Facts about Alcoholism

FACTS ABOUT ALCOHOLISM

I am writing this to discuss some misconceptions and errors in thinking about the nature and cause of the Disease of Alcoholism. The medical profession generally, and some within A.A, have been influenced incorrectly to believe certain untruths about Alcoholism and recovery from it. What I present has been passed on to me by others and proven to me by my own experience and time.

The first thing that I want to state is that Alcoholism is a “Physical “ disease first. It is caused by a physical

abnormality in one’s body. This is separate from the “physical symptoms” which we will discuss . For years I have watched research looking everywhere but the right place for the answers to alcoholism. It has been frustrating and baffling. Many years ago the cause was found through medical research. Why isn’t it more widely known ? Why hasn’t there been follow up?

In my first year of recovery I was blessed to be introduced to a man named Jack Brennan and a group of alcoholics of the sickest variety on the North Shore of Boston, Ma.. Jack had gotten sober for good in 1944. His sponsor was a man named Sam Cohen whose sponsor was Bill Wilson. Jack was also fortunate to have been treated by a Dr. Smith, a biochemist from Belleview hospital,. Dr. Smith was doing research on alcoholics. He had found that in alcoholics the Adrenal Gland malfunctioned. Adrenaline and epinephrine ,was seeping into the bloodstream and the calming chemical was missing or the mechanism to deliver it to the bloodstream was damaged. Dr Smith told Jack that this was the cause of all his symptoms active and also when he tried to stop drinking. He explained to him just how he was affected. To prove this he gave Jack a shot of what his body was missing. Jack says,; That he experienced a miracle. This encounter is detailed in the pamphlet that Jack wrote “One Solitary Voice”. I would highly recommend reading what he says of his experiences. I had identification in depth with his story . It made sense to Jack, and makes sense to me, that the disease of alcoholism is centered in the adrenal glands. It all starts there.

Let us begin by looking at the symptoms associated with THE DISEASE OF ALCOHOLISM. An active alcoholic cannot control their drinking. Alcoholics over-indulge at the most inopportune times. Drinking to excess he/she may lose jobs, blow important opportunities, be irresponsible with children and family, and have trouble with the law among other things. Everyone associated with this person is at the least exasperated and befuddled by this behavior. Does he/she have no will power? Are they lacking in character? Meanwhile, the one afflicted with this Disease is even more distressed by their actions. No one would want to live this way. The alcoholic has no idea why he/she is the way they are. Guilt, shame, remorse, self-hate internalized or projected on the world is the alcoholics lot. Yet he/she must always defend their right to drink or use. This is what Alcoholism demands until death.

Today we know that when an alcoholic takes one drink of alcohol or takes any other mood /mind altering drug it triggers a physical compulsion and mental obsession to continue using that is uncontrollable by the unaided will. Will power is of no use. There are a variety of patterns of drinking that an alcoholic may go through and it is certain the progression will be fatal unless help intervenes.

Dr. Smith explained to Jack that when he took a drink his abnormal body substituted the drug alcohol for the chemical that he lacked to relieve the tension caused by the adrenaline and epinephrine that was constant in his bloodstream. Unfortunately the calming effect is short lived and the body reacts against the foreign substance by triggering more of the ”alert” chemicals, adrenaline and epinephrine. The body calls for more of what had calmed it, and the cycle goes on. This is the physical compulsion. The old Chinese Proverb states,” The man takes a drink, the drink takes a drink, the drink takes the man. “ What Jack and all alcoholics are experiencing is the Physical Compulsion associated with Alcoholism. Along with the body, the mind of the alcoholic is also affected. This chemical condition causes the alcoholic mind to be more and more obsessed with drinking or using whatever drug is choice. This obsession may be conscious or subtle affecting every decision he/she makes in life. Everyone and everything will take a back seat in importance as Alcoholism takes over the alcoholic. It is a sad and devastating situation for the alcoholic and everyone associated with him/her, family, friends and society.

Again I state that the one so afflicted is totally powerless over where the alcohol or other drug may take them. Now is a good time for clarification of semantics in this area.

　

　

Alcoholism Vs Addiction

　

　

These two conditions are not synonymous. They are two different things. Alcoholism is much more than an addiction as previously described. Simply, the physical compulsion and mental obsession is triggered from a single drink or drug in an alcoholic and progresses. Addiction, both physical and psychological, develops with continued use over time. Anyone can become addicted to a drug, alcohol or any other mood and mind altering substance but not everyone can become an alcoholic. Alcoholics are born not made. This is one of the common misconceptions generally today. One must be born with the adrenal disorder discovered by Dr. Smith and described earlier to become an alcoholic. Alcoholism is incurable. It can only be arrested.

Addictions can be broken. The addict can be removed from the substance or addiction and habits changed . Over time he/she can learn to live normally with only emotional and mental difficulties experienced by everyone else. This is not the case with the recovering alcoholic. I will explain why later. There are people who are addictive drinkers or addictive drug users who can stop and break their addiction. The methods used to help them should not be confused with what will help an alcoholic they won’t work. However, many people who were simply addicts have benefited from the only really successful alcoholism treatment , A.A. They get well and realize that they are a different animal than those in A.A., then go off and live successful and happy lives.

Anyone who uses a drug daily, alcohol being a drug along with heroin etc., is going to become addicted. When you are an alcoholic, the problem is magnified. Example: Along my way as an alcoholic, I was offered some heroin after drinking with some fellows one day. Having no inhibitions due to the alcohol, I intravenously shot the dope. I had the same experience with my first heroin that I had with my first drink only magnified. I experienced total euphoria and the compulsion and obsession for more was immediate.

It was not long before my body was hopelessly addicted to heroin. The normal drug addicts that I associated with would get some dope and shoot it to relieve their dope sickness and be satisfied until the effects wore off. They maintained themselves. I was different. I would get off, as we called it, relieve my sickness and be unable to stop there. Whatever drugs that I may have on hand I would compulsively continue to shoot until there was none left even knowing that I would need more later when sickness came again. This was insane. This is the difference between an alcoholic who uses other drugs and a drug addict. I want to stress again the physical compulsion coupled with a mental obsession caused by a sick adrenal system. Someone once said that the condition people like me suffer from could be called sedativism instead of alcoholism. It does not matter the chemical, the reaction is the same for an alcoholic. I hope that I have been clear here.

Over the past Thirty years or so, profit driven treatment and ignorance by well meaning people, have really muddied the waters as far as proper diagnosis and labeling of the alcoholic.

Symptoms Before And After

　

　

Now we come to the most misunderstood and misdiagnosed area of the disease called alcoholism. The symptoms experienced by the person so afflicted before the active stage is triggered and the symptoms experienced when the alcoholic ceases to drink and use other substances. Hopefully the non drinking alcoholic is utilizing Alcoholics Anonymous because his chances of staying stopped improves exponentially. The recovery experience will be far different .

What does the person with the physical pre-disposition to active alcoholism experience?

The first outward manifestation is ungrounded and unfounded fear. Fears with no apparent cause. The adrenaline being in the blood stream abnormally is causing the feelings of tension, being apart from, feelings of lack and impending doom in various degrees.

Usually the senses , sight smell hear or feel, determines a threat or an emergency and then the brain sends a message to the adrenal glands to release the alerting chemicals in order to get the body energized and moving to handle the situation. The fight or flight reaction. These alerting chemicals adrenaline and epinephrine, previously mentioned, causes one to feel fear, a great motivator. When the emergency is over the brain signals the adrenals to dispense the calming chemicals into the body and one relaxes. In a normal person this works great.

In an alcoholic as was mentioned earlier , the adrenals are compromised. In fact alerting chemicals are being released without the brains command plus the alternate calming chemical is missing. This person starts the day in a condition of ungrounded and unfounded fear to varying degrees. The process is backward. The brain is assailed by tension because of the alerting chemicals. All thought is filtered through fear. There is no relief through normal agency. This person feels that something is wrong with themselves and has a negative self image. In fact, everything perceived through fear is seen negatively. One looks about the outside world and seeks to find what is making them feel the way they feel. There must be a reason for this anxiety, fear of people places and things, self loathing, inadequacy, on and on with the negativity. This condition has always been there, building from earliest remembrance. This condition is progressive and intensifies as years go by. Alcoholics learn to compensate and find outlets of relief to make themselves feel better. Sports, academic achievement, work all give temporary relief to the inner demons. These are not conscious things. This person has no idea how much he is suffering compared to one not so affected. When you have only experienced this, how could you ?

We see that the person predisposed to be an alcoholic suffers greatly mentally and emotionally and sometimes physically even before the onset of destructive drinking.

Here is where misdiagnosis’ usually begin. Children who are anxious, can’t sit still or concentrate are called hyperactive and given drugs to manage and slow them down. Others internalize and push their feelings down and seem moody and irritable are labeled depressives and given powerful anti depressive drugs. These may temporarily sooth the symptom but ultimately compound the problem.

I will tell you personally that I suffered all that I have described. I was not medicated as a child. As I got older it was very hard to function. I was faking it, operating in my own dark world. And then I took my first drink of alcohol. I cannot put into words for a non alcoholic to appreciate what happened to me inside my body and mind. The fear disappeared with one drink. My mind was clear and not negative and weird. I felt as though I had emerged from within a bubble and was finally present with everyone else. It was a miracle. The first thought that I had was, “Why hadn’t I done this sooner”. I immediately wanted more of this wonderful stuff. The physical compulsion and mental obsession from one drink. An active alcoholic was born that day. I was thirteen years old.

The Symptoms Sober

We now come to the most difficult and foreign truths to grasp and come to believe. They made sense to me but took years to really accept. First let me describe what happens to the alcoholic as he/she is recovering. This is information from the experts in A.A and what I actually experienced.

Withdrawal is the first phase of recovery. I thought that when I stopped being sick from

the drug withdrawal was done; not so. I was taught that withdrawal had to do with ridding the chemical from your bloodstream, from your body cells, and finally your brain cells. Amazingly, until all this was done the chemical was affecting how I felt. This is not a concept of withdrawal held by the medical community or community at large.

It will take three months or ninety days for alcohol to leave the blood stream. It takes one year for alcohol to leave the bodies cells. It takes another year for alcohol to dissipate from the brain. A total of two years. During these two years my emotions were on a roller coaster ride. My Disease was reacting with disapproval of what was happening. I felt as though I was getting worse. It was just the opposite, I was getting better. I was clearing up. and had support and reassurance from wise and knowledgeable people.

The third year is called ,”The Year Of The Spirit“. I am now in a state that my feelings are no longer a manifestation of the chemicals still affecting me. Real feelings, long covered by alcohol and drugs, begin to come to the surface. This is causing great fear on top of everything. I cannot stress more strongly how important it is that the alcoholic not panic and think something is more wrong than alcoholism. That is what the mind will tell you. Going to a medical professional who is ignorant of alcoholism and prone to treat symptoms with drugs will only interfere with the recovery process at best.

For the alcoholic this process of feelings or issues coming to the surface is a positive, progressive process. This begins in the third year. For a few years hence, it can cause some consternation. Usually, there are some serious things buried that need to be healed. It will usually take time to get familiar with these processes. Healing and freedom is the outcome of all this. This will go on for a lifetime. The layers of the onion get peeled away a little at a time.

There is another complication that is occurring for the alcoholic at this time. Remember the symptoms described of before the first drink or drug? Well, they have returned. Ungrounded and unfounded fears abound. These fears turn into every negative emotion known to man. The alcoholic is experiencing an unreal reality at this time. They appear to be true and real. They are not. False emotions appearing real. Confusion envelops the mind. Here is where someone outside of oneself is necessary. Someone who has experience with what is going on. Someone with real answers that will give some reassurance that it is only alcoholism rearing it’s ugly head. Many have no idea that what is happening is caused by their alcoholism. They categorize the symptoms as “Problems other than Alcoholism” and go to the medical profession who misdiagnose and give them drugs to make them feel better. My experience has been that doing nothing and waiting for the feelings to pass is the answer. They will pass because they are not real.

This way of thinking was totally foreign to me. It was hard for me to accept that a simple

chemical disorder could cause such powerful consequences. My feelings were not always facts. My adrenals were affecting my brain sometimes instead of my brain sending orders to the adrenal gland. This was confusing but it answered the question of why I and all alcoholics are the way we are. It all makes sense today, the dis ease in which I lived as far back as I can remember, the unrelenting obsession and compulsion for alcohol and other drugs, and this sometimes baffling, painful, frightening but wonderful recovery from it all.

I have been describing the disease of alcoholism. What I haven’t said is that just like active alcoholism is a progressive spiral downward physically, mentally and spiritually, the opposite is also true. The recovering alcoholic can put their disease into remission. Recovery will become progressive as well in the other direction. Just not drinking will bring great benefit. Getting the proper answers as to how to manage this disease on a daily basis sober has been a wonderful thing for me. Understanding and experiencing what is happening in my recovery is the source of great solace to me. A.A has a program that tells you what is going to happen to you and gives suggestions on how to make yourself more comfortable. Over time you become healthier in all areas. Over time you experience peace of mind and peace of heart. The disease quiets. My old sponsor used to say,” It whispers to you instead of screams at you.” It will always be there. So it behooves you to maintain vigilance. That certainly isn’t a lot to ask for this great gift that I have received.