Your story brought nasty memories from several years ago where I was your friend, and had my mates come over and pick me up to play golf, well, pitch and putt, after I'd spent the morning necking vodka.

Hard to say the perfect thing to do. Depends a lot on your friend, where his head's at, and what he really wants to do regarding his drinking. I think my friend's handled it well, and they also didn't mention it at the time.

Personally, I wouldn't specifically mention the drinking, just simply let him know you're there if he needs/wants any help, and then leave it at that. He knows now and I don't think there is much value in pushing it as it'll probably just cause more resentment.

Sorry I can't be of more help, but hopefully some others can chime in too. Best of luck to you and your buddy!

Yeah, I agree. Not much to do, especially if he stopped previously which means he is already aware he has a problem. The only thing I think you can do is if he is drunk in inappropriate situations, you can help him get home safely and try to remove him from the situation, which might be a wakeup call that people do notice. Us alcoholics think we are hiding it from the world, when usually the opposite is the case.

To add to what pope and thethethe said, I needed the self-diagnosis for transformational change to occur. Others intervening led to transactional changes here and there, but the changes were marginal until I saw my own powerlessness. I had to be defeated to be desparate.

Everyone is different. Some people know over a period of time what damage they are doing. Others have a wake up moment.

For me, it was because I had a sense of purpose with becoming a dad. Be thankful however you come to realise, as a lot of people can't or don't want to.

Best advice I have ever received” Accept any help that you can get “
“We are not trying to save face, we are trying to save our arses”

I have noticed that some people here become aggressive after drinking, this has never been one my problems, I just become very affectionate.
“Come on, give us a kiss, proper snog, no dry lipped rubbish”
The girls seemed to like it. Some of the men were slightly less keen

when i stop chigarete i also stop alcohol , i find out that what i want most was a cause to smoke rather than drink a beer. not an alcoohol addicted but i used to like drink 3-4 beers so i can smoke easier beacause smoke and drink was a nice combo

Yeah, smoking and alcohol basically go hand in hand.

I've quit both now. Won't do you any harm quitting.

Friday was 16 years booze/dope free. Wheeee!

That’s a lot of mornings! Congratulations man.

Nice one Mark!

Fantastic! So happy for you. How'd you do it?

I don't usually like to talk about it because I don't ever want to turn anyone off to meetings. I think they are great and have saved countless lives, mine included.

I spent a year in jail in 2000/01 and then another 3 years reporting monthly. After completing that I didn't waste any time catching 2 new drug charges, lol. Luckily they were both possession rather than distribution and I was allowed to participate in an intensive, year long, Drug Court program that required testing twice a week, 10pm curfew, and many other requirements, including meetings and a LOT of classes. It worked for me. That was the end, so far.

I went to AA and NA meetings for the first 2-3 years, but unfortunately the atheist/agnostic in me just can't handle the meetings I was going to. That wasn't my first experience with meetings, I had been in and out of the rooms since '89, the first of 2 trips to rehab. I have a lot of respect for the people who make that work and I still have a lot of really good friends and family who are sober and still going to meetings. I did work the Steps to the best of my ability several times, all the while pretending to believe in The Magic Guy in the Sky. I just couldn't do it anymore.

Anyway, really, the only way to stay clean/sober for me is just to not use/drink. I'll never forget the misery I went through and that I can be right back where I was in the blink of an eye if I let my guard down.

Due to my recent hospitalisation for fecal impaction and the understandable failure of the staff to realise how quickly my withdrawal symptoms were developing this evening I started to have alcoholic hallucinations. In may case this involved the belief that everyone was an actor trying to “Get at” me even though I knew this wasn’t true. Not a pleasant experience , don’t try this if possible.
The situation has been temporarily resolved due to the actions of an extremely kind young woman who realised that I was in a state of extreme confusion and was not capable of navigation by myself and took ten minutes out of her time to walk me to a convenience store where I purchased some alcohol. This seems to have settled the symptoms for now.
I know that I have got to quit this poison, I have all the tools to do this so I just need to implement a strategy.

What was the cause of that? Was it related to alcohol abuse? Hope you're doing ok

By coincidence I worked out what the cause was this morning.
When drinking I eat a shitload of chocolate because I get the munchies, when not drinking I eat a shitload of chocolate as consolation, obviously I am basically loading my digestive system with huge amounts of fat which it cannot cope with.

i’m on day #279, and chocolate has never tasted better lol.

Yeah, I used to not be a dessert person, mainly because I was always full from all the alcohol I was drinking. Find myself saying no a lot less in the last year.

I think that you are confusing having “a lot of chocolate” with having more than half a pound a day

Our bodies getting confused and wanting to replace all those empty calories.

Recovering opiate addicts are way worse - complete sugar fiends. Something to do with sugar acting on similar pathways or something.

Busted!
My tolerance for alcohol is immense, I can conduct a rational conversation after
consuming an amount that would kill 95% of the population. My brother said “I know when you have been drinking because your left eye closes”

Had to abort detox, not enough Librium, when my systolic BP hit 200 I realised that.
Couple of large vodkas got it down to 137.

Well done on your achievement. Give yourself some credit. You deserve it.

A lot of people aren't as lucky.

I have been I contact with the Doc and we have decided that I should try to “Drink down” as much as possible until Monday, and then try again with the Librium when he is available to support me.
Couple of other points
I have to try to think rationally and realise that the impending sense of doom is a standard withdrawal symptom.
When I first phoned him this afternoon he said “I am shopping in Tesco at the moment, probably not the best place to discuss sensitive subjects , I’ll call you back in a few minutes “

two teachers at my high school were known to have drinking problems

the name everyone called the husband was "6 pack jack" but they were high functioning so everyone looked the other way

until one day they weren't

the wife was really sick so went to hospital and she was having organ failure, while there they noticed husband was heading down same path so started treating both of them, he walked out two weeks later, she didn't make it, a week later he drank himself to death in his home

never heard from their kids again who were a bit older than me so no longer living at home but often wonder how that impacted them and if they themselves now have those issues