It is often the case, in early recovery from alcoholism, that people will switch the “witch for the bitch” as they say in AA.  They find themselves pouring the same obsessive energy and putting the same blind effort into some other endeavour.

These objects of obsession then become just another way to hide from the real issue: themselves.

Their self-defeating learned behaviours and character defects, limit their capacity to function in relationships. That is why these behaviours are self-defeating because they block them from feeling their emotions in relationships.

Some of the most obvious and frequent objects of switched addictions are:

Work

It is easy to work or stay busy in the same hell-bent way they practiced their addictions – full of delusion and denial, and with the same lack of control that characterises all addictions.

Food

Eating feels good so it is a prime candidate for a switched addiction. When alcoholics stop using alcohol to make themselves feel better or reward themselves, they often switch to food to achieve the same result. They are then abusing food, which becomes their drug of choice.

That abuse can lead to dependency, which, as with all dependencies, then becomes an end in itself. When that happens, they are no longer able to make choices about how much food they use.  They indulge in food when they don’t want to and have even made commitments not to use food for comfort. They consume so much food knowing it is detrimental to their health and well-being. They delude themselves and deny the problem in order to justify the behaviour and minimise the harmful effect that food is having on their body.

Neurotic Service to Others

All addictions are neurotic because they are perversions of normal, healthy impulses. Even the best and purest impulses, if sufficiently exaggerated, can have distorted results. Being kind and helping others is good and normal but neurotic addiction to serving others makes them unable to take care of themselves. They concentrate on other people’s problems to stop them thinking about their own issues. It causes them to lose sight of the boundary between them and people they perceive need their help.

Other behavioural addictions

These can include: gambling, sex, religion, shopping, text messaging and exercise, to name just a few. Breaking the primary addiction, which is alcohol, is never very pleasant when the alcohol dependent person sees what they have done and what they have become while they were in the bondage of their addiction.

Enormous guilt may accompany that insight and in response to that guilt, they may lose whatever self-esteem they had left.  Switching addictions becomes the norm in many recoveries and the alcoholic in early sobriety needs to be forever vigilant.

Many recovering alcoholics say, “I’m sober – when do I get happy?”  Unlike cancer or other diseases, alcoholism cannot be cured and does not “go away.”

A true alcoholic can never drink again; the disease can only be arrested. But the living problems underlying their addictions can be cured, if only they understood that dealing with those issues is when recovery takes place.

Habits can be changed and new neural pathways can be formed.  We can learn new ways of thinking just as we learned the old ones – by practice. We may not be able to change our nature, but we can change our character if we want to.

People pleasers can learn to become more assertive. Liars can learn to be honest. Procrastinators can learn to deal with problems as they arise. But we can only do this if we see the need to change habits as an integral part of recovery.

As well as 100% vigilance, you need to take care of your nutrition and dietary supplements. I recommend Tyrosine Mood Food, necessary for the manufacture of dopamine and noradrenaline, which are required for concentration, alertness, memory and a happy, stable mood. Tyrosine is required for the manufacture of adrenalin in the adrenal glands and most alcoholics suffer with adrenal exhaustion.

The state of your liver has a big impact on your state of mind so that those with a fatty liver may find themselves irritable and moody with a poor memory and difficulty keeping up with life’s demands. Depression and poor sleep may be associated with a fatty liver and these things resolve when we improve the liver function.  I recommend Livatone Plus, a more powerful formula that can support liver function when there are more serious liver problems due to alcoholism.

L-Glutamine is an amino acid and has been shown to improve brain function in alcoholics, resulting in improved sleep, decreased anxiety and a reduced craving for alcohol. Glutamine supplementation can be found in our Ultimate Gut Health Powder.

Vegetable juice has been successfully used to clear out fatty livers too. Juicing, along with the above supplements, B-vitamins and Vitamin C, may be a real long-term help with cirrhosis of the liver. Dr. Cabot has a great juice book that’s easy to follow and has recipes to help rejuvenate your liver - Raw Juices Can Save Your Life.

Magnesium Ultra Potent can be taken before bed to assist with a deep and restful sleep. It also helps to reduce stress, very beneficial to a recovering alcoholic.  Magnesium is also known as the “great relaxer”.

Dr. Cabot’s book, Help for Depression and Anxiety, is an excellent read for recovering alcoholics.

 

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.