Although alcohol can help a good time it has to be remembered that it is a drug, arguably the easiest one to abuse. I’ve read that if it was a new product on the market and not something used for centuries it would be classified as a Class A due to the damage it can do to self and wider society. On a personal level it has affected my family quite badly. My aunt was alcoholic, I’d say my sister is a functioning alcoholic although she’d strongly deny it. My uncle was an alcoholic to the point it killed him, his body being found in his flat five days after he died. He was a wonderful human being but his demons meant he found solace in a bottle and it prematurely took him. After my stepdad died I too began to drink way too much vodka as a way to numb the loss of my best friend. After a downward turn in my mental health in February I decided to stop drinking it and now have no desire to drink it again. I still have a couple of bottles of beer on a Friday and Saturday night but that’s it. Feel so much better for it.
@stoneroses19 well done mate, long may your sobriety continue.
Never heard of the specific condition but such a sad story.
Alchohol was a big part of my life since being a teenager but i can safely say the thought of it now, the after effects and the problems it has caused me subsequently, makes me naucious.
Gave up in 2013, have a glass of fizz at Christmas dinner to be social but that's it.
I have no explanation as to how or why my craving just ended like it did. I did go through a prolonged period of mental health issues, business failure and marital collapse, but came out of that a changed man and someone who did not need the buzz of an alchohol fix. You would of thought all that shit would of sent me under.
My heart bleeds for anyone who has any substance dependancy and i wish them well.
Eating and drinking in moderation. This is important. I was not very well in August and my diet has changed dramatically to the point of having lost around 35lbs since(fortunately not £35). I have drunk only once since, and only had a leisurely and very enjoyable 3 pints. I have no intention of going back to the old days of getting hammered on a Saturday and downing around 10 pints, although I cannot say I will NEVER do this. Unfortunately all this is easier said than done and takes a lot of strength and willpower. I still go down the road of sympathy for alcoholics and other addicts, none of us want to be in this situation. Get well soon Kenny.
Eating and drinking in moderation. This is important. I was not very well in August and my diet has changed dramatically to the point of having lost around 35lbs since(fortunately not £35). I have drunk only once since, and only had a leisurely and very enjoyable 3 pints. I have no intention of going back to the old days of getting hammered on a Saturday and downing around 10 pints, although I cannot say I will NEVER do this. Unfortunately all this is easier said than done and takes a lot of strength and willpower. I still go down the road of sympathy for alcoholics and other addicts, none of us want to be in this situation. Get well soon Kenny.
I worked with a number of alcoholics in hospital and they all said it was hard to understand unless you had an addictive personality. All addictions are hard to beat and I've seen the strength required.
Eating and drinking in moderation. This is important. I was not very well in August and my diet has changed dramatically to the point of having lost around 35lbs since(fortunately not £35). I have drunk only once since, and only had a leisurely and very enjoyable 3 pints. I have no intention of going back to the old days of getting hammered on a Saturday and downing around 10 pints, although I cannot say I will NEVER do this. Unfortunately all this is easier said than done and takes a lot of strength and willpower. I still go down the road of sympathy for alcoholics and other addicts, none of us want to be in this situation. Get well soon Kenny.
I worked with a number of alcoholics in hospital and they all said it was hard to understand unless you had an addictive personality. All addictions are hard to beat and I've seen the strength required.
I hope Kenny gets better.
Too many people write off alcoholics, the homeless etc without knowing the reasons why.
Eating and drinking in moderation. This is important. I was not very well in August and my diet has changed dramatically to the point of having lost around 35lbs since(fortunately not £35). I have drunk only once since, and only had a leisurely and very enjoyable 3 pints. I have no intention of going back to the old days of getting hammered on a Saturday and downing around 10 pints, although I cannot say I will NEVER do this. Unfortunately all this is easier said than done and takes a lot of strength and willpower. I still go down the road of sympathy for alcoholics and other addicts, none of us want to be in this situation. Get well soon Kenny.
I worked with a number of alcoholics in hospital and they all said it was hard to understand unless you had an addictive personality. All addictions are hard to beat and I've seen the strength required.
I hope Kenny gets better.
Too many people write off alcoholics, the homeless etc without knowing the reasons why.
We had a lot of addicts, alcoholics and homeless on the wards in the hospitals where I worked - some of their stories were difficult to hear. It taught me to be more compassionate and less judgmental. It's far too easy to dismiss people.
It takes an awful lot of guts sometimes for people to ask for help!
Although alcohol can help a good time it has to be remembered that it is a drug, arguably the easiest one to abuse. I’ve read that if it was a new product on the market and not something used for centuries it would be classified as a Class A due to the damage it can do to self and wider society. On a personal level it has affected my family quite badly. My aunt was alcoholic, I’d say my sister is a functioning alcoholic although she’d strongly deny it. My uncle was an alcoholic to the point it killed him, his body being found in his flat five days after he died. He was a wonderful human being but his demons meant he found solace in a bottle and it prematurely took him. After my stepdad died I too began to drink way too much vodka as a way to numb the loss of my best friend. After a downward turn in my mental health in February I decided to stop drinking it and now have no desire to drink it again. I still have a couple of bottles of beer on a Friday and Saturday night but that’s it. Feel so much better for it.
@stoneroses19 well done mate, long may your sobriety continue.
Admire you for stopping drinking earlier in the year @AddickUpNorth After the number of family members so closely affected by alcohol, most of us would certainly understand if you’d continued on that type of road.
Knowing and controlling when to stop at a couple of weekend beers is a stronger character than a lot of people realise. It’s certainly not as easy as when people talk about alcoholics and say “why don’t they just stop” and “don’t they realise they’ve had enough tonight”.
Eating and drinking in moderation. This is important. I was not very well in August and my diet has changed dramatically to the point of having lost around 35lbs since(fortunately not £35). I have drunk only once since, and only had a leisurely and very enjoyable 3 pints. I have no intention of going back to the old days of getting hammered on a Saturday and downing around 10 pints, although I cannot say I will NEVER do this. Unfortunately all this is easier said than done and takes a lot of strength and willpower. I still go down the road of sympathy for alcoholics and other addicts, none of us want to be in this situation. Get well soon Kenny.
I worked with a number of alcoholics in hospital and they all said it was hard to understand unless you had an addictive personality. All addictions are hard to beat and I've seen the strength required.
I hope Kenny gets better.
Too many people write off alcoholics, the homeless etc without knowing the reasons why.
We had a lot of addicts, alcoholics and homeless on the wards in the hospitals where I worked - some of their stories were difficult to hear. It taught me to be more compassionate and less judgmental. It's far too easy to dismiss people.
It takes an awful lot of guts sometimes for people to ask for help!
Too many see asking for help as a weakness, that is wrong. It is the opposite in my opinion.
Not sure if I do have a strong character @stoneroses19 but thank you for saying so. As I said my vodka habit was strongly increasing from 3 or 4 shots a night in 2014 to the point I was doing maybe 12 to 15 a night for a couple of years from 2018. It wasn’t that I was craving it it just became a habit I slipped into. I was going to bed every night feeling nauseous and it was definitely starting to have an effect on my health and getting going the following day was getting harder. Funny as it seems having a bit of a breakdown was my saviour. I was very lucky to find a counsellor who understood where I was at even when I couldn’t see it and she helped me confront some issues that I hadn’t recognised that I hadn’t been dealing with. Without her I believe I’d still be in the same place. I thought I was different from those close to me whose lives had been blighted by alcohol but that was naive. I definitely had the potential to self destruct.
I absolutely agree that we should treat those with an addiction to any substance with empathy and compassion instead of writing them off as weak and not worth helping. For every addict there’s a story behind the addiction, a reason that they take the path they take. To condemn anyone without understanding is one of the worst things we can do as human beings in my opinion. Walking a mile in someone else’s shoes is something we should all do.
The one thing that I recall from Eric Clapton's rather boring biography was when he stated that his sobriety came first - even before his children.
The statement really made me stop and think, it has stayed with me ever since. It actually makes perfect sense.
The book had detailed (page after page) the level of his alcohol and drug abuse. Clapton was a mess and unable to function. It was only his hard earned sobriety that allowed him to be a proper father, enjoy his kids and life in general. Without his sobriety he had nothing.
Whilst I thoroughly enjoy having a few, I will now look to enjoy a night/day out without getting p*****. Almost all the times I have had problems with relationships/arguments with people, it has almost always been related to drink. That is not good, and will stop.
I definitely drink too much red wine - drink every evening - it’s borderline whether it’s a problem or not - I would like to move to only drinking at W/e’s - I do think it’s in the genes, as my family were big drinkers
In the last few years I have loss a very dear couple who were both heavy drinkers, one had stopped drinking a few years ago, both died of different cancers, both directly affected by heavy drinking. I am not preaching, just making some think twice.
The one thing that I recall from Eric Clapton's rather boring biography was when he stated that his sobriety came first - even before his children.
The statement really made me stop and think, it has stayed with me ever since. It actually makes perfect sense.
The book had detailed (page after page) the level of his alcohol and drug abuse. Clapton was a mess and unable to function. It was only his hard earned sobriety that allowed him to be a proper father, enjoy his kids and life in general. Without his sobriety he had nothing.
I had no idea Clapton had this type of past, but can completely understand his stance on how important his sobriety is in his life.
I don’t have kids or a partner, but with other aspects of life, sobriety is firmly at the top of the tree. I’ve had many awkward work events, where company partners, associates or colleagues have insisted I drink too, and some have called me rude, boring etc for refusing an alcoholic drink.
Comments
@stoneroses19 well done mate, long may your sobriety continue.
Alchohol was a big part of my life since being a teenager but i can safely say the thought of it now, the after effects and the problems it has caused me subsequently, makes me naucious.
Gave up in 2013, have a glass of fizz at Christmas dinner to be social but that's it.
I have no explanation as to how or why my craving just ended like it did. I did go through a prolonged period of mental health issues, business failure and marital collapse, but came out of that a changed man and someone who did not need the buzz of an alchohol fix. You would of thought all that shit would of sent me under.
My heart bleeds for anyone who has any substance dependancy and i wish them well.
I was not very well in August and my diet has changed dramatically to the point of having lost around 35lbs since(fortunately not £35).
I have drunk only once since, and only had a leisurely and very enjoyable 3 pints.
I have no intention of going back to the old days of getting hammered on a Saturday and downing around 10 pints, although I cannot say I will NEVER do this.
Unfortunately all this is easier said than done and takes a lot of strength and willpower.
I still go down the road of sympathy for alcoholics and other addicts, none of us want to be in this situation.
Get well soon Kenny.
I hope Kenny gets better.
It takes an awful lot of guts sometimes for people to ask for help!
I absolutely agree that we should treat those with an addiction to any substance with empathy and compassion instead of writing them off as weak and not worth helping. For every addict there’s a story behind the addiction, a reason that they take the path they take. To condemn anyone without understanding is one of the worst things we can do as human beings in my opinion. Walking a mile in someone else’s shoes is something we should all do.
The statement really made me stop and think, it has stayed with me ever since. It actually makes perfect sense.
The book had detailed (page after page) the level of his alcohol and drug abuse. Clapton was a mess and unable to function. It was only his hard earned sobriety that allowed him to be a proper father, enjoy his kids and life in general. Without his sobriety he had nothing.
Well done @stoneroses19
Almost all the times I have had problems with relationships/arguments with people, it has almost always been related to drink. That is not good, and will stop.