Tooooo Much

I hear where you're coming from but alcohol withdrawal can kill.

She had no love for so called alcoholics, she had the obsession to convert people to billgod control. My last detox I did at home and I did something that AA says is impossable I very carefully tapered off then quit at home by myself. Though it wasnt fun it was a whole lot easier than going to a detox, shaking without proper medication, and having AA pushed on me.

The story of Sister Ignatia, her duty of care and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)

A History of Sponsorship

by Deb H.

To begin writing about sponsorship without first telling you a bit about Sister Ignatia would be the proverbial "putting the cart before the horse." Please indulge me a bit as I summarize my understanding of who Sister Ignatia was and why in some circles she is considered to be the third founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Sister Ignatia was a Catholic nun belonging to the Order of the Sisters of Charity. She was small in stature but had a very big in heart for the underdog. She struggled with bouts of depression and her path was not always clear to her. She dedicated her life to the service of her fellows and made her relationship with Christ her vocation. She understood, well before any of the cognitive or behavioral therapists, that a way to overcome depression was through activity that shifted her focus outside of herself and intense love for God. To Sister Ignatia the most disturbing component of her depression was the obsession with self that accompanied it. In these ways, she was very similar to the other founder of A.A., Bill Wilson.

"Our Little Sister," as Bill would lovingly refer to her, began as a music teacher and parish musician but was unable to deal with the stress of pleasing her Mother Superior and the priests of the Diocese. As a result she was reassigned to "light duty" as the admissions clerk at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio, for recuperative time. The hospital administrator was a bit easier to please but Sister Ignatia quickly fell into conflict with her as well.

This time it wasn´t her inability to perform; it was her love and devotion to her fellow underdog, the alcoholic. She knew these men were physically ill as well as spiritually separated from God. She would admit alcoholics to the regular medical ward to keep an eye on them as they shook off a bad drunk.

Problems arose, however, about the end of the second or third day when the sick man would often rise from his bed with visual hallucinations, running through the halls and causing great bedlam.

Additionally, though the alcoholics would sign promissory notes for their hospital bills with the best intentions to make good on their debt, many would begin drinking again and leave the bills unpaid. As a result, the hospital forbade Sister Ignatia from admitting any more drunk men. Fortunately for all of us, she didn’t obey.

In the early 1930s, prior to A.A.´s founding, Sister Ignatia began admitting drunks on the sly and putting them in the gardener’s flower room at the end of the medical wing. She befriended an emergency room doctor who would sign the admission orders and prescribe the treatment.

Often working around the clock, the diminuitive nun would keep the men in the hospital for as many as five days, sometimes physically restraining them through the delirium tremens on days 2 and 3. On days 4 and 5 she would meet with the men and their families to encourage their ncreased devotion to Medallion requiring prayer in the chapel, admission of all sin and a plan for mending broken fences focusing on forgiving those on the other side of the fence. She knew that without forgiveness the men would get angry again and use that as an excuse to drink again.

When the men would leave the hospital, Sister Ignatia would give them a Sacred Heart medallion and extract a promise they would come back to her to return the medallion face to face before drinking again. This is the origin of our tradition of handing out chips or medallions for various lengths of sobriety.

In 1935 Sister Ignatia got an unlikely confidant, Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith, one of the worst "professional" drunks in town. He got medical privileges at St. Thomas and shared with her the new lease on life he had been given by God through a stranger from New York City. She became very interested in this apparent cure for alcoholism, and was particularly pleased to learn the cure´s foundation was spiritual. Sister Ignatia had always known alcoholics needed a more complete and personal relationship with God. She also knew all her efforts alone in the hospital were not enough to bring about true recovery from alcoholism. A piece of the process was missing, and this spiritual awakening could be it.

She began working with Dr. Bob, his wife Annie, and Bill W. to treat alcoholics. Sister Ignatia would admit drunks to the hospital, Dr. Bob would oversee their medical detoxification, Annie would meet with their wives who were often brought to their Ardmore Street home. Every day early recruits would join Bill W. and Dr. Bob at the hospital to meet the new admissions and walk them through the process of recovering from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.

The hospital administrator reluctantly agreed to allow admission of drunks to the hospital again as long as a member of the new recovered alcoholic group "sponsored" each admission, thereby taking responsibility for the hospital bill as well as meeting with the men and their families daily while in the hospital. This is the birth of sponsorship.

In those early days, sponsorship put the responsibility for doing the work on the sponsor rather than on the sponsored. Those early A.A. members understood that without diligently working with others, there could be no ongoing long term recovery. With dedicated and often desperate work, it took 3½ years to see the first 100 alcoholics achieve ongoing recovery. Without hospitalization that involved the interaction and leadership of recovered alcoholics, it likely would have taken longer to launch AA to the world. Remember, to change one thing changes everything.

Read more: http://www.yuccavalleyalanoclub.com/articles.cfm?articleID=1

For more information on Sister Ignatia, see-
Sister Ignatia: Angel of Alcoholics Anonymous
by Mary C Darrah

Release date: August 31, 2001
Sister Mary Ignatia Gavin epitomized the spirit of love, service, and honesty that today are the hallmarks of Alcoholics Anonymous. As a hospital admissions officer in the 1930s in Akron, Ohio, Sr. Ignatia befriended Dr. Bob Smith, co-founder of AA, and courageously arranged for the hospitalization of alcoholics at a time when alcoholism was viewed as a character weakness rather than a disease.

Paperback: 394 pages
Publisher: Hazelden; Second Edition edition (August 31, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1568387466
ISBN-13: 978-1568387468
http://www.amazon.com/Sister-Ignatia-Angel-Alcoholics-Anonymous/dp/15683...

I had no idea how sick this so called fellowship of A.A. is. I will never walk through those doors again. Thanks all!!!

I never had the DT's. I can well imagine what a frightening experience it could be. I did however experience an extremely elevated heart rate during my withdrawals, this is always accompanied by strong feelings of anxiety. It lasts about 2 days. It starts about 12 hours after the last drink, but I learned the hard way that I could avoid this by not stopping drinking abruptly but tapering off.
The 12 step cult targets people for indoctrination during the anxiety phase. We are particularly vulnerable to suggestion at this time. They call this the guilt ,shame and remorse part of the cycle.
It is a cruel,sick and nasty thing to do to anyone.

If you know what I mean.

'I mean, a Saint doesn't care if a crippled person doesn't have a bed to lay in while healing. Well, not unless he was a drunk as well.'

We all know the stepper god, who can be a radiator or a chair or whatever, just loves drunks so much that he works miracles on demand, gives daily work orders and removes their character defects and what not as long as they attend stepper cult mettings/indoctrination sessions weekly. But what about the real God (as opposed to that which bill copied of buchman to intice the bemused into his cult), does the 'real' God love drunks more than people with broken legs? If you think the answer to this question is 'yes', then Sister Ignatia was truly a Saint and you ought to carry on attending stepper cult meetings and regurgitating billshit. If however you answer 'no' to this question (like me and many others), then perhaps it is time to stop wasting your life following the dictates of this cult and find something more constructive to do (like solving a substance misuse problem and moving on with what is next in life)

Powerless over a dead plant indeed LOL pull the other one bill.......its got magic mushrooms on (we all know how you like tripping and fornicatining and getting drunk and conning people an talking to dead middle ages monks amonst other things...a true spiritual leader.....I think not LOL)

When I was 17,a friend who was total alcoholic died froma brain hemmorage when trying to go cold turkey.There was a medical report that withdrawal from alcoholis more dangerous than from heron.There is a greater possibility of death from cold turkey from alcohol than from heron/slang term.
We are seeing the sadistic side of the medical industry.movie stars consistently get enough drugs/ prescription drugs to overdose daily.yet if you are poor=1st the good doctor,then the psychiatrist,then the PAIN MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST.Here in thailand.Pain meds can be bought over the counter.That will probably end as doctors want money same as we all do.
withdrawal should require medications,but they have become sadistic.I was in a car accident 90 degree angle of impact.Because the ambulance driver{who arrived after the accident } was paid by the driver of the car that hit me to say"I saw him walk out of the car and fall down preetending to be hurt!"
When I got to the hopsital =nothing for pain.Days later,i got some percodans.MRI here in thailand shows permanent back/spinal damage.Nerve compression.Even after being admitted to another hospital,once the so-called doctors got the money from my admission.They refused to do a follow up exam.They got what money they wanted :so screw you pal.Refused to release the records to me.Drinking,at the time so the idea that a lawyer could force them to release the records never occurred.
We are still just touching the surface of a conspiracy that is so deep.
Look at the lobbyists for the ALCOHOL INDUSTRY.Where are the advetisements from NIH warning that alcohol kills.Live free or die--you have good computer education.Look at the cost of alcohol to society.
ie-how much does medicare spend for cirrhosis of the liver.
Now we talk about budget deficits.How many caar accidents are alcohol-related??%60?
How many crimes were committed while drunk %65.Cost of prisons for the alcoholics who have raped,robbed,beaten ,stabbed and killed while drunk??=$$$$ billions and 100's of $$billions.
yet the alcohol lobbyists are so poweerful that while cigs have warnings alcohol does not.
How many casses of child abuse.spousal beatings from alcoholism??Costs$$???
Alcoholism costs society 100s of $billions yearly yet it is still untreated or 'well we ahve 12 steps you know."Jeesus will save you."What about all the movies?We will pay you $1million if your hero drinks {Example only] Smirnoffs Vodka with tonic and to show that he is uppahh class have him add a twist of lime to the vodka.One warrant officer in 1st desert storm was a practising Christian.He did not drink and di not smoke.So one of his men asked him"EXcuse me sir,but are you a queer/a faggot?You do not drink with us and you do not smoke.Are you an f---ing queer."This is what television and the movies teach children.When I first smoked,I puked.but I had to be a real man.So I even held my cigs just like Bogie did.with2 fingers above and 2 below.Real cool.Billions for advertisements.Be a man get drunk.Get laid.
If you drink this brand you will get laid.{f---ed yes but sex w/drunk girl maybe} We are fighting against a mega trillion $$ industry and they have the lawyers/the lobbyists and control of the medical industry.
Real SAINT=PREM RAWAT gives yearly for clean water and has food programs internationally.Without any relgious crap being required as do the so-called christstains.here inThailand--well if you will renounce Buddha then we will give you food and help you.But if you are going to keep worshipping that Buddha then DIE DIE DIE.Some Christianity .never ever read that in the Christain Bible.But most of them have never and will never red the Bible.Just all talk.
Better to light one CANDLE than to curse the darkness.