The Perils of Hard Boozin.

a reply to: kloejen

Tylenol is another to avoid during drinking, and the day after also, because of potential liver damage.

a reply to: intrepid

I didn't have my first drink until I was 24. I only had a couple beers 2-3 times a week during hockey games.

My life took a stupid turn and I started drinking daily, and sometimes twice like you said.

I don't really care about my health and neither does anyone else. I've already been through it all and found there's not much over the horizon for me.

I do miss the taste of water though and feeling truly hydrated is a good feeling.

I do want to quit drinking. Not for anyone or anything, but just because I know deep down it's not who I am and not who I want to be.

But who I am and who I want to be doesn't get very far without that escape and numbness.

Recommended reading for us alcoholics:



I read that 20 years ago and it explains why most of us are the way we are and do what we do. It's a short read but loaded with info.

ETA: I found a free download:

free.ebookunlimited.space...

Gotta luv the intranets.

a reply to: intrepid

Vanilla extract? I just made some homemade vanilla extract.I used
80 proof vodka and 13 vanilla beans.I can understand now why
desperation would lead to drinking vanilla extract for the alcohol.

I've never been a heavy drinker, but I did have a few incidents of over-imbibing in my 20's (normal rites of passage stuff). After my third hangover and feeling so crappy, I realized hard drinking is for the birds. Since then, I have an occasional glass of wine or beer at dinner, but that's it. Suits me just fine.

Hope you continue to get better, Intrepid. You have always been one of my favorite posters. Tough talking, but fair.

I am normally an empathetic person, but it's hard for me to be sympathetic for the OP. I'm grateful for the OPs warning to others and kinda sad this happened to another person.

To me, you are just experiencing the consequences of your actions. My father is an alcoholic. My mother was an alcoholic until her cirrhosis diagnosis. I was the child, terrified to die, while her drunk, alcoholic parents drove home from yet another party. I am the child and teenager who has witnessed domestic abuse, gone to at least two new schools every year, child of a broken home. My mother would bring home strangers from the pub every weekend. She left me to look after my brother for six weeks while she went on a bender. I was 16. He was 5. We had no money and she threatened my life if I told anyone. I am the daughter of a man who drank 12 beers every day and now that his body has # itself, it's up to me to care for a man who deliberately wrecked his body and expects others to take care of him. I am the adult who watches adults my parents age tell me they are dying from alcohol abuse. They just want to go to the pub and keep drinking. I am the teenager who was stressed from school and my mother forced me to drink at 13. Yep, that is me.

I don't touch the stuff now.

But think about the people around you OP. What have they had to give up or watch with your alcohol addiction? Do you expect them to care for you after you've spent so long poisoning your body? It's always up to the people who aren't alcholics or drug addicts to care for people that are ... but they had choices just like you did.

I'm sorry if that seems heartless. This is a return warning to you about the people around you. Think of what they're going through. What they've seen. The demands you place on them from your own choices.

My dad nearly died but is only concerned when he can get more beer. I'm dragging my feet.

If my mother has one more drink she will die.

I have grown up around alcohol and I know it for what it is. It has destroyed my parents. And they love it so much. When my dad went to a nursing home, I found a poem in his medication bag. I'll see if I can dig it up, but I found it sad while he must have found it humorous.

Nope, can't find it. Maybe I'll try again later. But alcohol didn't do this to you. You did this to you. I've seen alcohol reduce a lifespan by 20 years and the last five years were particularly painful.

I do hope you heal.

Relatives can treat their bodies like # then just expect others to take care of them when they can no longer function.

originally posted by: pacific
I am normally an empathetic person, but it's hard for me to be sympathetic for the OP. I'm grateful for the OPs warning to others and kinda sad this happened to another person.

I guess it's a good thing I'm not looking for sympathy then. It seems YOU have issues. Maybe Al Anon will help you with that.

Relatives can treat their bodies like # then just expect others to take care of them when they can no longer function.

It was a rough 8 months or so. I recognize that but I'm functioning just fine. Still on the weak side compared to presickness but I'm coming along. In fact I'm more active than they are.

Thanks for posting Intrepid. I'm in the midst of taking a hard look at my own situation.

originally posted by: NarcolepticBuddha
a reply to: intrepid
I didn't have my first drink until I was 24. I only had a couple beers 2-3 times a week during hockey games.

My life took a stupid turn and I started drinking daily, and sometimes twice like you said.

I don't really care about my health and neither does anyone else. I've already been through it all and found there's not much over the horizon for me.

I do miss the taste of water though and feeling truly hydrated is a good feeling.

I do want to quit drinking. Not for anyone or anything, but just because I know deep down it's not who I am and not who I want to be.

But who I am and who I want to be doesn't get very far without that escape and numbness.

consider seeing a therapist, that was the first step for me in getting things turned around. and it also led me to realize that i was depressed and to start seeing a way out of that too.

big hugs and i hope things get better for you.

Good luck with the recovery.
I've not touched a drop for 13 years & absolutely do not miss the stuff.
My alcoholism was characterised by an inability to control my drinking rather than drinking every day. (Although I would drink until I was flat broke).
An alcoholic friend of mine picked this phrase up from yet another alcoholic:
"If I have a drink I don't know where I'll end up; New Brighton, New York or the New Year".

a reply to: intrepid

Good luck intrepid & thank you for sharing your personal story to encourage better health activities for others.

originally posted by: intrepid
I'm in my mid 50's and had a liver transplant 6 weeks ago due to hard drinking for about 40 years. My liver had crapped out. Once that happens there's no pill to bring it back. Quitting after cells die won't bring it back either. That's the background.

I had a father in law go through the same. About the same age too. Except as I am sure you know, in order to be eligible for a liver transplant, you need to quit drinking amongst other things. He opted not to. At least until he became unable to get his own drinks.

Over a period of 6 months his liver shut down, no longer able to filter ANY toxins from what he ate and he died a slow death from poisoning. Everything he ate or drank was literally poisoning him without a liver. He died in his easy chair on morphine, immobile, bloated, delirious and jaundiced.

Sidenote: If you ever find yourself researching family history and see "Jaundice" as a cause of death, that means alcoholism and liver failure. You turn yellow as your liver fails, even the whites of your eyes.

Alcoholism is a horrific disease. It was a horrible death to witness. I tell myself he suffered from a disease, but still harbor some anger over what he put his mother-in-law through and the grand-kids etc.

Be proud and grateful you chose life. Big props for sharing and congrats on your second life, not a lot of folks get that chance.

Why are some of you being dicks to the OP?

For those of us unfortunate enough to be alcoholics, it's an addiction, a disease, and not just a life choice. I grew up with heavy drinkers and smokers and probably had my first glass of wine around 7 at the urging of my parents/relatives. I was drinking every weekend by the time I was 15 and by 18 I was drinking every night. Drinking in my family was simply considered normal and encouraged....it didn't even occur to me until my mid-30's that I might have a problem until I started having health issues, a DUI, depression, money problems, lost relationships, and finally my mom and uncle died of complications from addiction. It didn't help that I was a contractor in the Middle East for 6 years and ran into some truly horrific situations. At one point, my doctor told me that I had less than a year to live....what did I do that night? I closed down the bar with my friends. I simply wasn't taught that moderation and (preferably) abstinence were choices. Now that I carry this demon, it's even harder to shake it off.

...and it IS a demon. I'm not religious but I do think there's all kinds of demons that make people suffer. They feed off the pain and suffering of people while hiding what they really are. Mine happens to tell me that I need a beer when I get home from work, then I need a second beer, third, and so on. I've never had other addictions to drugs, sex, money, whatever...just alcohol.

I'm in a lot better health now than I was 10 years ago simply because I drink less but I've never gone more than a day or two without a drink. No more hard liquor or wine, just light beer. I doubt I will shake it loose but I am trying to starve it.

Be kind to the OP. This is more than just an accountability issue, it's truly something evil.

a reply to: intrepid

Get better and heal up. Keep the positivity level up.

I myself noticed I had a problem in my early 20's...I quit then and haven't looked back...almost 25 years alcohol free.

a reply to: intrepid

Ain't functioning to well now, are we? You do need to say, you need to say it loud & clear, not all are as wise as you. Not all understand the ramifications of "hard boozing". You been on here a long damn time, not all that come here and read these threads are of the age to make the" phuck your life up decision of "hard boozing". I have zero sympathy for your plight....it's been self inflicted since, you were around 15 years old. Again, your words & math, not mine. Killing your liver with alcohol should exclude anyone from getting a damn new one. Because someone somewhere who didn't hard booze gave one up for you to have. I have ALS, I have zero say in my disease, I bet you wished you could say the same.

originally posted by: openyourmind1262
I have zero say in my disease, I bet you wished you could say the same.

I wish I could say sayonara to your attitude but like herpes you keep coming back.

originally posted by: openyourmind1262
a reply to: intrepid

Ain't functioning to well now, are we? You do need to say, you need to say it loud & clear, not all are as wise as you. Not all understand the ramifications of "hard boozing". You been on here a long damn time, not all that come here and read these threads are of the age to make the" phuck your life up decision of "hard boozing". I have zero sympathy for your plight....it's been self inflicted since, you were around 15 years old. Again, your words & math, not mine. Killing your liver with alcohol should exclude anyone from getting a damn new one. Because someone somewhere who didn't hard booze gave one up for you to have. I have ALS, I have zero say in my disease, I bet you wished you could say the same.

I'm very sorry for your situation. It is truly horrific and would not wish it on my worst enemy(cancer either-my wife survived a bout with that, squeaky clean lady). This topic particularly resonates with us as a warning, that for some reason in our pea-brained minds, we don't really see the REAL negatives of our habits and hobbies. Well, there it is. And because he told his story, I think I'm just going to have a nice sober night with the wife reflecting on what I've just read in the OP. Again, I'm sorry for your condition. I'm very familiar with life threatening diseases that appear to the best people. My wife will be on medication for the rest of her life, as she wouldn't last long without it. Great person, love her and straight as an arrow.

Wow...

Just wow...

I remember a time when us ATS'ers were respectful of one another. We appreciated that we all had different stories; different experiences; different lives.

What I've read on this thread embarrasses, disgusts and angers me.

Intrepid - a mod who we all know - shares something intimate with us in the hope that it will help others and he is met with this? Shame on you ATS. Shame on you. People have issues. Some deal with them in a way that is acceptable to you and others don't. That's life.

It takes a strong man to make a post like he did and if you want to be a """" about it, you do that. Remember, though, that you are nothing but a keyboard warrior. A sad soul who will insult others virtually but but drop one if it was face to face.

People are alcoholics. End of story. Does it make them bad people? Hell no. Get a grip. Grow up. Stop with your crap or go elsewhere. I'm sure there are some AA boards where everyone will agree with you.

Intrepid - my heart and soul is with you, bud. Stay strong and recover well. Ignore the idiots and remember what our site used to be like... would have been a lot more support then.

Morons.

a reply to: openyourmind1262

You seem to want to be mad at the OP because he's not wallowing in self pity. He's a recovering alcoholic who is warning others about the ramifications of heavy drinking. Although I sympathize with your diagnosis, you shouldn't be mad at people who can recover from theirs. Your anger is misdirected here.

My Mother died from cancer. I had anger as well...and tried to lash out at others as if they were to blame for her disease and death. My Mother herself never had that anger. She didn't get mad at others who were able to recover from their illnesses. Maybe take that energy you're directing in anger and turn it into something positive. Make those around you happy rather than trying to make them feel guilty that they are healthy. Our greatest gift we can give is to brighten somebody's day. Not to make them feel guilty because they are healthier than we are.

My dad drank whiskey from the time he was about 13 years old, 1947-48, until 1985. He would drink a fifth of Canadian Mist a day.When he quit drinking in 1985, he regulated himself to about 14 Budweisers a day.

I can still remember, he'd wake up about 4:30 or 5 in the morning, drink a couple of cups of coffee and by 7am he had a beer in his hand. He would drink from 7am until about 4-5pm in the afternoon when we normally had dinner. Once we ate dinner, he was done drinking.

In July of 2003, my dad had to go to the doctor. His skin turned yellow and his excrement was chalk white. He and everyone else figured he had cirrhosis. What he had was even worse than we thought.

On Sept. 19th of 2004, my dad passed away a little under two months from his 70th birthday of pancreatic cancer. They attributed the disease to the whisky drinking, but I am sure the beer compounded it. Although, I will say he probably added 19 years to his life by quitting the whiskey.