Living sober

Now I know this is going to sound a little stupid, but for me it was never about stopping drinking. Despite the trauma of many withdrawals, stopping turned out to be the easiest bit. God knows I did it enough times. Unfortunately, every time but the last, I started drinking again within a very short period of time. So for me it was never about the stopping, it was about the staying stopped, it was really about how to face life without alcohol, my best friend and comforter for more than thirty years.

I know you have to do all the usual things to help you stay sober, like staying away from pubs and clubs and other places where alcohol is available. Going to AA meetings and mixing with like minded people is important for some, there is strength in numbers.

But there's more to it than that. What is required is a complete change of mindset. I went from being completely dependent and reliant on alcohol to even get out of bed, to a realisation that I could live my life very happily without alcohol. Many times I have asked myself where my change of mind came from. Although deep down I knew, it was hard for me to accept, because I have, despite my alcoholism and all the completely stupid things I did whilst living as a drunk, a rational and logical mind, kind of.... But I had been an alcoholic for many years and done many illogical things, and despite countless hospital visits, detoxes and serious and life threatening experiences, I continued to drink, so what happened to change this?

I was lucky because I had what the AA call a 'spiritual experience' whilst I was in my last rehab, and that's where my recovery really began. If you've ever been in rehab, you'll know that it's a fairly safe place to begin a recovery from addiction, because you're away from all the temptations that usually you are confronted with in the real world. But that's part of the problem. Coming back out into mainstream life after three or even six months in a rehab can be a mind blowing exprience and can present you with all sorts of problems that you may find difficult to handle, and can easily lead to relapse. Unfortunately I have known many people who, on leaving rehab, relapsed and eventually died. The problem is usually that you go back out to the same situation and the same people and circle of friends that were there before you went in. This must be avoided, at least for a good while, you can't mix with drinkers if you're an alcoholic, and you can't mix with junkies if you're recovering from a drug addiction. If you do, you are likely to start again where you left off, and you are likely to die.

The most important thing I did when I left my last rehab was to get a job. I needed to have a reason to get up in the morning and I didn't care what I did or where I worked. Again I was lucky, and got a job within a week of leaving rehab, working for B and Q. The hours of the job were such that I couldn't attend AA meetings, but for me the self respect I gained from getting up each morning and going off to work was much more important. And I didn't have to time to sit around thinking about my situation, which had proved disastrous in the past. The next thing I did was to start writing down my experiences, which is where Demons in the Dark came from, initially for my own benefit, but after a while and much encouragement from friends and family, I decided to publish it and see where it went. If it helps one addict then it was worth the effort.

I wanted to work in the care sector really, so I applied for and got another job in the social care sector. Lucky again. I'm still working in this job and I love it. It can be a very demanding and stressful job, but its worthwhile and rewarding. The point I'm trying to make here is that giving up the booze leaves a bloody great hole inside you that needs to be filled with something. Work seemed to be the ideal solution, and along with not thinking I was cured and becoming complacement has helped me greatly. That's another huge danger, thinking that after you've been sober for a while it's fine to go out and have a little taster, a pint of two just to prove to yourself that you're better now. I done that a lot too, and it always ended badly. You can't cure alcoholism!

To me though, the most important realisation of all, was that the hole had always been there, and for thirty odd years I had tried to fill it with alcohol. And then, completely against all my rational thinking and Mr Spock logic, I realised that the hole I had been trying to fill with booze for most of my life was exactly God shaped, and that once I invited Him in by asking for help, the hole was filled and all desire and craving for alcohol completely disappeared. So maybe I wasn't being lucky all these times, maybe I had help. OK, I can the the sniggering from here. But that's fine, I don't mind. I'm sober and happy, and it's my beliefs that keep me that way, so snigger away.

My top tips for sober living

• Put your trust and your life into the hands of God as you understand him, it works if you believe it.
• Stay away from wet places and away from people who use alcohol or drugs.
• Don't get complacent, don't think you're cured, cause you ain't and you never will be.
• Go to as many AA meetings as you can, be with like minded people.
• Be careful of getting into relationships too soon, other peoples expectations can be dangerous for you.
• Try to read the Big Book at least once a day (I keep mine in the toilet), allow yourself a little reflective time to remember where you've come from, and just how far you've come.
• Thank God everyday for you sobriety and for giving you your life back.
• Be nice to people, avoid anger and resentments, they're both dangerous.
• Smile

Alcohol, is it the most dangerous drug on the planet?

Demons - Real or Hallucination

Some peope, when going through alcohol withdrawal, see things. These are usually called hallucinations, or sometimes DTs. Some, as the old jokes say, see pink elephants; others see bugs crawling on their skin, yet others believe that bad people are trying to get them and become paranoid. I had conversations with dead people, and I saw, heard, felt, touched and smelt demons.

Hallucinations during alcohol withdrawal typically begin within ten to seventy two hours after the last drink. Physical symptoms of withdrawal at first include nausea, headaches, insomnia, uncontrollable shaking or tremors, and increased heart rate, that in and of itself can scare the living shit out of you. Later the symptoms can become more dangerous and can include seizures, hallucinations and delirium. For these reasons alcohol withdrawal should always, and I mean always, be medically supervised.

The conversations with dead people I could live with, they were all old friends of mine and were not in the least bit threatening, although they were very real to me at the time. They would generally just be sitting across the room from me, chatting away, and I would be chatting back, passing the time as if they were still alive.

The demons, on the other hand, were a whole different ball game. As far as I was concerned at the time, they were completely real. They would usually come in the night when I was, so it seemed, awoken by a noise, or a smell, or just a general sense that something was not right, and there they would be, small, monkey sized creatures with horrific gargoyle like features, dripping saliva and oozing malevolence from every pore, crawling up my body.

These demons were, unquestionably, the most terrifying thing that ever happened to me, before or since. To this day I can’t be sure in my own mind that I was dreaming or even asleep when they came. I do know that I could feel them, smell them and hear them laughing at me as them slowly crawled up my body towards my head. I could feel their fetid breath on my face as they came closer and closer. I know also that they made me scream like a girl, but nobody came to my aid.

The question remains, to me at least, were they real, or did my mind make them up? It is easier for me to believe that they were hallucinations; it makes my life easier to get on with. But, if you’ve read my web site, you will know I have a faith and a belief in God and a power much greater than myself. Part of that belief includes a belief in the existence of the devil. And consequently I believe that demons do exist. In what form I do not pretend to know, whether they are within us, as part of our psyche, or exist as separate entities in a different dimension. Who can know these things? Some religious groups, including parts of Christianity do believe that drugs and alcohol can so damage the mind, or the soul, if you will, that we can inadvertently open doors that exist between one dimension and another and let things pass through that no human is supposed ever to experience.

Was this what happened to me? I don’t know, and I think I’d rather not know, but the uncertainty will always be there. The only thing I know for certain is that I never want to go through anything like that ever again, another good reason for me to stay clean and sober.



What the f**k happened to my life,...oh yeah I remember, I pissed it up the wall

Two photos, separated by 50 years. What the bloody hell happened to the bit in the middle. Where did it go? And how did such a chirpy looking young lad make such an absolute cock up of what should have been a comfortable and prosperous life. How, when everything is going his way did he manage to flush it all down the toilet. The answer in one word:

ALCOHOL

Of course, when he had his first drink at around fourteen, he had no idea where this was going to lead. He didn't actually like it very much. It was back in the day when most pubs had a little window off to one side somewhere that you knocked on, and eventually a miserable looking man would slide it open and gruffly ask what you wanted. If you were lucky, and he didn't care about the law, he would let the young lad buy a pint of light ale, and with his mate he would sneak off down to the recreation ground and drink it. A couple of years later, and looking older than his years, the young man could be found propping up the bars in most of the pubs in the village, spending his meagre earnings as an apprentice in the print trade. By now he liked the alcohol very much, and it was to be his best friend for the next thirty five years or so. For thirty of those years he functioned well enough, but drank a lot, held down good jobs, drank a lot more, got married, messed that up, got divorced, got drunk and stayed there. All this time he had no idea that he was drinking alcoholically, never ever having just one drink, always being the bloke at the bar at the end of the night, asking for a final refill as they called last orders, and if there was a lock in going on, he was always there. And the sad thing is, he tought he was having a good time. He didn't know he was on his way to full blown alcoholism. That sort of sneaked up behind him and beat the crap out of him all of a sudden, when one day, when he tried to, he realised he couldn't stop, and all hell broke loose.

    He's sober now though, but alcohol took its toll, financially, physically and mentally. It cost him his home, which he sold to buy a narrow boat because he insanely thought that he could get away from all the things that were making him drink, if he went off on the canals. But he didn't stop drinking, it got much, much worse. He became a two bottle of brandy a day man, pausing only to go unconscious for short periods until his body woke him because it need more alcohol. Then he had to sell his boat bcause he ran out of money. But he didn't stop drinking. He ended up in a detox unit, but he didn't stop drinking. Then he had countless stays in hospitals and more detox units, but he didn't stop drinking. Finally, early in 2004 he was sent to a rehab, where, by the Grace of God, he did stop drinking, and slowly managed to rebuild his life.

    Today he works in social care and looks after others who find life difficult sometimes. He loves his job and is grateful to be able to do it. He knows that he shouldn't really be here, the alcohol should have killed him. It came pretty close to doing just that. He is also pretty sure that, at some point, there will still be a price to pay for the way he lived his life. He has written a book about the worst time in his life in the hope that it will do some good, and if it helps one alcoholic to get sober, then it was worth writing. If you're interested please watch the video, or go to the website demonsinthedark.com.

Taking the wrong turn with alcoholism: The biggest demon of all

Alcohol demons are talked about a lot. The biggest demon of all now seems to be the idea that alcoholism can be cured. Before I go off on one, let me introduce myself. My name is snewts and I'm an alcoholic. I haven't had a drink for seven and a half years, but I am still an alcoholic. I will always be an alcoholic, and can never take another drink of alcohol.
  I am increasing frightened and angry at the ideas now being put about by organisations offering help to addicts, and on websites on the internet, that alcoholism can be cured, or in some way controlled. No, it can't. I was many years and active alcoholic, and knew many others like me, both in and out of detox units and rehabs. I never knew one single alcoholic who, after a period of abstinence, thinking he was cured, returned to drinking and drank normally. It does not happen. I did however, sadly, know several who returned to drinking and died.
   The powers that be cannot play with peoples lives like this, changing a system that has worked successfully for more than seventy years, i.e. the twelve step programme of AA, and replace it with an unproven system of cognitive behavioural therapy and counselling in the community, probably because it's cheaper and does not rquire residential rehab.
   There is no way of  a counsellor or therapist knowing how much a client is drinking or not drinking. Alcoholics, by their very nature, lie to everybody. We lie to doctors, therapists, counsellors, and all our family and friends about how much we are drinking. Control would only be possible if the counsellor could be with the addict 24/7 to continually monitor what they were drinking....nothing else would be reliable. Even in rehab, alcoholics sneak out to get booze, so out in the community, they have no chance.
   As for the idea that alcoholism is somehow curable, this is just downright dangerous. It plants the idea in the mind of the addict that at some point in the future, after a period of abstinence, he or she will be able to drink normally again. That's just plain stupid. I feel certain that the experts who have come up with these ideas have absolutely no idea whatsoever about what it's like to be an alcoholic, the cravings, the physical withdrawals and the psychological nightmare that we have to go through to get clean and sober.
    So please, lets have no more of this nonsense. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and AA and twelve steps works and has done for a very long time. Please don't tell the alcoholic that he can go have a drink if he stays dry for a few months, or a year or two. All you'll do is allow him or her to kill themselves. I think, after much consideration, that the real experts are those of us who have gone through the horror of alcoholic addiction and come out the other side. I don't think you can learn it in a book.
If you have an interest in this subject, because you are an alcoholic, or you know someone who is, please visit my website at http://www.demonsinthedark.com/.