BlogHer - alcohol - Comments

Hi~

jannajanna — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:24:06 -0500

Hi! My name is Janna and I just signed up for BlogHer tonight and was looking through the groups. I work in psychiatry and have some addictions background. I just wanted your opinion on something.

I have heard many people, especially in AA or other addiction treatment settings refer to their faults as "character defects". I have not found, yet, where this saying comes from. I really think that it is a term that lowers a persons self esteem. To call someone "defective", to me, likens the person to a broken electronic gadget from a store. I just don't like it. I think a better way to say it would be to say "character flaw" or "poor choice in decision making". Defect just sounds so final and unchangable.

Maybe you could give me some insight on this from your point of view.

Oh and nice to meet you! Congrats on your recovery journey!

I'm so with you!

HipMom — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:43:01 -0500

I HATE camping. Didn't as a kid, but now? No way.

It's funny that I found this post now, because I just wrote a post about being eco-friendly but not...ehm, nature-friendly :-)

Oh, man, I love camping!

ebyrdstarr — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:35:16 -0500

Oh, man, I love camping! And if you're at a campsite right by your car with buildings and roads nearby, you aren't even really camping. I love taking a few packs, a few friends, and canoes out into the middle of nowhere, with no cell phone towers anywhere. This despite the fact that I'm a girly-girl who likes her high heels and her hair products. But a few days of communing with nature is so fantastic and restorative.

It is less fun, though, when all of your stuff gets wet. And metal canoes are scary.

Preaching to the Choir

LOL..that is why I bought a camper van!

Goddess in the Groove — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:16:47 -0500

I went camping with my kids for the first time last year. Last time I want tent camping, I was barely 18...long time ago. After the first night I was ready to go home.

When I did get home, I hit the computer and started looking for a camper van. I found a very old one, that we just totally gutted due to water damage....but we have already had some great, comfy, camping trips. Toilet and coffee, and I am good!

Goddess in the Groove! Women with opinions wanted.....

Daily (almost) musings and Kaffeeklatsch...

http//:www.goddessinthegroove.blogspot.com

To see the magic bellys, or the magic book, venture to

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ROFL

Denise — Wed, 20 May 2009 09:39:26 -0500

hahahahaha

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

So Proud!

soldier85 — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:37:59 -0500

Awwee I'm so proud of you. I know you might not feel as if this is a big step but just admiting and sharing your feelings is such a big step. Later as you progress and learn more about yourself and get down to the root cause than you will be able to look back and realize how much you've grown from point A to point B.

Keep up the work! It's hard and it's worth it and you deffinently know this. I will be praying for you and you can always look for my support.

-*soldier85*-

I've "kicked" a lot more than that

Tommie — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 05:41:09 -0500

It CAN be done. I may still have some addictions but you've listed three that aren't any more. Good luck!

Thanks, Sharon!

lauriewrites — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:58:33 -0500

I'll look into this for sure. I think I rank as one of the less-tolerant of caffeine but I still drink it. Hard to limit everything but at least it's good to know what's in what you consume as much as you can.

Laurie

"Caffeine Intoxication"

SharonMcEachern — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:55:53 -0500

Caffeine addiction is becoming a serious problem. There are so many products with caffeine as an ingredient that most people have no idea just how much caffeine they actually consume every day. Beverage, food and pharmaceutical products have increasingly more caffeine added -- even chewing gum and potato chips! One energy drink has amost 1200 mg caffeine. One of the problems is "caffeine intoxication," an illness many people don't even know exists. However, the nation's poison control centers and hospital emergency rooms are seeing increasing numbers of people ill due to caffeine intoxication -- more than half are under 18 years old. It is really important to be aware.

Ethic Soup blog as a good, concise series of articles on caffeine at:

http://www.ethicsoup.com/caffeine-the-worlds-most-popular-drug.html

Good for you for kicking it, Amanda.

lauriewrites — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:58:40 -0500

Soda is a tough one. And the headaches I get with no coffee are pretty similar. Caffeine is powerful stuff.

Laurie

Right, Zan

lauriewrites — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:39:41 -0500

It is a very individual thing, because people differ so much in biology, lifestyle, emotional state, family structure, etc. I still think it comes down to the adverse effect something has on your physical and emotional functioning, and in some cases its impact on your relationships. Sometimes it's hard to know what's really going on with OURSELVES until we get some kind of wake-up call, so it's next to impossible to determine for someone else (Of course I'm speaking outside of a clinical diagnosis here, which is a reality for many people and has its own issues...another post for another website. :))

Laurie

Never much of a coffee

MrsWsKitchen — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 10:36:50 -0500

Never much of a coffee drinker, I preferred cola. It was easier; no equipment to clean up at home--just twist the cap & go! Ten years later when I got a wicked headache/upset stomach if I didn't have cola during my morning commute, I knew it had become a problem.

I quit cold turkey and suffered for 6 weeks of constant withdrawal headaches. I can't describe how horrible it was--but I was determined to get through it. In the process I learned how conditioned I had become. If I even heard someone crack open a soda can my mouth watered. Was I nothing more than a human version of Pavlov's dog?

But give it up I did. And when the headaches were over I felt more energized than ever. That caffeine had truly taken over the way my body felt.

I stayed away from all caffeine for a year; then I tried my favorite cola brand again. After all that, I didn't like the taste so much. Over the next couple of years I cut more things out of my diet (due to some personal health issues), including sugar.

Now I'm not saying that everyone should give up caffeine--I was drinking WAY TOO MUCH. At least a 2-liter every day. Ugh. Just admitting that makes me cringe. "Normal" caffeine consumption is 300 micrograms per day, or about 3 cups of coffee daily. I am saying that we must be aware of ourselves enough to sense the signs and do what we can to ensure our own health.

Nowadays I do have the occasional diet coke with caffeine, and I enjoy it; I just don't get headaches if I go without.

Amanda
Mrs.W's Kitchen

It's hard to define

Zandria — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:52:52 -0500

It's hard to define addiction. Maybe two people eat the exact same amount of sugar, but it's worse for one of them because they have a family history of Type 2 Diabetes? Maybe you and your roommate drink the same amount of wine, but it's worse for you because there are alcoholics in your family? It's hard to say...

Personal blog: Zandria.us
BlogHer blog: Singles/Fitness

Hi Swag

lauriewrites — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:46:20 -0500

I wrote this post careful not to define addiction for anyone, and to do the opposite of trivialize the concept or anyone's experience. I could laundry list my life experience but that wasn't the point. Suffice to say I know the difference, albeit in tones far more gray than your black and white statements here. I don't really understand your second point, but do object to homosexuality and addiction being even tangentially compared.

Laurie

LaurieWrites

First of all, calling

swag — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:25:43 -0500

First of all, calling someone's morning Nescafe "addiction" trivializes people who are suffering from actual addictions.

Secondly, if you're worried about breaking your wine/sugar/caffeine habit, the problem is clearly one of self-moderation and not the substance. Going cold turkey just pretends the problem doesn't exist. It's a bit like a gay man joining the priesthood to cure himself of his homosexuality. If you can't face it, you're just hiding from it.