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August 14, 2008, 9:18 am PDT
Hitting Rock Bottom
Quote From: smsoteriouI grew up with an alcoholic father (bless his soul, may he rest in peace), and I married a man with a drinking problem (he has been sober since October 2007), and now the best man at our wedding is struggling with alcohol. He's only 43 and he's in complete denial. He was in the hospital because of a alcohol related seizure that almost killed him. He was in rehab for 30 days, and then was supposed to be in outpatient rehab, which he doesn't seem to think he needs. Half of his friends told him not to come around anymore if he drinks, the other half (including me) are trying to save him one day at a time. His parents can't afford to pick up his tab anymore and they are sick about what has happened to him. He doesn't seem to want to stop drinking and I fear for his life, or someone else's if he gets behind the wheel and has another seizure, or he's just plain drunk. I'm trying to send him encouraging messages every day to ask him to be strong and believe in himself. After the first 4 days he called me every morning, but has since stopped communicating. Word has it he's drinking by himself all day. He's a professional chef who's trying to find a job. He has two young sons (who live in Switzerland with their mom), and my friend lives in the states. I try to appeal to his love for those boys to get him thru this, but I'm afraid nothing is getting thru to him. I couldn't save my dad from himself, I'm still with my husband because I think if I wasn't, he'd be in the same place our friend is, but I can't get thru to my dear friend. My tolerance level has shrunk considerably after dealing with this crap most of my life. I thought my friend hit rock bottom when he was in the hospital shaking from withdrawals and mumbling, with all his friends and family seeing that. Apparently I was wrong. I think I'm going to send a copy of the preview of this show to him so that maybe he'll watch, or I'll show up on his doorstep and we'll watch together. I look forward to seeing this show. I too, grew up with an alcoholic father and had no idea as a young person what effect his alcoholism would have on our entire family. I have a son (46 yrs old) who is drinking himself to death. Literally, he is going to die soon if something doesn't change in his life. I picked him up on Easter Sunday of this year after not hearing from him in months. I knew his wife had made him leave home because of his drinking and he was living alone in a trailer. Several of his friends (really drinking buddies) called to tell me we needed to do something as he was about dead. He had not had a drink in 3 weeks at that time but was so debilitated he could hardly stand so he agreed to go to the doctor. I carried him to the emergency room and they admitted him to ICU. He was in kidney failure, was anemic, had stomach ulcers, and had a horrible lesion on his tongue extending down his throat. They put him through every imaginable test and got him back on his feet. Sent him home and in a month's time he was drinking again. Drinks every day to the point of collapse. Answers yes to every question on the alcoholic quiz but will not agree to go to any kind of treatment facility or back to a doctor. What do you do? He has 2 daughters, one grown and one only 8 yrs old. He loves his children dearly but cannot or will not stop drinking.
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