AWOL

Wow, thanks for the input. Boleo, you hit the nail on the head and GR8 I've read your story and feel for you in your very sad circumstances. Please accept my condolences. Stopping drinking took me such a long time. My learning curve went something like this: Age 17: Night in jail = alcohol; age 23: Multiple car accident = alcohol; age 25: lost high profile job = alcohol; age 27: long-term relationship crashed = alcohol. age 45: coronary artery bypass surgery = alcohol.

Today: earning a good income; like Least, I feel good about myself; no hangovers, no double vision; no panic attacks at 3 am; no isolation; no fear; no arm-wrestling with the Grim Reaper. No alcohol.

DayTrader

I was forced. 9 months of a SCRAM Alcohol Tether compliments of DUI #3 stopped the alcohol consumption.......AA's program stopped the insanity in my head that didn't disappear when the booze stopped.

LaFemme

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IMA!!!

Like everyone I could list a million reasons why I wanted to quit....thing is I had those reasons for 5 years and couldn't quit...what finally got me to quit was either plane dumb luck or Gods grace....staying quit is on me and a lifelong journey.

imatryinhard

Thanks Lafemme!!! It's the best birthday ever because I am sober and experienced my spiritual awakening or whatever you want to call it. I love what you said "plane dumb luck or God's Grace" because that's what it feels like.

ClosetExtrovert

My life was solitary. I was sick all the time. No one knew me. I was numb. I prayed, and not for the first time. But that time, it worked. That time everything changed. So, I would say a miracle happened. Why it happened to me, I don't know, but you know what they say about looking a gift horse in the mouth, right?

doggonecarl

What made me stop drinking? A miracle I suppose. It certainly wasn't some horrific drinking incident...I had a bunch of those and never quit. It wasn't because of medical reasons, though my health is much improved since I quit. No, I just woke up late for work one day, hungover from what I recognize now as an "uncontrolled night of drinking" and thought to myself, I've got to quit. Words I've spoken to myself countless times. What was different this time was I listened. The miracle that made me stop drinking!

Fandy

The miracle that made me jump into sobriety with both feet was finding SR and nonjudgmental people to listen and learn about their struggles which so mirrored some of mine.

I was sinking deeper and deeper into the dark mess i made myself, i was barfing every morning and isolating myself except for going to work...i looked and felt like death warmed over...and after reading the forums for a couple of hours I decided i did not want to kill myself by drinking to death.

I've stumbled, but I NEVER will go back to that terrible feeling of no hope. I am so greatly RELIEVED to be sober..i remember waking up on the first weekend, feeling better and less depressed than i had been in years.

(Imatryin....you and I have the same birthday!)

AWOL

Happy Birthday Fandy and Ima!
Here's to a sober, healthy, happy year
Hope you have a really great one

Fandy

when I wake up every morning and have coffee and breakfast, take the dog (which I adopted after 3 months sober)for a walk while it is quiet and peaceful...I really do think that the Best is yet to Come!

Tendencies

Hating myself a little more everyday. The booze stopped masking my pain. Seeing suicide as the final solution. Then realizing I was my own best friend if I wanted to be.

maimai

Waking up every morning, feeling so ashamed wondering if my husband was mad at me,.

trying to hide the smell of booze on my breath

Tired of hiding bottles of booze all over the house

Letting my kid see me get drunk and having her ask me about it (she's 10)

the final straw?? I had a full fledged panic attack. I thought I was having a stroke. I got to the ER my pulse was 160 and honest to God my BP was 175/150. My hubby is an MD and I saw the look on his face. The Er people thought I was having a stroke. After every test in the world, nothing.

but everything

I swore to God, prayed so hard that if I got through this without any major physical problems that I would never, ever drink another drop of alcohol. And that sent me on this path of recovery.

I'm Lori and I am an alcoholic. Sober for 115 days. Just beginning the path of recovery and so grateful to be on it...

NYCDoglvr

Let's see. The time when, in a blackout I decided to take a big bottle of valium? To this day I have no idea why. Anyway, I got real lucky, a friend who has keys to my place walked in a found me unconscious. I woke up in the ER strapped to a gurney, my stomach pumped and the whole said of my face black and blue. They kept me for three days.

That's what it took to get me to stop drinking.

Soph

I got tired of my hypocrisy. After divorcing my ex in part from his deep denial over his addictions (pot, alcohol) - I went to Al Anon. Heard so many stories. Took a good look in the mirror and faced myself: yes, you honey. You too. And you know it. Well? What's it going to be?

I love my child too much to keep living a lie. And I don't want to imagine him having to live without me, should something happen to me due to my drinking. So, time to get a grip!

stanleyhouse

I closed my eyes and talked to God. Before I went to bed I had hope for the first time and I decided I could stop drinking. What seemed like an impossibilty.... inpatient, cost, childcare, alternative treatment, skilled psychiatrists and SUCCESS, now seemed possible.
I was physically on the bottom when I found God, but he is with you all the time.
SH