> There is, it's usually pretty easy to tell the difference. Doubt anyone would mistake them, and I doubt the OP is.
A few months ago a young man (early 20's) came into a shop I sometimes hang out at. "What brought you to town?" "Recovery." He'd been in town for 3 weeks, and sober for 3 weeks and 1 day.
I asked him, "People usually know when their problems when substances started, when did it start for you?"
When he was in 3rd grade his teacher thought he was disruptive. They put him on some kind of medication for "ADHD". He told his parents in 9th grade that he was going to kill himself if they didn't take him off the pills. Soon after discontinuing his "ADHD" medications was when he started experimenting with self-medicating... Tobacco, alcohol, etc.
His latest bender was on alcohol & laughing gas (nitrous oxide [0], for the euphoria).
"Recovery" is good for getting people to feel like failures, so I thought it'd be helpful for putting a different 'frame' on his last 15 years. I told him that he doesn't actually have a substance abuse problem, he's just been exhausted this whole time, and didn't know what to do to help improve his energy levels. I gave a few suggestions for keeping his energy levels up.
Saw him three or four more times over the next 2-3 months, and he was doing much better. I saw him last 2 days before he returned to where he came from. I think he's got a chance this time.
The only thing that fellow could really do for himself was buy some coconut oil. The brains of alcoholics become insulin-resistant and switch to running on acetate, one of the breakdown products of ethanol. The medium-chain-triglycerides in coconut oil provide brain cells with an alternate source of fuel. (I understand that Coconut fatty acids are short enough to be burned without having to go through another step that longer saturated fats [butter, etc] require; I don't remember exactly what that step is.)
I don't think that guy was able to get the coconut oil while at the recovery center. I think giving a more helpful context for viewing his history of addiction was much more helpful than the recommendation for coconut oil.
Another heavy drinker I know does fine while on "vacation", but "stress" in his every day life leads to excess drinking. I have no influence with this one, but I'd try to get him to eat more sweets when in stressful situations - juices/etc. I've heard an old treatment for alcohol withdrawal is to feed them lots of sugar. Here's a random NY Times article that says sugar helps reduce cortisol levels: https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/sugar-as-a-stress-...
IMHO, sugar in juices and other foods is basically fine; starch is 100% glucose and is a greater contributor to excess weight. Lots of caveats with regards to the sugar issue...
I was a heroin addict for 6 years, and have been clean for 5. The sweets thing was very true for most addicts I knew as well as myself: in withdrawals I’d crave sugar something fierce. Gummy bears would temporarily make me feel better. It was interesting.
