Kallistia

I work for an attorney - within the hour we received a call from another attorney's office that represents one of our client's in his divorce.

She was calling to notify us that they had been contacted by the client's sister.

The client was found dead in his home. We represented him in his bankruptcy because financially his life crumbled around him. He was in the process of losing his wife, his home, and another property that he owned.

He was an alcoholic. He had been drinking. Alone in his house and drunk he fell and split his head open. He died on his floor, alone, of a brain hemorrhage unable to get help for himself with no one around who could get help for him.

He was 46 years old.

Do not think that this happens to other people, that it will happen to anyone but you. Three days ago when I spoke to that man he did not think he was going to die. Do not think that the loved ones and associates you speak with today could not possibly learn of your death in a couple days time because of alcohol and alcohol related accidents. It could happen to you. Just like it happened to him and so many others.

Bird615

This happened to a former partner; a month after I married someone else, I got a call from his sister's husband.

Friends had been drinking with him the last time he had been seen and when they hadn't seen him for a few days, they got the caretaker to check on him. He was lying dead on his kitchen floor. Apparently he had fallen off his chair and hit his head on the counter.

I'm still sad about it because he was one of the sweetest people I knew when he wasn't drinking. He was only 45.

There are so many things that could happen to any of us and we never know when.

Anna

I agree that falls and head injuries are very problematic for alcoholics. It's not always how you expect an alcoholic to die.

Reset

Strange to read this. I had a friend who was an alcoholic who also was found in his house, dead, on the floor. I never heard the official cause of death (long story) but one of his nephews told me it had something to do with a brain hemmorage. I wonder...

I really miss that guy.

Soberwolf

Very true & a great post of reminding ourselves why we stay sober Kallistia

Kirky

This is such a sad and scary story to read about.
As you said, you'd never think about falling as an option for death while intoxicated but its sadly very true.

Wow, thanks for sharing. Really adds more perspective that I didnt even fathom

Kallistia

There's that, but also I know so many people just browse - they're thinking about it and they're on the fence - even if they aren't a member I want them to see another good reason why they need to take that step in their lives.

Soberwolf

Layali

Thank you for this post. Thank you so much.

I've actually fallen and hit my head before, while very very drunk. But I had a roommate who constantly checked on me to make sure I was ok, breathing, not dying.... on other nights, too many to count, I've puked so much while not even conscious. I could have died then too.

As sad as I am for this poor poor man, I am glad that I read this, because it reminds me of why I shouldn't drink. Why I don't want to. I get into this thinking that if I start drinking again now, decades down the line it might progress to a bad enough place that I will be in possible danger with my health.

But no. I could get drunk tonight, and die tonight. And I don't even want to imagine how my family would feel about that. How terrible that would be. Thank you for making it more real.

Jsbodhi

This summer I fell and tore two major ligaments in my leg and couldn't walk for a couple weeks, I still can't run and it hurst in the mornings, that was in july.
I think I hit my head too.
That was my first alcohol related injury. It really scared me

PennyLane76

I tripped in garage while drunk and sprained my MCL, was on crutches.

I also fell in my home onto an open dishwasher, had abrasions all along one side and huge scrapes and gash right by my eye with egg sized lump on head. Both times I waited until next day to go to ER so the BAC wouldnt be an issue as I was secret drinker. 5 more millimeters would have lost an eye. I still have no idea on that one how I got so injured. Multiple times backed into my garage door, spent thousands to repair. Lucky I didnt hurt someone else.

Hope this does.make people pause, put down the drink. Who wants to be found dead days later? Awful.

Incontrol15

Sad. Really is. So could have been me.
Lost everything. Became an all day drunk. 47yrs old. Honestly...I wanted to die. I was killing myself slowly.

Thank God I came out of it alive. Life is far from awesome still. Got a huge hole to dig out of yet. And yeah....it's depressing at times. But even at the darkest hours, I can pull myself out of it fairly easily now.

I want to live my life like its never been lived before now. It's a whole lot better than wanted to die so I don't have to feel severe depression and anxiety.

Anyway...I digress.

Thank you for sharing.

Gottalife

Relapse is like Russian Roulette. You can never know which is the loaded drink.

Hercules

I have fallen and banged my head a few times once on the radiator and once in Spain on my own in the middle of no where smashed my front tooth aswell..

Read somewhere that loads of deaths are caused by alcohol but are never put Down on death certificate it would just say accident etc when the root course is addiction. Very sad.

ast1

Thanks for sharing this.

Nowsthetime

Arghh. Hate to hear this and so often...

Once I fell into an empty round rock shallow pool and hit the back of my head...

My friend woke up in a pool of blood after a blackout. She got her head...

This is so scary and sad.

dru1085

Sorry to hear. I too woke up with a nasty cut under my chin from falling in my hallway hit the corner of the wall and passed out in a pool of blood. I had no idea what happened when I woke up , it was a BAD black out . I was lucky I didn't suffer the same fate. It was a wake up call that my drinking was now completely out of control. I woulda had no idea what happened and woke up in heaven.. That's when I knew I had to quit now. Thanks for sharing.

Dru -

Zebra1275

Alcoholics can die suddenly in many different ways.

Freezing to death after passing out, outdoors in the winter is an awful way to die.

Jsbodhi

A girl I grew up with fell asleep outside her house after being locked out after the bar, she froze to death.
My uncle was an alcoholic and froze to death too, he was homeless

Upwardspiral

I crashed my bicycle wasted and broke my helmet, my temple would've made impact had I not been wearing one. I had a big black eye for weeks and still have a big hematoma on my thigh 2 years later. It'll probably always be there to remind me of how close I've come to killing myself.