Longterm Heavy Binge Drinking - How Does It End?
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Anonymous
| DH drinks an entire "fifth" of hard liquor in about 4 hours one evening a week...that equates to 17 1.5 ounce shots which boggles my mind. The rest of the week he has three beers a night. The liquor binge is "secret" while the beer is in the open. He is early 50s and has been doing this for almost 30 years. He is healthy weight, runs and lifts weights every day, eats really healthy food. His annual blood work looks fine (mildly elevated blood pressure and glucose but within normal range) and he seems fine. He doesn't drive when drinking and he's not abusive or troublesome. I gave up years ago trying to convince him to change his behavior ... it is his decision. But I am sort of trying to brace myself for the medical issues he has GOT to be heading towards. Does anyone have any experience with this sad situation? How is it likely to end? |
Anonymous
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how i ends? as a recovering addict i was once told look around, do you see many elderly alcoholics or addcits?
That was one reason I got clean, 2nd was you can't see the damage youa re causing, your liver, your body may look fine but the liver slowly dies, then you get red skin, blood vessels pop, you get yellow looking, eyes sunken, fmaily leaves you, then a slow death around 45-60. |
Anonymous
| For my grandfather, it ended with a painful death in his early 60s, before I really got the chance to know him. |
Anonymous
| Yes, I know it doesn't end well ... I just was wondering if the end would be a long slow painful torture or more of a short, quick and more merciful thing. Not that either option is good, mind you. |
Anonymous
+1, except mine was 59. And apparently "healthy" until close to the end. |
Anonymous
| Sounds like my FIL at that age -- still incredibly functional. Fast forward 15 years and things have truly gone to shit. At some point, the weekday beer switched to liquor and a quick decline set in. End stage alcoholism is ugly. |
Anonymous
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This is more than binge-drinking. Binge-drinking is the weekend warrior drunkeness (that I've often been guilty of myself). An unsafe beast, but a different one altogether.
What you're describing, this daily intake and the secret drinking, is full-blown alcoholism. Health and fitness and functionality aside. |
Anonymous
Depends on a lot of factors. Cirrhosis of the liver isn't a pretty way to die. Which is the most likely end. But there are other possibilities. Granted, most tend to be towards the slow painful side unless he has a heart attack |
Anonymous
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For my father, it was a pretty horrifying death at the age of 52 from cirrhosis of the liver.
Even if he's functioning fine for now, odds are he's not going to stay that way. He will continue to need more, and that first night that the first fifth get him where he wants to be and he heads out for a second... |
Anonymous
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Has his drinking affected your marriage, your kids, or your life? If so, go to Al Anon - that's support for you.
He's definitely an alcoholic. I wonder if he doesn't sneak shots during the week too and disguise it with beer, e.g., my breath smells like beer, it's nothing else. . . There's the 3 A's - Awareness, Acceptance, then Action. Sounds like he isn't even aware that he is an alcoholic yet. Have you mentioned it to him? If you have or you do, then he has to accept that as true before he will do anything about it. I'm sorry OP. They say in meetings that you cannot control the drinking or cure the alcoholic. That's up to him unfortunately. But there are so many other women in your shoes - there is so much support out there if you need it. |
Anonymous
Hit Submit too soon. OP, please get yourself to Al-Anon. Your DH has a very rough road ahead of him, whether he decides to get sober or not, and you will need support and insight beyond what your friends and family are likely able to provide. |
Anonymous
I agree this is clearly alcoholism ... I just described it as heavy binge drinking because I view such a huge amount of alcohol all at one time as even more damaging to the body than chronic excessive drinking. It's really depressing. |
Anonymous
| My brother was a heavy binge drinker for nearly a decade. One night he passed out in a weird position (that's all it took), which cut off his kidney function, and he developed rhabdomyolysis. He survived but was diagnosed with kidney, liver, and heart failure. Through some inner strength that I will never understand, he stopped drinking and has stayed clean. However, he still has consequences. Last year he needed a hip replacement because of hidden vascular damage. It's a scary disease. I hope your husband finds a way to recovery. |
Anonymous
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My FIL drinks more than him, and he was going strong into his 80s.
I would not assume that he will necessarily have any negative health consequences from this level of drinking. |
Anonymous
| Look into the Sinclair method. |