Thank you for the kind words.

Rabid music fan, dog lover, adventurer, now living in Mexico. I guess I should mention that I'm a writer, too.

Jan 2, 2016

Yeah, rehab can be incredibly inconvenient. I was a freelancer inbetween jobs when I did my stint, so it wasn’t as much of an issue. What can happen for some people is that their drinking creates even more inconvenience and causes worse problems than taking a 28 day leave of absence. Hopefully you will never get to that point. Just be aware that, if you are an alcoholic or addict that day might come. Keep your eyes open to this possibility. In my case, I saw what was coming and entered an outpatient rehab clinic before circumstances forced me.

There is another thing I experienced that might help you if you are anything like me. After being clean and sober for a month, I started having feelings. Uncomfortable feelings. All that crap I had shoved down began to come back. Without mood altering substances to numb me, it seemed overwhelming.

This is when therapy or AA can come in handy. If this starts to happen or if you start sliding back into “self-medication”, give one or the other or both a shot, even if it’s not your thing. Seeing a therapist doesn’t have to be a long term commitment, nor does it have to involve a deep analysis of your past. One way to think about it is that the therapist’s job is to provide you with some tools and show you how to use them. You can think of it as a private class to brush up on some life skills. Who couldn’t use that?

Lastly, you might consider Naltrexone or one of the other newer medications. This is outside my experience, but I’ve been reading very promising things about these medications. They don’t work for everyone with a drinking problem, however. Current research suggests that in people with a particular genetic variation, Naltrexone helps reduce problem drinking. Check out these links for more info: http://addiction-dirkh.blogspot.mx/2008/07/drugs-for-alcoholism.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naltrexone

I hope this helps and wasn’t too preachy. The important thing is recognizing that a problem exists and then taking steps to address the problem. As long as you are trying (and testing what works for you), you’re making progress.