ProfessorFudger

Good afternoon all, I have recently come out of rehab on Monday 28/03/11, and feel fantastic, my life has changed forever, I was only ever a night drinker and held a successful job while doing a degree. But 17 years of 3ltrs of cider a night took its toll on my liver and so I was in need of a change in life. I referred myself and 8 months later am now feeling like an 18 year old again with my life in front of me, the rehab was great, no problems with withdrawal, and even now nothing, i feel on top of the world.

I went to my first aftercare meeting and mentioned I play pool. As it happens its at Rileys and they serve beer, and all my mates also play. They suggested it was a bad idea going to that environment so on the day of my rehab release. I disagreed and said I felt fantanstic, I played my games had 3 cups of tea, and left with the biggest beaming smile ever, my wife was with me and was so proud.

I know it will be hard, but the meeting we had made it sound as if it would be so tough almost impossible. I disagree, for 8 months Ive been gearing myself up to be a non drinker, and now im not. After rehab I was so emotional that it has literally changed my life forever and I am NEVER going back to the way I was. I am joining this site to keep my recovery strong and to hopefully pass on my personal experiences.

artsoul

Hi Professor - great to have you with us! I'm so glad rehab worked for you - I had really positive experiences with it too.

You sound positive and motivated - so don't let anyone bring you down. It's only normal for people to be concerned when someone mentions going to a party or a bar, but you also have 8 months of sobriety (congratulations!).

The 2 times I relapsed were after a few years of sobriety and I had neglected my recovery and started questioning my alcoholism. I had been trying to drink my depression away and finally got some help with it. This time, I was already on anti-depressants and still fell into drinking heavily, so I'm thoroughly convinced I cannot ever start again. I think we still have to be active in some kind of recovery though, even if we're feeling strong and happy.

This is a great place - I come here every day.

recoverywfaith

congrats

jamdls

Hi Professor, welcome to SR. Some people can handle being around their old friends/lifestyle early in recovery but many of us can not and find that we have to change all of our ways. I hope you stick around here and post often.

EmeraldRose

Welcome.
I, too, finished rehab on 3/28. I, too, volunteered myself to go after drinking for 30 years. Awesome is an understatement for how I feel right now. Life is good.
I start aftercare on 4/6 so I'm really looking forward to that and AA meeting on Thursday.
Good Luck to you and glad you're here.

currygod

its great you are feeling so great so early on

Like you, I was also able to go out to a bar/resteraunt about a week after stopping and didn't have any desire to drink at all.

You are doing well, so keep it up!!

ProfessorFudger

Sorry, I meant that I had 8 months since the start of the process, to finally getting the detox which ended 27/03/11. thus I am 11 days into sobriety.

ProfessorFudger

I certainly will, and hope to meet and jelp as many people as I can, because I can't describe or put into words the complete change it has had on me.

I feel 18 again, and look forward to each day. It's the ittle things I am starting to notice such as staying up later with the wife to watch a film, rather than her dragging me up off the sofa to go to bed. It's feeling a million dollars in a morning, rater than groggy. It's eating properly again, and finishing a meal, rather than giving leftovers to the dog. It's the feeling of getting control rather than being controlled. The list is endless and I am only 11 days in. Im sure that list will grow and grow as the weeks and months pass by.

I will be introducing this website at my next meeting tomorrow, as they seem to focus on the negatives rather than the positives.

I am an analyst and deal with stats daily. Since rehab I have been working hard to find credible statistics which would help people, not frighten them.

We are told that only 5%-10% make it through recovery, which to be fair is quite depressing for those who are really stuggling, it doesn't quite paint the true picture.

Dr. Lewis Baxter Sr was the keynote speaker. He is the president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine known in the field as ASAM.

He provided some rather heartening statistics. But these have to be qualified. He spoke at a conference of people who have gone through a “full treatment experience”. A full treatment experience includes:

1. Detoxification

2. Rehabilitation

3. Maintenance

These are patients who received a full assessment, and an accurate diagnosis of their condition. They’d gone through proper detoxification and/or medical maintenance. Rehabilitation – means therapy and addiction counseling. Aftercare and continuing care refers to ongoing treatment with social support such as a 12 step program and/or continued therapy throughout the year.

Hear is the good news for you all, YES the the 5%-10% success rate percentage is accurate, but only to those that had tried a detox only (however short or long).

However his findings showed this increased to 33% if they had gone through detoxification in rehab only.

Finally the great news is that the success rate increased to 77% if they went through the full treatment experience as mentioned above.

This information is easily found on the internet and took just a day, I will now look for more positive studies to show that there will always be lies, damn lies and statistics, and that we should look to embrace the positive statistics rather than worry above the negative ones. I look forward to posting again, and hope to find some new friends. I love chatting via facebook if anyone would like my address please inbox me as i suspect i wont be able to post a link on here!

ProfessorFudger

I understand they try to say what could happen if you have another drink, I understand that. But I am no longer a drinker and so there is no temptation. I will explain this better tomorrow to them but I have no choice.

If I fail or relapse at all in the next 3 years, the following things WILL happen to me.

My liver will fail (I was 6 months off serious trouble)
I will lose my job (I self referred myself, as I noticed it affecting work, and so if I don't fully commit, I may be subject to diciplinary action if my work is not of a certain standard, as they can blame the alcohol)
My wife of 7 years will leave me, this is a promise, she put up with my for so long and loves the new me, we are starting a fresh life)
I will lose my home (i need the job and the wifes money to support the home)
I will not see my son (I see him every 2 weeks and have done for 9 years, with no home, that won't happen)

So I am not thinking about beer, nor do I want to, nor do I need to, my life has changed, and I have so much to lose for a small drop of liquid, its a no brainer, but I am sympathetic for those who don't have anything to drive them, that I can only imagine is a nightmare.

ProfessorFudger

I agree its fantansic, hope to speak to speak to more of you in the future

Itchy

Completely. I went through the complete detox in hospital, rehab, and AA for three months and feel I am one of the successful ones because I recognized the need for a full recovery, thus a full treatment seemed in order. Six months now and no desire to go back in any way.

SR is an extra resource for many that tried unsuccessfully alone. A big help for many. If it isn't enough then they need to reach out to full support locally as well. Those that do here seem to make it. And the resources locally used are different for each.

nancyj

Nice thread!

aussieblue

Hi Professor glad you found us.

ProfessorFudger

As am I, no doubt will be popping up all over the place in the coming weeks and years.

I have felt nothing which Im told is weird and rare, since and even in detox I never had any withdrawals, and havent since, and ive been to the local poo lhall to play pool, yet nothing, my desire not to lose everything is stronger than my desire to drink.

I managed to persude a fellow patient to stay as he was just fed up and wanted out the detox program, but he was similar to me. They refused to let him go swimming with his kids unless supervised, he was a big fellow and didn't like being treated as a pisoner or kid, he was very angry and about to sign a discharge letter.

I asked him and said "It's grating you that you cant see your kid today, but kids are stong and its one day mate, you need to weigh it up, on one hand you leave and see your kid, yes he is happy then, but if you fall back, and dont commit to the treatment, imagine your kids face when mummy tells him, come here son I have something to tell you.....you daddy id dead. Imagine his face then. Also you will argue less with the mrs get laid more often, and have a better time with your son. So on this hand you can go, but think what might be, on the the other hand you stay and recover, think what might happen, which has the best picture in your head"

He stayed the full treatment with me, and fingers crossed he is also doing well as I am.