The Dead And Dying
 

This last week I have been looking back on my life with regards to alcohol. I never thought about just how many people I've known/know who are either dead, or dying from their drinking
There are four dead that I can think of just off the top of my head. One old drinking buddy is waiting to be admitted to a nursing home at age 52. He is loosing his motor skills and has slurred speach. A series of strokes probably caused by 35 years of beer binging. Onother old friend was living on the street a year ago...last I saw of him. I remember another army buddy who was throwing up blood at 19 years old....DAMN!
Just didn't seem to notice till I sobered up. Just rambling and wondering how some have the fortitude to face the addiction while so many others give up their lives to keep drinking.

It's a horrible disease, and relentless.

I try to remember to say a prayer for the addicts who are still suffering.

I have a close friend who helped me with a lot of things last summer. He was almost like a father figure, did whatever I needed to be done in my house, but drunk most of the time. I spent a night with him in the ER because he was suicidal and flipping out. I left and promised to return in the morning. He bolted before 6am to avoid me and went back to drinking after saying he wanted help.

He also falls down constantly, has compromised motor skills, urinates and has defecated on himself. He's never near sober anymore and I have to stay away because I can't watch it happen anymore. I told him when he wants help, I'm here, otherwise I can't deal with it.

I know how you feel- so sorry about your friends, stay well and keep doing the best you can for yourself.

sad...sad...sad....sad Horrible disease, so sorry to hear about your friends.

You hit it on the head. Relentless is the perfect descriptive.

Denial is a powerful thing. I could wake up in an alley after being robbed, falling down drunk, no way to get home 15 miles away except walk / hitch hike and tell myself this is god's plan (when its not)

Yes.....I sure can relate....:hug:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...d-friends.html

There have been others since I shared the above.....liver failure
cancer..suicides..etc.... .....just tragic losses to their loved ones.

Prayers for comfort

Oh Carol, so sorry for your losses. Thank you for reminding me today just how horrible this disease is...my prayers go out today for all those affected by this disease.

This is very scary. Sorry for your losses. I can only hope that my body won't give out on me now that I've quit.

There's a moment of silence at the beginning of every AA meeting all over the world for those still suffering in and out of the rooms. When I started getting sober a very VERY dear friend killed herself deliberately because she'd lost all hope; another who sat right beside me in meetings accidentally overdosed on sleeping pills and vodka: She just wanted to have one more. Another died of causes brought about by drinking (though he'd been sober 27 years), and yet another went to prison. All within my first year of sobriety.

My brother is dying from this disease. He's dissolving from the inside out. Enlarged heart, intestinal scarring, liver damage, bleeding ulcers, you name it. He's said he will NEVER go to AA and will, "take matters into his own hands," if he gets really bad. 'Really bad,' seems to be a sliding scale, though, and every bottom has a basement... More than likely if he doesn't kill himself falling, he'll wind up with a wet brain and a ward of the state.

I heard in the rooms that, "Some of us must die that others may live." I also learned that, if I were going to stay sober, I was going to have to, "step over the bodies."

Dying never was the problem for me, either. Living, on the other hand, scared me senseless... I had no tools.

You know I might not live a day longer but when I take care of myself I do live a helluva lot better.