and ease the tension and mood swings associated with it. Hope you don't need all that, but use it if you do! I did manage to quit, and avoided the "just one drink" pushes of my friends. It is hard, just go one step at a time. I lost a lot of weight when I did quit, and that was also a ++ I did fall off the wagon last LOS trip, no problem, got on again, and been on since. Hang on, it can be done. Admitting it is the first step. And you have done that. good luck, and many of us here share the same problem, you aren't alone! Good luck dude! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whosyourdaddy Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 AA meets at bourbon street bar and grill of all places. Sunday mornings ( at least years ago they did) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiery Jack Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 I'm an alcoholic, mate. Same same as OH by the sound of the cut of his jib. I was in denial for a decade: slow train coming and whatnot. Yup, I got tranquilisers off the doctor too (in my case, I turned myself in, finally, to my local quack and he sent me to a booze-abuse specialist cat), which helped for the first few fun-filled nights while the mechanical spiders were dancing round the room and the believable ghosts came a-calling as I break-danced and bathed in rivers of sweat beneath the psychedelic moving sheets. I kept trying to stop, yes sir. Had endless hilarious false starts, major crashes off the wagon and all the knockabout antics and lying. I think you can never choose to stop: you just reach a point where you have to stop. I did, anyway. Not to do with quantity of booze in my case, or physical damage, but quantity of psychological hurt to myself and others, the boring escalating frequency and quantity of inexcusable facile fuck ups, basically, mostly (thankfully) minor (missing appointments, slackness on the job, sick leave for hangovers, shirking responsibility) and a few major (financial up-shit-creekness due to going through a messy divorce case whilst inebriated, clinical depression and ruined relationships with friends and lovers). But admitting it's the big step: you're either an alcoholic or not ? there are no degrees of alcoholism, just degrees of trouble caused by boozing. I made so many bad decisions because of being constantly pissed. My life is so much simpler now I'm in control more. No sea-changes though. Be careful of over-expectation. It's like these birds who get a nose job or their tits expanded then suddenly think their crap dismal lives will change for the better overnight. Doesn't happen. Not all the demons live in the bottle. As Robin Williams says of being a recovering alkie: I'm still the same asshole, but my car's got fewer dents in it now. I've never been to an AA meeting. I met an AA counsellor privately and chatted, and it sounded like a bunch of bullshit to me, a narrow ace away from the Jehovah's fucking Rovers. You need something to replace the boozing, but for fuck's sake find something more interesting than formalised paint-by-numbers madcap Christianity. Take up knitting, for example, or become a cat burglar. Or go to AA and tell us about it. Each to his own. I saw a counsellor for about a year, once or twice a week, (not the AA bloke, a different dude, no religious hocus pocus) and he definitely helped. (He was the third one I tried, though: the other two were useless hectoring cunts. ) This feller also gave me a bottle of some gear called "Cyclanide" which, if you swallow a wee drop, means you can't drink alcohol for 24 hours (well, you can, but you'll be violently sick, apparently: I've never boozed on top of it ). I sometimes have a swig of that shit if I know I'm going to be in a situation by nightfall where some aled-up punter will be pushing a beer in my face. It removes the nervousness. I've not had a drink worth the name for the best part of a year, but I make no promises. I will quite probably get right royally ratarsed in August when in BKK. And I'll regret it. I'll enjoy it and, possibly, I won't fuck up at all (even odds), but I'll feel bad afterwards. Oh yes, I'll feel wretched. Old Hippie will know what I mean, and you probably do too, and that's why you're where you are. Good luck, boss. You're doing a good thing. jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiery Jack Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 Oh, without getting misty-eyed and windswept, I should also add that communicating with fellow piss-artists who are struggling to stay on the wagon is an essential supportive thing. Old Hippie and I have been exchanging private mails for over a year, swapping stories of how we're on the wagon or off it as the case may be, and (I don't know about him but...) that's been really helpful to me. Problem shared is a problem halved and all that. (We're not poofs, like.) (Well, I don't know about him....). :: jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCgringo Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 My younger brother has been "dry" now for over 2 years, Just like to say here that I am proud of him, OH and Fiery Jack, keep trying , you can do it to..... OC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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