Snaggle

Well I'm back to day 1. I got the results of a test yesterday and I need to be referred to hospital for further tests which if positive could be serious. Its nothing to do with drinking.

The news sent me into a spiral - think I was shock. I know it will probably all be ok in the end but I probably won't know until after Christmas. Of course my first reaction was give me wine and lots of it. This is how I cope. I know I can cope with things if I have advance warning - but what about when things come at you out of the blue?

How do you deal with these sorts of things so early in recovery?

Twinings

Hey Snaggle,
Sorry you are going through a stressful time, it's hard waiting for test results they are always a major trigger for me when they come back with good or bad results cus my AV kicks in and says see your fine drink... or shock, take a drink.
To help i'd try...
Deep breaths
Count to 10
Take a walk
Nice cup of tea!

Skye2

I had this yesterday - not quite so dramatic though, to be honest. My first reaction was 'why not' and then I remembered 'kindling' and that told me 'why not'.
I am so sorry you're going through this and having to wait over Christmas - if I can help at all pm me - i'm an ex nurse Xx

ReadyAtLast

I tell myself that drinking isn't going to make the problem go away or make me any better able to cope with it. Whilst your health issue isn't drink related surely it would be better for your health if you were to face it sober. Drinking solves nothing and the probelems we are running away from are still there when we sober up.

For me,it's all about learning about new ways to cope and deal with things, It's not easy but it does get easier. Maybe come to SR daily?

heath480

I don't pick up the first drink,ever.

There is no problem in my life that a drink is not going to make worse.

Snaggle

Thanks every Twinnings, Skye and Ready.

I am on SR all the time but it doesn't take much to put me off track. I knew it wouldn't help and that I would have to face it again today. Didn't make any difference tho. I need to learn new coping mechanisms.

Marcher13

I think you deal with such things the same way you do later in recovery. If, to use Dee's words, you've taken drink off the table then you feel the sad/unhappy/anxious feelings then decide how you are going to deal with them. If you need support you ask for it, if you simply want to feel sad you do, if you think action will help you make a plan.

When we don't drink we feel things and that can include tremendous unfiltered pain and it can also include joy, hope, courage, optimism and gratitude.

Believe in yourself Snaggle.

whiskeyman

NOTHING AND NO ONE is worth my sobriety.

tomsteve

I was diagnosed stage 3 metastatic melanoma pretty early in recovery. having the specialists tell me that quality of life and not quantity had to be the focus hit me pretty hard. i got sober because i knew i was going to die and now i stopped drinkin theyre tellin me im dieing?????
for me, it was all God. it was time for me to leave one set of footprints in the sand. i had a 13% chance of living 5 years.
that diagnosis was in may of '06.
im doin pretty good today. the great thing is that i knew alcohol wouldn't help. it didn't help anything before and it wouldn't help this.

doggonecarl

Agreed. Only alcoholics run to the bottle to deal with life's troubles. Everyone else just deals with it.

Threshold

I used to believe that booze and drugs were a coping mechanism...then I got real and accepted that they were a NOT coping mechanism. I didn't want to cope, so I got wasted instead.

And like the wise folk above state...drinking isn't going to fix anything, change the diagnosis, or make dealing with it easier.

I too have been diagnosed with a chronic, potentially deadly disease. I know that "what's it all about" feeling. I'm still here...longer than expected, doing better than anyone anticipated. So...we never really know until we do the thing, what it's going to be like, how it will pan out, etc.

Glad you're not drinking over this.

PurpleKnight

When something serious crops up, I put my ipod in and go for a VERY long walk!! . . . by the time I come back I find myself more calm!! if I stayed in the house I would go mad!!

EndGameNYC

It seems that you need more support than what you're getting from SR. What are you willing to do to get it?

Dee74

I've had a few health scares in recovery including pain issues, mobility deterioration and a time when I was reasonably convinced I has cancer...(turned out to be nothing but it was a tense week)

you just deal with it really.

I spent a lot of years not wanting to deal with reality and drinking instead...

Drinking never solved anything it just smooshed the fear around a bit.

Whether I liked it or not I always had to deal with the reality sooner or later anyway.

The more I deal with stuff now the more capable I find I am.
I'd forgotten that thanks to years of druink and drugs.

Lean on your friends and your family Snaggle...pray if you're of that persuasion.

I'll pray anyway, and I hope everything will turn out well in the end

D