Hi,

Something has been going around in my head.  In the aca big red book it reads, " Many adult children find ACA and begin recovery.  A few seem to do well only to act out in addictions such as drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, or compulsive spending.  Many of these addictions have been called secondary addictions that emerge as we address our shame and abandonment.  Our primary addiction is fear, excitement, and pain in the form of para-alcoholism.  Within every para-alcoholic (codependent) is an inside "drug store."  We actually can get high or get a "fix" from fear and excitement.  With pain, it is a similar experience even though we don't usually enjoy the "high" brought by pain."  

From my own experience I have found this to be true.  After being in recovery for 1-2yrs, I found the connection with myself and food.  It's not that I overeat, more so certain foods bring about a craving to have more of it at my next meal.  Hence I follow a candida free plan.  Then after participating in the overeaters anon group for a year I began realising how codependent I was.  Fortunately this site has a forum for it.   Now I'm working an adult children, al-anon, overeaters anon and codependent programs all at the same time.( Actually I've found I need different ones at different times).  In the big red book of acoa, it mentioned to progress with the adult children program, the secondary addictions need to be under control.  Which does make sense.

I guess my question is - Have any of you found addictions that became apparent after you started your recovery program?

For myself, it's been a real journey to find all of these things.  Here's another thought that just popped in, Are we really any different from other addicts e.g drug, alcoholics?  

Kind Regards,

Tracey