janiebluebird

Gosh, that was so sad I, too, wish they would have given more detail about how he died 17 days into rehab...? Hopefully his system wasn't too shocked. Ugh, just a bad situation all around. He was born in the same year as me, 1984. Puts things into perspective. A good reality check for this weekend. Thanks for posting it.

CodysDad

Oh. My. Cats. and. Dogs.

That was amazing to watch-- thank you again for posting!

Such a sad thing to see. My disease didn't (hasn't) progress anywhere near as far as his, but as an alcoholic I definitely identified with him- I can imagine how he must have felt, how crazy his inner monologue must have been, how trapped and desperate and scared that poor guy must have felt. I'm no different than him- I just lucky to have more "yets" than he did at this point, and of course "YET" stands for "Y.ou're E.ligible T.oo".
Janie B is right- that was a VERY good pre-weekend reality check.

Merry Sobriety To All, and To All a Good Night

C'sD

renaldo

That was awesome. I'm always amazed when people invite the cameras in to monitor their every movement, but that's what makes for the best drama in the world. RIP Ryan.

weirdesttoner

Well, this was... unusual. Shocking! He was only 28 years old. We don't know the condition of our body until it's too late.

renaldo

Yeah, me too, even though I gave up liquor years ago. It was actually painless, but beer can get you addicted too, so I can relate to Ryan's story. Doctor visits up the yin yang, and them telling me the same thing, "dude, you need to stop drinking."

It's not rocket science.

chrissyburgess

i have a year sober and i drank for 30 years and i have alot of health problems from drinking and drugging for so long and yes it is that bad if i drink again i will die all you new comers you are so in my prayers and all it is , is a choice do i want to be sober MORE than i want to drink or drug

Huglets

Absolutely powerful. Thanks for posting.

That was the first time I've ever seen an explanation as to why eating was so painful. Like Ryan, eating was exceptionally painful and I avoided it like the plaque. At one point I weighed in at 82 lbs. I only at 1 or 2 per week.

I loved Ryan's spirit. Such a shame to lose him at such a young age.

Coldfusion

LOL, I ignored this thread because I thought Nat Geo was a person. Who's Nat? Some other guy thinking he knows the cure for what ails me?

Thanks for the post, I'll watch the video.

noanxtime

It was a reality come to life. I felt so bad for him. He seemed so hopeful about turning his life around, but at the same time so scared. That was probably the saddest. I hope his last days were as good as they could be.
A sad afterthought, he clearly had a support system - even though some were enablers, some of us don't even have that and must truly go at it alone.
While the science part was educational and telling, the picture of a young life gone wrong and how easy it was, is again, sad.

hypochondriac

That's so sad, he was such a lovely lad. I think many active alcoholics won't take a positive message from his story though. I wish he had been able to get help sooner. I think the relief he felt when he found out he wasn't schizophrenic would have helped him get sober. It was almost like he was living in fear of something that wasn't relevant to him.

YoungAndClean

Does anyone know how he died? Wasn't that rehab place giving him valium and monitoring him very closely to make sure he didn't have seizures or other alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Did he rellapse and leave the rehab and drink his last? I know this isn't really important but they don't say anything other than, "he died at rehab." I'd like to know how, and if the WDs killed him. Any thoughts?

woops sorry I hadn't seen this question was already asked, my bad.

choublak

"He had my mother against the front door with a knife to her neck."

What?!

paul99

I think regardless of the technical cause of death (organs shut down, suicide, complications from withdrawals, seizure, etc) I think it can easily be said that "alcoholism" was the true cause of it.

janiebluebird

YoungAndClean - I really want to know the cause, also. I find it kind of shady that they just say he died after 17 days. I want to know if he was monitored closely enough, or if his body was legit at the end of its rope...which could be, but is also questionable. Or he could have committed suicide, like it could be anything. I would like to know what happened, specifically.

janiebluebird

Curiosity got the best of me so I googled it and supposedly the rehab messed up and he died of a heart attack. I don't know how valid the source is but here's the thread I found on some other website about it. If you scroll down you'll see where someone said that:

So there's a show on NATGEO called "Drugged"

BackToSquareOne

I don't know that it's completely understood, even by the rehabs, as to just how dangerous it can be to remove a substance when a person is very deeply in the throes of addiction. If you consider that given enough time and exposure to the substance the organism tries to adapt to it at a cellular level.

Take the substance away and everything really goes haywire as the organism is now trying to function without the substance that it has adapted to. Overall function of the brain, heart rate and rhythm, etc.etc., just a ton of things that could go awry. DT's, seizures and the withdrawal syndrome are just an expression of the body trying to normalize. When you stop and consider all the organ systems that have to readapt to function without the offending substance present it isn't that hard to figure out that some won't make it thru the process.

hypochondriac

That's really scary though because it insinuates that some people are addicted for life and can never give up. It's why government guidelines here are to cut back not give up. Abstinence is definitely better for addicts mentally. So far all the documentaries on alcoholism have been of people who have died. I know that if I saw that when I was drinking I would think that it was hopeless and if I gave up I'd die anyway. We do tend to look on the negative side. For once it'd be nice to see a documentary of alcoholics who got sober and stayed that way and lived a happy life... I think addicted people need inspiration not scare stories.

kizzy40

Is it me or is ryan high functioning autistic/ aspergers?...
This is my first impression 4 mins in.

kizzy40

I feel so angry at his father, sometimes I really feel you can trace the root for addictive behaviours right back to early childhood.

That poor boy... When the decided he was just too weak, RIP ryan.

IreLander

Hard to watch, very very sad.