1stepup

Very sad and tragic, thanx for thread a great eyeopener for me, especially the heartache it causes for loved ones aswell as the alcoholic.

vegibean

Very powerful video, and it's so sad that it DOES get that bad for people.

ScottFromWI

The thread you provide is mainly just anonymous user comments referencing Facebook comments. I wouldn't call it a very valid source.

Regardless of how it happened it's a very sad story. Based on what the doctors were saying his organs were near failure, and i'm not surprised based on his physical state. A very important reminder to us all that while an extreme example, any one of us could be him some day if we aren't vigilant.

SeekSobriety

Thank you for posting the link to this video. Very powerful, very real. Very sad.

If we are or were not at the low bottom that Ryan had reached, it is a very real place we could very well get to and fairly quickly. Someone had mentioned that his Ex Girlfriend said that Ryan had only been drinking heavily for 5 years.

Let us not allow his suffering and his desire to change his life, to be for not. If we are on this board here today and have a chance to get sober, I say we do all we need to do to get clean and stay clean. Our story does not have to end in tragedy.

What helped me stay sober.
Working with a Doctor, Working with a therapist, attending group meetings, being accountable. Owning up to my past mistakes and, paying back debts. Finding a job and working, if I was unemployed, in addition to honestly looking for work, spending my free time Volunteering and helping others was and is key to staying sober.

Our story does not have to end in tragedy. We have a gift of now, what will we do with it?

Give in to the disease, and drink our life away? Or take back control of our lives from a chemical and start to live life on our terms, not on the bottles terms? Sobriety might not always be easy, but is suffering and living life as a alcoholic easy? Surely it is not. It is horrendous, and the few minutes of pleasure, hardly make up for the hours upon hours of agony and sickness, embarrassment, frustrations and shattered families, relationships, jobs and health.

I feel so sad that Ryan was not able to get himself help sooner. But hopefully his story will inspire others to take action before it is too late.

R.I.P Ryan.

xuse

Sad

raja12

Very powerful and emotional. So very sad and tragic how it ended. Thanks for sharing that.

jazzfish

It is a sad story and a poignant display of what is possible if alcoholism is left unchecked. However, I do worry what the effect of all these heavily dramatized shows has on less severe cases of alcoholism. I may have never looked for help if I thought I had to drink as much as Ryan or needed as much intervention from my family members.

Coldfusion

I started this, but decided not to watch it. I've been there and done that.

I can't avoid the idea that this person is performing for the camera.

AM9610

That was intense. I thought the single worst case I'd ever seen was Lawrence from Intervention, who was only 34 yet so ravaged by years of steroid use and alcoholism that he could barely cut up his own food. Lawrence also wound up dying. I'd say this one is pretty much on the same level. So tragic.

Thank you for posting that, Polaroid. It will stick with me for a very long time.

SeekSobriety

good points although, I was always reminded that we are always just a few more drinks or months away from hitting that bottom.
All these hard bottom drinkers did not start out that way, it is a progressive disease. If we have not hit that hard bottom yet, we better take the wake up call and stop before we end up there when it may be too late.

There is spot reserved for all of us on skid row and the morgue, some of us might just get there sooner then others. If we have not hit that bottom YET, why chance it?

isinganyway

indeed

bigsombrero

Yeah I agree. These are not only heavily staged, they are also extremely severe cases. I almost feel like the film team is taking advantage of his condition in a way, as it was clear immediately that he was in a near-death situation.

DavidSmall

I thought it was dreadful and the medical professionals depicted in it grossly negligent. The poor guy needed urgent medical treatment, not rehab, psychiatrists, etc...

choublak

"See, I'm not an alcoholic! I'm not like 'that guy'!"

Even Nat Geo is showing reality tv now? Facepalm

ljames103

I watched this in order to sort of scare myself. Maybe as sort of a warning to myself, "see what might happen if you drink again?"

But I was kind of disappointed, because I found myself feeling relieved. Like I was nowhere near that bad, so maybe I didn't have the problem I thought I had. Maybe I stopped drinking when I didn't really have to. Blah blah blah... all kinds of dangerous thinking.

choublak

Why would you feel disappointed?

ljames103

Maybe I worded that wrong. I just meant that I was hoping that when I watched it, I would connect more with Ryan's story and it would strike a nerve because that could be me.

But even though in reality that COULD be me someday, I still felt disconnected and like it didn't apply to me. Or any other alcoholics I've known, because Ryan's case was about as severe as they come. I thought they were going to show soneone more like me, which would be scarier (to me, anyway). So I guess what I'm saying is I was disappointed because this documentary made me feel safe. Which is bad.

Jaded1999

I just watched this and oh my god!! I was dependent on alcohol like that for a couple of years (After I got divorced). I was the same age!! I did 6 detoxes and a rehab in 3 years, lately i've kinda been thinking life is sooo boring I wish I could just 'party' again... Poor me blah blah!
I'm 31 now and 7 months sober, working again and this just reinforced how I never want to go back to that life... Ever!!

I now feel so bad for what I must have put my parents and my ex-wife through.

wheresthefun

I'd say there's quite a lesson in this thread as to how we are all individuals and one thread subject that is beneficial to one person may be a horrible trigger to another: One man's meat is another man's poison.

(For the record, I watched this when it originally aired. I TiVoed it for my wife to watch later, as she was/is still drinking.)

wpainterw

What occurred to me while watching this was that the fellow (was his name Ryan?) appeared to be a "maintenance" drinker. He became very uncomfortable if he was without alcohol. I was an episodic drinker. So my question was what made me pick up a drink when I knew from past experience that doing that always led to trouble down the road? I'm not sure of the answer to this. Maybe I did it because I liked the momentary "high", the feeling of well being that it gave me. Maybe when I was a bit depressed or stressed I thought a drink might help and it appeared to do that at first, that is for the first half hour or so.
This leaves me with a feeling that an episodic drinker has more "guilt" in his situation since he hasn't picked up a drink in order to avoid feeling pain but because he wants the "buzz" or is trying to self medicate in order to deal with depression. The first drink that an episodic drinker picks up is not to avoid withdrawal. It's to get a buzz or deal with something else like depression. From past experience I should have learned that this never worked out but invariably led to trouble. Why didn't I learn that? Why did it go on year after year without me coming to my senses?

W.