I feel like I need to introduce myself, but I'm going to stick with my online name, yosev. I am a 16 kid who's seen the back end of al lot things, and I have a lot of interesting tales to tell. I have some addictions that I would like to rop, but I can't talk to anyone about these things... I searched online for something, not so much as a cry for help, as to a way to help myself, and I feel like I can express myself to people I don't even know.

I digress, I have an addiction to alcohol, cigarettes, and work, and I have no idea how to moderate with any of these things. I feel like the only way I can sleep at night is if I drink myself to the point where I can't see straight, smoking until I can't breath, and finally passing out to wake up, go to school, and off to work from school.

Any suggestions on how I might be able to moderate, or even drop these things? I know every health risk factor of all of the above. My mother works at a hospital, creating a world of vast health knowledge. I think I would need more personal advice than anything...

Hi, yosev!

Okay, I can understand an addiction to cigarettes. But, concerning the alcohol and also work I don't understand.

How long have you been drinking and where do you get the alcoholic beverages from? Also, why do you think that you are addicted to work?

Hi, yosev!

Okay, I can understand an addiction to cigarettes. But, concerning the alcohol and also work I don't understand.

How long have you been drinking and where do you get the alcoholic beverages from? Also, why do you think that you are addicted to work?

Because these things have become all consuming in my life... These are what my daily agenda is made up of. I find it impossible to sleep without alcohol, even after I've already gotten alcohol poisoning, and work is my only pass time.

I live in a small town, anything's really easy to get.

Is this in the U.S. or someplace else?

United States, California. Little hick-town near Oregon.

What kind of work do you do?

I'm a pizza boy... I'm eberassed to admit; but I've gottten out of high school early to start in a community college!

I need someway to support myself, and there's nowhere to move up in this small city. I've got an old car which is a gas hog, and gas here is almost 4$ a gallon. Tuition fees, books, gas, all drain me of very penny I make.

So, are you intimating to us here that your grades and accomplishments were such that you were able to graduate high school early and then go on to college of some kind?

Okay. I can see that you are now offline from this site now. There are other things that would be helpful to know about you in order for people here to help you the best. For instance: Are you still living with your parents or parent? Since you are in the U.S. have you ever tried something like Alcoholics Anonymous or Alateen for your addiction to alcohol? Have you ever received counseling of any kind for what your problems are that you state here?

You sound like you could be an over achiever they can become bored with things easily and then turn to addictions.
I have been hearing commercials about addictions possibly being a biochemistry imbalance and using nutrition geared toward balancing your system to overcome addictions. You figure if you are drinking to get to sleep your neurotransmitters need balanced as well as alcohol can cause vitamin deficiencies. They say thiamine is important for someone that drinks.
You might try looking for places and books in that direction and you can and should use it along with other approaches such as AA. Building up and balancing your nutrition does help curb cravings although I am not saying it is THE answer because you most likely need psychological encouragement as well as other things.

You should cover working on all bases emotional and psychological addiction, nutrition & cravings, etc...
If you are able go to AA too.

Alcoholism Treatment an Alternative Alcohol Addiction Treatment Program (http://www.the101program.com/)

Half the battle is admitting you need help.

Thanks for everything, you guys. I've decided to put down the bottle for now, and just decided to pick up coffee.. :P

I do live with my parents, so to speak, which is one reason I can't just disappear off to AA or anything... I've already given them enough to deal with, I want to deal with this one myself.

Keep us up to date and let us know what works for you.
I have known people who have overcome addiction by sheer will power but that is like a needle in a haystack it's soooo rare.

Good luck

Hey Yosey,
Filling up your free time with addictions is a sure way to avoid feeling something. I'm glad to read that you have put down the bottle.
Why do you want to be numb and soon dead?
Shame. (Don't say that!) It's sometimes unspeakable, like the pain of feeling alone.
Write about your feelings, burn it afterward if you need to. But, quit running from the pain, turn around and face it down.
Simone

You admit to exposure of vast health knowledge, but "need more personal advice than anything..." First, of all congratulations on supporting your studies by enforcing a decent job at a restaurant loved by many. You should not be ashamed, but proud. It seems to me that you are intelligent. I think that you have an anxiety problem or may be always on high gear. You are doing a lot for someone your age. You drink to go to sleep. O.K. have you consulted this with your doctor? (your sleeping problem). Try sleeping pills instead. Cut down on the smoking gradually. Do not stress your body so much, try to relax and do not give in to the demands of society. You might want to rest for a while and then start school. Look for help, ask a professor from college. Tell your mom, she loves you and would want to help you. If you are prone to abuse, you might want your mom handling your meds.

Well, I've given up drinking... And I've cut down in smoking to about ten ciggarettes a day.
I have been losing sleep, but I play guitar until my fingers feel split, and then pay attention to my dog until I feel a little heavy eyed. I've been running on little sleep, so I think I'll try tylonol PM or something...

My girlfriend has contributed to me quitting smoking, by the by. She had no idea (nor did anybody) that I had a drinking problem. I think all that I've needed is to be able to talk to somebody, because I have trouble expressing myself. I've attended a psychiatrist for years, but that was for various, other reasons.

Thank you, EVERYONE.

I can tell you're smart and certainly a good communicator. Can you begin to reframe things? There should be an addictions hotline for your area. Give them a call and start making some important, positive changes in your life.

Alcohol and ciggies are very expensive. You're at the right age to kick both of those habits and put the money into other things. The hotline folks will have suggestions for counseling--counseling you can afford. Please take advantage of it. I want to see you driving a nice-looking car by summer. If I lived closer, I'd want a ride. We could get ice cream.

Get some decaf green tea, and establish a bedtime routine. Go to bed the same time every night, as much as possible. Drink a cup of decaf green tea about an hour before bed, take a warm shower and put on clean jammies, brush your teeth, read one chapter of a FICTION book while lying in bed, turn off the light, and go to sleep. It might take a few nights, but if you stick to the routine pretty religiously, it will work.

Have you considered alcoholics anonymous... you could go to a few open meetings to find out more about alcohol addiction and how to recover from it. You are young, grab your opportunities to get well instead of going downhill.. you may think things are bad now... but they can only get worse if you are addicted, it never gets better without you doing something about it, trust me, I been there. Get help, talk to someone who cares, your mum sounds perfect and she is there to help you and will want to help.

I know how you feel I lived in small town where boredom always hung around and very few things to do. I always got bored easily, music and imagination help sometimes but drinking and smoking filled some space in my life. But they last for a little while.
When ever I think about drinking or smoking I think about the bad examples and bad experiences around myself. And ask if I should even bother with those things or should I save my money and do something or buy something entertaining.
I once saved a lot of money that I got from work an could have bought with smokes and beer. But instead when school was out I went somewhere like mexico with my friend and never regretted it, a lot of things happened in mexico. :)
Save money use your imagination and go somewhere or stay where you are to smoke and drink. Which do you think is better?
My advice would probably will or will not work for you but it works for me.

Well, I'm pretty proud of myself, and I owe most of my progress to a lot of people on this site... and I thank you again for that. Ihaven't drank in weeks, I think... I can't even remember having a habbit, now that the addiction's passed. The ciggeretes are being dropped more slowly, crap's seemed to hit the fan in my life at a non-stop rate, but I am putting them down, slwly and surely. One day, I don't know, I might be able to express myself to my family, but I don't feel like I can express myself to anyone, excpet for my girlfriend, and I don't want to hurt her, and because of that I feel like she loves me without knowing WHO I am.

I'm not all as normal as this computers' keyboard may make me seem, because I give everyone the wrong reasons for all things I've done. For example, I didn't get out of high school because I wanted to advance in my life, believe me, I would be happy as a beach bum, living off a minimum wage job for the rest of my life. I did it because none of my peers liked me, unless I became someone I wasn't, and people would find reasons to push me arpund. And, me feeling like I was going to digress into a prier state of being as far as age and mentality goes.

I guess it all just leads up to the rue reasons of all these addictions that I've had, all the things I wished I could drop, and all the things I wished I could've kept and left behind. The tuth of it all is, no one knows me, because no one asks anymore, unless of course we're in some kind of argument, which it is then used as a weapon against me.

Point is, I've cut down, because someone listened to my cry out for help.
Thank you for listening.

Congratulations on the progress that you have made, Yosev! What is it about yourself that you would like people to know besides what you have already revealed on this site?

I guess I have an addictive personality. Luckily my first experience with most drugs is unpleasant so I don't WANT to do them again. Smoking (cigarettes) was the exception to the rule, however (as was another thing I won't mention now). But I've found that people with addictive personalities MUST have a replacement. Maybe if you tried replacing the unhealthy habits with healthy ones. Like instead of alcohol drink bottles of water and instead of smoking you could go to the gym or exercise at home or just jog. It may sound silly but the more extreme you take it the better off you are. Take vitamins and obsess over healthy diets, six pack abs, etc. Maybe you could even go to a health food store and find one of those herbal teas or drinks that detox your body. It helped me!
Good luck!

Congratulations on the progress that you have made, Yosev! What is it about yourself that you would like people to know besides what you have already revealed on this site?
Things like a cocaine addiction at the age of fourteen, an alcohol poisening experience, watching someone close to me die, while I feel it was my fault for years, because we got in a fight the day he killed himself. Moving consistently, and being everyone's shoulder, when all I need was a shoulder myself.

But my problem was, the only person that would listen, and this is true to this day, was my mom, but she had a really hard time to get through herself. So I kept to myself, and now the consequences have cought up with me. My friends and I are aeperating, my girlfriend and I aren't as close as we could be, and I am struggling in school. All because when I ask for help, it makes things harder, because the only person that will listen to me is my mother, who's got too many streeses of her own for me to open up to her.

My professors wonder why I don't talk in class, which sparked a negative relationship with my english teacher, of whom's class I just dropped today.

I guess I have an addictive personality. Luckily my first experience with most drugs is unpleasant so I don't WANT to do them again. Smoking (cigarettes) was the exception to the rule, however (as was another thing I won't mention now). But I've found that people with addictive personalities MUST have a replacement. Maybe if you tried replacing the unhealthy habits with healthy ones. Like instead of alcohol drink bottles of water and instead of smoking you could go to the gym or exercise at home or just jog. It may sound silly but the more extreme you take it the better off you are. Take vitamins and obsess over healthy diets, six pack abs, etc. Maybe you could even go to a health food store and find one of those herbal teas or drinks that detox your body. It helped me!
Good luck!
I've replaced everything with working on something every second I'm alone, because I'm not a very social person anymore. I go to work and school, and I play guitar, or take my dog on a walk.

The hard part is the fact that I have a mild case of insomnia, where if I get too much or too little sleep, I get migrains from hell. I've had the ringing ears lately, it's been on a streak for two days now, and I took some Ibuprofen earlier; it helps a lot.

I also think that you get bored easliy so you need something that is going to stimulate you, and it's not alcohol and cigs, how about looking online or in your local area for some company, help, or guidance, otherside activities.. When we get bored with usual routine we tend to get stupid... er, and you sound too bright to be wasting your time. How about some course in college, tech school or a more interesting job?

It looks to me like something is really bothering you inside.
You need to get to the root of that and there your answers will be. It concerns
Me that you are so young and have these addictions. It is hard to ask for help.
You have made a step by asking for it here. It all starts with one step.
I think you should go to AA. They can help you evaluate what you are going
Through. It might surprise you to learn that many people are going through the same feelings as you. You are not alone.
May I ask why you do not feel you can share this with your Mom?
Do you feel it will upset her too much?


There are many links for AA that will give you the meetings you need.
AA is the best free therapy around, so I suggest it strongly.

Oregon AA - Alcoholics Anonymous (http://www.theagapecenter.com/AAinUSA/Oregon.htm)

It looks to me like something is really bothering you inside.
You need to get to the root of that and there your answers will be. It concerns
me that you are so young and have these addictions. It is hard to ask for help.
You have made a step by asking for it here. It all starts with one step.
I think you should go to AA. They can help you evaluate what you are going
through. It might suprise you to learn that many people are going through the same feelings as you. You are not alone.
May I ask why you do not feel you can share this with your Mom?
Do you feel it will upset her to much?


There are many links for AA that will give you the meetings you need.
AA is the best free therapy around, so i suggest it strongly.

Oregon AA - Alcoholics Anonymous (http://www.theagapecenter.com/AAinUSA/Oregon.htm)WAY too much. She's already helped me through cigarretes and alcohol before, even weed, and I feel like I need to do this one on my own. I'm a week and a half, clean of alcohol, and I have only had about two or three ciggaretes a day so far.

I know what is bothering m on the inside, and there's plenty of things, I don't ever talk to anyone about myself personally, I have past greivences that I have kept secret for years, and I have more stories that anyone should. I'm just learning how to deal with them.

And my cure for alcoholism: Lots of chocolate milk... It seems to help me a lot.

That is great you are doing good. It is good to look to the future and not let your past hinder it. You have to set goals and picture yourself there.
Where do you see yourself ten years from now career wise and picture it.

You are doing well but it is Ok to get help AA will help you find a sponsor Someone you can tell everything too and unload all that crap that is eating you up. Try it what do you have to loose.