The 4 critical signs you are a high functioning alcoholic & how to do something about it

drank a handle of honey jd every night for 8 years. started a successful business in the middle of it. ended up in a coma on life support for 3 weeks. bled out, couldnt walk, but drove myself to ER! sober 5 years in one month.

I don't drink even near that much but I still have an addiction to it. Alcohol has did so much damage to my life in so many ways. Recently I started drinking during the day to reduce shakey hands and anxiety. I need to quit today.

I was hospitalized for 13 days because of this functioning alcoholic shit and was on death's doorstep at the age of 29. So fucking crazy. It didn't matter if I woke up at 5am or 10am, I had to drink a double-shot of vodka with orange juice just to stop the trembling and panic attacks due to anxiety. I don't regret it since it has lead me to where I am now. I spent a year crawling out of my skin as I recovered. I paced relentlessly around the house, couldn't sleep, and couldn't be around crowds. Then, the craving was lifted from me in only what I can describe as a miracle. Since then, I've picked up running again which I gave up after high school, lost 40 lbs, and have completed several half marathons and will begin training soon for a marathon. I still can't drink orange juice to this day lol. I have a wonderful marriage and 2 children now who are my life. I know that if I ever pick up the bottle again that none of them would mean anything to me anymore and I would abandon them for the drink. Such is the power of this crap on people like me. I wish the best to anyone out there struggling today. Please seek help before you get taken to the grave.

Really started recognizing that I might have a problem was the fact... how much more expensive drinking has become.Everything going well, but here I am hammered every evening since a year. But man, the tolerance just gets extreme. I'll go to seek help after Christmas.

Well done!! You are amazing your voice is very calming. You must have felt so lonely...I hope that you can help many who are in similar situation. I wish you the all the best.

Thank you for posting this.

Very well done for getting sober. And very good of you for trying to help others. It does sadden me that you had to or felt you needed to spend so much money to achieve sobriety.

Thank you for sharing your story!

Congratulations. Stay Strong. God Bless.

Good to hear your testimony.

I’m a poly addict and something that I’ve found throughout my experience with addiction is the substance that are legal are the most dangerous like I’ve struggled with alcohol and cigarette addiction more then anything else

Thank you, you have done alot for me for posting this video.

Drank beer for 30+ years. Got sober by going to 12 step meetings, switching to sparkling water and just not picking up a drink. Getting sober, getting away from the routine of alcohol; most important thing I ever did for myself. If you're unhappy with your relationship with alcohol, go to meetings and listen. You don't have to do anything else anybody will try and tell you. Go to meetings. They are there for you and the feeling there, it's not a bunch gloom. It's a powerful, loving, non judgemental energy. 9 out of 10 times, you will walk out after a meeting feeling better than I can describe here.

Hi Deryck. Inspiring stuff. Thanks. I'll check out the webinar. I hardly drank at all from my teens right through to my late 30s. Christmas mainly. An occasional bottle of wine. A few beers now and then. I was too into the fitness thing - running - and booze didn't figure in that. But I always suffered from anxiety, and began to get depressions in my mid-30s. I had a mental health referral, and they put me straight into an alcohol program, telling me that alcohol was the cause of my depressions - even though, at the time, I was still drinking less than 21 units a week. Seriously. Anyway... once I was told that alcohol was a problem, sure enough it became one. I'm 59 now, and over the years my 'self-medication' has increased - usually in periods of extreme stress, such as with my last partner 3 years ago. At that time, too, I was finally (very late)-diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, which finally gave me answers about my lifelong anxieties and difficulties with social situations. Cut to now... I have fewer stressors. But the habit is still there, and is becoming harder to kick. Although I don't drink at the levels you were on, I can regularly get through between 12 and 18 units a day at weekends (sometimes more), and probably average 9 units a day over the course of a week. I don't drink every day, I don't have shakes or withdrawals, I've never had DTs, I don't drink during the day. But I know it's a slippery slope. I've been in trouble with the law, too, once through drinking - and have made embarrassing public spectacles of myself. I'm in good health, very fit for a man my age, and I eat wel... but I know booze is doing damage, and sooner or later it'll catch up with me. Maybe my habits make me more of a problem drinker than a high-functioning alcoholic - but I know I could easily slip from one to the other. I'm glad I saw this today - just as I was thinking of going out to get a few beers for the evening. Thanks, mate.

They believe they are hiding it well but they're not. It's very easy to find their stashes, and they always have a similar sweet ketoacidosis smell, or smell like they're combustible. Both my parents are life long alcoholics. My father almost died from a ruptured thrombosis in his throat, and my mother was hospitalized for liver failure and fell into an alcohol withdrawal coma for 2 weeks. I'm so sensitive to the signs of severe alcoholism that I can see the symptoms in acquaintances I meet. Tremors, eye shaking and appearance they're looking through you not at you, white nail beds, red palms, spider veins, and especially the smell they emit. It actually triggers my anxiety. The constant use of hand-sanitizers at the office due to the pandemic, causes me emotional disturbances... and this is still after not seeing or speaking to either of my parents for over a decade. I am a result of what alcoholism does to the people who love them.

I over came Xanax addiction may 7 2016. Was the craziest and probably hardest thing i have done. My body went through shit like I’ve never thought could happen. Was not prescribed them. Was that kind of addiction. Felt shame and guilt and such absolute anxiety towards the end. Anxiety to take anxiety medicine. Sounds crazy. Was my body telling me it’s time. I took that warning and just said fuck it. Cold turkey. Thought every day I was gonna have a seizure but there wasn’t shit I could do. I bought them on the streets and just couldn’t get any. I drank at that time as well. Bought a six pack a day. That’s what probably got me through. At the time. Didn’t realize. I substituted Xanax for alcohol. 6 pack a day. What the hell that ain’t nothin at least I’m not barred out anymore right. May 7 is coming up and I can’t even sit here and be proud of myself. I drink a pint or more of tequila a day and barely get drunk. I’m right back in the rotation of fear that if I stop I will have a seizure or worse and I just have nothing but guilt for drinking. Like I said before. My body telling me it’s time to stop i believe. Idk. If anyone is gonna read this ramble. But I’m so damn ready to be free and sober. I’m ready to stop but rehab is not an option. Any advise on tapering off?

I'm an addict through and through. Last weekend I dropped dead from Fentanyl, the week leading up to that over 80mg of ativan, a tab of acid with xanax the weekend before. Yesterday a 1.5L of white wine. No wonder why I feel misery and hopelessness after these experiences. It's crazy, but I go back to the same crutch nearly every time. And I've been sober, productive, positive for small bouts. Doing these stunts since the age of 12 has re-wired my brain in a way I am afraid will take a lifetime of mending.

I drink 2 bottles of wine a day and often add vodka to the mix. I am the manager where I work and am studying for a degree. No hangovers and continue to get promoted at work

Deryck - you were in a very bad place and you managed to escape it - good on yer for helping others who may have similar problems. I won't raise a glass to you because I don't do alcohol in any form, but I wish you good health.

Thanks for you telling truth.....we love you... jesus always love you.... Telling truth is showing you have brave heart and you love the people ......not only your self... thanks a lots......