Prescription for Alcoholics

"Paradoxical causal loops are the ultimate mind-bending concept of systems thinking,

where the cause becomes the effect and the effect becomes the cause."

- Donella Meadows

“Take your medicine!” was a nagging command we all hated as kids. But for alcoholics this sounds like the world’s nicest invitation.

The only proven *medication known to give instant relief from the ever-present and nagging symptoms of alcoholism is alcohol. A catch-22 of potentially deadly proportions.

A Type 2 Diabetic can die if they stop taking insulin. Same goes for a chronic late-stage alcoholic that might quit their respective *medication cold-turkey.

Upon being **diagnosed positive for alcoholism, the best recommended prescription is a daily dose of zero of its *medication.

This reminds me of a childhood memory.

My friends and I built a half-pipe in the woods during our teens to skateboard on. We lived on the thing. And in those woods, throughout those years, I got poison ivy countless times.

It itched like crazy. Like mosquito bites on steroids that never quit. But sometimes it felt almost worth having it. Because scratching the itches did more than just satisfy the itch. It could actually feel good. Amazing even.

From all the scratching, the rashes would open up causing them to spread. Causing my poison ivy to further inflame and spread over more of my skin. I’d continue scratching to satisfy the growing surface area of rashes, further spreading it. Scratching. Felt. So. Good.

With each case, once it had spread all the way out of control, the only solution was to totally stop scratching. The itching nagged and persisted like pure hell on Earth. Felt impossible not to scratch.

One key point where this comparison ends though is, poison ivy contains zero chemically addictive substances.

Call alcoholism what you want. But be it just a plain old nasty habit or a full-blown disease, it’s ultra-paradoxical.

“Addiction is a progressive narrowing of the things that bring you pleasure.”

- Andrew Huberman, Ph.D.

At a glance, the term ‘dopamine’ can sound like a drug reference because the 1st syllable is pronounced ‘dope’. Dopamine’s actually a natural chemical produced and dispensed in the brain. It’s what regulates our senses of pain vs pleasure, and motivation vs reward.

The brain produces it on an ongoing persistent basis. The goal to always remain at the same ambient baseline level.

Like an air conditioner that’s always set at the same, say, 73 degrees. Whenever your brain’s baseline dopamine level is at 73 degrees, that’s when you feel ‘normal’.

Seventy-three degrees is your ‘normal self’. Your brain throttles its dopamine production as needed. Always aimed at its normal baseline level.

Like if it’s hot outside and the house gets up to 74, your AC kicks into full gear until it returns to 73. Once back to the normal ambient 73, your AC then stops pumping. Only kicking back on each time it goes back above 73.

Alcoholism is a broken AC. Whenever your brain’s ambient dopamine level is off balance, your AC fails to kick into gear. It will not naturally return you back to your normal 73 degrees.

Alcoholism is a dopamine deficiency. A deficiency in your brain’s natural dopamine production. Caused by over exposure to alcohol.

And paradoxically, the only proven *medication for it is alcohol itself. It is the only proven thing able to reliably, instantly and predictably return your deficient dopamine level back up to your baseline. Back to your normal 73-degree self.

What’s the purpose of dopamine in the first place? Evolutionarily speaking, it’s about survival.

Dopamine production and regulation is a highly evolved autonomic nervous system function that writes out the map of your entire sense of motivation. That continues to be written in real time and throughout your entire life.

Adding road markers that help you steer clear of danger (avoiding pain). And providing you turn by turn directions towards success (attaining pleasure).

These road markers (for avoiding danger) and turn by turn directions (towards success) are all written into the brain, by dopamine spikes.

Every pleasurable experience, from getting an A on a test to being complimented on your weight loss, causes a brain rush. A surge of dopamine that burns a data point into your map that says, 'I need to start taking this route more in the future'.

And every painful experience, from getting a speeding ticket to being fired for arriving late to work one too many times, causes a brain rush. Burning a data point into your map of, 'Remind me to avoid this way here again in the future'.

These road markers and turn-by-turn directions are automatically encoded into the brain with each pleasurable or painful experience. Telling you what’s likely expected, good or bad, from any upcoming possible future destination.

Your map of the world that optimizes your avoid-pain and attain-pleasure motivations (instincts) to be most fit for survival.

Alcoholism’s a broken mapping system. Broken by overexposure to alcohol, that gave you a much too abundant and easily begotten artificial supply of dopamine.

Each spike of dopamine a thumbtack outlining what looks like a very helpful shortcut on your map. But the shortcuts are actually short circuits.

And paradoxically; without the very *medication that caused your motivational system’s mapping bugs in the first place, you feel nothing but car sick and lost.

Alcoholism’s a deficiency of native dopamine production. And it arrests one’s entire healthy sense of motivation versus reward.

The best prescription for the treatment of the alcoholism is one dose of daily abstinence from its one and only proven *medication known to instantly relieve its symptoms, alcohol.

Over time your brain’s native dopamine production levels will return to its natural born ambient state of 73 degrees, and your navigational system will become debugged.

The duration, frequency, and daily dosage of your active usage of your substance of addiction will dictate how much time it will take you to return to “normal”.

For context. I am 52 years old, as of this writing on 11-8-25. Was an active alcoholic for at least 25 years. Chronically for the last 6 of these 25. And am currently 4 years, 1 month, 2 weeks, and 2 days free from alcohol (so far, as of 11-8-25).

I only started to start feeling like my “normal” self about a year ago, around 3 years after I stopped drinking.

The first three ingredients are time, time and time.

In addition to time, hobbies and exercise that I personally enjoy have been the two most therapeutic things. Specifically ones that require my intense focus or effort. Because things that require intense focus and effort drive the process of neuroplasticity.

Which in this case here was the redrawing of my brain’s healthy motivation and reward maps. And resetting my brain’s native dopamine production levels back to its original and “normal” (73 degree) factory-settings.

Neuroplasticity got you into this mess, and it didn’t happen overnight. It took years of preoccupied focus. It took years of tireless effort of always making sure to never not have your *medication around.

Likewise, neuroplasticity will get you out of this mess. Over time. Which yes, will take longer than you wish. And given that you stick to the prescription.

*medication

• Warning - Even though alcohol is the only known provider of instant, reliable, and predictable therapeutic results against the ever-present nagging and even possibly dangerous symptoms of alcoholism. Alcohol simultaneously makes the underlying disease itself worse. Because the body builds a tolerance to this *medication, requiring even higher doses of it over time to ward off the symptoms. Which may cause death due to related diseases (such as liver failure) due to prolonged continual usage, or even possible overdose.

• Directions (dosage) - Take not one daily.

**diagnosis

• Diagnosing alcoholism is a very soft science at best. There are no surefire objective methods known to man, such as blood-tests or throat-cultures.

• The diagnostic process is limited to pure subjective judgement and opinion.

• No matter how alcoholic your loved ones, doctor, therapist, or even the court system argue to you that you are; without self-diagnosing yourself as such, there will be no hope in taking any level of control over the disease.