KIR, yes, Toots nailed it. For a really quick version:
I started drinking when I was 20 and when I was 21 I drank til I passed out at weekend poker parties - I didn't drink during the week. I easily stopped drinking when I was trying to get pregnant at 27 and stayed sober for about 5 years. I started and stopped a couple more times. When I stopped before those 13 sober years, I had no withdrawal problems and I found stopping easy.
This last time I started about a year after gastric bypass. A single glass of wine did it. I didn't get the AV monkey off my back for 3 years. Nightmare. I have no family history of alcoholism but I do have a history of severe trauma at a very young age. I drank to blot out the world. I cannot moderate. I am now 71 with a liver that's not in great shape. It had reached the next to final stage of cirrhosis before gastric bypass. My liver is now almost normal but I will always be at high risk for liver cancer. I have screenings twice a year. So if I were to start again, the odds are against my surviving very long. There are other physical effects that can be equally bad that I have no wish to experience.
The good news is that our bodies have an amazing ability to recover -- until we are past the point of no return. At my age, that probability was becoming downright scary.
Oops, that got longer than I intended! I'm actually not trying to scare anyone ... merely point out some realities that I had never been aware of when I was younger and feeling invincible and immortal. I wish I had known more.
I know with certainty that if I want to be around to enjoy this life, it can only be as a sober person. So I will do whatever it takes with no complaints.
ok, sermon over
