Addicted-TLC

[looking for peace]

Has anyone watched the new series on TLC called Addicted? I think it's TLC's equivalent to A&E's Intervention. Anyway, I watched an episode yesterday featuring Kevin, a severe 26 year old alcoholic. You can watch it on the internet if you google "TLC addicted".

Anyway, all he does all day is drink vodka, pukes and sleeps on an old mattress. He's been in the hospital at least 16 times in 9 months for alcohol related issues. It's really sad for the whole family. It's scary to watch.

I like to watch these shows to remind me just how horrible alcohol can be. However, another part of me watches these shows to reaffirm to myself that "thank God, at least I'm nowhere near that bad". So, it almost gives me an excuse to say that drinking one bottle of wine a night a few times a week is just fine. Anyone else watch these shows?

I've been doing better than I was before, but I still have bad days that get me down mentally and physically for at least 24 hours. I want to stop completely, but my head is not quite there yet. What's it going to take?

[spedteach]

Addicted-TLC

Thank you Sheri. I'm going to watch it right now. I have watched both of these shows and while the situations depicted are extreme, my life during my last year of drinking was approaching extreme enough to get me to stop and to feel like never ever again will I do that to myself and people I love.

Looking, I can't really say why I was able to quit 8 months ago and to feel such resolve to stay af. But if I hadn't kept trying over and over again, I'd never have gotten to where I am today.

[K9Lover]

Addicted-TLC

Hi Peace,
I watch all of those shows too, for the same reasons you do. One is to see how bad things can really get, the other is to be thankful that I don't have to live like that, ever. I once watched an "Intervention" on A&E where the lady was drinking mouthwash. She wasn't sober the entire show. Once she even passed out on her front lawn, and her kids just stepped over her like that was the most normal thing in the world! How sad! True, most of us are not nearly that bad, but it's an honest reminder of what can, and does happen, if we let this alcohol beast take over. I am so thankful today to be AF free. It's still early days for me, but my resolve has never been stronger. I hope you are doing well too, keep us posted!
:h
K9

[Lavande]

Addicted-TLC

looking for peace,

Personally, I don't feel the need to watch these films. But if you find that they help motivate you to do the right thing for yourself then good!
My nursing career provided me with plenty of opportunities to deal with patients in such poor condition. But even that wasn't enough to stop me from developing my own problems.

I do believe, especially in my case that unresolved anxiety/depression lead me down the wrong path. I had to find a way to get a handle on all that before I was able to completely quit.
You have to keep trying - try everything until you find the right way for you.

You won't be sorry

[Guest]

Addicted-TLC

I watch the addiction shows also. I also tell myself, well I was never that bad.

BUT I also remind myself, if there was a video of my blackouts, my life when I was on a binge, how would it come across to others and myself!! I shudder at the thought.

I have never taken for granted the fact my life could be so much worse. My insanity when drinking scared me, I cannot live my life that way. 13 days AF and keeping a eye on the future while not forgetting the past.

[looking for peace]

Addicted-TLC

Thanks for all the input, Lavande... to your point of anxiety/depression, I just made an appointment with a counselor that I hope I like because I am indeed dealing with those issues right now (very intensified over the last 2 years). So hopefully, that will turn out to be positive.

By the way, I've also recently got hooked on the shows Hoarders (A&E) and Hoarding (TLC). It's very fastinating how some people live behind closed doors. Both are shows about EXTREME hoarders... some stories are truly unbelievable and almost more horrifying than drug and alcohol addiction. It's like watching a train wreck, you can't look away. (Makes me feel better about my house keeping skills!)

Anyway, People use various methods to numb pain..... choose your poison.

[rubywillow]

Addicted-TLC

Peace, you hit the nail on the head! I was thinking as I read about the other programs, (hoping they are educational and not exploitative), and thinking about the ones that stuck in my memory. In the addiction ones, we see SO much enabling, and young people who have been set up to fail by the 'support' of their families. Hoarding for me is different. What is the line between complusion and lazy? (I'm thinking of one man whose apartment was overflowing with trash, b/c he never took it out!) The series 'expert' showed going in to his bathroom in gear you'd wear in a biotech attack, and SHOVELLING out the feces covered paper on the floor. He sat calmly in the hall outside, directing what he would keep, which boiled down to almost nothing.
In my work, and life experiences, I've seen people like those on the programs. They don't get there overnight, and not without other, 'normal' people, seeing it. What's the answer? I don't know. But continuing to try to come up with labels for each disorder isn't it. I get angry when I see TWO adults who move their family to the backyard tents, in bad weather, because they won't clean their house enough to get rid of the bedbugs. I understand, there are mental illnessess in play sometime, but we are excusing far to many others, and ourselves for not taking SOME action. Kevin is a different story; he's lost, and needs intervention care, but again we come against his freedom of choice. I'm sorry, got lost in all this. I don't have an answer for each one, and I'm venting a bit, but once someone loses all control, there needs to be a way to IMPOSE one last, mandatory treatment/effort? Again, I don't have the answers.