Episode 20: Meeting Makers Make It! Or… do they? From BagheadSponsor.

So, you’ve got a friend who is coming up on a big day; 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, etc and you want to get him or her a gift. I understand! We want to make sure our friends know how much we value their recovery. Be it sobriety gifts, clean gifts, still alive gifts, or I want you to get sober gifts, I’ve got some good ideas for you right here:

*Give them a flower for every day/month/year they have off the junk
*Get them a notebook for their daily 10th step work
*How bout a personalized t-shirt? Ex 1: I’d rather be here than cleaning up my own vomit. Ex 2: Someone in California wants me to get sober. Ex 3: I did it my way; that sucked.
*Send them a link to one of our BagheadSponsor episodes! Now that’s fun!
*Write them a letter about how much they mean to you, and the progress you’ve seen in them.
*Buy them a BagheadSponsor coffee mug or t-shirt for a real celebration! (Check out the “store” page)
*Get them something from our growing list of recommendations on the site, like a meditation pillow, prayer CD, journal, or great recovery book!
*Get them a year’s membership to a coffee/tea club.
*Throw them a surprise party.
*Give them a brand new big book of alcoholics anonymous. Never can hurt!
*Show up in comfy clothes, with cleaning supplies, ready to clean their house for them. (Feel free to swing by here on your way out.)
*Give them a great big ole’ hug.

Now these are just a few ideas… Food for thought, if you will. Will you? Thank you.

Hey, listen, we have hilarious recovery episodes going up all the time, so we’ll see you soon! Until then, don’t drink, drug, or try to off yourself.
xoxo,
BagheadSponsor

Well, you probably are, or you wouldn’t be worried enough about it to look this stuff up. But, I’ll humor you! The bottom line is that if you freak out when you stop drinking, you’re probably in trouble with the drinkiepoo.

Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms (meaning you’re withdrawing from alcohol, which normal people rarely have to do.):

Interesting psychological symptoms that I am grateful to no longer suffer from:

• Feeling of jumpiness or nervousness (freaking out.)
• Feeling of shakiness (freaking out.)
• Anxiety (freaking out.)
• Irritability or easily excited (freaking out and irritated.)
• Emotional volatility, rapid emotional changes (freaking out on people.)
• Depression (freaking out internally. at yourself.)
• Fatigue (wanting to go to sleep. possibly forever.)
• Difficulty with thinking clearly (freaking out.)
• Bad dreams (freaking out in your sleep.)

Also interesting physical symptoms that pretty much suck:

• Headache – general, pulsating (freaking out.)
• Sweating, especially the palms of the hands or the face (freaking out. sweaty style.)
• Paleness (i’d be pale, too, if i drank as much as you.)
• Rapid heart rate (palpitations) (heart freaking out.)
• Eyes, pupils different size (enlarged, dilated pupils) (eyes freaking out.)
• Skin, clammy (sweaty and freaking out.)
• Nausea (freaking out.)
• Vomiting (freaking out and proving it.)
• Loss of appetite (freaking out and proving it.)
• Insomnia, sleeping difficulty (freaking out and proving it.)
• Abnormal movements (freaking out.)
• Tremor of the hands (freaking out.)
• Involuntary, abnormal movements of the eyelids (freaking out.)

Severe symptoms that pretty much mean you should’ve checked in to rehab a long long time ago:

• A state of confusion and hallucinations (visual) — known as delirium tremens (totally freaking out.)
• Agitation (freaking out on others.)
• “Black outs” — when the person forgets what happened during the drinking episode (freaking out, but not remembering freaking out.)
• Fever (freaking out with a fever.)
• Convulsions (completely and totally wigging out– so much that it scares people.)

Getting Help and Support

Get your ass to a meeting. (or get medical attention first, depending on how bad you are.) And get yourself a big book of Alcoholics Anonymous and start reading. When you get your sh*t together, you should check out the show!

Episode 19: Think Think Think??? From BagheadSponsor.