Cross Addiction-From food to Alcohol

Prayers to you as you through this very difficult time.

I don't really have anything to add to what others have said better than I can.

Just here to provide moral support.

It's good to see you've decided to take action on your issues. That is amazing.

Good luck,

Tek

I have relatives that are struggling with addiction and it affects the whole family usually. It hurts to see their pain and their need to numb it and not be present 100%. It hurts to know that there is nothing I can do to help them if they are not ready to help themselves. I hope you can find your way to get the help you need. Know that you are not alone but you can rise above this all.

If you really want to be sober AA meetings are important in my opinion. Counseling too. You can do this!

At one time I was using alcohol to deal with pain (abdominal pain due to hernias and other issues I had with my insides after RNY). Then I was dealing with anxiety and depression using alcohol.

Before RNY, I never had issues with alcohol, I would sometimes drink socially, but I hated being- feeling drunk. I don't get the "feel great when drunk" unless you consider lowering the gut pain, or the anxiety. I'm also the person who when I drank, would get drank rather fast and just went to sleep.

Any time I was getting close too being addicted, I would realize that I really didn't want that, and got help with the issue that made me drink too much. Knowing why I was doing it helped me get to the root of the problem and get help for it.

I would urge you to get to the bottom of the drinking. Unless you can fix (meds, therapy, surgery, etc.) the issues, address the root cause of your drinking, or overeating, you may not be free from addictions.

i.e. My gut issues - I had a few surgeries to fix hernias, changed my diet and eliminated foods that would cause paid or discomfort, get a great gastro doctor and tried to understand why I was in pain. I.e. part of that was very slow food transit through my guts that caused severe constipation even with daily BM. With constipation, when I ate anything that would create gas, the gas couldn't pass and that caused severe pain.

For stress and anxiety - I got medical help with medication, therapy, meditation, and found way to help myself with that (I got a lot of audiobooks that I can listen to while doing stuff that doesn't require my mind full attention. Listening to interesting books (while I do house work, drive, get ready for work) helps me, destructs me from my anxiety. When I listen to the book and have to pay attention to it, I can't worry, get stressed, or panic.

Good luck to you.

BTW: 2 years ago we found out that one of the family member was diagnosed with total liver failure . She almost completely destroyed her liver due to alcohol consumption. She went through hell waiting for a liver transplant. The doctors who treated her didn't believe she would survive long enough to get the transplant. She did, and after almost a year she got it. And she surprised the doctors again and recovered after the transplant. It has been over a year since her transplant.

Knowing someone who had the liver cirrhosis, dealt with all the treatments they had to do to her as she was waiting for a donor, then seeing her go through the surgery, and recovery was very humbling to me.

My life is not mine alone. Others around me are affected by my choices. People who I love, and who love me. Beside my sister and my dear friends, I have a great guy in my life and if not even for me, I try to do as much as I can to be as healthy as I can.