Daisywings

Hi, I'm new. I love drinking wine. For 15 years the docs have toyed with the idea that I "may" have autoimmune hepatitis or I have "non-alcoholic steatohepatitis". I kept saying - hey, um, you know I drink wine quite a bit, right? Still, they told me - no if you look at the ALT/AST ratios it is not from that.

And I believed them. And now I have mild fibrosis and now the docs are like - hey you know this could be alcohol related. You must stop drinking alcohol, or you could need a liver transplant.

I did pretty good last week. I'm on vacation for 14 days so it is hard to see how a few more days would kill me. I'm rationalizing...

So has anyone else had to quit for medical reasons? How did you stay committed? I try to read medical stuff about all of this on the internet. And, BTW they are still spouting the "autoimmune hepatitis" to me while I prepare for the latest round of ultrasound and biopsy. This sucks.

tommyk

I walked out of a doctor's office in May of 1994 and never had another drink.

When I walked into the doctor's office that day my whole life was based around alcohol.

I thank God that I had/have a medical condition prohibiting further drinking.

Daisywings

Good for you. How did you cope?

tommyk

First... I accepted that reality & truth that further drinking would be sheer insanity.

I mean, more insane than I ever had been before, a new level of insane.

Then I turned all of my obstinence, hate, and spite toward alcohol.

I applied as much effort to doing other things as I formerly did toward drinking.

God did it though, I never could have done it myself. It was all God. There's just no other answer.

Tazman53

Hmmm well yes and no, I went into medical detox because alcohol owned me and was destroying my life. Once I was in detox they checked my liver enzyme levels and diagnosed me with a fatty liver which is a precursor to cirrosis of the liver. So even though it was not for medical reasons I got sober, I was correct in the fact that alcohol was going to kill me if I kept on drinking.

How do I cope with it? The program & fellowship of AA, today I live a life I did not dream possible before I quit drinking and my liver is fully recovered today. I can honestly say today that I could care less if I ever had another drink.

Non-alcoholic people could care less if booze fell of the face of the earth...... an active alcoholic, or one in early recovery cares.

shaun00

what was going on between my ears brought me to aa

i cant say i stopped for medical reason.......because i couldnt.

i had lost the power of choice with regards to alcohol..

it became everything........and everything else became nothing.

i would say hats off to anyone that stopped for medical reasons...

whatever the reason.....stopping is a feat...

adore79

hi daisywings. i had alcoholic hepatitis and pancreatitis a couple years ago and it got me to stop drinking for about six months, then i went back out. so, even bad medical conditions cant keep me from drinking, i rely on SR, AA, God, prayer, meditation, anything and everything i can use to not pick up.

jamdls

My initial reasons were definetly medical reasons. While drunk in August 2007 I apparently took an overdose of sleeping pills and prescription pain pills (have no memory of it nor of being suicidal), wound up in the hospital with a hole in my liver from the acetiminophen in the pain pills. They were able to repair my liver with 17 does of a very nasty smelly and nasty tasting drug that works like a bonding agent in the liver, and over time livers repair themselves, however, the doctor told me if I continued to drink and/or if I took any tylenol based product that my liver would likely fail and I'd die a slow agonizing death. Now I know an occassional glass of wine would not technically hurt me, but I also know that I was never capable of the occassional glass of wine and I have no intention of risking temptation. The longer I stayed sober the more I remembered the really stupid and often shameful things I did aided by my wine and I like the sober Judy a WHOLE LOT MORE than that drunken idiot I used to be.

Dime

Yes I quit for medical reasons. I was so ill from alcohol that I could not ingest any more alcohol to stop the detox process. My first 2 days of detox wound up being very life threatening.

The memories of that detox help me a lot today. I fully engaged a recovery program (AA), got a sponsor and worked the steps. The last few months I have added SR as a recovery tool. I continue to go to meetings today and stay active here.

By the way I think that reading up on alcoholism is a very effective tool to help. The more I learn the more reasons I have not to drink.

smacked

Unfortunately medical reasons or consequences never prevented me from drinking.

I should have died long ago due to use and abuse of both drugs and alcohol...

Not really sure what clicked for me, but until I was truly done, I didn't stop.

ventuhome

Hey Daisy Wings, I too have had to quit for purely medical reasons. I am normally a casual drinker of wine, usually one glass a day. I also have high cholesterol and have been taking cholesterol lowering medication for that. The Doctor wanted my cholesterol to go even lower, so he prescribed 3 different medications (I was taking all 3 at the same time). After a month of starting the 3rd medication, one morning I got really dizzing, vomiting, passing out, wound up in emergency room afraid I was going to die. All the meds had sicked out my liver, so I am off all 3 till my liver recovers. No drinking or taking Tylenol either. Since May 8, I have had about 3 drinks, and each time it was not enjoyable at all. So, how to keep from drinking: I only had a drink in the evening, so for most of the day I dont even think about it. Dinnertime comes, and I have a drink: a NON-ALCOHOLIC drink!! I am purposely seeking out good drink recipes, my favorite one so far is a "diet margarita" - no alcohol, no calories!! Just juice of 1/2 Key Lime, water, and Ice Cubes. SO I plan to have my daily drink, its just not something w/ any alcohol.

Daisywings

Wow, there are a lot of Texans on here. I have quit for medical reasons before when they were doing testing on me. Also, when I was pregnant with both of my children. But I picked back up right after.

I chose iced tea for lunch at TGI Friday's and I drank the one glass of the wine I regularly drink leftover from last night this evening. Of course that has me thinking about the box of crap wine we have here for cooking...

But I don't think I will. Lemonade just doesn't have the same draw, but I'm drinking it anyway. :-(

Daisywings

I did stick with the lemonade even though it makes me super irritable and I can't sleep.

Daisywings

Today is iced coffee. Tonight is Pelligrino with lemons. Not really feeling any less bummed about it though. :-(

least

I am on meds for depression and bad anxiety, tho it did no good to take them as alcohol is a depressant and my anxiety came back even worse after drinking. Now that I'm sober my meds work better and I feel better.

CarolD

Welcome to SR...

When I was diagnosed with situational depression
my doctor suggested AA. Works great for me.

Once I did quit...my depression vanished rather quickly.

Hope you too can find a healthy sober future.

tsukiko

First off...hello, welcome and best of luck Daisywings

To answer y'question....

Yup. I'm twenty-one, but already had septacemia, kidney failure, jaundice, severe dehydration, blackouts and broken bones as a result of drinking. I live with circulation problems, heart palpitations / an irregular heart beat and OD'ed a few times due to past (and very heavy) amphetimine use.

The day I knew I had to quit using heroin (I've told the story on here before) I was sitting in a crackhouse, waiting for my partner to get 'home', to tell him I might be pregnant. I was underweight, had a blod clot in my arm the size of a golf ball and when he returned, before I could speak, he told me we had to get tested for AIDs because a guy we knew and my partner had shared pins with had just found out he was HIV positive.

I went cold turkey and when I got to the doctors I found out the blood clot I had had moved into a deeper vein and I had deep vein thrombosis. I was relieved to know I wasn't pregnant, but it took months to get the all clear for HIV / AIDs and my general health has taken the last nine months clean to stabalise. And over the last week, due to a stressful, but happy, reunion with my mother, I've lost weight and bordering on underweight again.

Hang in there, chuck.

What keeps me clean now is knowing no matter how much I want a score right now, I want health and life now, tomorra' and then next day...and the day after that.

north

My main reasons for quitting were not for medical reasons. However, medical reasons are now on my list of reasons why I won't ever drink again.

Over the past several years, my liver ezymes ( ALT(GPT) & gamma-GTP) had often been elevated (eg 64 IU/L & 99 IU/L). I told myself it was probably due to having taken the test a few days after drinking (which could be true) or maybe due to other factors such as needing to lose weight etc but still, my lowest scores if within the acceptable ranges, were borderline.

One month after I stopped drinking, I checked my liver enzyme levels and they fell dramatically into the acceptable range (currently 25 IU/L and 33 IU/L respectively).

Without a doubt, the reason for the elevated levels was nothing else but the booze, and knowing what might happen if I continued unchecked with an alcoholic fatty liver, it adds to my reasons to stop drinking.