LOVE MY RED WINE

[wyoga]

I'm a 56 year old extremely healthy female (all my blood work is great except for one of my liver enzymes being slightly high where my physician said is no big deal). I have lost weight, do yoga three to four times per week, walk almost daily, play fold and do group fitness classes. I consume at least a bottle of red wine (approximately 5 glasses) almost every night. Sometimes I will drink more as sometimes while dining out the glasses are larger. Two times a week at least I drink between a bottle and a half to nearly two.(or about eight glasses). I know this is way too much. I've done therapy with an alcohol counselor who really wasn't very professional as it turns out, I have done AA and still stop in sometimes and have done many other things to work on this and mostly my only real issue. I have turned to yoga and spirituality which has helped me overcome so many things in my life. But this is bothering me. I feel I have lost the privilege of drinking as I am abusing it.  I'm happy to be aware of this area that many rimes affects my ability to enjoy the "next day" and am tired of missing precious moments due to this habit!  I love the taste and me and my partner enjoy wine almost every night. So, question. I really want to stop but can't. I have done it for a week or so when attending a yoga retreat or two.  I have done this type of drinking for about 7 years and have only stopped for a few days at a time. I do try to take one night off but not too much. Will I be okay to just stop or do you think I need to do this with medical help?  As I said I live a very healthy lifestyle other than the wine thing. Thanks

[rpooo]

I have replied to the private message you sent. I hope to hear back from you. If you are having any problems getting to read it please just look at the top right corner of the page and select "Inbox". There you will find my message.

I hope you are doing alright and I hope to hear back from you just whenever you have the chance. Take care!

Randy

[rpooo]

Im sorry Wyogo but I have not recieved anything. You may send a private message by hovering the mouse cursor over my name and selecting "send  message".

Randy

[wyoga]

I replied to you but cannot find it now. Please let me know if you got my response. Thanks!:)

[rpooo]

Sarah you are a wonderful lady and you should be very proud of the beautiful person that you truely are! I hope you know you are very special to me :)

Randy

[dominosarah]

You are a blessing to me and many others~~

[rpooo]

Hello Wyogo and welcome to MedHelp! That really is great to hear how active and spiritual you are! It’s great to have your life on track and doing so well but as you explained you know the drinking is bad and is now you can see from your lab results it is hurting you. Seems like you know what you need to do since you take so much care with the other aspects of your life.

I recently turned forty and have been an alcoholic for 20 + years. On 03-23-10 I was diagnosed with end stage cirrhosis. Things in my life have sure changed a lot since then, your doctor says not to worry about it but it’s your health NOT his/hers. Does this doctor know the whole story about how much your drinking? What enzyme was elevated and what was the score? I can tell you it doesn’t take long to go from having a fatty liver to end stage cirrhosis. Everyone is different but don’t thing for one moment you can continue this way and things won’t get worse. Your liver is already telling you that it is irritated. The liver becomes irritated with everything we ingest, that’s why are liver function test are not at zero. That is why we have a range of what different enzymes should be. The liver has the wonderful ability to heal itself but when your enzyme levels are high it means that you are killing liver cells at a quicker rate then they can be replaced. The higher the enzyme level becomes the fast cells are being killed off. Eventually scaring takes place and cell regeneration will no longer replenish that area of the liver. Hence leaving you with a very progressive disease called cirrhosis.  I take 13 pills a day to help me feel as close to normal as possible. Once liver problems are developed it will effect so many other systems in your body worst of all for me is my mind.

I live here in Texas and last night I just flew in from Michigan, the first time I have seen my family in 6 ½ years. I know that it wont be long and I will talk about funny little stories of things during my visit with my siblings. They will tell me things and I won’t have a clue or a memory of it. Sometimes my wife will elaborate more and it will help trigger the memory. Being forgetful is not the only side effect confusion and loss of balance are also common. This is called hepatic encephalopathy. Ammonia builds up in the body to a point where the liver is unable to filter it. The body makes ammonia naturally to break down protein. This reaches the blood stream and effects the brain and every organ in the body. You see alcohol doesn’t just take your time and money but it effects your quality of life. After everything I have been through I’ll take having cirrhosis and sobriety over living my life in a drunken haze. At the time I stopped drinking I was spending $600 per month on my drinking! That’s a nice truck I sure could’ve had! Lol

What will the doctor tell you next time your there? Once you have cirrhosis you will always have it. Leaving the doctor’s office after your diagnosis leaves you feeling pretty selfish, stupid, embarrassed ashamed and scared! I’m sure if I think about it the list goes on and on. I hope you will find the strength you need to be able to stop using alcohol completely. Your partner as well. You will be just fine to stop drinking completely. The quality of your life will improve greatly and so will your self-confidence.

When I stopped drinking I knew I had to immediately, I never gave it much consideration, I already knew I could do it if I tapered back a little more each day. My ideas was to set aside the amount of beers I would allow myself each night then just go to bed when they were gone. That was it! After a few days of doing this I was down to 3 or 4 beers and I knew I had it why even bother! Your liver enzymes at this point can return to normal and you can live an even better quality life. For some people it just takes a little bit of change to your lifestyle and they can easily maintain sobriety but for others it can be very difficult when a spouse or loved one is involved that continues to drink. Support from AA other loved ones and this group can help you reach your goal. Keep in mind, you are an alcoholic so no exceptions can be made. Many people start to think they can control their drinking but that doesn’t ever work for long. That’s what makes us alcoholics! I hope you will write and let me know how things are going for you. I will sure be hoping the best for you! Take care.

Randy

[dominosarah]

I sent a message to rpoo and he will be responding back to you.  He is a remarkable man~~sara

[wyoga]

Thank you for your response  I greatly appreciate it and will def stick around!

[dominosarah]

Hi and welcome to forum~~

First off dont say you "can't", that isnt true.  You CAN stop this behavior.  It takes hard work and you have to be really ready to stop.  You are taking care of your body with the yoga but the drinking is taking its toll on your organs.  Your liver enzymes are already changing.  The more you drink the worse this will get.  We have a member here who has some very serious medical issues due to drinking.   I am going to look him up and he will shed some light on this.  I hope you really pay attention to what he has to say.  Stick around here, the people here are great~~sara