http://www.asiaone.com/Health/News/Story/A1Story20090611-147868.html
Sat, Jun 13, 2009
The Straits Times
Slave to a whiskey bottle
By June Cheong
Alcoholism almost killed him - not once but twice.
In 1987, Mr Terrence Smith (not his real name) nearly died of alcohol poisoning.
null Related:
» The making of an addict
» The key to recovery
The 60-year-old American retiree, who has lived in Singapore since 1986, was in the United States for business but instead he spent much time on heavy drinking and even passed out once.
When he woke up in hospital, a doctor told him he had almost died.
Mr Smith then attended an outpatient clinic for three to four months and abstained from drinking.
He said: 'I didn't like to drink when I was younger because my mother was an alcoholic. A younger brother of mine died of alcoholism many years ago.
'I didn't drink very much until I was 25 and I ended up losing my business and my marriage.'
Mr Smith has since remarried - a Singaporean who is a teetotaller - and his three children, aged 15 to their late 20s, know that their father attends Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings here.
He recalled that the first treatment did not stick. At his worst in the 1970s and 1980s, Mr Smith could easily knock back a few bottles of wine or a bottle of hard spirits like vodka in a day.
A year after his hospitalisation in 1988, he nearly committed suicide. He drank a litre of scotch and took a handful of Valium pills.
He said: 'I wanted to kill myself. I wanted to jump but I was afraid I would just injure myself as my apartment was not on a high floor.'
Three days later, when he had recovered from alcohol-induced illnesses like nausea and headache, he attended an AA meeting.
It was not his first time. Despite having enrolled in treatment programmes and attending AA meetings over the years, he found himself returning to the bottle six or seven times.
Mr Smith said: 'I went regularly to AA but I still slipped up. AA is not a magic wand. You may listen to the message but if you don't take it in, it doesn't help.'
He managed to stop drinking for a few years but relapsed again when he travelled for work.
He finally cleaned up his act in 1995 when he checked himself into a treatment centre in the United States for a month.
He said: 'I saw some very sick individuals there, people who were made sick by their addictions, and I finally realised that I had to admit I was a 100 per cent alcoholic.
'If I don't keep up the abstinence or if I get over confident, I can go off the rails.'
He added: 'It's an illness you can't cure with willpower. The problem with alcoholics is one drink is too many and 100 is not enough.'
Now he attends four to seven meetings and support groups for addicts every week.
He said: 'I was a slave to a whiskey bottle. At AA, we're told to find a higher power to help us overcome alcohol. We're advised to try using the group as a higher power.
'I finally accepted I had to learn from a higher power because alcohol was my higher power then.'
Mr Smith now avoids bars and sticks to non-alcoholic beverages when he is travelling, even attending local AA meetings wherever he is. The smell of alcohol no longer triggers a physical craving in him. It makes him nauseous now.
He said: 'Once you're an alcoholic, you will be one till you die. The only question is if you'll die sober.
'I'd rather die of old age than be drunk and choke on my own vomit.'
Sat, Jun 13, 2009
The Straits Times
Slave to a whiskey bottle
By June Cheong
Alcoholism almost killed him - not once but twice.
In 1987, Mr Terrence Smith (not his real name) nearly died of alcohol poisoning.
null Related:
» The making of an addict
» The key to recovery
The 60-year-old American retiree, who has lived in Singapore since 1986, was in the United States for business but instead he spent much time on heavy drinking and even passed out once.
When he woke up in hospital, a doctor told him he had almost died.
Mr Smith then attended an outpatient clinic for three to four months and abstained from drinking.
He said: 'I didn't like to drink when I was younger because my mother was an alcoholic. A younger brother of mine died of alcoholism many years ago.
'I didn't drink very much until I was 25 and I ended up losing my business and my marriage.'
Mr Smith has since remarried - a Singaporean who is a teetotaller - and his three children, aged 15 to their late 20s, know that their father attends Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings here.
He recalled that the first treatment did not stick. At his worst in the 1970s and 1980s, Mr Smith could easily knock back a few bottles of wine or a bottle of hard spirits like vodka in a day.
A year after his hospitalisation in 1988, he nearly committed suicide. He drank a litre of scotch and took a handful of Valium pills.
He said: 'I wanted to kill myself. I wanted to jump but I was afraid I would just injure myself as my apartment was not on a high floor.'
Three days later, when he had recovered from alcohol-induced illnesses like nausea and headache, he attended an AA meeting.
It was not his first time. Despite having enrolled in treatment programmes and attending AA meetings over the years, he found himself returning to the bottle six or seven times.
Mr Smith said: 'I went regularly to AA but I still slipped up. AA is not a magic wand. You may listen to the message but if you don't take it in, it doesn't help.'
He managed to stop drinking for a few years but relapsed again when he travelled for work.
He finally cleaned up his act in 1995 when he checked himself into a treatment centre in the United States for a month.
He said: 'I saw some very sick individuals there, people who were made sick by their addictions, and I finally realised that I had to admit I was a 100 per cent alcoholic.
'If I don't keep up the abstinence or if I get over confident, I can go off the rails.'
He added: 'It's an illness you can't cure with willpower. The problem with alcoholics is one drink is too many and 100 is not enough.'
Now he attends four to seven meetings and support groups for addicts every week.
He said: 'I was a slave to a whiskey bottle. At AA, we're told to find a higher power to help us overcome alcohol. We're advised to try using the group as a higher power.
'I finally accepted I had to learn from a higher power because alcohol was my higher power then.'
Mr Smith now avoids bars and sticks to non-alcoholic beverages when he is travelling, even attending local AA meetings wherever he is. The smell of alcohol no longer triggers a physical craving in him. It makes him nauseous now.
He said: 'Once you're an alcoholic, you will be one till you die. The only question is if you'll die sober.
'I'd rather die of old age than be drunk and choke on my own vomit.'
