Please Don't Send Me To Rehab. Is There Another Way?
-
anonymous Asks ...
I am not looking for medical advice since I know you cannot provide that on a forum like this but what I am looking for is a general bit of advice on how bad my detox is probably going to be. I am 27 and I have been drinking since I was 18. I was a heavy drinker for a long time but I never used to drink alone. My girlfriend split 18 months ago and a little bit after that I got over my taboo feelings for drinking by myself and for the last 13 months it has been every night that I have drank. I am only a beer drinker and I will drink a minimum of 6 beers per night and a maximum of 12 beers. Probably averaging about 8 beers per night. I really feel like I need to drink now by after work and the first thing I do when I get home in the evening is open a beer but I don’t get the shakes or anything like that in the day time. I have gained a lot of weight in the past year but other than that I think my health is OK. I know I need to quit but I really don’t want to go to rehab. Since I have only been drinking every day for about a year is it going to be too bad? I feel like if I don’t drink something bad will happen to me but I don’t know if I am just using this as an excuse to keep drinking every night.
-
Florence Cameron Says ...
You don't have to go to Rehab, but it looks like you can't do it on your own either. Not knowing your weight nor height or your physical condition, I can't speculate the intensity of your detox. You are lucky in the fact that you are not waking up needing a drink to chase away withdrawals symptoms in the morning, yet. It's not just the physical detox itself that one must go through, it's the perceived psychological dependence you have now developed. There is a Japanese proverb that warns of the dangers of drinking too much, which was later made into a poem by an American poet and educator, Edward Sill.
"At the punch bowl's brink,
Let the thirsty think,
What they say in Japan:
First the man takes a drink,
Then the drink takes a drink,
Then the drink takes the man."
You stated you started drinking at age 18 and now you're 27. You're relationship dissolved 18 month's ago and you have been drinking alone and going out drinking everyday. You stated that "you really feel like you need to drink after work every day" screams to me that you intensely crave drinking. The fact you bring up, "I've only been drinking every day for a year" somehow diminishes the severity of your alcoholism is called DENIAL. It's time you got honest with yourself. I don't endorse that BS.
There are many methods out there to stop drinking, however, detoxing from alcohol is medically risky, as seizures can develop. Please find articles here on www.choosehelp.com that will steer you towards sobriety. There are no success stories for anyone who continues to poison themselves: body, mind and spirit with alcohol and drugs. You are a young man, but your organs are not forgiving and this excess in drinking will take many years off your life, as well as cause a plethora of medical problems.
Hope you find that you are worthy of living a life to remember.
Jeannie Cameron, LMHC, LCAP
Naples, FL
