donnyf76

I drank heavily for about 10 years until 12 years ago. Then the little "pressure in the side" and other symptoms (itching primarily) gave me a real health scare. Went through scores of tests, and doc diagnosed me with fatty liver. He didn't think it was the alcohol, but I knew better.

Scared me straight for 10 years. From someone who was drinking a 12 pack a day, I went to zero with the exception of a couple times a year I'd have beer when I went camping. That was it. I felt better, and unless I gained weight quickly (without alcohol consumption), I had no symptoms.

Two years ago, I started slowly back up. Within a year I was back to daily drinking (almost) 6 a day or so. Fast forward to recently, and I was back to 12 plus a day. Been there for about 6 months now. About a month ago after probably my worst night of drinking ever, I got a lot of pressure in the abdomen. Uncomfortable to sit in the car. I stopped for a while and it went away, as did the overall body itching. I knew what I was doing, but was having a rough time in my personal and work life (tons of stress), and kept telling myself for the last 6 months "what's one more day gonna do? Tomorrow, tomorrow I stop". I didn't.

A few months ago, I started getting comments like "you always look like you just got a tan". Hmm, ok. I figured it was after a night of heavy drinking and nothing permanent. Recently, a friend said "crap man, why is your face so red?!!!" and was laughing at me. It was really red that day due to an extra heavy episode the previous nite. A couple weeks later I asked him, and he said "yeah, still red, but not so bad". Another co-worker who's known me for 15 years said today "are you okay, why is your face red". I told her I was fine, had just been out in the sun and cold a lot over the weekend. Later, and she asked if I had high blood pressure. Had told her it was a little high, but I've been under a lot of stress. She hugged me and made me promise to take better care of myself. I'm sure she knows what's going on.

I see my face and I'm humiliated. It doesn't look right. Not obviously puffy, but I know it should look slimmer than it does at my present weight. I see pictures, and I'm amazed at how red the flash makes my face look. I look in the mirror under most lighting conditions, and I'm shocked.

I stopped drinking last week, but it's still there. Not as bad, but it's there. Sometimes worse than others. I can see more spider veins in my face now as well. Had a few from my previous drinking. They never got worse, but they never went away either. Where they were previously along side my nose, now I've got them on the cheeks.

Up until a few months ago, nobody ever mentioned it, and I never noticed the red face (unless I had taken a viagra, which is a normal reaction).

How long does it take for this overall redness to go away. It's my entire face. Cheeks, forehead, etc. I'm so concerned this may take many months, years, or it may never go away.

Any experiences with this? Is there hope? How long do I have to wear this badge of shame?