suki44883

I don't see where anyone here has responded as if they feel your post is a joke, Steve. As several folks here have explained, we cannot give you a diagnosis. Not only is it against SR rules, we are not doctors. Please, see a doctor to get the answers to your questions.

LexieCat

Stev,

Your posts are no joke to anyone here. The hepatitis you had as a child may mean your liver is particularly susceptible to damage. Ordinary OTC medicines (particularly acetominophen--aka Tylenol) and even certain supplements can be damaging to a liver that is sensitive.

I STRONGLY suggest you see a doctor. I watched someone almost die from liver failure brought on when he abruptly stopped drinking. His liver and kidneys shut down, he was in a coma for a week, he looked like he had been dipped in yellow food coloring, he had 40 quarts of fluid drained from his abdomen. He couldn't think straight for months.

It is nothing to fool around with or ignore. Nobody here can say what kind of state your liver is in. It could be merely inflamed and "fatty" or it could be cirrhotic (a condition that doesn't heal but can be arrested if caught in time and treated properly).

See a doctor.

LaFemme

If anything I think the people posting here are reactin to your post more seriously than you appear to be treating it.

stev011

actually i am really surprised by how people are caring here, and chances are that my liver is not too damaged , i just wanted to hear if anyone has similar experiences, and hopefully calm down a little. I will just stop drinking for a while now, its not a problem for me, i am just a little angry that i have to. Thank you all, i realize for most of you this is very serious, and i am sorry if i didnt appear in that way, and this forum is not my place thank god, but what i read here will make me think in future for sure, so thank you all for that

LexieCat

Stev,

Stopping drinking "for awhile" won't fix any permanent damage (cirrhosis doesn't heal and progresses if you drink AT ALL).

See a doctor, get some good medical advice as to whether it is safe for you to drink at all. If it isn't, and you find yourself unable to stop, you know where we are.

LaFemme

Hey Stev,

Here is the link to the thread I mentioned

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...lcoholism.html

The reason I thought you should read it is because this could be you, and right now you have a real chance to do something about it before it is to late.

Best luck!

switchboard

Hi. I posted my liver story in the link that LaFemme posted too. Definitely see a doctor and get some tests done. I ended up in Emergency and, after several days and lots of talks with doctors and people, found that liver things can show up in different ways for different people, no matter how much they drink or for how long. Also, there could be definite symptoms or practically none at all when it comes to liver problems.

So, even if this site did allow people to propose a diagnosis, it's practically impossible. Even if you Google, you'll find all sorts of things.

Start with talking with your doctor and doing some initial blood tests (don't worry about when you had your last drink - you have to start somewhere) ... and go from there - Then you will be on the right path. Good luck to you. Take care of yourself! You only have one liver ... and you NEED it to live.

stev011

I actually read it when you fist posted it, found the thread. That story is so sad, one of the saddest i read here. I hope mercurial one turns it around somehow. I dont think i ever went out in my whole life and not drank alcohol, it would be hard to go out sober, i cant actually imagine it, it will be funny. I also have a problem that i cant drink one glass of wine or one beer, so i would really have to quit for good. Also, since i had hepathytis A , my liver is permanently damaged in a way, and alcohol is forbidden. I am not going to see a doctor now, but i will not drink anymore, and if the pain persist i will check it out.

A friend of mine died of liver complications due to alcoholism, he had a part of his liver or appendix (not sure) removed but he continued drinking light occasionally. when his father died, he locked himself in the room for one day, drank 2 bottles of vodka, they found him dead the next morning.

LexieCat

Well, if you've never "gone out" sober, and you can't have just one beer or glass of wine, you might find it more difficult than you think to simply stop.

If that turns out to be the case, hope we will see you back here.

stev011

It will not be easy nor enjoyable, and there will always be that oh i am fine i have no problem in the back of my head as i havent had serious problems yet (thank god), but with will power i can do it, and i dont think it will be that hard as for most people here, certainly not easy, it cant be easy. I am also a smoker, but for me i would say it will be easier than quitting smoking , so you can see why compering to most people here i am a lightweight really. But again, these are only words, and already there will be a challenge, two mates texted they want to come visit for the weekend, off course they want to go out and all, normally i wouldnt even consider not drinking, normally on friday i would finish work at 15:30, but already at 15:00 i am drinking company"s red wine , smuggling a large glass into my office (colour is similar to coca cola, so if you pass by quickly no one will notice) , but the think is i still didnt confirm to them that they should come because i dont want to drink and i am afraid i will. And i dont want to be a boring host, if you know what i mean.
Any good advice what to do?

suki44883

Yeah, tell your mates to stay home and you go find an AA meeting. I really don't feel like you have the slightest clue of what you are up against.

flutter

Just tell 'em you don't drink anymore. Surely you have more to offer than being a party drunk that will make you a not-boring host. If you're not an alcoholic, quitting will be easy anyways. I 'quit' a bunch of times, "for my health".. and it was the truth. And, with all due respect.. only at my absolute worst in my drinking 'career', did I drink as much as you report you do. It has absolutely nothing to do with how much, how often..

Non alcoholics don't have to moderate their drinking. They don't smuggle drinks. They don't have to think about not drinking.

Regardless of whether or not you're seeing your drinking as problematic, it sounds like your health is taking a major hit from something.

And to answer your first question, no I never experienced numbness of the leg as a symptom related to my alcohol consumption. I did experience pain in the area of my liver, which went away for good when I quit drinking.

I find it interesting, that you mention in each post a dig at "us" drunks, versus "you/not the drunk". That's a lot of fight, for no reason.. especially if you don't have a drinking problem. Or denial, but that's par for the course too.

I don't envy your struggle. I'm grateful for overcoming mine.

I hope you take care of your health.

Supercrew

I hope you don't think I wasn't taking your posts seriously. I do make light of stuff to lighten the mood sometimes, but I do see your problem similar to mine a couple of years ago. I knew stopping drinking wasn't something that I was willing to do. I knew it was affecting me physically, and I would get pains and such and look them up on line, (because I am also somewhat of a hypochondriac), but it wouldn't stop me from drinking with my friends, because that was all I knew. Then something happened that made me realize that even though I thought drinking was one of the most important things in my life, and I could never give it up, I realized that it wasn't that important, and my life, my health, and my family were worth quitting drinking.

LexieCat

Stev,

My ADVICE is the same as suki's. Stick around here.

You keep saying you don't have a serious problem with alcohol, but many of your posts are virtually screaming that you do:

• I like to mix drinks and i do almost every time i drink.
  
• every time i start drinking more heavily, after a week or two, i start feeling mild, numb pain in my liver, and my right leg
  
• the last time i felt the same pain was 2 years ago when i was drinking more than usually , so i went to see doctor, and my liver was 1cm larger than normal. I felt the same pain every next day after drinking but then i went to the army and the pain was gone right away as there was no alcohol available. Now after 2 years , i am drinking more in the last month and its back, as i expected.
  
• i had mild liver and right leg numbness last night, from my weekend drinking
  
• this forum is not my place thank god, but what i read here will make me think in future for sure
  
• I dont think i ever went out in my whole life and not drank alcohol, it would be hard to go out sober, i cant actually imagine it, it will be funny. I also have a problem that i cant drink one glass of wine or one beer
  
• normally i wouldnt even consider not drinking, normally on friday i would finish work at 15:30, but already at 15:00 i am drinking company"s red wine , smuggling a large glass into my office (colour is similar to coca cola, so if you pass by quickly no one will notice)

Nobody can diagnose another person as an alcoholic. I can tell you, though, that your drinking, and the things that you say about it, all have an all-too-familiar ring.

LaFemme

I hate to say this Stev, but I actually think you are going to have a much harder time getting sober than almost any of us here. Without accepting you have a problem it is very difficult to fix it. I hope you realize I am saying this out of concern for you.

You say you are going to get sober through "Willpower" alone... off the top of my head, I don't know anyone who has succeeded in that method. Although, of course I might be wrong.

The concept that alcohol=fun and alcohol = good host, are things that worry me in regards to your sobriety.

Just as an aside, where are you from? I am wondering mostly because you said "it would be hard to go out sober, i cant actually imagine it, it will be funny" (emphasis added).

I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

stev011

we will see, i made a commitment to stop, if i cant do it ill be back and feel with most of you on the same level, until then, i dont feel i should be taking it as serious as most of you are saying i should , i honestly think i am not there yet, i am having some pain and thats a warning sign, i dont think ill report tomorrow saying 3rd day and feelin like ****, i didnt feel the vicious side of alcohol apart from hangovers and some anxiety and dificulty breathing a few times after serious binges, but i can understand what you guys are saying, lets see how it goes, i will report in two weeks or so..

Amounts i drank are no joke and it need to stop now for sure

stev011

i didnt say hard and fun, hard and funny is different , its like it will be funny for me to be in that spot, seeing myself in that spot, and by hard i mean exercising the will power all the time, i am sorry that you dont understand, i am sorry also that you can not understand a good host comment, ill explain, for example like with my family or people that i see more often it wouldn be a problem for me to go out at night and have a coffee or whatever, but when your friends come to visit you from another city its different, and since i made a choice to stop its a bad taming for them to come and for me to have to show them good time, if you know what i mean. Am i crazy?

LexieCat

Most likely. So were we.

If you want to not drink, I recommend passing on the night on the town with the drinking buddies.

stev011

Hey LexieCat, no doubt i have a problem, but i am not mentally where some of you guys are because you went through some serious struggle, i understand that you care and wouldnt want anyone to go through the same thing and try to convince to stop before its too late, and this is exactly what i am picking up here and i am gratefull

LexieCat

One thing I was always told when I first came into AA is that if you compare yourself to others you won't get anywhere. There are always people with worse circumstances. But if you look at the similarities--the drinking patterns, the excuses we all make, the emotions--then you start seeing that we are essentially facing the same problem with minor differences in circumstances.

I never got a dui. Never got arrested. Never lost a job or a relationship. I had a few physical symptoms that worried me, but no liver problems that ever came to my attention. I own my own house, have a professional degree and license (I'm a lawyer). I wasn't a party animal--I mostly drank at home.

But I made the same excuses and justifications as other alcoholics. I kept thinking I could get it under control--I'm a smart, capable woman. If this or that would change in my life, I could deal with the drinking. Inside, I was dying by degrees, emotionally and spiritually. I was living in fear of something really bad happening. I was afraid (with good reason) that people probably smelled the alcohol, talked about me behind my back. Still I couldn't stop. When I was living with someone who was getting upset about my drinking, I hid it. I would hide the pint bottles in between the trash basket and the liner, and top off my drinks while I worked at the computer.

None of this was sane or reasonable behavior. When I went into AA and heard others share, it soon became obvious that when it came to drinking, I had a lot in common with the people who did time in jail. The similarities were what struck me. And many of the same people who did time are now living happy, normal lives.

It doesn't matter where your "bottom" is--all you need is the desire to stop drinking more than you want to continue to sink. You can get off the elevator at any floor.