Mendax21

Hi everybody.Kind of new to all this.A little background about myself,I live in a family of non drinkers/smokers or addiction of any kind.I started off after school,from college that is.Started with smoking one or two in a day because my friends would encourage my dumb self to and slowly and steadily I started drinking for the same reason.It was occasional and rare back in college days, because I'd never had booze and would drink only a few drinks and get hung like hell.It stayed the same during college years, occassional and low quantities,till 2014.Then I started working,and it was still very rare for me to drink, though I did continue smoking,which had increased to 3-4/day by then.This continued for a few years,and I started drinking like once or twice from 2017 or so,and slowly started drinking during weekends to last week where I was drinking almost daily,half a bottle of vodka mixed with come and viola.
I was slowly and steadily losing shape, getting bloated and fat and recently I've had bad pains in my back and difficultly breathing,add to that wearing mask all day when I'm at work.
So a near death like experience is what it took for me to finally come to senses and admit I am in wrong and I'm hurting myself by doing all this.
So last week I stopped smoking though I did relapse twice.Stopped drinking too,but I did drink three days in a row telling myself it's my last.I feel so deflated and hopeless,I know I am not what I've made myself to be.And hiding all this from my family makes it even more embarassing tbh.I want to get rid of alcohol and smoking as well.I don't want to live a life where I'm hungover in the morning and vomitting in the middle of the night.I want to get fit and get my stamina back and workout like I used to back in the day.Its horrendous how it took a near death like experience for me to finally realise what I'm doing is absolutely wrong and bad for myself and for my loved ones as well.Here I am, trying to start a new chapter in my life,I'm 28,will turn 29 this April.Hoping to save myself from the disaster of my own creation with help for similar folks who've been through such a passage in their lives.
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advbike

Welcome Mendax, glad you're here. Sounds like you know what you have to do and you're making the effort. I drank like a fish in my 20's had the good fortune to get some liver tests by an allergist of all things when I was 32, the numbers were already bad, so it woke me up to my situation.

You will find a lot of support here and you can do this. Take a look around, there's lots of resources.

ZIP

You're on the right path, friend. I went alcohol free for a number of reasons. One of the the chief reasons was fear of becoming incapacitated from alcohol-related medical issues. It was bound to happen ...I had caused enough problems in life and didn't want to become a sickly burden on my family. So, I committed to quit the booze. In return, I got back my health, a real life, and my self-respect. Quite the journey, but certainly doable...and worthwhile.

Dee74

Hi Mendax

Support made all the difference for me.
It was great for me to know that people here understood my problem and had solutions and support for me

I was 40 when I quit. If you do this at 28/29 you'll thank yourself forever

Zencat

Welcome to Sr Mend
There's a whole bunch of supportive peers here at SR. Me for one that can assist you in your personal recovery goals.

This is a large website, so perhaps have a look around and aquatint yourself with this large recovery community.

​​​​​​​Blessed be