Hi. I'm a 51 year old RN w/MD husband living in a very small town. Three years ago I said to myself "screw it", went to my local MD and was admitted to the local hospital (where most everyone knows me) for alcohol withdrawl. Best decision I ever made. I don't use AA (tried but not for me--but did meet half the town there including many professionals).

I have my own program cobbled together by my new psychiatrist and my outpatient counselor. I have many, many good days and an occassional bad day. I do take antidepressents (Lexapro 30mg/day).

I have 4 children 20, 19, 17 and 15 and they occassionally remind me how much I have changed for the better over the past years. Life is good.

jane

Wow! it's grand to see we have
several new members sharing.

:funjump:

Welcome to our SR Alcoholism Forum!

Time Line for me....

I was 53 when I finally quit drinking....started AA at 48.
I drank socially for many years without problems.
I consider I drank alcoholically for 5 years.

My alcoholism centered on my brain and depression resulted.
By 3 months of sobriety...and without med's
my depression vanished and has not returned.

Yes...I do have 3 chronic physical diseases.
None of whitch I would have had until sobriety.

You see....I would have died from alcoholism first.
:(

I expect to be 72 in a few months.

Texas,
What type of health problems from drinking do you think you have? By the way, my story sounds exactly like yours. I'm so glad you posted.

Don't let the name fool ya i am in my 40's 20+ yrs of drinking and such, which i guess leaves me with the maturity of a teen ?? Anyways, are you afraid you will lose your job if people know about your sickness ? Or are there other reasons you do not want to be out in the open about your disease? Battled the same thing ,but i needed help more than i needed to hide.
5 days truly sober here God Bless, John

Hi Tex,

Started at around 12, got sober at around 27 with AA and stayed sober 5+ years.

Then I started drinking again and for the next 13 years or so, if I wasn't half drunk I was half sober! Was pretty miserable too...

Welcome, and many of us are around your age although it is wonderful to see younger people getting sober.

and from the literature of AA:

Anonyminity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions...

They call it Alcoholics "Anonymous" for a reason!

Ted

My sponsor says 40- something is the magic age. It seems to be when a lot of people get sick and tired.

But yeah, 43 here. 10 years after 5 yerars sobriety. The lase 2-3 were 24 x 7 wioth wothdraws if i didn't keep booze in my system.

Welcome. Stick around, and listen to the good advice there is here.

Hi drunkntexas, its great to see new members to SR, I find it very helpful. I worried before I came on here that I'd be the oldest person here, but obviously I'm not. I'm 51 with over 30 yrs experience of alcoholism - some of it drinking, some not, but mostly drinking. As has been said here, some of the wisest posts here come from the youngest. I've been to AA some years ago and learnt quite a bit about alcoholism, although the best thing for me at the time was to realise that I wasn't alone. I don't use AA now, I'm finding this site useful enough (so far), it offers pertinent information and shares experiences. I think its great. Hope you keep posting and find a recovery path that works for you.

Hi Tex...welcome to SR, this is a great place to be!!! I am 42 years old, started drinking at 15, was a stone cold alcoholic by 16.....I have been Sober a little over 13 years...HA, no one thought I would live to see 30!!!! Look at me, in my 40s, sober and loving life!!!

Cathy

Texas, I am in the same age category as you and have drank pretty much daily for at least 20 years. A few weeks ago I said no more, and was able to stop cold turkey without any real problems. (except for a recent transgression while returning from a business trip - didn't get drunk, however)

Sleep is much better now only with bizarre, vivid dreams. And I feel a little better, even though I may be gaining weight by substituting ice cream for wine.

Give it (no more drinking) a try. AA or detox are options even though difficult....

Tex I drank for 40 years, I probably was drinking alcoholicly for 35 years, the last 5 years I had to drink every day, there was no choice, many of the "I will never drink while (Put what ever it is here)" began to happen. I was 52 when I put myself into detox and from there straight into AA.

In AA I have meet doctors, lawyers, a retired minister, and even a judge! You say you have a fear of someone finding out you went to AA, well ask your self this question:

Would I rather have a doctor perform surgery on me that I had seen drunk in a bar or a doctor I had seen in an AA meeting?

AA stands for Alcoholics Anonymous, do not let the fact that a fellow recovering alcoholic may know you stop you from your own recovery.

AA is not the only path to recovery, but it is the only one that worked for this old drunk along with more alcoholics then all other methods combined in history.

Hi DrunknTexas,

I quit at 40 (after fiddling around with AA for a couple of years prior) and starting going in earnest. Interesting that CarolD says it takes about 3 months for the depression to lift; I find that about right.

However, after 2 weeks sober one usually stops thinking about alcohol. A great gift. I am 62 and had (since 40) about 20 years not drinking and about 2 either being on the fence or being "out there". I can tell you that it gets much worse the older you get. I quit again some time back, but I just moved and strangely, although this is a much smaller town than NYC, I have hesitated to go back to AA. But I miss the people. Truly, I would have to say my best and most interesting friends I met via "the program" or through people thus connected.

For about 7 years I also lived in a small village in upstate NY and one of our most steadfast members was the High School Principle. He never mentioned AA publicly (one is not supposed to) but many of the people at the meetings had their children at his school. It worked fine for all.

In NY you meet so many hi-profile people that sometimes it seems that everyone who is anyone is in AA.

Finally, I had to start using another program: REBT (Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy) via SMART (which is the part devoted to alcohol). It answered a lot of deeper issues in my life which kept me going back to drinking. www.SMARTrecovery.org-at least I think that is the site. I printed out so much of the stuff that I don't go to the site anymore.

AA is a good start, and especially in smaller communities, I think people are VERY CAREFUL about anonymity. There's always some jerk who feels compelled to give his/her full name but it has been my experience that even they respect another's wish for first name only. After years of AA, I have often been surprised to see (via television, or a book pic) who someone is although I only knew them as "John" etc.

Glad you are here, and I bet if we knew some real names we would know more than a few people outside this space!

Good luck,
Jhana

Hello Drunk in Texas! 50 this year, 30 plus years of drunken insane. You are among friends. Have you had enough to drink yet? Do you know God?

Welcome!