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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 13 of 13. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by yellowbrickroad on December 29, 2004, at 19:38:25
Just curious...has anyone gone to a rehab that really helped them get into solid recovery? Even if you relapsed, I'd like to hear about others' experiences.
Posted by AuntieMel on December 31, 2004, at 13:54:23
In reply to Anybody here been to a rehab they liked?, posted by yellowbrickroad on December 29, 2004, at 19:38:25
I did - I think.
It was a few days "detox" inpatient, followed by 5 weeks of 3 hours, 4 days a week intensive outpatient.
It's the only one I've been to, but for several people it was their second, third, etc time to give it a try.
The difference I think in this program was the 5 weeks, with two counselors that were really, really good. They also had a weekly "family night" to educate the families about the disease, which makes a huge difference.
After the 5 weeks is over, there is a "year" of (free) aftercare - once a week meeting with a volunteer with several years sober. Family nights can be attended for a year also.
The "year" isn't closely monitored - I've been going for 20 months...
I've seen crack addicts who failed multiple times at rehab stay clean here. I've also seen many who slip. It happens. But one thing they stress is that a slip isn't a failure if you get right back at it.
Posted by antigua on December 31, 2004, at 14:06:37
In reply to Re: Anybody here been to a rehab they liked?, posted by AuntieMel on December 31, 2004, at 13:54:23
Hmm, sounds familiar. East coast?
antigua
Posted by AuntieMel on December 31, 2004, at 14:12:17
In reply to Re: Anybody here been to a rehab they liked?, posted by antigua on December 31, 2004, at 14:06:37
South coast. Texas.
See - we really aren't rubes {grin}
Posted by Impermanence on December 31, 2004, at 19:10:29
In reply to Anybody here been to a rehab they liked?, posted by yellowbrickroad on December 29, 2004, at 19:38:25
Sorry dude, been to rehab three times, I still drink, I'm off the drugs though.. I don't drink like I use to, I only drink beer not vodka and I sober up after three days and stay sober for a few days before I drink again. It's livable, and I get to live without the terrible horrors... Better than nothing and I'm doing fine..
Posted by Impermanence on December 31, 2004, at 19:19:56
In reply to Anybody here been to a rehab they liked?, posted by yellowbrickroad on December 29, 2004, at 19:38:25
Actually its not that great, and no; no rehab is nice, because you can't do what you want to do.. My first one I had a lot of benzos to help me, after my little friends left me I was all by my self, if you know what I mean... It's always the same: Good intentions, horrible withdrawals, boredom, back to square one... It takes a big man to go all the way. I hope you do my friend.
Posted by yellowbrickroad on December 31, 2004, at 20:10:22
In reply to Re: Anybody here been to a rehab they liked?, posted by Impermanence on December 31, 2004, at 19:19:56
Well I won't try to be a big man (since I'm a woman). I was sober for...almost 7 years this time last year. Made it to February, two months shy of my anniversary. I felt like it was all for other people's benefit and I resented the fact that others could drink "with impugnity" and I couldn't. It was just supposed to be an experiment...to prove that I could play with all the big kids, the normal kids.
So, I've found that my tolerance is...frightening. It doesn't impress me any more, now that I don't have frat boys to embarrass.
I know how queer this sounds, but I hate the thought of my sister being worried about me--it makes me resent her so much that there aren't words to describe it. I can be anything but an object of pity. I'd almost like to keep drinking just to scare her, although I don't dare tell her that I'm drinking again in the first place.
Here's something amazing, though--I've hated the program since my mom got sober when I was 12, and suddenly I don't any more. I've been to some really good meetings in the last few months. I met some people who are actually worth emulating, even. I'd only ever seen the cesspool before, the bored and hungry people looking for newcomers to control (or date). Now I seem to be meeting quality people all the time. And my best friend has been sober for 8 1/2 years and never seems out of place around the "normal" folk. Jesus, she kicked heroin, which has to be one of the top three things people never walk away from. All of this really does give me some hope.
I'm just really scared to give it up for good. When I started drinking again, I wasn't depressed any more. I've been nutty depressed since I was about 9, and now I'm not. My skin has even cleared up--all the booze must be acting as some kind of disinfectant, I like to tell myself. But do I really want to live like a slave to this stuff? I hated the thought of having to rely on lithium for the rest of my life, but have I traded it in for wine? Looks like.Here's to the new year, though. One of my customers told me that the moon is in Virgo and that's supposed to be really good for me. Hmmm... We'll see.
YBR
Posted by Impermanence on December 31, 2004, at 20:52:00
In reply to rambling narrative » Impermanence, posted by yellowbrickroad on December 31, 2004, at 20:10:22
Having people being worried about you is the most annoying thing about it, if you could bloddy drink in peace there would be no problem ehh!!!! But life is not like that, unless you're on the street, then there is more in it that you..
I'm tired pussyfooting around people coz I'm in hell at the moment, it's sh*t, life is sh*t, drink or don't drink. I choose to drink, coz I can't take the boredom of not drinking.
There is no programme, there is no treatment... theres only you drinking or not drinking, no b*llshit. What means more, drink? or your life, family and frinds. Right now for me it's booze, It's new years after all (always an excuse ehh)
I don't mean to be harsh, I'm not uasually.
Posted by yellowbrickroad on December 31, 2004, at 21:04:51
In reply to Re: rambling narrative, posted by Impermanence on December 31, 2004, at 20:52:00
Well, cheers, then.
And thanks for posting something. I'm dangerously bored right now, myself.
YBR
Posted by yellowbrickroad on December 31, 2004, at 21:06:29
In reply to Re: rambling narrative, posted by Impermanence on December 31, 2004, at 20:52:00
By the way, if you're British (which I suspect), I mean "cheers" in the American sense of a toast. But you probably got that...
YBR
Posted by yellowbrickroad on December 31, 2004, at 21:11:11
In reply to Re: rambling narrative » Impermanence, posted by yellowbrickroad on December 31, 2004, at 21:06:29
And speaking of British drunks, Michael Caine always makes it look manageable, doesn't he? But then, he's just acting...
Posted by alexandra_k on January 1, 2005, at 17:28:10
In reply to Re: rambling narrative » yellowbrickroad, posted by yellowbrickroad on December 31, 2004, at 21:11:11
I went into detox for 7 days, then onto treatment. Benzo's through detox and we were encouraged (though not required) to go to AA and NA. That wasn't so bad. Got the bus to rehab. I swear that the bus stopped beside every pub on the way... Made it though (in virtue of my being a druggie primarily).
The rehab was a 'theraputic community' environment. We had to do 'chores' which was a little like PD (periodic detention). Made some great mates... Started smoking a bit of pot once I was on priveledges (to go for a walk in the afternoon). Volountarily left the day before we arranged for 2 ounces to come in because they decided to have urine tests the next day. People told me how I could pass the test, but I felt bad for having been dishonest.
Thats where I picked up my dislike of AA and NA.
We weren't allowed to do anything by ourself (isolating). Nor with one other (forming pairs). Nor with two or three (forming a click). So what that meant is that you had to go everywhere with everyone much of the time. Yuk. We weren't allowed music either.After that I applied to go to a better program. They wouldn't take you if you were on any 'drugs' and psychiatric medications were considered to be 'drugs'. I stayed in supported accomodation for a month to show them I was ok off the 'drugs' but then just before the interview I spun out went to hospital, was given benzo's IV, and well, that was the end of that...
Sorry.
Posted by Impermanence on January 4, 2005, at 18:20:51
In reply to Anybody here been to a rehab they liked?, posted by yellowbrickroad on December 29, 2004, at 19:38:25
My first detox was about four years ago in a private psychiatric hospital, I went for chemical abuse, alcoholism and I had attempted suicide a week before. The facility was very expensive, had 1000 patients and 3000 staff, it was like a posh hotel but just to easy going, but my biggest problem was because of my chemical addictions my psychiatrist wanted me to go cold turkey. As a resut and because I was paying big money to be there I was aloud to do what I choose and did spent most of the month in my posh room listining to music, trying to meditate and reading. The place was so easy going, it was more like a retreat. Yes the group therapy and everything else that goes on in treatment centers was at your avail but I was just to anxious and afraid to leave my room. Don't get me wrong this place does wonders for people who spend the day joning in the activities but without the medication I should have got it was a waste of thousands. Beautiful place all the same.
My second detox was around march 04, this was a different ballgame. I was drinking bottles of spirits every day for a few weeks and was found in my bathtub with my arms and neck sliced and a sea of blood all over me. I don't really remember doing it, as it was just a few weeks before I had takin an overdose. I was forced into a public psychiatric hospital where (believe me) they are not so easy going. I was forced of Zispin and bromazepam (lexotan) which I was on for a year and a half (cold turkey) and they put me on Zyprexa (antipsychotic) and lots of diazepan and sleepers for the most horrific withdrawals I've ever had (I woulden't wish what I went through for the first week on my worst enemy). I was "locked" in with some of the loviest but very druged up people for two weeks. And I was only let go on the condition I would enter a private alcohol treatment center. About four weeks after I left I was takin off the Zyprexa because clearly I was not bipolar and just a hopeless scared, hurt, depressed, alcoholic turning a blind eye to the underlinine issues from childhood to everything. I was put on Lexapro (antidepressants) and Xanax and got counseling for a few weeks, this helped and and I stayed off alcohol..... For a while!!
During my time in the third treatment center (now this was a proper treatment center) I was not aloud any benzos, not even the odd painkiller, very strict but all about "feeling". All I was aloud was my Lexapro which I'm still taking now. There was only twenty patents from all walkes of life aloud at a time, about ten highly train staff many of which where alcoholics. It was so intence, you were aloud practically no time to yourself. Rigorous group therapy for hours every day, meditation classes, gardening, cooking together, group family therapy (the hardest of all!!). we became a family and my God was it tough. They literally take your brain apart and put it back together again (and yes lots of tears and excepting the hard truths). It should have changed my life but I made one vitale mistake, part of the programme is a two year aftercare service (weekly counseling) and you must attend A.A. twice a week at least. I did not do this, so over the months that followed I fell back to my own ways.
Things have been going good over that last few months, I've been becoming a man of the world again, no illegal drugs, no spirits but every now and and again I go throuh a terrible binge (30 pints of lager a day for a week or too. But heres the thing, I really can't do this anymore, I just can't and low and behold something amazing happened last week. As christmas is in most houses everybody gets drunk, my father and I had a big fight, he done something nasty but something that will save my life, you see I'm living with my mum and dad at the moment and he got a court order against me with the condition that if I drink in this house (and I always drink at home & mostly alone), or argue with him anymore I will be charged and could face a few months in prison, and for someone whos never been in trouble with the law in his life this hast giving me a big kick up the butt. So for three months I have to give a urine sample to the police to test for drink and drugs, attend A.A. once a week, see a counselor once a week and join a gim with him to build my confidence.
Then In a few months I'm moving to Australia and hopefully I'll be a new man and start a fresh.
It may sound weird but I'm so greatful to him for doing this, this will save my life because if I kept going the way I was I'd be dead in a year, I'm sure of that.
Anyway sorry for my rant people, I'm a bit drowsy right now ;-). I'm full of benzos for my withdrawls. I got a suppily of diazepam for a few days and Rohypnol for sleeping.
Thank you for reading my story, I've enjoyed all yours. I've been very lucky and so will you be if you just keep your chin up and NEVER give up. You are all beautiful and deserve a life free of addiction and suffering. Take the help, help the poor, have a little faith and you will find your way.
Impermanence - One cannot step into the same river twice. Impermanence implies the interchanging and transient nature of existence. Our body is impermanent. Our mind is impermanent. Our feeling is impermanent. Our possessions are also impermanent. The world and human life are compelling images of impermanence. All things are marked or characterized by impermanence.
Nothing lasts, things will change.
This is the end of the thread.
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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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