25 years of daily heavy drinking

[Menomosso]

hi, I have been one of the lucky ones, and I’m not writing this to gloat, I’ve read many of the stories on here about the effects of drinking, and it has been through reading these and re-assessing my own lifestyle that I was able to finally go to the doctor and tell him the truth about my drinking. I have been drinking about 17 units almost everyday for about 25 years, (mainly 5% cider). I’ve usually drunk on my own, and even my wife has no idea how much I drink. I’m now 54 and after Christmas I was feeling a bit off and lacking energy, so I made the connection and took a few days off drinking, then a few more days the following week, I used this site to give me focus…just reading all the (often harrowing) stories. Last month I got all the tests done (liver, kidney, ultrascans and blood tests) and was absolutely convinced I was going to find out I’d damaged my organs. It turns out that I have mild fatty liver. I feel like I’ve dodged a bullet to be honest and am not going to squander the opportunity I feel I’ve been given to turn myself around. I guess the moral of my story is : please get yourself checked out before it really IS too late, and don’t resign yourself to alcoholism, it’s NOT inevitable that you’ve gone beyond repair. I guess before I confronted myself I really thought that the damage was done and that just kept me drinking. Oh the twisted logic of the drinker…… anyway, big hugs and HOPE for all the others out there struggling with drink-related illnesses.

[Shep666]

Well done on "seeing the light" and sharing your observations. It really is best to get things checked as early as possible. I didn't and had more your mindset of it's too late. Often it isn't so get checked.

I hope you have knocked the drinking on the head rather than just modified your habit, it has a sneaky way of coming back hard!!

But either way, well done on your honesty to yourself and for taking a massive step forward 👍🙂

[An1063]

thanks for sharing this and hopefully it will inspire anyone struggling with this awful illness. I too knew for 20 years I was drinking way too much but denial is part of the illness too.

It took a spell in rehab for me to get sober and although it’s been a year since my last drink I still have to deal with the consequences. Broken relationships and alcoholic brain damage being two.

It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.

There is hope if you can be honest with yourself.

Best wishes everyone

[moonwalker12]

Thank you for this, its extremely timely for me as I approach 50 and am going through the exact same circumstances as you describe after nearly 30 years of daily heavy drinking. To hear that its never too late is just what I needed to read today. I wonder how many people this uplifting message will also help to stop the 'damage is probably already done, so..' spiral.

Thank you again - this might have changed the rest of my life!

[Menomosso in reply to moonwalker12]

So pleased you find it helpful ! the feeling of effectively getting a second chance at life is quite a gift ! I hope you have the same experience !

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I had mild fatty liver show up on my scan and blood's okay but I went for a fibrescan paid private I had 8.9 kpa so b careful scans don't show up everything.