Can I drink alcohol during sublingual desensitization treatment?

Remember the last time you were drunk

As the name suggests, we mean "drunk" rather than "drunk".

For most people, "drinking a glass of wine" has long meant a happy time with friends talking and laughing. Depending on our age, and on the circumstances which surrounded our first experiences with alcohol, we all have various memories and hopes (sometimes, anxieties) aroused by the thought of a cool beer, a martini, a gin and Quartz. Ninja water, whiskey and beer, a sip of wine or something like that and so on.

Time and again, in the early stages of most people’s drinking experience, their expectations for alcohol always meet the actual amount of alcohol they need to drink.

If it happens to be just right every time, we naturally think of "having a glass of wine" as a pleasant experience that not only meets our own needs, but also does not go beyond the norms of religious customs. At the same time, it satisfies desires, caters to the etiquette of social occasions, and helps us relax, cheer up, and achieve our various pursuits. For example, it is a 55-year-old Finn, when someone offers him a drink, it will immediately remind him of the negative emotions that experienced when he drank a glass or two of brandy or vodka on a cold day in his youth. Waves of warmth.

If she is a young woman, she may immediately think of a gorgeous crystal glass filled with champagne, fragrant clothes, a romantic atmosphere of rubbing ears and temples together, or a beard and long hair in a rock concert. A young man wearing a denim suit took out a bottle of booze from a bag full of bottles. Flashing lights kept flashing, smoke was everywhere, and everyone screamed. It was an exciting sight. One AA member said: "Have a drink" is almost synonymous with eating pizza and drinking beer.

There is also a 78-year-old widow who said that she often couldn't help but think of her habit of having a glass of sherry at bedtime when she was in a nursing home. Although this image of drinking in our minds is extremely natural, in our current situation, it is misleading, and it is how some of us start drinking.

If this is all we do with drinking, we are less likely to develop an alcohol problem later on. Yet a fearless look at our complete drinking record, however, shows that in the last years and months our drinking never created those perfect, magic moments again, no matter how hard we tried.

Instead, over and over, we wound up drinking far more than that, eventually landing in some kind of trouble as a result. Maybe we're simply guilty, secretly, of drinking too much.

But sometimes it can turn into violent quarrels, affecting one's own work, or even leading to serious illness, accidents, or legal and financial problems. So when the suggestion of "a drink" comes to us, we now try to remember the whole train of consequences of starting with just "a drink" and ending with our last miserable drunk and hangover.

Generally speaking, when a friend invites us to drink a glass of wine, it simply refers to a way of socializing and just tasting one or two glasses.

But if we are careful to recall the full suffering of our last drinking episode, we will be free from our long- ago notion of "a drink." deceived.

Now we can honestly admit that, in terms of our physiological reality, we are pretty sure that drinking a glass of soup means that sooner or later we will be drunk again, which will bring a series of troubles.

Drinking no longer means music and joy to us, but the memory of illness and regret. An AA member once said: "I know that if I go to a bar to drink a glass of wine now, it will never be the same as before. It just takes a little time and spends some money.

This glass of wine will It was too costly and too high a risk to drain my bank account, my family, my house, my car, my job, my sanity, and my life.”

He. Remembering the last time he got drunk, not the first time he drank.

2. Stay away from the first glass of wine

“If you don’t drink the first glass of wine, you won’t get drunk.” “One glass is too much, but twenty glasses are not enough. ”

When we develop from drinking too much to being addicted to alcohol, frequent drunkenness seriously interferes with our life and work, so we reduce the frequency of drinking, or try to control the amount of alcohol to one or two drinks, or Switch from alcoholic drinks to beer or wine to keep yourself from getting too drunk. Maybe we can stay alcohol-free for a while, and then when the opportunity arises (some special occasion, personal confusion, or nothing special at all), we start drinking again. At first we think of just one drink, because one drink does not cause Regardless of the serious consequences, we feel it is safe to have another drink. But it turns out that's just a trap - when we've had two or three drinks, we feel good, and then we think one or two more drinks will be okay given our level of drinking. As a result, we drank too much uncontrollably and returned to our original drunken state.

Doctors who specialize in alcohol dependence tell us that it is the first drink that triggers the underlying desire to drink, which in turn makes us lose control.

This repeated experience leads us to conclude that trying to control how much we drink and planning how not to get drunk is impossible, and that avoiding that crucial drink—“never the first drink”—is the key to long-term sobriety.

Alcohol dependence is an addiction to alcohol. Alcohol is a soft drug like any other addictive substance, and the only way we can stay in recovery is to stay away from the first dose of the narcotic that caused our addiction.

3. Use the "24-hour" plan

In the days of alcoholism, we often solemnly swear "never drink again" when we are very uncomfortable. "I vowed not to drink for a year." From the bottom of our hearts, we really didn't want to get drunk again. Of course some people will have reservations: that the pledge is only for "hard liquor", not beer. In fact, beer and wine can also make us drunk, but we need to drink more to achieve the same effect as liquor. We suffer just as much damage from drunkenness with beer and wine as we do with hard liquor.

However, after a while, the vows and painful memories will be left behind. We started drinking again at some point. Our "forever" never lasts.

Of course, some of them did keep their promise and quit for a long time, for 2 months, half a year, or a year, until the time came and we felt that we should be able to drink freely and in a controlled manner... and we started drinking again. , and soon fell into the original troubles, along with new guilt and regret.

Alcohol dependence is a permanent, irreversible disease, and experience tells us all that we should not make a long-term commitment to staying sober. A more practical and effective way to say it is: "I'm just not drinking today."

Maybe we drank yesterday, but we can decide not to drink today. No matter what temptations and irritations we encounter, we try as hard as we can to avoid having that first drink of the day.

If the desire to drink is too strong, then break the 24 hours into smaller units - at least one hour - and we can tolerate the discomfort caused by this temporary suspension, then add one more hour ! One more hour! Keep going. If we succeed today, we have reason to believe we can do it tomorrow.

The "24-hour" plan is very casual. We can start over at any time, no matter where we are. At home, at work, in the hospital room, at 4:00 in the afternoon or 3:00 in the morning, we can decide at any time not to drink for the next 24 hours or 5 minutes.

We're just trying to live today (now) just to stay sane - and it works. Once this way of thinking becomes part of our thinking, we find that living in 24-hour blocks is equally effective and satisfying for dealing with other things.

4. Take action

The more we want to stay away from alcohol, the more lingering thoughts of drinking will linger. So simply staying away from alcohol (or not thinking about it) isn't enough.

Once you stop drinking, how do you spend the free time? Most of us have formal jobs to do, but there is still a lot of free time that must be spent. Therefore, we must develop new hobbies and arrange colorful activities to fill these times, and at the same time find appropriate outlets for the energy that was once addicted to alcohol.

There are many things we can do that are suitable and meaningful for us.

1． In the early stages of quitting drinking, you can take a walk or brisk walk. Especially going to new places you’ve never been before. Go for a leisurely stroll in a park or country lane, but not a tiring march.

2. read. Although some of us cannot make up our minds to read books, we should really read some books to broaden our horizons, increase our life experience, and be more attentive.

3． Visiting a museum or gallery, some people choose photography is also a good idea.

4. Swim, run, bike, yoga, or other exercise recommended by your doctor.

5. Tackle those long-neglected household chores. Organize the wardrobe, dresser, file documents into categories, or deal with things we have put off for a long time. But when we do these things, we should not be greedy for more and act within our capabilities. Instead of cleaning out the entire kitchen or organizing all the files at once, clean out one drawer or file folder at a time and do the rest another day.

6． Try taking up a new hobby. Choose activities that are not too expensive or demanding, that are purely recreational, that are refreshing and invigorating without the pressure of competition. For example, singing, writing, tropical fish, carpentry, basketball, cooking, bird watching, amateur performances, wood carving, gardening, guitar, movies, dance, stone carving, potted plants, collection, etc. Many people find that the activities they really enjoy now are hobbies they never considered trying.

7． Rediscover the fun of the past. A watercolor painting, billiards or Go game, reading notes, etc. that you have not polished for many years, to continue these hobbies. But if you feel it is no longer suitable for you, just give it up.

8． Go to class. Studying Japanese or English? Love history or math? Want to learn about archeology or anthropology? Or cooking, computer operation, then take correspondence courses, TV universities or adult education (just for interest, not necessarily with a credit certificate).

There are also many places that offer classes that only take one day a week, why not give it a try? Taking classes can not only broaden your horizons, but also broaden your areas of life. If you get bored of the class content, don't hesitate to quit immediately. Only by learning to give up activities that are not beneficial to us or have no positive, positive, or healthy meaning can we muster the courage to face it again, and only then can we have the opportunity to experience a new dimension of life besides drinking.

9. Volunteer to do some useful service. Many hospitals, children's service agencies, and social welfare groups are in great need of volunteers to provide various services. We have many choices. When we can contribute to others, even if it is just a trivial service, we will feel particularly useful. We will even feel very interested when talking about the process of participating in these activities and related information. And particularly devoted.

10． Dress yourself up. Most of us know that there are many ways that a new haircut, new clothes, a new pair of glasses, or even new teeth can have unexpected and pleasing results.

11． Play with ease! Not everything we do in our daily lives must be proactive and innovative. We also need to do some activities purely for fun, such as your favorite kites, zoos, comedy movies, soul music, detective novels, etc.; if you don’t like it, find other fun activities that have nothing to do with drinking, purely To reward yourself.