Just starting out x

[Guest]

Just starting out x

And just one more thing..............

Supplements. Yes they help but you can't sit back and expect them to magically "work". If you want to drink enough, then you will no medication in the world will stop you. You have to work at it yourself and the meds/supps just help you along.

If you had a sore leg and a walking stick you wouldn't expect the stick to pick your legs up and walk. You still have to use your limbs to walk and the stick simply helps you take the weight off one-side a little bit. That's how I see supplements.

[tictak]

Just starting out x

Yes i defo agree with you about how lucky we are {to an extent)... my son has loads of allergys.... athsma,excema,peanut allergy amongst others and all his meds are free.My hubby also has athsma and we pay 10.40 a month to get his meds free.But because of the system lots of illnesses het lost in the system.I feel my liver is damaged and its not been picked up on... liver test was fine last year but my eyes are now tinged with yellow

[tictak]

Just starting out x

Rubyblu;851393 wrote: Why the I think you should be proud of yourself. youve managed 6 AF days which is a lot to be proud of so big smiles please. I can only manage about 2 days which is rubbish.

I used to be fine and not drink in the week at all, I was so disiplined and thats where I hope to get back to. I like my wine but would like a healthy relationship with it.

Good luck with being AL free today. I dont think I will manage it tonight at my freinds but will try tomorrow xx

Thats the sad part.... today has been my first sat off in months and ive already drunk a bottle of wine.... trying to hide it from my 10 year old son at the mo

[Guest]

Just starting out x

tictak;851405 wrote: Yes i defo agree with you about how lucky we are {to an extent)... my son has loads of allergys.... athsma,excema,peanut allergy amongst others and all his meds are free.My hubby also has athsma and we pay 10.40 a month to get his meds free.But because of the system lots of illnesses het lost in the system.I feel my liver is damaged and its not been picked up on... liver test was fine last year but my eyes are now tinged with yellow

I'd go back and ask about that could be something else? You can always arrange a private consultation too. I'm going back to my GP this week to firstly update her on how I'm doing (she encourages me to keep in touch), and then to ask for a liver check.

[tictak]

Just starting out x

Yes i definetly will ukb..... i have no shame now and dont want to die

[Rubyblu]

Just starting out x

Ukblonde;851395 wrote: And just one more thing..............

Supplements. Yes they help but you can't sit back and expect them to magically "work". If you want to drink enough, then you will no medication in the world will stop you. You have to work at it yourself and the meds/supps just help you along.


Hi, thanks for your reply. I dont expect them to work miracles either. Im using them along with exercise and a very healthy diet to improve my body and make it healthier. No other reasons. Im taking the Kudzu because Ive heard it can help people with their alcohol cravings.

Ukblonde;851395 wrote: And just one more thing..............

If you had a sore leg and a walking stick you wouldn't expect the stick to pick your legs up and walk. You still have to use your limbs to walk and the stick simply helps you take the weight off one-side a little bit. That's how I see supplements.

Well I kind of agree but supplements are another way of helping the body to mend itself, same as a good diet, exercise, drinking lots of water.

Supplements and walking sticks - two great ways of helping your body to mend itself. Kind of makes sense to me

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[Guest]

Just starting out x

I know what you mean - I found out my pill was causing me to be at risk of a stroke when I stopped drinking, and I suddenly didn't want to die any more!

[Rubyblu]

Just starting out x

Ukblonde;851385 wrote:

Ruby

I'm in the UK and been through a lot of the same things as yourself. Right Doctors here. Thing is we don't realise how lucky we are to have the NHS - our Doctors are free and prescriptions a fraction of their true cost. Any hospital treatment also doesn't depend upon whether or not we have been able to afford to pay several hundred pounds a month in insurance or have pre-existing conditions. This means they don't dish out drugs willy-nilly and are pretty restricted for good reason - OK cost is one of those but we do get a lot very cheaply.

I too was frustrated by the system but it was only when I went into the private health service I truely realised why this was - drugs/treatment cost hundreds and thousands.

Moving on yes GPs have to really refer you to the Drug and Alcohol Team. GPs are General Practitioners and not all have special training in addiction and I would guess they have to refer like anyone who gets referred for specialist treatment eg orthapadics to an orthopaedic surgeon etc.

GPs might write a prescription privately but I doubt you'll get the NHS to pay for Nal off label (although I have heard of some who have managed it). There is also the fact many alcoholics go back time and time again without really wanting inside to change - this makes GPs very reluctant to prescribe once again as we could end up with all sorts of drugs floating around, building up in folks cupboards. Plus of course meds aren't the magic pill for this condition.

So that's our health system it's limited but still very much worthwhile and useful.

So where to now. The DAT can instruct your GP to prescribe from Campral to lots of other drugs once they have you assessed as suitable so still worth following up and yes there is a wait because it's free.

Counselling is during the day because most places only get funding or workers for a 9-5pm day. I'm with a private counsellor/psychotherapist and the latest she works is 5 or 6pm - and you have to travel to see her.

Frustrating yes but over the years I used all these excuses to avoid the real problem, and delayed getting well as a result. I wasn't going to ask for time off work because it could affect my job, I wasn't going to take up the offer of free rehab because I didn't want to put my job at risk. What happened?I started taking time off work sick because of my drinking and eventually get the sack. And yes work would have understood if I'd asked.

Here in the UK companies HAVE to treat addiction as an illness and as such will give you time off to attend counselling, AA as well as rehab. Heck I've seen some pay thousands for treatment too. If you don't want them to know your GP can write sicknotes for depression or other non-obvious reasons, which will then make visits to 'counselling' plausible as well.

Appologies for the lecture but there are reasons behind some of your frustrations. I think we struggle over here because we are used to this 'free' NHS, where we have services available no questions asked and medication for ?7.20 a time.

I completely agree that the NHS is a wonderful thing, having been to third world countries many times, I know how lucky we are. But its all relative isnt it?

and I have no problem with the fact that I have to pay for my prescription, I will pay anything to get out of this hellhole regardless of the fact that Ive paid ?1000's into the NHS over the years.

The point I was making is that here I am asking my GP for help and he won't help me. Im happy to see a specialist about my problem, especially during the day but I would lose pay because I too only get paid for the time im in work. Any sicks days (over 10) Ive had off for deprerssion have been unpaid.
r />My way of looking at it was Im an intelligent woman who is trying to save the NHS ?1000's in future hospitle bills because I failed to get help for my drinking problem sooner. Alcohol and smoking are the biggest killers in the Uk so must be one of the biggest drains on resourses, particulary hospital ones. Helping me with a prescription to help the NHS in the long term seems like a good idea to me.

Also, I live in an area that rife with homeless alco's. The local servise is at breaking point and very busy and I thought I can do this alone, Im in a much better positioon that most of the clients they see. Let my appt help one of them instead. I can do it another way.

Hope that makese sense, just trying to help you see that I know exactly what your saying about the NHS. I was just telling my story. Guess it was still raw.
xx

[Rubyblu]

Just starting out x

AMELIA;851340 wrote: Hey Ruby,
Another UKer responding here.
Welcome to the site!!
So glad you happened across this place of support.
I can so understand your frustration with the NHS!!
Can't really respond at any length because I am at work....but, WELCOME!!
Will keep an eye out for any posts from you. Any questions, just PM me and I will reply if I can (really busy at the moment.).
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Hello there, thanks for the response and welcome message. Thats very sweet of you.

The good old NHS wont get me down, its just frustrating thats all but Im in a better position than a lot of other people and know I can beat this without their input if necessary.

Hope work gets easier for you today.

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[Rubyblu]

Just starting out x

tictak;851412 wrote: Thats the sad part.... today has been my first sat off in months and ive already drunk a bottle of wine.... trying to hide it from my 10 year old son at the mo

Its ok to fall of the wagon as long as you can get back up again tomorrow if you feel you need to. I think I saw on another site that rather than counting days straight, a more encouraging way is to count free and not free days together. So if youve had a 6 day run but youve drunk today, then you would be 6/1. If you look at it that way the 6 is bigger and winning and youve only relapsed once!!

6/1 is still better than me so keep smiling

Sorry I cant help with your son bit xx

xx

[Guest]

Just starting out x

I've been in the same positions - where I was in a better position than a lot of "homeless alcos".

Trouble is sometimes you can be a worse proposition as it can be those hopeless cases that make better recoveries - whereas we can think we can get away with it because we are so clever, haven't lost everything yet blardy blarr. Yep been there and thought that unfortunately any help I did get didn't work as I wasn't ready or willing to change. Simply because I wasn't ready and didn't know it. This illness doesn't discriminate quite often it's the clever ones who are actually the worst. I used to wish I hadn't been so smart and had let myself drink myself into the gutter because I might have reached my 'end' point sooner - what ever that was. Instead I let it drag on.

So difficult to decide who is more worthwhile as well as who is more likely to recover. I've come across succesful businessmen who drunk themselves to death, whilst someone else who was homeless and jobless make a full recovery and go on to contribute to society once again.

Just out of interest have you ever read 'Wasted'? It's the true story of a youngish guy who was a hopeless alcoholic and drug addict. Well worth a read.

[Rubyblu]

Just starting out x

Hi Uk, what you said here is really starting to hit home. I saw my freind last night and its energised me beyond belief and today Ive been having so many positive thoughts about changing and *wanting* to stop drinking and have realsied my attitude needs to change to beat this illness. This site has really helped me too as I spent the afternoon reading lots of topics and feel its starting to get inside my head.

I do admire you, it seems like youve lived it, lived through it and recovered and then decided to help others. Truely admirable.

And no I havent read Wasted but will look it up, thanks for the tip, I love those journey type of books, so inspiring. Have you read a Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Its incredible and I think really illustrates what you said about wishing you found your end point sooner. Well worth a read.
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