auroraxborealis

Was just wondering if broken capillaries can be used to estimate how long someone has been drinking?

I saw my ex today, and he had them on the side of his nose, near his cheek. I don't remember ever seeing them before. He's been out of treatment since the beginning of November, 2014. He lives in a HWH, so cannot spend his days drinking, but I suspect that's what he does on pass.

AnvilheadII

ok, first....he is your EX.

the facial things you see may be due to a lot of things. good punch in the face, stepping on a rake, etc.

gotta ask you.....what does ANY of this have t do with YOU and your life?

auroraxborealis

Yeah, I KNOW. I just noticed and was wondering.

jjj111

Aurora, I can only imagine how hard it must be to get over someone you still see regularly and whose family you're still deeply involved with. I think I would find it pretty impossible to move on and stop being wrapped up in worrying about the AXBF if I were in that situation.

auroraxborealis

Yeah it is. Thanks.

Just a question. I know some of you have followed my posts, and I do appreciate and value anyone's input.

With that said, I was sincerely asking if that is an indication of a drinker's timeline.

Sounds like no, according to Anvil, but since I don't know many people who heavily drink (and only drink) I just don't know the answer.

And none of it is my business. I know.

jjj111

I'm sorry I wasn't able to answer the capillaries question. I'm guessing at this point you've been on here long enough to know how it goes, though. We do tend to push each other to take our focus off the A's and onto ourselves. What are you hoping to get from an answer to this capillary question? Are you trying to figure out whether he's been drinking in his time off from the HWH? What would you do with that info, and what would it mean to you? Are there things in your own life that you could focus on fixing with this energy you're using up worrying about him? I don't mean to give you a hard time, but I think these might be questions worth asking yourself?

auroraxborealis

What are you hoping to get from an answer to this capillary question?
I was surprised to see them. I want to know if that is something that can happen in a short amount of time with a non-daily drinker.

Are you trying to figure out whether he's been drinking in his time off from the HWH?
I know he's been drinking. I wanted to know if broken capillaries could be visible that quickly.

What would you do with that info, and what would it mean to you?
Nothing. I was curious. This is a forum for F&F of Alcoholics. I normally post in F&F of Substance Abusers. I came here because, as F&FoA, I thought I might get an answer. Or, if it's something that depends on the person, or if it's not an indication at all.

Are there things in your own life that you could focus on fixing with this energy you're using up worrying about him?
I work full-time, go to school, and I now have a counselor. I am working on myself.


I just wanted to know. I was surprised to see them, and didn't know if that was something that could happen so soon, or if has nothing to do with anything.

LexieCat

If you google "broken capillaries on face" you will see that there are many causes, and excessive alcohol consumption is only one of them. You're making an assumption, which might or might not be correct--that this is a sign of progression of his drinking. It could be that the effects have simply caught up with him (at least as far as that's concerned) or it might be totally (or mostly) unrelated.

BunnyNest

Take care of you!

In my loved one, those broken capillaries were spider angioma, due to advanced liver disease. They went away after a liver transplant.

FireSprite

I think you'd need to see him more often to see whether they fade or continually recur/never fade at all. I get broken capillaries on my face (sensitive skin) just from using too harsh of a cleanser/facial product, but they heal pretty quickly.

redatlanta

Could be a myriad of reasons. Yes they happen with alcoholism, but they also happen with age, or from excessive exposure to the sun (burns in childhood could result in broken capillaries many years later).

I don't believe broken capillaries can be equated to a tree ring in counting the years of alcohol abuse, or indicate current use. I have some around my nose and I am not alcoholic. My husband is an RAH and was a long time A and has none. Go figure.

theuncertainty

There really is no way to know. As others mention it could be caused by any number of things. If I remember, you're in Fbx, right, Aurora? Extreme ranges of temperature (like going from outside at -50 to inside at 70-80) could be one possible cause.

It's hard. For a while I know I really wanted confirmation about how long AXH had been drinking. He told stories of 'emptying' the leftover drinks at his parent's parties when he was in grade school; of going to Europe for a school trip in high school and taking advantage of the lower age limit for drinking there. He told the judge in our divorce he didn't start drinking until he was 21. Who knows. I lean towards the grade school party cleaning-up story, but as with anything else, it could have been just that, too: a story.

The short of it is, it doesn't really matter when he started. At least not for me. Not for DS. What matters is that he's not addressing the issue now.

auroraxborealis

I'm in South Central--Hello fellow Alaskan!

Yeah, I know it can be caused by other things as well, but I didn't know if it was typically associated with drinking (or if it's hit or miss), and if it was a time indicator. Burning when you pee can be associated with a lot of things too, but is often a sure-fire sign of a UTI or STI.

I'm not looking for confirmation. I'm not trying to play detective and map out what he does in his free time by analyzing his skin. I know he's drinking, I know he's not going to meetings, and I know doesn't have a sponsor. I also KNOW that none of those things is my business.

Sorry to have gotten defensive here, but this was the first time I've felt this way on SR to where it seems no one wanted to answer my question simply because it's about someone else. I wouldn't think it would be something that happened after a weekend at the bars, but didn't know if it was something that happened after YEARS.

On a similar note, I have a friend who recently went on a meth binge and I was surprised how quickly he had marks all over his face (not like the "Faces of Meth" billboards, but as if he spent a serious amount of time in the mirror picking at pimples.) Much like the capillaries, that was something I thought typically happened after long-term use--not after a couple weeks.

But thanks to those who have answered. It appears that 1) they are not always associated with drinking, and 2) cannot be used to "gauge" the length of use. That's all I wanted to know.

theuncertainty

I must have confused you with another SR member. Sorry about that! South central area here as well.

auroraxborealis

I'm always surprised when I see another Alaskan on here!

LexieCat

Can you see Russia from there?

auroraxborealis

If I squint!