Young alcoholics thread
 

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to see how many people are on this board who are in recovery and in their late teens/early twenties/mid twenties, or let's say between the ages of 18-25. It would be cool if everyone who was between this age group just stopped in and dropped a line.

I am 22 years young, and I am an alcoholic. I also was addicted to meth and abused pot during my teen years. I drank heavily for over 4 years, and it almost killed me. It was by far the most harmful drug I ever became addicted to. I became a daily drinker almost instantly after I began to drink socially at the age of 18, and spent the next 4 1/2 years of my life in and out of rehabs, mental institutions, and emergency rooms. However, I now understand and see how much harm I was doing to myself, my girlfriend and my family, so I made the decision to quit. As a young man, it is hard to stay sober, but I know I have to be sober if I want to live a good and successful life. Alcohol took a vicious toll on me in just under half a decade. I am so glad I am sober today (today is day 10 for me after my last relapse).

Well, that's my story. I hope everyone who is between 18-25 posts something. This way, we can see that we are not the only ones out there who are trying to achieve sobriety at a young age. I'm also kind of curious how many of us are on this site. So please, if you are 18-25 and are in recovery, please drop by.

I'm 28 years young, so I guess I don't meet your cut-off. :) However, thanks for posting and it sounds like you are doing well so far. Keep it up! I haven't had a drink in 48 hours and I'm trying to use the "one minute at a time" quote...

You are still really young, and that's amazing that you are stopping this young. You are a strong person whether you know it or not!

I would have to agree that the temptation to drink and even do other substances as someone in the early 20s is big. It's just around young people so much. Maybe not the harder drugs, but the booze... parties...etc... even sporting events. Hard to escape it.

Let me rephrase this....if you are in your twenties, you are welcome in this thread!! Don't be shy!

I certainly agree with you, drugs and alcohol are rampant in the younger population. In addition, alcohol abuse/pot smoking/drug taking is encouraged by younger people more often than not. Sobriety and recovery is often laughed at or even questioned in the younger crowd. However, I see more and more young people who are becoming aware of addiction and recovery these days, so there is hope. Thanks for stopping by!

I just turned 24, and yes, being sober this young is so hard. I didn't start drinking until I was about 20, but my drinking became problematic when I was 22. I started drinking everyday, then hiding it, drinking in the mornings, and before I knew it, I ended up in the ER 3 times before my 24th birthday. I'll be 2 months sober on the 23rd, and hope to keep it that way!

Yes, this is a very relevant thread concerning my current situation. However, I do not drink because of the influence of others. It was my own prerogative to become interested in therefore, addicted to alcohol. I'm assuming most people have read what I've posted before, so I'm not just a simple "binge drinker". If I ran out of anything containing ethyl alcohol, I'm apt to resort to even drinking Windex or Ajax. I'm looking for the right people to help me out, because all my family does at this point is make me feel uncomforable about it.

You may find the right people here John.
What you're doing is very dangerous. I hope you seek out the help you need.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...resources.html

D

I'm 26....past your cut off time as well. BUT....my drinking problem has been a long ways coming. I still need to make a formal intro to the forum but I just want to let you know you're not alone. I welcome you, and myself, to the road to recovery......much love.

P.S. To Neverlookinback.....I'm also from the bay area! Go A's!!!!......

Hey all... thanks for starting this thread neverlookingback,

I am Clayton, i'm 21 and a alcoholic. I am coming up on 6 months of sobriety. It is strange to be sober at this age. But I don't want to go back to the way I was living. It is hard to relate to almost anyone my own age anymore... all they seem to care about it going out... It can be a challenge not to get silently arrogant at times, but I know in all honesty its just by the grace of my higher power i'm still not living that way. I'm going to wake tonight for a fallen alcoholic/addict of 22... It doesn't matter how old we are if we are hooked this illness wants us dead. Hope more young ones will be along... How are y'all finding developing a drinking free social life?

P.S. Welcome Jewels

Clayton

I'm waaaaay past the cutoff - I turn 48 tomorrow. I just want to tell you guys/gals how happy and proud I am of you for doing something about this early in life. I sure as hell wish I didn't wait until my 40s to get sober.

Also, don't put any artificial lower limits like "18-25", it should be "up to 25". I have seen people here looking for help that are as young as 16 (or claim to be at least).

At any rate I just wanted to pass on my best wishes.

I was in my twenties once, does that count?:c031:
Seriously Glad you "yungins" are staying sober. I know it makes it harder when a lot of your friends live by"let's party".
Stay sober, you will thank yourself over and over again years down the road.
Fred"

Well im 38 but just want to say best wishes to all getting sober young. Wish I had been as wise in my twenties - keep it up guys n gals :scoregood

Hey all,

Just turned 23, started drinking around 14. Did not drink everyday but was a binge drinker that could kill tons of alcohol or should I say tons of alcohol killed me. Progressively got worse over the years. Lost my best friend in his sleep to drugs and alcohol on Thanksgiving 2006. This should've been a wake up call but only drove me to drink madly more. Eventually ended up in the hospital twice for serious withdrawals. Currently a full-time student, 5th year sr. Glad to be here at the forum and see all the other young people.

Hey future22... its great to see a young person sustaining real sobriety length... very good to see.

Thanks, but actually I am only on day 14. Luckily, I am still able to complete this semester after my latest mad man binge and will have the Spring before I graduate. I went sober for about 40 days last spring, but got a job at a beach on the east coast and ended up drinking pretty much everyday since then. This time I told my family of my problems, so hopefully their support can only help me this time. Also was in the psych ward for a few days and was put on Remeron for anxiety/depression. Finally gave in to be prescribed, even though I was always against prescription drugs. The Remeron has worked wonders for my sleep and I am not experiencing the negative side effects such as increased appetite and weight gain that many people experience on Remeron. I like to research whatever I am putting in my body (weird, I used to be on Erowid constantly researching all the different drugs I was putting in my body) and found some studies that Remeron improves relapse rates. I do not plan on being on Remeron for long, but at this time it is working to keep me sane and my cravings from overriding my brain.

Congrats on coming up on 6months sobriety TSAR. I bet it feels pretty damn good. I also can relate strongly to how it is tough in our age with our age culture being all caught up in the drinking and drugs. Especially tough here at a large, known nationally as one of the top party schools in the country.

I am 22 and glad to be sober at this age. After being in jail 3 times by 20 years, I still didn't accept the fact that I had a problem. I just kept telling myself that I was unlucky or that the justice system was flawed. What a bunch of horse **** in retrospect. Dropped out of college cause of failing grades and if I could get out of bed that last semester it was a good day. Thought the whole time that this was just a phase because I was in college and college kids drink in excess. It wasn't until I got back home that I saw how bad my drinking was and how it was progressively getting worsed. I wasn't saying a word to my family for days at a time. I was lying non stop, stealing from my parents, and making some really embarrassing excuses for myself. I was also driving drunk almost every day. I tried to manage it, often saying I wouldn't drink that day only to find myself picking up a 12 pack first thing after work. I had never felt so much that it was out of control at any time in the past. I knew I had a problem and knew it wasn't going to get better.

Stopping has been the hardest but best thing I've done with my life. The growth I have seen from AA, my treatment center, counseling, SR, and any resource I can grab a hold of has been invaluable. I am currently back at school and meeting my goals one day at a time. Even the worst days sober are easy to brush off the next day when I wake up with no hangover. I will never forget those last few months of my drinking and the spiritual cave I was living in. It is a place I never want to go back to. Truly glad to know there are others out there my age.

And sure, my social life has no doubt been less exciting, but at least I am not throwing chairs or spitting on police officers. If the tradeoff for a clear head was working against me, I would go back out, but as of now, I couldn't ask for more than to wake up sober today.

Good for you!

Young people CAN get sober and STAY sober. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

My husband got sober at 17. He's been sober for 21 years now.

You can do it too, and I wish you all the best of luck :)

I'm 21, im a major pot head who goes to AA. been clean and sober for 14 months. I recently started going to a friday night young persons AA meeting with over 150 people in attendance aged 18-25.

Ow I read 5th year senior as 5th year sober for some reason... Maybe my head is cloudier than I thought... haha Erowid... haha Memories... hey pickles one hopeless stoner to another that is awesome... 4 of us were gonna start a young people's meeting here in singapore... now one of us is dead, and one is trying to flee the country, I guess me and my buddy better get to it... obviously there are some still suffering young people...

Wow, it is refreshing to read all of your stories you guys. I think we all have a bond her, being young and in recovery. It is very hard. I am in college, and I have had to drop out numerous times because of my drinking. However, I am know a year away from my BA degree and I have a 3.0 gpa. I think as young people, we often look around us and see that many of our peers engage in heavy drinking and say to ourselves "we can do that", or "see, we are the norm", "we're not alcoholics". However, how many of our peers go out and drive drunk day after day, go to mental hospitals, get arrested over and over, have withdrawal symptoms, begin drinking in the morning, drink heavily daily, etc. This is what makes us so different. We simply cannot handle alcohol like the normal college student. We go overboard, all or none type of drinking. I find it very hard to be 22 and in recovery because of this. I have had to cut out all of my former friends and pretty much just hang out with my girlfriend all the time (who does not drink). It is so tough thinking about how so many of my former friends are out on friday nights getting trashed, and I am all alone. Yet I wake myself up from that type of thinking, and remember the E.R. visits, the arrests, the blackouts, how verbally abusive and crazy I got when I was drunk, and the withdrawals. I think most of us came to the decision to quit alcohol because we saw what it had done to us in just a short amount of years. We thought to ourselves "if we are only this young, and I have already experience A, B, and C, where will I be when I'm 30?". This may be the only thing that really keeps me sober, thinking about what could happen if I drink again, I could throw my whole life away. I have too much life ahead of me to do this to myself and my loved ones. Again, thanks you guys for posting. Let's keep this board going! Good luck to you all on your sobriety.

My name is Clayton, but since we have another one on here, you can call me Clay. I am 24 and am an alcoholic. I started drinking when I was 18, but not heavily until I was 21. I was in denial about being an alcoholic until this year when I found out more about what alcoholism is. I was actually considering drinking this week, just stress about interviews and job searches, but I know it wouldn't really help. The job I'm interviewing for is a call center job trying to upgrade people on their directTV package, so I'm nervous about that because I've never done sales. So I'm fearful that to cope with the job I'll start drinking. But I've stayed sober for 118 days, and I shouldn't worry about a job I may not even get.

Dam.n, just a drink sounded really good this week. I went and got soda instead, which is also not good for my health, but not as detrimental to my mental health. I feel I need to go back to my LifeRing meetings, haven't done that in awhile. And no I'm not going to AA, too religious.

Thanks,
Clay

It's great you started this thread! I don't fit in your age bracket but my son does. He is almost 20, in college and I worry that he smokes to much pot. And with me being a slowly recovering alcoholic I hope he gets it like you guys did sooner rather than later. Good luck to all of you!

Good thread I've just turned 28, and Ive been drinking since I was 14, drugs everything and everytime I goto rehab come out dry, I just feel like a social outcast everyone drinks but not like me once I take one drink thats it 3-4 month bender, then I have too be detoxed again. Im from England basically everything revolves around drinking you go play sport everyone goes for a drink after any excuse. Its Friday oh lets get drunk. Fed up of using excuses too drink. At 26 I had a 50/50 chance of living cuz my liver was really bad on the verge of failing, I went yellow and had ascites I didnt know If i was gonna make that day.

And the funny thing is I picked up a drink again and again no matter how ill I get just carry on regardless. I dont think it matters how old you are if you wanna live you will live if you wanna die you'll die.

Sorry if ive lowered the tone of the thread but thats how it is for me.

I'll leave on a good note, Ive still got time on my side hopefully. Actually that is probably an excuse for a drink. I dont know.

Im John 25 years old and and alcoholic. just about six months sober now. I don't ever want to go back. Ive been trying to quit drinking or drugging for a few years now but never really got it or had the desperation to really do it until now. I would always try to give up drinking while smoking buds and that would work for awhile then I would start drinking again, or I would try to stop doing hard drugs like oxy or coke/crack by just drinking it was never an honest effort to quit all mind altering substances altogether for good one day at a time. Now that Ive made the decision I couldn't be happier. My life is not perfect but at least I have a chance now to make things better for myself. When I was drinking and drugging I never would have had a chance at that. I failed and gave up at community college when I was drinking, went to technical school for a trade got a good job as an air conditioning mechanic and was doing great for awhile but got my third dui arrest and screwed things up once again. Now that im sober and dealing with drivers license issues im back in college and doing well. One day at a time.

ETA yes it is hard on the social life, I am the youngest person at nearly every meeting i go to with at least a 10 year age difference between me and the average age of most of the people there. I do still hang with some of my friends I used and drank with but they are life long good friends and one doesn't drink alcoholically and doesn't drink or use around me and the other may or may not have an alcohol problem but I don't hang with him if hes drinking heavily.
-John

I would get into a support group like AA. I am in my early thirties but I would suggest that you find some good support to help you.

Also, if there is a large university next to you, like say, in Nebraska. You will have a lot better chance of finding people your age there. I have been to meetings across the street from large universities and there are loads of young folks that show up to them.

Just my two cents of course.

29... old :(

But keep it up all y'all youngsters... truth is I wish I had sobered up back then... might have taken to it easier.

Take care,
TB

I'm 24 years old and i'll have a year sober on december 12th. We have a very big young peoples group in my area which is really helpful. If you haven't looked for one near you I encourage you to do so. When I was just going to regular aa meetings I found it difficult to find people to actually hang out with outside the meetings.

I just turned 31. I still feel like I'm in my mid-twenties. All that heavy drinking I did this last decade made the years go by fast... too fast... I guess maybe because there were so many blackouts and days spent completely hung over and useless. It seems like yesterday I graduated college.

Good luck to all you teen and twenty year olds... I hope you don't waste any more young years on this stupid alcoholism.

I am WAAAAAAAY past the cutoff date, but I hope it is okay if I pop in here and just say I am amazed at the young people in the rooms. You guys bring new ideas and energy and I have tremendous admiration for all of you!

Thanks to everyone who decided to pop in this message board and give your stories. Once again, I want to say that anyone in their teens or twenties is welcome. In addition, if you are older than 30 and just want to talk about your experiences as a young drinker then that is greatly appreciated as well. I did not mean to sound exclusive in my first post by talking about an age limit. If you ever had a problem drinking when you were younger, or if you are a young person with a drinking problem, or if you are a person who is older who has advice/stories/whatever come on in. Sit down, share your story, I for one will greatly appreciate it.

Its great to see that theres a thread for younger alcoholics. For years I knew that my drinking was a major problem, being that I couldnt keep a job for more than three months before going on yet another bender, or being drunk at work. Even when going through a 1.75L of vodka every day and a half, I still couldnt consciously admit it.
This year, I've been in the hospital three times, suicide attempt (plenty that no one knew about) drunk in public (was at a .42 so they had no choice but to take me to the er) and just days ago I was brought to detox after showing up at a friends place drunk and suicidal.
Aside from the insane drinking, I've also had a decade long struggle with anorexia and self mutilation..basically going all out with anything detremental in the hopes that it will kill me this time.

I feel really lame because I dont know how to end this post. Its just good to know that theres others out there who have had the same and similar struggles, who have somehow recovered or are on the road to a better life.