I am a 43 year old female. I was introduced to your podcast because my good friend Zan was a guest. I also went to school with Dr. Lisa.
My drinking started quite young. When I was in grade 6 my friend and I stole some Gibson's whiskey from her fathers liquor cabinet. We didn't even mix it with anything we just drank it straight. That was the first time I got drunk. I had drank alcohol before. It was always a reward to have a drink of my dads beer when we would fetch one for him. That first feeling of being drunk changed the way I viewed alcohol. It was an instant obsession. Not that I would drink all the time when I was that age but it set the seen for years of binge drinking. there was very few social interactions that I went to that I didn't drink. I have 3 children a boy 21, a girl 17 and another boy 8. I met my oldest sons dad in high school. we dated for 8.5 years. I would say that it was a very unhealthy relationship. I don't think either one of us were truly happy towards the end of the relationship. We dated all though high school and up until I was 22. Through those years it was filled with binge drinking. And with that came numerous times that I put myself in unsafe situations. Black outs, alone with people I don't know, drinking and driving etc. When I was 22 and my son was 1.5 his dad and I split up. I moved back to my home town. I continued binge drinking and I was single after so many years I was happy to be back in the dating scene. After being single I met my now husband. I was 25 and he was only 21. We got engaged, married, bought a house and were pregnant all within a year. We were both binge drinkers. We had our daughter on June 17th 2006. We raised the kids in my home town for about 10 years. We joined all the things that involved drinking and made it acceptable Slow pitch, pool league, we played golf. My husband loved me to a fault he made me feel better about all the times my drinking got out of control. When my kids were 6 and 10 I was having really bad chest pains and one night I went to the emergency room. They did a bunch of tests and they found out that my liver enzymes were elevated. The doctor asked me how much I drank and I of coarse lied. They sent me for more tests and figured out that I had fatty liver disease and gall stones. The doctors told me to quit drinking. SO I did for almost a year. And that was just enough time for my IUD to fail and me to become pregnant. So in 2014 I had my youngest child. I stayed quit for about 6 months after his birth because after that the doctors said my liver had repaired itself. After that I picked up right where I left off. the line between 1 line and a black out was closer and closer together. My last night of drinking I drank all day. I woke up the next morning to that heavy feeling of regret and wondering what I did. I came to find out that I tried to fight my husband the night before. That not only wasn't funny but but my kids were having kids sleep over. That was the last night I drank. I white knuckled it for about a month and then I decided to try AA. My first meeting was a big book study group. The first reading was bout the 4 horsemen. That hit the nail on the head for me. I decided that I had a lot to learn and this would be a good place to start. That was in 2015. July 21st 2015 is my sobriety date. My husband also quit drinking in 2016 a year after me. There are challenges but we can face them with an open heart and a clear mind now.
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