What got you or someone you know to stop drinking?

Question

This could be a long story, so i'm going to short it up. I grew up with an alcoholic dad who was mentally abusive. I have 3 older siblings that grew up together and me pretty much alone in the house. My dad became at alcoholic at the very young age of 20 about and he is now 55 and fortunately quite drinking about 3 years ago.

My sister who is now 43 years old is also a raging alcoholic. She has been for quite a few years, but in the last 8 years has been bad, but now in the last 2 years it seem she is declining rapidly by the day.

She has kids in the house a 3, 13 and 16 year old boy. The 13 and 16 year old are obviously aware of what is going on and it is breaking them down. I feel as if I am watching my life happen all over again. My sisters Husband of 12 years committed suicide 8 years ago, that is when it was the start of it getting worse. She doesn't deal with issues AT all.

Question is what is it that made you or someone you know stop drinking alcohol?

Believe me I know that the only one that can truly stop her is her. I believe my dad might be the only one that might be able to get through to her with him being a recovering alcoholic.

He said he thinks she will only possibly listen to him if he can get her sober for a few days. Question is how.....she won't go away with him for the weekend. She knows that we are all well noticing this major problem.

This is tearing our family apart. Any success stories might give us something we can go off of. One day maybe something will strike a nerve with her to help. Or maybe she just needs to hit "her" rock bottom as I know many if not all alcoholics will do.

By the way her 13 and 16 year old are from her husband that died. The man she is with now who is the dad of the 3 year old he doesn't have legal rights to the older ones. There is an 18 year old to however he moved away to cali. with my brother due to it getting so bad!

Please this is a very serious situation to me. If you only want to make some mean/stupid comment to get points. Don't please respect that and I will greatly appreciate it.

This last Sun. she fell down the steps and cut her head and bruised herself bad. She was taken to the hospital and of course the injuries she would be ok so she had to wait a while. 3 HOURS after the fall she had a blood alcohol test done and she was at .314! Most at that point are getting there stomach pumped. My dad said typically only way to get that high is to be binging of not even letting the alcohol go through your system.

Answer 1

Alcoholism can be inherited...It's an addiction just like any other and the person caught up in it has to decide that they want to quit...There's no magic wand that you can wave over there head and puff they're normal...They have to want to seek help..The only thing I can think of is counseling...or they do have a pill that if you drink alcohol it will make you sick...But if someone is a hard alcoholic they become so dependent on alcohol that their body can't function without it...Again, the only way she is going to get help is if she wants to...I would google some info about AA meetings in your town...It might insult her but she might be so caught up in her alcoholism that she doesn't comprehend what she is doing to her family...That's not the best advice but it's something...I hope it helps...I'll pray for you and your family.

Answer 2

My nephew has an alcohol problem and has had for quite a few yrs now. He has recently started going to counseling and AA meetings. He's doing great and likes the meetings. He was skeptical but it came down to him losing the woman he loves and their children if the drinking didn't stop. Someone has got to get through to her what she is doing to her children....that should be the first step that may get her to counseling. Maybe your Dad is the answer since he's been there and been through it. My nephew said that's why he enjoys the meetings because the people there understand and have all been in his shoes. She's got to get some help soon and I hope her children won't follow the same path. Good luck.

Answer 3

ok this might be long. So i will also shorten it up. I got pregnant a couple of years ago with my first son. I knew there was something wrong with him. There was his heart was mal formed and 2 other deformities. I went threw a really hard pregnancy i had amio reductions 2 a week. That's where they stick the needle threw you stomach and uterus. Anyway my son ended up dying.(stillborn) I had three more weeks to go. I had to go threw whole delivery. After that i started drinking and drinking a lot. 10-20 shots in about 10-20 min. My boyfriend saw this when we went out and got very scared. My drinking ended up ending my relationship with my family so i moved away. My boyfriend who has had a problem with alcohol wasn't going to let me go down that road. So one night He gave me a shot of Jim Bean. I ended up drinking almost drank the whole bottle. And it was the most digesting thing i have ever drank. then it hit me i had a real problem. I was drinking something even through it was gross just to make the pain go away. i never drank again

Answer 4

I nearly drank myself to a heart attack when I was 19 years old.

My Roommate threw a party for her cousin. Everyone was asked to bring alcohol… there were about 45 ppl at the party.

Someone started mixing drinks… i had about 9 before we started doing shots and Jaeger bombs. I did about 5 shots of tequila, 3 or 4 shots of vodka… 9 Jaeger bombs...

I continued to drink mixed drinks after that for a few more hours…

I remember getting sick for a long time… then i got up and grabbed a beer… did some more shots… had a few more mixed drinks...

Someone told me to sit down… i laid down in a mud puddle. Managed to somehow get to the couch inside… then apparently made it to bed.
That’s all a lil fuzzy...

I woke up the next morning. I couldn’t see, i couldn’t breath… my chest felt like there was a car on it, i couldn’t move, i managed to make myself roll out of bed and crawled to the bathroom and laid on the floor..

I was so dehydrated i couldn’t go to the bathroom for 3 days… i cried but there were no tears. Water made me sick. Food made me sick.

I found out a week later that someone said i should go to the hospital but they didn’t take me cuz there was a 16 and 17 yr old at the party.

My boyfriend at the times mother was a nurse she came over to check on me and told me that if i had drank any more or taken one more Jaeger bomb i would have had a FULL BLOWN heart attack.

Now just the smell of alcohol makes me sick… I’m happier this way.

I hope u can help Ur sister.
Good luck.

Answer 5

For my brother, it was losing his daughter while he was in prison. He quit for a while after he got out. He started up again when his wife got pregnant again. They lost custody of that child too before she was 6 months old. He finally quit December 24 last year, and so far is clean. He finally reached the end of his rope, had lost his wife a few months before, and drank himself almost to death. He quit when his AA sponsor, our mom, our pastor, and his boss showed up at his house with the police and paramedics. He had drank to the point where he passed out. His boss finally called our mom after 2 days of him not coming out of his apartment. He had been passed out, and very near dead, for those 2 days.

He now has regained custody of his younger child, I still have the older one. Sadly, losing her kids and almost her life may be what it takes for your sister. I know what you're going through. Hang in there.

Answer 6

on my 23Rd b-day my roommate took me to a hard core biker bar in an area of L.A. that the cops don't even go at night, beat some chica 3 out of 3 in 9-ball, somehow ended up in a tequila shooter contest with some large scary bikers, I remember up through shot 12, lost 7 hours of my life, woke up on dialysis. i arrived with a b.a.c. of .37, .40 means dead! sober since

Answer 7

Do you feel the kids are in danger because of her drinking? I ask because if they are, something should be done to protect them. Losing her kids may be one thing to help her reach her "bottom" and get her to stop drinking...but that would be a secondary priority. Safety of the kids is #1.

Answer 8

12 step programmes seem to help the most, in my experience.

AA for the drinker (http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/)

AL-ANON for the family members of drinkers (http://www.al-anonuk.org.uk/)


There are also other programmes for other addictions from food to sex to overworking.

Answer 9

after I run over the third pedestrian, I figured it was time to quit