[Sharon]

Alcohol. Capable of ruining so many people.

My dad used to work with the homeless at Waterloo here in London and he befriended an alcoholic who was in a shocking state. When the time came for the man to be admitted to a hospice to die, the only person he wanted there was my dad. Watching that man die so horribly still troubles my dad. When the man rasped his last, a tear ran down his eye. Wonder what he suffered

[mintycbo]

It's late here...And I wanted to watch it, and wanted to go to bed..
Ended up watching the whole thing anyways..
I can tell story after story of people I know, friends, relatives, co-workers, myself. and how I witnessed alcohol take us down.. The guy in that video with pancreatitis two times... I want to just want smack him.. just, POW!
He has No idea of what he has ahead of him, Seems like the average low-bottom alcoholic...he has time before he hits the bottom, and before it REALLY affects him.. He'll hit bottom first though..We all do..
Not smack him out of anger, but out of care from a fellow alcoholic.
The Woman who lost her kids and quit cold turkey and was transported to the hospital..
All of the DT's (Delirium Tremens) and horror with alcohol withdrawl that I mention on posts that are drug related? (Especially alcohol related)
She was a good example of what I ramble on about..and how the doctor explained it all. pretty much spot-on yet broken down so the average person can understand.
(Heavy alcohol usage with physical dependency and abruptly quitting = you can die...)
The first lady, she had ascites (Bloating/fluid in abdomen from liver).
Just scary stuff right there.. I'd end up taking the catheter home..just walk around leaking out..that has to be soooo uncomfortable..your organs are already beat up, and sore/hurting..now add all of this pressure on them. in some cases it can hinder your breathing. The "lucky" guy that got the transplant...
In the states that is pretty hard to accomplish.. Most alcoholics die waiting here.. if not from purely waiting and liver failure? relapsing due to lost hope..
One thing I really did not like about this documentary... They spoke of lacking willpower, or wanting / wishing for willpower.. Willpower has NOTHING to do with recovery..
You need a true desire to stop using, not a need or reason to quit. not want to quit for a person other than yourself. Have to have the desire to quit for yourself...
The woman that wanted her kids back (Who earlier went through early signs of Delirium Tremens.) Her actions showed she had a true desire to quit (Cold ass turkey quitting and going to an A/A meeting...I couldn't have done that myself ). She knew she wasn't responsible while using to care for her children, she knew she had to get clean and maintain it to have them back with her.. and the way the documentary ended? looks like she probably did just that.
Visualized the problem, realized it for what it was, and went straight to it. (With a bit of haste I may add..but that was her motherly instinct kicking in as well.)
Not responsible for my addiction, but I am responsible for my recovery..


Still jealous of Kate (women who lost kids/endured A/A meeting while DT's).
She got her detox in a hospital with an i.v. ...
I did mine in a jail cell .. crushed up klonopin, valium and tegratol 2 - 3 times daily in an envelope by the nurse.
(not really jealous..actually happy to see she got help.)

Lastly
They say drugs/alcohol lead to three places -
Jails, Institutions and Death...

Grateful I've only came close to the last one.

[mintycbo]

And Sharon , I believe it was a horrible death that man endured for an extended period of time.. it's hell.
I was told quit or die in 2 years if I continued on the way I was. Drank for a year. wanted to quit the whole time but couldn't.. Found myself in county jail, at sentencing, asked for rehab. was told 3 months in county prison, then I may go to the rehab followed by a year of probation.. Was probably the wisest decision I made in my 33 years alive.

What I was getting at.
When I was told that I only had two years, I could not do it on my own..
I had liver marks all over my body, my bone marrow was bleeding out and the blood would pigment blotches in my skin. (This has gone away since.. took nearly 3 years of sobriety to get rid of the marks.)
They said I had cirrhosis, But.. somehow I was lucky and didn't REQUIRE a transplant. Was earlier stages of it.. (Still scratch my head on that one..)
My platelet count was at 27 (Not sure the measurements they used.) and said normal was 150-400.
Bump myself on something, instant bruise/blood blister, bled easily/profusely.. would have 4 + nosebleeds / day.. list of trouble went on endlessly.. But I pulled through. Still feel like crap a lot of the time though..
But, not like I shouldn't have expected that..

Here I am..5 years+ later, still sober..
And grateful to be sober. :)

[Morc]

My daughter is an alcoholic, she is 31 and has just relapsed after 16 months of sobriety. These documentaries are scarey, I don't want to bury my child. She is the only drinker in the family, I rarely drink alcohol. Funnily enough her liver seems ok yet I have NAFLD! Go figure!

[dcaccount22]

and yet marijuana is the illegal drug!!

[DiamondSmiles]

Originally Posted by mintycbo ↗

And Sharon , I believe it was a horrible death that man endured for an extended period of time.. it's hell.
I was told quit or die in 2 years if I continued on the way I was. Drank for a year. wanted to quit the whole time but couldn't.. Found myself in county jail, at sentencing, asked for rehab. was told 3 months in county prison, then I may go to the rehab followed by a year of probation.. Was probably the wisest decision I made in my 33 years alive.

What I was getting at.
When I was told that I only had two years, I could not do it on my own..
I had liver marks all over my body, my bone marrow was bleeding out and the blood would pigment blotches in my skin. (This has gone away since.. took nearly 3 years of sobriety to get rid of the marks.)
They said I had cirrhosis, But.. somehow I was lucky and didn't REQUIRE a transplant. Was earlier stages of it.. (Still scratch my head on that one..)
My platelet count was at 27 (Not sure the measurements they used.) and said normal was 150-400.
Bump myself on something, instant bruise/blood blister, bled easily/profusely.. would have 4 + nosebleeds / day.. list of trouble went on endlessly.. But I pulled through. Still feel like crap a lot of the time though..
But, not like I shouldn't have expected that..

Here I am..5 years+ later, still sober..
And grateful to be sober. :)

Congratulations! I'm glad you are still here, mintycbo.

I lost all three of my younger brothers to various degrees of alcohol related issues.

It was a very helpless feeling to not being able to help any of them.

The second one to die tried getting into hospitals, but, was told he was too drunk or not drunk enough. I took him there myself with his bag packed.

A few days before that, he was found on the ground and taken to a hospital, which the rehab claimed not to know.

On television, when someone decides to enter rehab, they are flown there that moment!

The first and youngest, died in a fire with alcohol and assorted drugs in his system, leaving a 15 year old daughter.

The mother of his daughter is a fucking cunt and I blamed her for his death and that of my middle brother. She took him to court every other week. He had put his arm through a window a couple of weeks before his death.

The daughter got my father's estate and her mother had her into a selfish cunt like herself. She wouldn't lend you the sweat off her ass and my brother made sure she saw us when he had limited custody.

I took her everywhere, but, she forgets that.

All three were big on alcohol and diphenhydramine, which is OTC, but, they took massive doses to sleep!

The last to go, the middle one, had blood in his urine for about a month, but, wouldn't go to the doctor or hospital. I found him on the floor and asked if he wanted to go to the hospital.

He died 1 day after his 51st birthday, leaving 3 children, the youngest being 17, and 3 grandchildren.

He missed his brothers, friends he'd lost, and my father, who passed in 2008. He gave up on everything, got cut off of Social Security due to not filing the paperwork.

He was found on the ground and hospitalized a few years ago and put on disability while in there.

I know I am mixing things up, but, I typed a message and deleted it accidentally.

Any questions, you know where I am.

I'm tired and lost my place here.

I'll check it tomorrow and try to edit.

[Shakey]

I must be lucky. I seem to be able to practice moderation.

[Politkovskaja]

Originally Posted by mintycbo ↗

...Was probably the wisest decision I made in my 33 years alive.

What I was getting at.
When I was told that I only had two years, I could not do it on my own..
I had liver marks all over my body, my bone marrow was bleeding out and the blood would pigment blotches in my skin. (This has gone away since.. took nearly 3 years of sobriety to get rid of the marks.)
They said I had cirrhosis, But.. somehow I was lucky and didn't REQUIRE a transplant. Was earlier stages of it.. (Still scratch my head on that one..)
My platelet count was at 27 (Not sure the measurements they used.) and said normal was 150-400.
Bump myself on something, instant bruise/blood blister, bled easily/profusely.. would have 4 + nosebleeds / day.. list of trouble went on endlessly.. But I pulled through. Still feel like crap a lot of the time though..
But, not like I shouldn't have expected that..

Here I am..5 years+ later, still sober..
And grateful to be sober. :)

Really happy to hear you made it through and still sober!
You came pretty close it seems; platelet concentration in the blood of an adult ranges from basically 150 000 to 400 000 per µL, while you were at 27 000 per µL
This is what caused you to bleed so profusely since that is what the platelets are there to prevent.

I knew a guy who drank himself to death basically. Many years of alcohol abuse which ultimately led to a bleeding in a very weakened esophagus (pretty common way too go from what I understand). Fairly quick though, fortunately.

Didn't intend to to go on for this long :). Anyway, thanks for sharing.

[30564U]

In 30 years as a police officer, I saw countless lives totally ruined by alcohol. You deal with so many drug addicts and drugs that alcohol and alcoholics almost seem quaint and trivial. Since the end of WWII, drug abuse has taken the public's attention away from alcohol and the horrible damage it can do. I would imagine that alcohol accounts for more deaths from long term use and property losses than drugs in America. Alcohol use is accepted by the public (and even within law enforcement) and we tend to laugh at drunks. Yet drunk driving kills thousands world wide each year. You'll eventually get caught using or buying drugs, but because alcohol is legal and socially acceptable, most alcohol addiction goes unnoticed. I wish we as a society would spend a little more time preaching about the hidden issues with alcohol.

[Shakey]

Originally Posted by dcaccount22 ↗

and yet marijuana is the illegal drug!!

Spark one up!