I had an idea when I was reading this thread.
I've been really affected by not only the behavior of the alcoholics in my life, but by the behavior of their "codependents". I've felt the pain and rage when the codependent ignores loved ones (me!) while obsessing over the alcoholic. In one of the situations, the codependent explained things and apologized. It really meant a lot to me. This disease has such long nasty disgusting tentacles - spreading sickness all over relationships. Yuck!
Anyway, you said that you let your relationships fall by the wayside, I recognized myself there, so I wanted to share. In my case, knowing the real situation was a good thing.
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