Originally Posted by
Gottalife 
I often read how people stop drinking and lose friends as a result.
I don't get it. Through drinking I lost all my friends. When I stopped they all came back. They almost declared a national holiday, they were so delighted I had finally done something about rejoining the human race. They had been so distressed to watch my decline from a youth with potential to a barely functioning human being.
What kind of friend dumps you for taking the action necessary to save your life?
This has thankfully been my experience too. In addition to the wonderful support you describe, I'd add that I had also isolated so much that a good number of real friends had no clue it had gotten so bad, because I stayed away from them. Thankfully, they were thrilled I came "back" to them.
Often, when people talk about "losing" friends I hear them still trying to having drinking people/places/practices in their lives just like nothing has changed. But for me, everything had changed so it was clear who was a friend and who wasn't, where I needed to be and go, and where I did not.