biminiblue

I've known several people who have gotten to the point you are - heavy drinker with several detoxes, then a little sober time and then they decide to go back and end up dead very quickly.

Not one or two people. Several. Scott's right, we hear about them here. I've heard about them in AA meetings - people I've known who died after some sober time. The withdrawal kills them or some other drinking related accident or incident. I've known people in my life who have done the same.

It's so much better on the sober side, please save your own life. No one else can or will do it for you. Take a stand that you're done. Then be done.

ScottFromWI

Yes, I saw those people too. And likely there will always be those people. It's hard enough for us to understand our addiction ourselves, much less someone who has never experienced it. Think about the insanity of how much physical distress you've put your body through by continuing to return to drinking, multiple times, even though you know exactly what the consequences will be. Addiction is not logical, so you have to accept it for what it is and deal with it accordingly.

But again, the bottom line is that what other people think is pretty much irrelevant - and not something you can change anyway. You can change your behaviors and choices alone. And making the choice to quit drinking will be a very good one with long term benefits both physical and mental.

Ariesagain

There’s a ton of money being made in the beverage, restaurant and entertainment industries...that’s why there is so much hype about how fabulous and fun drinking is and any dark side is viewed as a moral failure of the drinker, not a problem with the drink.

There are a LOT of problems with the drink. It’s toxic, it causes cumulative damage to nearly every organ, it’s addictive and it’s directly implicated in nearly 80 diseases and conditions, many of them serious.

Every health study that has come out in the past few years lowers the “recommended” limits for drinkers. I believe now for men it’s five to seven drinks...a week. You drink like that? Yeah, I didn’t either.

But as long as corporations are makng big money, they don’t care about the body count, because that’s the drinker’s fault, right?

There is a better life on the other side. Don’t buy the hype and ruin your life in the process.

You can do this.

nez

You can jump out of an airplane at 100,000 without a parachute and it is fun for the first 98,000 feet and then probably not so much fun.

Or you can jump out an airplane at 100,000 feet with a parachute and it is fun for the first 98,000 feet. Deploy your chute and...hey... it is still fun! Not only that...but you can do it again!

waxfruit

I got sober at 24 until I was 28 and those were the best days of my life.
What I would do to go back. I had everything I wanted in life and more. It was awesome!
Fast forward almost twenty years- married, divorced, loss of home, move after move, lost my business, abusive relationships, loss of family and friends, hospitals, car accidents, overdosed, no job, living with parents, get my drift?

Kindling- I'm well aware now that I can't drink. I've been at it all year. Testing it. It doesn't work. It doesn't matter how much time I rack up, I still go through a detox.

Good luck to you. I mean that. Give sobriety a chance. What do you have to lose?

hpdw

Could you have a read through the success stories on the site ?
I personally know one in particular from my small village around your age who was drinking every day all day on the street ,in houses ,he was a mess . He is sober about 18 months at the gym all the time and got a good job. I also know others at various ages who were in a bad way and got sober some 10 years some 20 odd years . On a more negative note I also know ( and I counted these poor souls in my head ) of 14 people men and women who have died in this one village through alcohol addiction in the 37 years iv,e been here .

I know how difficult the first few days are but with the right help you can beat this and have a happy life .

No one is trying to scare you here but we ALL need the truth . I've been told what I didn't want to hear a few times and sometimes I got annoyed and angry but it's the truth that saves us and sets us free .

I genuinely wish you well .

Dee74

I'm glad you're sticking around BSIS - this is a good discussion

D

August252015

I cannot echo the comments above enough - especially Scott's.

I was so- SO- angry when I quit.

I also quit because I finally- after years of horrifying damage to pretty much everything in my life- chose LIFE. I was told, at 39, that I had a year, 18 mo to live if I didn't quit.

I cannot tell you in enough detail how eternally grateful I am that I made that choice.

Bottom line: alcohol KILLS people like us. Period, end of story, full stop.

And like others have said here- and all over SR - I decided that while I will certainly die one day- it will NOT be because of continued drinking.

I hope you make the leap - it was terrifying for me to imagine life without alcohol but deep down I knew I needed to quit and committing to a life in recovery has proven "worth it" and the opposite of sad in Every. Single. Way.