JerryChicken wrote:
The phrase "a functioning alcoholic" is well known, not all alcoholics look or act drunk, some hold down very responsible jobs indeed can't do the job without alcohol in their blood, not saying it applied to Kennedy but they aren't all laying in the street with a bottle in hand shouting random things at the sky.
I have known two people who have lost their lives to alcoholism, one deliberately, one we weren't so sure but neither did he try and rehabilitate, when you open their fridge to find no food and an admission that they have not eaten anything solid in weeks and are relying on the calories in a bottle of vodka, and yet that person stood in front of you is acting and talking perfectly lucidly then you change your perception of alcoholics.
Its a terrible drug in the mind and it destroys the body organs from within, it should never be underestimated.
Well said. Without knowing the stats I'd imagine most people will know someone relatively close to them who's been (or is continuing to be) seriously affected by alcoholism in some fashion.
A very close friend of my brother was, in my albeit totally inexpert opinion, very close to becoming an alcoholic (or already had). He would drink to excess virtually every night, often in a group of friends but sometimes you'd find him on his own in the pub. He ended up starting to get that sort of "puffy-eyed" look if you know what I mean. His life consisted of going to work and going to the pub.
Fortunately, God knows how, the best thing that could have ever happened to him, happened. He met a good woman. Suddenly he had a purpose in life. He's now married with 2 kids and drinks "normally". And importantly he looks healthy and has far less anger and aggression in him.
Another family friend but older, in her late fifties/early 60's, became an alcoholic very much like the tragic situations of the people you knew.
She was absolutely fine until her marriage broke up and her children had already moved away so she was living on her own. She was a TA at a local secondary school and it turns out now that she was drunk/had a few drinks on lots of occasions whilst working at school without anyone, including her close friends, noticing.
Friends only started noticing when she would turn up to social nights out etc already drunk and then end up VERY drunk by the end of night.
She's naturally a thin person anyway but it started becoming noticeable she was losing weight and starting to look gaunt but again with that "puffy-eyed" look.
Then she turned up to school one morning obviously drunk which brought it all out in the open. One of her friends took her home and found sod all food in the fridge but a load of vodka and wine.
We thought the warning from school (who were absolutely brilliant with her), serious talks with her children, friends etc and even the death from alcoholism of a close friend of hers would sort her out. But obviously we didn't fully understand alcoholism or its effect on her.
About a week later she was arrested for drink-driving at the supermarket. We'd got rid of all the alcohol she had but she'd obviously got more, got drunk and wanted even more. The staff at the supermarket had called the police.
It's the best thing that could've happened to her. She got a 3 year driving ban and crucially it concentrated her mind and she put herself into a rehab clinic, which transformed her outlook on life. The depression of being alone/her divorce etc was gone and she's a far more positive person. She started going to AA meetings as soon as she got out of rehab and that has helped massively too. She's just bought a car as her 3 years are up and she's been "sober" all that time.
I'm fortunate that the 2 people I know it's affected have come out of the other side of it. But it's only a bit of luck and in the latter case, her being fortunate enough to have enough money to put herself into rehab.
Personally, I think it's a massive problem that goes very much under-reported and goes under the radar for most people. Yet it ruins lives. I also don't think it's helped by the society we live in, it's very, very , very pro-alcohol.
