Functional Alcoholic - Consequences
Becoming a Butterfly
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: New York, NY
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Functional Alcoholic - Consequences
My cousin has been an alcoholic since college from what I can tell. He just turned 47 in October. His drinking has cost him - his dream job, his trophy wife, his standing in his profession. Still he managed to turn it around in the last few years. He remarried, bought a house, got a good job, had his first child just two years ago - but he never stopped drinking. All the time when we visited him or talked to him on the phone he was toasted. I bet he told himself that it was all ok cause he is "functional" - paying the bills, going to the gym, eating healthy, not smoking, loving his wife, raising his baby.
Tonight he is in critical condition - pancreas failure, kidney failure, on a respirator in critical condition. Critical condition means signs are unfavorable that the patient will survive the next 24 hours.
His mother and wife are beside themselves. It has happened so suddenly.
Functional doesn't mean sh*t.
Tonight he is in critical condition - pancreas failure, kidney failure, on a respirator in critical condition. Critical condition means signs are unfavorable that the patient will survive the next 24 hours.
His mother and wife are beside themselves. It has happened so suddenly.
Functional doesn't mean sh*t.
Becoming a Butterfly
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: New York, NY
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Yep, the slow, sudden way. You see so many of them go on as if by ****** for so long. When the worst really does happen - it's such a reminder of the reality of mortality.
Hie wife drinks too much too. So does her mother. They used to each bring a 30 pack to family gatherings.
Hie wife drinks too much too. So does her mother. They used to each bring a 30 pack to family gatherings.
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Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 161
I'm so sorry to read this, but unfortunately, years of drinking catch up. The body just can't take it. I'm an ER nurse, and I see them come in everyday. It really makes me sad because they don't have to be that way. It's self inflicted. This was one thing that caused me some private grief when I was with my AxBF. I knew the consequences of his years of partying and I started to see the affects in him. Suttle things that he attributed to something else, but I knew very well what was going on. The PeptoBismo bottles, the night sweats, hand tremors, etc. Someday, I told myself, someday, this will be me standing at his bedside. It's not if, it's when. And my concern was an annoyance to him. Looking out for his well being because I love him, especially with my background, was bothersome and too much reality. It won't happen to me, he thinks. I've been in the field 12 years. It most certainly will...
But at least I don't have to stand by and watch anymore....
I'm sorry that you have too...
But at least I don't have to stand by and watch anymore....
I'm sorry that you have too...
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: LA - Lower Alabama
Posts: 5,068
Wow what a story! Hopefully he will pull through.
This reminds me so much of a passage in AA's big book (1st edition):
If he pulls through hopefully this will be his bottom. Sending prayers your way.
This reminds me so much of a passage in AA's big book (1st edition):
it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.
Becoming a Butterfly
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He's a little better today. Kidneys are showing signs of regeneration and they are starting to talk about 8 weeks in the hospital. I don't think they'd even guess on his length of stay if they didn't think he has a chance to make it.
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Location: maine
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[QUOTE=WantsOut;2547886]Yep, the slow, sudden way. /QUOTE]
Our former senator Bill Cohen had his staff investigate the situation of alcoholics on SSI disability cashing their checks at package stores and buying booze on credit. One staffer called it,"suicide on an installment plan." The phrase is apt even if it's a paycheck buying alcohol instead of the dole.
I suspect my own husband was feeling poorly the last year of his life, even though he said nothing about it and didn't see a doctor until he'd developed pneumonia. That's when he was diagnosed with cancer.
Takingcharge999, the one thing I consider I did right in my marriage was not to have children. I did not bring any into the world and bring them up thinking this life was normal.
Our former senator Bill Cohen had his staff investigate the situation of alcoholics on SSI disability cashing their checks at package stores and buying booze on credit. One staffer called it,"suicide on an installment plan." The phrase is apt even if it's a paycheck buying alcohol instead of the dole.
I suspect my own husband was feeling poorly the last year of his life, even though he said nothing about it and didn't see a doctor until he'd developed pneumonia. That's when he was diagnosed with cancer.
Takingcharge999, the one thing I consider I did right in my marriage was not to have children. I did not bring any into the world and bring them up thinking this life was normal.
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: minneapolis, mn
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Sorry about your cousin. Thanks for sharing.
We make jokes cuz it's ok to find humor in the situations - it means we've crossed over from the side of despair to living - but stories like this are like a jolt about how dire this stuff can be.
We make jokes cuz it's ok to find humor in the situations - it means we've crossed over from the side of despair to living - but stories like this are like a jolt about how dire this stuff can be.
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