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Post Info TOPIC: Alcoholism and Narcotics


Newbie

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Posts: 1
Date:
Alcoholism and Narcotics


Hi all.

I went to my first Al-Anon meeting last night.  It took everything I had to get over my mortification and take the first steps in helping myself learn to cope with my younger sisters addiction. (She has lived with me for 5 - years.)  I am learning the steps and working on finding a sponsor - and basically getting the general feel for how exactly Al-Anon works.

I feel like this may be a pretty stupid question, but during the meeting, I got the general idea that everyone in there was dealing with an alcoholic loved one.  While a huge part of my sisters illness is alcohol related... there is also very heavy narcotics use.  (Probably more so than the alcohol)  Am I in the right place?  Will the methods behind Al-Anon help me with the drug situation as well, or should I be attending a different program?

 

Thanks so much for your thoughts and advice. 

~j 

 



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Senior Member

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Posts: 242
Date:

IMHO an addiction to whatever substance, is an addiction and the behavior and fallout is much the same. So yes, I think you are in the right place to get informed and get support. Welcome to the board- you will find so many like minded people here.

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~*Service Worker*~

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Posts: 11569
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JayOhDeeEye -

Welcome to MIP - glad you found us and Al-Anon! I agree with deacon - addiction is addiction and a substance is a substance. That's why treatment is now called Substance Abuse. You should do well there and while many will speak only of the Alcohol is keeping with the traditions, most likely there is poly-substance abuse.

PS - there are no stupid questions.....Glad you found a local meeting/group - try several if there are options. I felt more comfy with the 2nd group I attended - just as a personal preference!

Glad you are here!

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Practice the PAUSE...Pause before judging.  Pause before assuming.  Pause before accusing.  Pause whenever you are about to react harshly and you will avoid doing and saying things you will later regret.  ~~~~  Lori Deschene

 

 



~*Service Worker*~

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Posts: 17196
Date:

Welcome J,
I am glad that you reached out and shared your concerns. I agree addiction is addiction and alanon tools will work .

Learning to live one day at a time, not projecting to the future, keeping the focus on yourself, and breaking the isolation caused by trying to" keep the family secret" by connecting with others who understand as few others can helped to rebuild my self esteem and self worth .

Please keep coming back.

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Betty

THE HIGHEST FORM OF WISDOM IS KINDNESS

Talmud


Senior Member

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Posts: 194
Date:

Welcome Jay!  Glad to have you here with us.  The first step is hard for everyone.  But, it's the first step towards liberation.  You most certainly belong here.  Alcohol, drugs etc... impacts all lifes it touches.  The folks in the meetings were probably using Alcohol interchangably instead of drugs to show respect for The Program.  I would be surprised if they were all dealing with just Alcoholics.  I was at a meeting last night and it was about 50/50- Alcohol and Drugs.  The Program will work regardless of Alcohol or drugs.  The Program is for YOU, not them.  It learning to live life on lifes terms with Universally accepted principles(Steps) and acquiring a faith instead of running of self reliance and self will.  The Program is designed to change YOU so you put the focus on you and not the person who is causing the disturbance in your life.  Putting the power in the only useful spot- You.   



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Veteran Member

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Posts: 73
Date:

Hi J,

Thanks for sharing! Kudos to you for being here.

I've gone to a few f2f Al-Anon meetings and various forms of drug
abuse were part of the discussion. There is a group called Nar-Anon
that "primarily" deals with friends and family of narcotic addiction...
but I'm not even sure about that since I have not gone to any
Nar-Anon meetings. As I look through the 12 steps for each, the
only difference is substitution of the word "addicts" for "alchoholics"
in Step 1 and alcoholics are certainly addicts.

Feel free to share more whenever you like!
Mark

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Veteran Member

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Posts: 56
Date:

Hi J,

Welcome to the board!  So glad to hear you have taken the courageous step of walking through the doors of Al-Anon.  I think all of us could attest to how difficult and scary taking that first step is.  I attend 3-4 F2F meetings a week in my area and can think of several members of each group whose qualifier whose primary or sole addiction is to opiates.  Many of those members have multiple years of recovery in Al-Anon.  Ultimately, only you will be able to know if Al-Anon is right for you and your situation, but if the concern is that Al-Anon requires your qualifier to be an alcoholic as opposed to a narcotics addict, you needn't worry.

I don't know how many options you have for attending different meetings in your area.  I am blessed to live in an area where there are different meetings available every single day, and on most days, multiple choices in the same day.  I was encouraged when I started to try out as many different meetings I could to find the group(s) that I felt most comfortable at.  If you have the opportunity to do that in your area, I would encourage you to do the same.  You may be able to find groups where there are more members who have been impacted by another person's narcotic use if it is important to you to have more access to the ESH of people dealing with that side of addiction.

Prayers to you and your addict that you may both find recovery!  Keep coming back!



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