Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

[Saint Jude]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

Geez Louise!
Guess I haven't missed much ...

I do miss the old days of MWO...
Back when we didn't have MODS or ABS...or SUBS...
Its was just MWO.
Good old fashioned support ,understanding, compassion, and a common goal.

I guess everything changes, with growth.
Some things make you appreciate better days...

:l
Hope everybody's having a good one today.
Love to ALL.
Judie

[Saint Jude]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

I agree with Nancy, as far as keeping out of the insurance record if possible. Unfortunately, that can bite ya in the a$$ later...

On a lighter note...

Can we take a break and remember when we didn't have MODS or ABS or SUBS? I know the "good ol days" are gone but not forgotten.

Aren't we still ALL here for the same reason? For strength and support? Maybe even a little compassion and friendship?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XVrWSdCTN4[/video]]YouTube - Pink - Sober Lyrics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5gvSzbSMNg[/video]]YouTube - Shinedown - Simple Man

[peacenik]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

coolgamma, i hope you got the advice you were seeking!

[DeeBee]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

Hiya Cool!!

1) are there folks here who drank up to 10 drinks (me-its wine) daily, with up to 30 in a week and have succeeded in becoming moderate drinkers? I can't honestly tell you how much a drank each night as I would buy a 5lt box wine (gross!) every other day so that the hubby wouldn't notice (ya right). I reckon I was probably drinking between 4 and 6 very large glasses a night during the week and weekends were a lot worse. In the year that I've been here I can quite honestly tell you that I have never EVER bought another box of wine again.
I have not met all my goals this year but I have learnt alot and am ready to move forward and take my mod goals to the next level -- for me that's what counts.

2) has anyone here had health concerns such as skin going to hell, cold and numb hands (can't figure how my drinking is causing this) or other things that went away on their own?

I too had circulation problems which I was told was related to smoking more than drinking -- now that I've stopped smoking and moderated my drinking I noticed this winter that I didn't battle with freezing toes. Other health issues I noticed "dissapearing" were the blotchy red veins on my cheeks, the dark rings under my eyes lightened and my skin became more elastisticic (sp?)

3) I'm debating using my insurance and going to a psychiatrist next week, to get prescriptions for say baclofen and naltrexone instead of using the online pharms which are so expensive. Do you all think that's a good idea or a bad idea, both for privacy's sake and for my success. He will (I do have a Tues. next appt.) tell me to quit, not moderate if I tell him I drink 6-10 drinks about every other day.

I found myself a wonderful GP when I first began finding my way out of the mess I was in. She has been one of my biggest supporters! She prescribed Bac on the grounds of anxiety and my medical aid will pay for a 4 month repeat of 60mg's (for now). IMHO it is always better to be under a Docs care if you can.

Which ever way you decide, sending you all the best for the Doc appointment tomorrow and please stay in touch -- you aren't alone.


P.s. There is also some interesting threads under Long Term Mod's for you to get some ideas to fill your tool box with.

[Eve11]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

seaviews58;722790 wrote:
1) are there folks here who drank up to 10 drinks (me-its wine) daily, with up to 30 in a week and have succeeded in becoming moderate drinkers? .

Sea,

Moderation Management (an online program aimed at harm reduction with drinking) has devised a questionairre for folks to try to see how dependent they are on alcohol. From everything that I have read it's pretty difficult for a severely dependent person to be able to moderate. I know I'm giving advice here but if I were you I would join an AF thread and go AF for 30 days, read a lot of the posts by AF as well as mod folks, take the quiz below to determine how dependent you are and go from there. All of us are here to support you no matter what you decide to do.

For me personally, I could only drink about 5 a day when I drank and that was week-end only without needing to work the next day. I would feel completely awful the next day and would have gotten too drunk on 5 where I had remorse, anxiety, black-outs, etc.

Moderation is working for me with the great help of a hubby who doesn't have a drinking problem, disassociation with people who drank heavily (I no longer fit in now so don't get together with them) and the help of all of the great folks here at MWO.

Welcome and good luck.
Eve11


1. Do you find difficulty in getting the thought of drinking out of your mind?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

2. Is getting drunk more important than your next meal?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

3. Do you plan your day around when and where you can drink?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

4. Do you drink in the morning, afternoon, and evening?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

5. Do you drink for the effect of alcohol without caring what the drink is?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

6. Do you drink as much as you want irrespective of what you are doing the next day?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

7. Given that many problems might be caused by alcohol, do you still drink too much?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

8. Do you know that you won't be able to stop drinking once you start?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

9. Do you try to control your drinking by giving it up completely for days or weeks at a time?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

10. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you need your first drink to get yourself going?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

11. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you wake up with a definite shakiness of your hands?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

12. After a heavy drinking session do you wake up and retch or vomit?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

13. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you go out of your way to avoid people?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

14. After a heavy drinking session do you see frightening things that later you realize were imaginary?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

15. Do you go drinking and the next day and find that you have forgotten what happened the night before?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

Scoring:
To figure out your score, give yourself zero points for each "never" answer; one point for "sometimes," two points for "often," and three points for "nearly always." Out of a possible total of 45, the guidelines for interpretation are as follows: 1-9 is considered low dependence; 10-19, medium dependence; and 20 (or greater) high dependence.

[Boss.man]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

There is life after quitting. That's just the AL talking to you. Just relax, and work on it day by day.

Think of it as a growing phase. First you were a child, then you grew to be a teenager. Then you grew to be an adult. Now it's time to grow and be a post-drinker. If you grow old, it's going to happen anyway, as in the end the nursing home won't let you do it. It's all a matter of when. Now is a great time because you'll be pretty happy with all you can do in your free time when you aren't drinking.

I don't drink, but I don't moderate and am not AF either. For me the key is to drink so little that it never impacts my opioid sensors, so it doesn't trigger past habits. So I will have 1 oz of wine, mixed with water, per hour. No more than 4 oz a day. A bottle of wine lasts me about 2 weeks now if no one else hits it. I'm not sure what you'd call that.

[Mad Mummy]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

My experience is yes some can moderate but it really does depend how dependent (ha ha didn't plan that one) you are in the first place. I used to drink 4+ large glasses of wine every night and more at weekends but have managed to moderate that way down. You do need to do at least 30 days AF though (in my opinion) it just breaks the habit.

Hope this helps.

Luv Bx

[Heavenly]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

Eve11;728566 wrote: Sea,

Moderation Management (an online program aimed at harm reduction with drinking) has devised a questionairre for folks to try to see how dependent they are on alcohol. From everything that I have read it's pretty difficult for a severely dependent person to be able to moderate. I know I'm giving advice here but if I were you I would join an AF thread and go AF for 30 days, read a lot of the posts by AF as well as mod folks, take the quiz below to determine how dependent you are and go from there. All of us are here to support you no matter what you decide to do.

For me personally, I could only drink about 5 a day when I drank and that was week-end only without needing to work the next day. I would feel completely awful the next day and would have gotten too drunk on 5 where I had remorse, anxiety, black-outs, etc.

Moderation is working for me with the great help of a hubby who doesn't have a drinking problem, disassociation with people who drank heavily (I no longer fit in now so don't get together with them) and the help of all of the great folks here at MWO.

Welcome and good luck.
Eve11


1. Do you find difficulty in getting the thought of drinking out of your mind?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

2. Is getting drunk more important than your next meal?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

3. Do you plan your day around when and where you can drink?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

4. Do you drink in the morning, afternoon, and evening?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

5. Do you drink for the effect of alcohol without caring what the drink is?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

6. Do you drink as much as you want irrespective of what you are doing the next day?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

7. Given that many problems might be caused by alcohol, do you still drink too much?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

8. Do you know that you won't be able to stop drinking once you start?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

9. Do you try to control your drinking by giving it up completely for days or weeks at a time?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

10. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you need your first drink to get yourself going?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

11. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you wake up with a definite shakiness of your hands?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

12. After a heavy drinking session do you wake up and retch or vomit?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

13. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you go out of your way to avoid people?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

14. After a heavy drinking session do you see frightening things that later you realize were imaginary?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

15. Do you go drinking and the next day and find that you have forgotten what happened the night before?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

Scoring:
To figure out your score, give yourself zero points for each "never" answer; one point for "sometimes," two points for "often," and three points for "nearly always." Out of a possible total of 45, the guidelines for interpretation are as follows: 1-9 is considered low dependence; 10-19, medium dependence; and 20 (or greater) high dependence.

This is a great questionnaire and really shows up how dependent we can be on alcohol - even with a low dependence there is still 'some' dependence.
I am amazed to see my own score (as an Abstainer) drop from high dependence to low ... thanks ...

[Suni]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

I don't drink, but I don't moderate and am not AF either. For me the key is to drink so little that it never impacts my opioid sensors, so it doesn't trigger past habits. So I will have 1 oz of wine, mixed with water, per hour. No more than 4 oz a day. A bottle of wine lasts me about 2 weeks now if no one else hits it. I'm not sure what you'd call that.

Hi Bossman,
That's fascinating. The obvious question would be why bother?

[trixietrack]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

1. Do you find difficulty in getting the thought of drinking out of your mind?
Sometimes

2. Is getting drunk more important than your next meal?
Never
3. Do you plan your day around when and where you can drink?
Sometimes
4. Do you drink in the morning, afternoon, and evening?
Never

5. Do you drink for the effect of alcohol without caring what the drink is?
Sometimes

6. Do you drink as much as you want irrespective of what you are doing the next day?
Sometimes

7. Given that many problems might be caused by alcohol, do you still drink too much?
Sometimes

8. Do you know that you won't be able to stop drinking once you start?
Never
9. Do you try to control your drinking by giving it up completely for days or weeks at a time?
Sometimes
10. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you need your first drink to get yourself going?
Never

11. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you wake up with a definite shakiness of your hands?
Sometimes
12. After a heavy drinking session do you wake up and retch or vomit?
Sometimes

13. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you go out of your way to avoid people?
Never
14. After a heavy drinking session do you see frightening things that later you realize were imaginary?
Never
15. Do you go drinking and the next day and find that you have forgotten what happened the night before?
Sometimes

Scoring:
To figure out your score, give yourself zero points for each "never" answer; one point for "sometimes," two points for "often," and three points for "nearly always." Out of a possible total of 45, the guidelines for interpretation are as follows: 1-9 is considered low dependence; 10-19, medium dependence; and 20 (or greater) high dependence.




I got a 9 I very very seldom wake up wretching. maybe new years 3 years ago

I think that if I had answered this 2 years ago I would have a high dependence

moderation does work. it just isn't easy. I do have to say that less booze makes you look hotter

[Emmy]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

Eve11;728566 wrote: Sea,

Moderation Management (an online program aimed at harm reduction with drinking) has devised a questionairre for folks to try to see how dependent they are on alcohol. From everything that I have read it's pretty difficult for a severely dependent person to be able to moderate. I know I'm giving advice here but if I were you I would join an AF thread and go AF for 30 days, read a lot of the posts by AF as well as mod folks, take the quiz below to determine how dependent you are and go from there. All of us are here to support you no matter what you decide to do.

For me personally, I could only drink about 5 a day when I drank and that was week-end only without needing to work the next day. I would feel completely awful the next day and would have gotten too drunk on 5 where I had remorse, anxiety, black-outs, etc.

Moderation is working for me with the great help of a hubby who doesn't have a drinking problem, disassociation with people who drank heavily (I no longer fit in now so don't get together with them) and the help of all of the great folks here at MWO.

Welcome and good luck.
Eve11


1. Do you find difficulty in getting the thought of drinking out of your mind?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always NEVER

2. Is getting drunk more important than your next meal?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always NEVER


3. Do you plan your day around when and where you can drink? NEVER
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

4. Do you drink in the morning, afternoon, and evening? SOMETIMES
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

5. Do you drink for the effect of alcohol without caring what the drink is? NEVER
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always

6. Do you drink as much as you want irrespective of what you are doing the next day?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always NEVER

7. Given that many problems might be caused by alcohol, do you still drink too much?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always NEVER

8. Do you know that you won't be able to stop drinking once you start?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always NEVER

9. Do you try to control your drinking by giving it up completely for days or weeks at a time?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always NEVER , other
then the 30 AF days
at MWO














10. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you need your first drink to get yourself going?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always NEVER

11. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you wake up with a definite shakiness of your hands?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always NEVER

12. After a heavy drinking session do you wake up and retch or vomit?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always NEVER

13. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you go out of your way to avoid people?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always NEVER

14. After a heavy drinking session do you see frightening things that later you realize were imaginary?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always NEVER

15. Do you go drinking and the next day and find that you have forgotten what happened the night before?
Never Sometimes Often Nearly Always NEVER

Scoring:
To figure out your score, give yourself zero points for each "never" answer; one point for "sometimes," two points for "often," and three points for "nearly always." Out of a possible total of 45, the guidelines for interpretation are as follows: 1-9 is considered low dependence; 10-19, medium dependence; and 20 (or greater) high dependence.
thanks for posting this Eve ,I just found it ! very interesting :h Em

[mg72]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

I scored a nine on this test also. Even though this is low level addiction AL is still a problem for me. I went 18 days AF last month, drank again for three weeks and had between 11-15 drinks a week. This week I drank one night, had four drinks and felt bad the next day. I was in teacher training the day after and struggled to get through it.

What I see is that I feel and act so much better being AF. When I wake up after not drinking anything I am alert, happy, energenic, communicative and feel like I reach my full potential in most all I do. I admire greatly the people on this MWO that have stopped completely. I would love to be able to post Af for a long period of time below my name. This might sound stupid but AL does not mandate large problems for me but it keeps me from being the kind of person that provides the most benefit to others and me.

[Sunbeam]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

This is great information to share with anyone considering the mods approach:

1. Do you find difficulty in getting the thought of drinking out of your mind?
Sometimes on an AF weekend, never during the week

2. Is getting drunk more important than your next meal?
Never

3. Do you plan your day around when and where you can drink?
Never (Sometimes used to)

4. Do you drink in the morning, afternoon, and evening?
Never

5. Do you drink for the effect of alcohol without caring what the drink is?
Never (Sometimes used to)

6. Do you drink as much as you want irrespective of what you are doing the next day?
Never (Sometimes used to)

7. Given that many problems might be caused by alcohol, do you still drink too much?
Sometimes I have three drinks, once in a week. Some sources say that's too much.

8. Do you know that you won't be able to stop drinking once you start?
Never (but I wish I could always stop at 1 or 2 instead of 3)

9. Do you try to control your drinking by giving it up completely for days or weeks at a time?
Never (Sometimes used to)

10. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you need your first drink to get yourself going?
Never

11. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you wake up with a definite shakiness of your hands?
Never

12. After a heavy drinking session do you wake up and retch or vomit?
Never (This happened a few times in my life)

13. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you go out of your way to avoid people?
Never

14. After a heavy drinking session do you see frightening things that later you realize were imaginary?
Never

15. Do you go drinking and the next day and find that you have forgotten what happened the night before?
Never (Sometimes used to)

Current score: 2
Past score: 7

MG72, I'm right there with you. Alcohol isn't great, it is just an option I keep available. I definitely feel better without it.

[lenaleed]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

moderating on The Sinclair Method

I haven't been around in ages, but have dropped by in the past few days. Glad I stumbled onto this thread. I started Sinclair (naltrexone plus drinking) last January, but had to stop naltrexone midway through due to severe illness/surgery. I thought this test might be a good measure of my drinking progress this past year. So, I thought back to when I first found this site, and compared it to now. I was at 9-10+/day last year.


1. Do you find difficulty in getting the thought of drinking out of your mind?
pre: Often; now:Sometimes

2. Is getting drunk more important than your next meal?
pre:Sometimes; now: Never

3. Do you plan your day around when and where you can drink?
pre:Nearly Always; now:Sometimes

4. Do you drink in the morning, afternoon, and evening?
pre:Sometimes; now:Never

5. Do you drink for the effect of alcohol without caring what the drink is?
pre:Sometimes; now:Sometimes

6. Do you drink as much as you want irrespective of what you are doing the next day?
pre:Sometimes;now:Never

7. Given that many problems might be caused by alcohol, do you still drink too much?
pre:Often; now:Sometimes

8. Do you know that you won't be able to stop drinking once you start?
pre:Nearly always; now: Never

9. Do you try to control your drinking by giving it up completely for days or weeks at a time?
pre: Never; now: Never

10. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you need your first drink to get yourself going?
pre:Sometimes; now:Never

11. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you wake up with a definite shakiness of your hands?
pre:Sometimes; now: Never

12. After a heavy drinking session do you wake up and retch or vomit?
pre:Never; now:Never

13. The morning after a heavy drinking session do you go out of your way to avoid people?
pre:Sometimes; now: Never

14. After a heavy drinking session do you see frightening things that later you realize were imaginary?
pre: Never; now: Never

15. Do you go drinking and the next day and find that you have forgotten what happened the night before?
pre: Sometimes now: Never

Score: Pre-TSM 18 (medium+); Now:4(low).

This makes me realize how I have gained control over my drinking. I found that my life started falling into place as my drinking abated. Success breeds success! One caveat for those starting Sinclair: It takes a lot longer than we first expected, except for the younger or lighter drinkers. But, apart from a hefty dose of patience, it did not take a great deal of effort. It's kind of hard to explain, but the main reason I don't visit this site much anymore is that alcohol has just sort of faded from prominence in my thoughts. I am still active at the TSM board but I am fading there as well. I feel a commitment to make an effort to keep that up to give back for the gift I've received. I am not entirely where I want to be; I drink more than I wish I would on occasion and dont have many AF days. But I continue to improve, and Sinclair's subjects showed continued improvement in craving reduction for up to three years, so I expect the improvement to continue.

I agree with Nancy about insurance; the risks for me are more than I'm willing to assume.

Best to all.

[Doggygirl]

Survey of Success on Long Term Moderators

Eve, thanks for sharing this questionnaire - very interesting! I am one who discovered through the school of hard hangovers that I cannot drink moderately - hence I am an AFer. My "pre" MWO score was off the charts needless to say.

One of the questions stopped me in my tracks. "Do you know that you won't be able to stop drinking once you start." Of course today I can look back on my drinking and see the obvious - no, once I started I absolutely did not stop, and obviously could not stop given all the broken promises to myself. BUT..had I taken this questionnaire when I first came to MWO aka before I got any sober time under my belt, I'm not sure what my answer would have been. I was certainly in a lot of denial about this one while drinking. I CONSTANTLY told myself I would just have one, or three, or whatever "rule" seemed appropriate for the situation, and I just couldn't even stick to it.

I'm baffled as I look back, and simply amazed that for YEARS I couldn't see that, and kept on and on and on with the attempts to "control it." Insanity indeed.

I also had a momentary chuckle (at myself - not at the quiz) over the question "Do you try to control your drinking by giving it up completely for days or weeks at a time?" I was a continuous daily drinker but many, many mornings I would say "never again" or "not 'til __________" or whatever, and couldn't make it past 5PM of that same day. Roberta should design something like this to help guide people who first come to MWO with the "can I mod or not" concern. Although I suppose we all have to find our own way in that regard. I'm not sure how I would have responded initially even WITH a quiz that clearly showed that I was NOT a candidate for moderation.

Anyway, interesting exercise! My "pre" score was well over 20. :egad:

DG