I decided to create this thread to report on my recovery journey with God and encourage others who are suffering with addictions. Maybe you’re like me and deal with alcoholism and nicotine addiction, or perhaps it’s some other form of addiction that is afflicting your life. Here I am going to share how God is actively helping me recover from alcohol abuse, and how he is going to help me get off the smokeless tobacco addiction immediately after my alcohol detox is complete.
I’ve been an alcoholic on and off for quite a few years now, but during the last two years it became much worse. The other week I got some blood work results back from my primary doctor. She reported that my blood sugar level was at 6.2 (it needs to be 6.5 to be considered diabetes), and that my heavy drinking was responsible for these elevated numbers. Two years ago on my last report, though, showed my blood sugar level was at 4.5, which was totally normal and actually quite good considering that I’m massively overweight. The pre-diabetes and rise in alcohol consumption correlates strongly with my heavy drinking over the past two years, so the test results were essentially a wake-up call from God to never drink again.
I got my Librium prescription recently. It’s an alcohol-specific detox pill that gets you through the pain of withdrawals. I was given a 6-day supply of it (since a 30-day supply could harm my liver), and it has worked wonders so far: I’ve completely stopped drinking, and there was no misery from withdrawal because the pill is designed to get you through it painlessly.
I haven’t finished completely detoxing. It’s also important to go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, which is basically group therapy for alcohol recovery with a sort of religious theme (although not specific to any one particular religion), after my detox is finished to avoid any potential relapse. Mind you, I’m absolutely positive that I never want to drink again, and part of me feels like I don’t need the meetings considering my sincere pledge to be alcohol-free forever; but if I can get encouragement to stay clean and it helps just a tiny little bit, then it will be well-worth going.
I’ve also been a smokeless tobacco addict for ten years now, having quit off and on from time to time during the last decade. I dip either the long-cut or pouches, but preferably the pouches because they don’t make such a mess. I bought some of those Nicoderm patches from Walgreens the other day, and let me tell you, these patches work wonders for people who have a hard time quitting nicotine. A Danish study demonstrated that 36% of all people who used the nicotine patches were able to successfully get rid of their addiction. However, it should be noted that roughly 30% of participants in the same study who received the placebo patch without any nicotine whatsoever were still able to quit as well, suggesting a very strong placebo effect.
As soon as my alcohol detox is complete, I’m going to tackle the nicotine addiction with the patches, and God is going to help me get through it. Admittedly the cold turkey option is “safer,” and I have been able to quit cold turkey before and stay off of it for quite some time, but my own experiences with quitting have taught me that using the patches will result in success much easier—I don’t want to disappoint myself if I fail at the cold turkey method. Basically, the nicotine patches take the head pain levels from withdrawal from ‘extremely intolerable’ to ‘sort of intolerable but bearable.’ I use the 14 mg patch, worn only during the day and not at night, and after 11 days pass I feel completely normal.
If you’re trying to quit something too, it’s always important to pray about it frequently and get help from God, help from sources (like AA meetings), and whatever help you can get. God does not want his believers to be oppressed by addictions. If you have quit an addiction in the past, maybe you can share your testimony on this thread to encourage other people who want to quit alcoholism, nicotine addiction, or some other addiction.
I’ve been an alcoholic on and off for quite a few years now, but during the last two years it became much worse. The other week I got some blood work results back from my primary doctor. She reported that my blood sugar level was at 6.2 (it needs to be 6.5 to be considered diabetes), and that my heavy drinking was responsible for these elevated numbers. Two years ago on my last report, though, showed my blood sugar level was at 4.5, which was totally normal and actually quite good considering that I’m massively overweight. The pre-diabetes and rise in alcohol consumption correlates strongly with my heavy drinking over the past two years, so the test results were essentially a wake-up call from God to never drink again.
I got my Librium prescription recently. It’s an alcohol-specific detox pill that gets you through the pain of withdrawals. I was given a 6-day supply of it (since a 30-day supply could harm my liver), and it has worked wonders so far: I’ve completely stopped drinking, and there was no misery from withdrawal because the pill is designed to get you through it painlessly.
I haven’t finished completely detoxing. It’s also important to go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, which is basically group therapy for alcohol recovery with a sort of religious theme (although not specific to any one particular religion), after my detox is finished to avoid any potential relapse. Mind you, I’m absolutely positive that I never want to drink again, and part of me feels like I don’t need the meetings considering my sincere pledge to be alcohol-free forever; but if I can get encouragement to stay clean and it helps just a tiny little bit, then it will be well-worth going.
I’ve also been a smokeless tobacco addict for ten years now, having quit off and on from time to time during the last decade. I dip either the long-cut or pouches, but preferably the pouches because they don’t make such a mess. I bought some of those Nicoderm patches from Walgreens the other day, and let me tell you, these patches work wonders for people who have a hard time quitting nicotine. A Danish study demonstrated that 36% of all people who used the nicotine patches were able to successfully get rid of their addiction. However, it should be noted that roughly 30% of participants in the same study who received the placebo patch without any nicotine whatsoever were still able to quit as well, suggesting a very strong placebo effect.
As soon as my alcohol detox is complete, I’m going to tackle the nicotine addiction with the patches, and God is going to help me get through it. Admittedly the cold turkey option is “safer,” and I have been able to quit cold turkey before and stay off of it for quite some time, but my own experiences with quitting have taught me that using the patches will result in success much easier—I don’t want to disappoint myself if I fail at the cold turkey method. Basically, the nicotine patches take the head pain levels from withdrawal from ‘extremely intolerable’ to ‘sort of intolerable but bearable.’ I use the 14 mg patch, worn only during the day and not at night, and after 11 days pass I feel completely normal.
If you’re trying to quit something too, it’s always important to pray about it frequently and get help from God, help from sources (like AA meetings), and whatever help you can get. God does not want his believers to be oppressed by addictions. If you have quit an addiction in the past, maybe you can share your testimony on this thread to encourage other people who want to quit alcoholism, nicotine addiction, or some other addiction.
