I think of alcoholism as a three fold illness, spiritual, mental and physical. I was physically badly damaged with malnutrition. My stomach was wrecked, and it took a few weeks to be able to feel ok in that sense. Mentally I was even worse, lost the power to think, I often say my IQ was down around my shoe size. Tiny problems became major, simple decisions like what socks to wear were very difficult to make. That took much longer. I improved over time, and was soon able to hold down quite a good job, but I was still miles behind the eight ball when it came to emotional sobriety.
The spiritual element was another factor. I was very sick in that department. It manifested whenever I was sober in feelings of fear, dread, resentment and unhappiness. Being sober was more miserable than drinking as far as I could see.
Strangely enough, aside from a little support which did not include medication, from my doctor, I got busy in AA and treated the spiritual element first.
As I made progress in that area, I came right pyhsically and mentally over time. The important thing was that I learned how to live in a way that didn't set me up to drink, and that bought me the time to recover physically and mentally.