Comments on: Interview with Dr. Petros Levounis, addiction and alcohol expert

By: drinkingtodistraction

drinkingtodistraction — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 23:52:15 +0000

Dear Richard. I apologize but I do not know the answer to your question. I would imagine there are anti-spasm drugs that could be prescribed by a physician as well as some non-pharmacologic approaches, which might include complementary and alternative therapies. But I am not in a position to advise you on this subject. I wish you the best and thank you for reading.

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 20:26:28 +0000

The great Irish novelist Brendan Behan claimed that he had epileptomy and that if he didn’t drink 4 grains of alcohol a day he would die.

I was born with Cerebral Palsy, a spastic condition, and 2 drinks of alcohol greatly relieve my spasms.

Is there an alternative to alcohol?

Thank you immensely

By: How Much Is Too Much? « Drinking to Distraction

How Much Is Too Much? « Drinking to Distraction — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:24:45 +0000

[...] like this, it was time to take a very honest look at myself and consider making a major change. As Petros Levounis pointed [...]

By: drinkingtodistraction

drinkingtodistraction — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:10:05 +0000

Totally! I know the deeper I got, the more I clung to the idea that as long as I was drinking good wine (ie, expensive wine), I didn’t have a problem!

By: Wendy

Wendy — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:08:02 +0000

I look forward to the post. Regarding how people hardly complain about the price of alcohol (at least not like they complain about cigarettes), I’m thinking it might be a symbol of social status in certain circles (where alcoholism happens to be quietly prevalent…)

Here’s the article:

http://247wallst.com/2011/02/24/ten-things-americans-waste-the-most-money-on

Notice that #4 is “pets.” Uh oh

By: drinkingtodistraction

drinkingtodistraction — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:32:05 +0000

Thanks, Wendy. I’ll check out that article. Kudos to your dad, for health and financial reasons! Meanwhile, I can’t tell you how much money I’ve been able to save from not buying booze – this will be the topic of an upcoming post!

By: Wendy

Wendy — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 05:31:32 +0000

Great interview. I like how Dr. Levounis compared alcohol with cigarette smoking—both are drugs that are not only legal and socially acceptable, but also expensive. In the recent article “Things Americans Waste The Most Money On” by 24/7 Wall Street, #9 is tobacco and #7 is alcohol. My dad quit smoking ~20 years ago, and he recently told me that if he didn’t quit back then, he would now just because it got so expensive! Strange, though, how I never hear anyone complain about the price of alcohol—I wonder why?

By: drinkingtodistraction

drinkingtodistraction — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:54:29 +0000

Thank you, Angie. I love that he acknowledges how different the expressions of alcoholism can be – that there is no one disease and no one “right” treatment. Definitely check out his blog. He seems to make the most sense to me as I explore this territory. Thanks for your comment!!

By: Angie

Angie — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:53:03 +0000

Wow, that was incredibly enlightening. I love what he said about addiction: the problem seems to be when you aren’t on it, rather than when you are. Distortion seems to be part of the disease. And defining alcoholism as chronic relapsing makes a lot of sense to me. Long before I went to AA, twenty years in fact, I would quit drinking and drink. The quitting kind of seemed like I restarted the length of time of drinking. Seeking recovery through the fellowship of AA has helped me see my drinking in a twenty year trajectory rather than since I started again. And see myself as a relapser. And most importantly, see myself as an alcoholic instead of someone with a complicated relationship with alcohol. Thank you, Dr. Levounis. And thank you, JH, for this.