My Alcohol Addiction, The NHS & Rehab Clinics

So through losing a good few years, friends and jobs through addiction to mainly alcohol but basically anything I can abuse I have searched relentlessly for a "cure". This search has led me down many paths. Substituting weed for alcohol, cocaine for speed..... the list goes on. None of these methods were too successful. I also read a few books on becoming a successful drinker or lowering your drinking with various strategies. None of these seemed to work!

Me

I bounced around the NHS (National Health Service) in the UK for a few years. I first went to see a doctor after throwing up blood from drinking up to 2 bottles of vodka a day while holding down a full time job. The Doctor advised me to stop eating spicy food, avoid tomatoes and stop drinking. Sound advice if unicorns were real. I returned to the same doctor a few weeks later with a serious gastric infection, surprisingly he did not link this to my drinking. Eventually after a few more drink related illnesses I was advised to keep a drink diary and meet with a member of the Alcohol action team once every 2 weeks. This again was a fruitless attempt to stop a deadly and progressive obsession with alcohol.

Over the space of the next few years I ended up with a list of drink related criminal offences including a banning order from every football ground in Europe, assault on a police officer and various other minor public order offences. Although when I was younger I suspected I may have had a drinking problem I always thought it was the result of circumstance and if I got a new car, house or girlfriend things would improve. Eventually after missing work a few to many Mondays in a row I decided to check into a rehab clinic in the UK. This was Affinity Lodge, a non CQC registered holistic programme that told me the science behind drinking, let me sit on a magic vibrating chair and ultimately gave me no idea how to remain abstinent from drinking. I relapsed within maybe a month of leaving this two week treatment and as far as I am aware everyone I met there also relapsed within a short period of time. I specifically remember being told that AA (alcoholics anonymous) was a cult at this “clinic”. Remarkably someone died while in care at this centre and it subsequently closed down shortly after.

Vodka - It will be fun she said

I went back to work and continued drinking unsuccessfully for about another 6 months. Eventually I was brought to my knees again by the vodka and believed no hope existed for me. At this point in my life I was happy to die drunk as long as I had some vodka when I woke up on the other side.

It was Christmas time, the best time to drink all the time unnoticed. Unfortunately I managed to sever a tendon in my right hand after boxing with a beautiful man… wait actually it was a mirror. I went to hospital and 20 minutes before surgery nipped out for a “pint”. This was actually a pint chased down with 8 double vodkas in a very short space of time. Needless to say it ended terribly and thankfully the NHS allowed me to go back the next day. Surgery went well but all I wanted to do was drink to ease the physical pain. Drinking on medication was great, a great blur of drunken phone calls and abuse to anyone who dared post on facebook. I was living the dream….. of a mentally disturbed idiot.

I woke up a few days before new year to be greeted by all of my sisters and mother. Remarkably my oldest sister had a bottle of vodka. “Come for a drive” she said. “It will be fun she said”. She also had 20 embassy number 1! I was more than up for the drive and did not even notice others were packing my bags. So after an hour of drinking neat vodka and driving aimlessly towards London I found myself in another rehab clinic. This time it was a real rehab clinic! My room had a single bed? I was upset about this and my family were crying. I honestly believed at the time they were crying about the single bed. Nothing to do with me head-butting a wall?!

Vodka related injury

The clinic was called TTP (Trust The Process) and I stayed for 6 weeks. This treatment really made me look at my behaviours and emotions and how these play a role in my drinking. Unfortunately I was not ready to stop drinking and relapsed within 6 weeks. My drinking after this was briefly successful as was my work life. I stopped drinking again by attending AA before a business deal went sour (I will blog about this another time). This sent me into an oblivion.

I eventually attended a rehab in South Africa (thanks to my family) and this had quite a profound effect on my drinking - I stopped. I stayed in Harmony Clinic for 3 months and learned allot about me in this time. I currently work a 12 step programme in AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and this is keeping me sober with regular meetings.

I’m doing step work & have changed my life and relocated to South Africa. At the moment things are good but I take one day at a time. I believe 3 months of treatment had a huge impact on my perceptions of life. I have also done other more holistic stuff outside of AA namely Ayuhausca and will blog about this later.