I only found these forums a few days ago & have been having a good read - seems like there's some really good stuff & people on here
anyway, in the general spirit of things, a little something about me ...
I'm a 40 year old male living in the UK. I started drinking aged 15 & *loved* it. I'd always been rather an anxious child & AL brought me up to the level of other people. drank my way through school & then university which I dropped out of
lost my driving license in a DUI aged 22ish blowing approx 3.5x the legal limit - didn't get it back for another 9 years (UK law requires a medical if you're above a certain level, which include liver enzyme tests, which I would never have passed during that time)
continued drinking (& somehow remaining employed in decent jobs), culminating in a liter-a-day spirits habit aged 30. at this point I bottomed out & got myself into rehab for 5 weeks. with a dual diagnosis of alcoholism & depression/anxiety got out, long-term girlfriend finished with me, picked up again, back into rehab for another 5 weeks (I had good insurance back then)
got out, did the 12-step thing for a few years & remarkably did around 6 years sober
picked up again around 4 years ago. just beer & wine to start with, but predictably it escalated to spirits over time again, & for the last month or so I've been drinking before & during work to curb my AW symptoms & then getting drunk again in the evening
I haven't *quite* hit bottom yet, but I think I may have caught myself before I do. I'm probably getting made redundant in the next few weeks (company re-org, nothing to do with my drinking) & will probably have to look like a decent human being to get a new job, which there's no way I can do in my current state
I've had a read of the forums, in particular the 'tapering' stuff, which I started yesterday. had a pretty sleepless, sweaty night last night. woke up pretty shaky this morning, but my heart rate is much improved. just drinking enough to keep me on the edge of bearably shaky, which is below my tipping point for not being able to control myself from getting drunk again, so fingers x'd
SD
anyway, in the general spirit of things, a little something about me ...
I'm a 40 year old male living in the UK. I started drinking aged 15 & *loved* it. I'd always been rather an anxious child & AL brought me up to the level of other people. drank my way through school & then university which I dropped out of
lost my driving license in a DUI aged 22ish blowing approx 3.5x the legal limit - didn't get it back for another 9 years (UK law requires a medical if you're above a certain level, which include liver enzyme tests, which I would never have passed during that time)
continued drinking (& somehow remaining employed in decent jobs), culminating in a liter-a-day spirits habit aged 30. at this point I bottomed out & got myself into rehab for 5 weeks. with a dual diagnosis of alcoholism & depression/anxiety got out, long-term girlfriend finished with me, picked up again, back into rehab for another 5 weeks (I had good insurance back then)
got out, did the 12-step thing for a few years & remarkably did around 6 years sober
picked up again around 4 years ago. just beer & wine to start with, but predictably it escalated to spirits over time again, & for the last month or so I've been drinking before & during work to curb my AW symptoms & then getting drunk again in the evening
I haven't *quite* hit bottom yet, but I think I may have caught myself before I do. I'm probably getting made redundant in the next few weeks (company re-org, nothing to do with my drinking) & will probably have to look like a decent human being to get a new job, which there's no way I can do in my current state
I've had a read of the forums, in particular the 'tapering' stuff, which I started yesterday. had a pretty sleepless, sweaty night last night. woke up pretty shaky this morning, but my heart rate is much improved. just drinking enough to keep me on the edge of bearably shaky, which is below my tipping point for not being able to control myself from getting drunk again, so fingers x'd
SD