Quiting Drinking Without Quitting Drinking?

Many adult drinkers after losing their jobs, marriages and drivers licenses are faced with the disturbing news: they will never drink again. They have an "allergy" to alcohol that makes them lose wallets and contact lenses, knee-walk (usually to the toilet), sideswipe cars and break out in handcuffs.

They have tried drinking alcohol-free beer with anti-anxiety pills, and they are allergic to that too.

Is there a way to take the edge off without losing your car, reputation and self-respect? Here are some possibilities from the herb kingdom.

Kava Kava
This herb is "popular in Pacific Island celebrations" for a reason! Put it in a bar and you'll swear it's Kahlua with a more acrid taste. One woman says when she discovered Kava Kava in a syrup form, a little pricey at $30 for 8 ounces, she no longer missed John Barleycorn. But after three days she wanted two bottles -- sound familiar? -- and pretty soon she was putting it in her morning coffee. Then she was dialing old boyfriends, all of them, under the influence (dialing while intoxicated (DWI) and digging out oldie records to cry over. When Kava Kava was found to cause liver damage she was almost glad she had to give it up. (Something she was getting good at.)

Hops
Most drinkers are inclined to like hops because they share many of the same friends. Unlike Kava Kava, hops is safe and cheap and comes in an easy to swallow capsule. It helps sleep, quiets nerves and halts anxiety attacks of the I-know-my-heart-is-healthy-but-that-sure-feels-like-chest-pains variety. Like alcohol, hops, a component in beer, works within seconds and quits working in a few hours, sometimes causing rebound nerves at 2:00 AM. Also, like alcohol, you can build up a tolerance to hops and need more to get the same result. Or not even get the same result....

Fenugreek
This odorific yellow powder from India has been called an aphrodisiac. But it doesn't work on command and needs to be taken for several days to reach an active level in your blood stream. Fenugreek can produce an alcohol-like insouciance in which you don't worry about a review at work, meeting with your tax adviser or a pending root canal. But it can also produce an alcohol-like inertia, making you sleepy (like chamomile, another herb tranquillizer) or dumb. My password? I used to know that. It can take a few days to leave your system, too.

Skullcap
Skullcap will never be a favorite with the street drug circuit. It takes too long to work, one to two hours, and doesn't make you feel laid back, high or loopy. However, skullcap is unsurpassed for a good night's sleep -- a crying need for anyone who has parted ways with alcohol. Unlike sleep preparations that are known to make people raid the refrigerator or drive in a blackout -- like the granddaddy of sleep preps, alcohol! -- skullcap won't over sedate you or produce new and unwelcome personalities. The best part about skullcap you won't develop an addiction like other substances we know. Cheers.

ENDS

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