It has been suggested that sometimes alcoholism can be caused by a nutritional imbalance in a person’s system, but seldom do you hear about vitamins being blamed for the condition itself. For years, alcoholism has been referred to as a disease, which is gospel to some, and questionable to others. I have learned from a family member who is an alcoholic, that much of the time the urge to drink can be controlled but when stress levels reach a certain point, all control goes right out the window. One drink is all it takes for the average alcoholic to go right back into a fit of alcohol consumption.
Sometimes when this happens they become so ashamed of what they have done that they cut off all contact with those who love them the most, refusing phone calls, personal visits, email, everything. Or they simply take off in the car somewhere, get stone drunk and do not re-appear for hours, days or even weeks. To get themselves back on track again, they start attending AA meetings, or Al-anon, but in meetings such as those the main lesson they learn is that they themselves are not the responsible party. The alcoholism is blamed on everyone and everything but the drinker himself or herself.
They are taught some scripture in AA but only the “sugar coated stuff”, and seldom do they hear or accept anything that might lay some of the blame on their own shoulders. There are church run substance abuse programs available also, that claim a much higher success rate than either AA or Al-anon, but the substance abuser tends to drift away from those programs in favor of the more “main-stream” ones. Whether or not AA is better or worse than church run programs is irrelevant here, but the point is, only when they stick with a mentor-type program, do they actually achieve freedom from the drinking.
Alcoholics can even go into bars, and sit with buddies, drinking pop instead of liquor, and not be affected in any way. Most of the time their best friends don’t even know that they are alcoholics, because they simply look like people who don’t like to drink. There are people who hate the taste of liquor, I’m one of those, but I don’t even go into bars in the first place. Sometimes I think they do that so they can test themselves. “Yes! I’m cured! I sat in the bar for three hours and didn’t drink a drop!” Trouble of it is, when they participate in these impromptu “tests” they are usually relaxed and stress free. The real problem begins when the final straw breaks the camel’s back.
That’s when all hell breaks loose and they lose control. Locating a person who is out on a “drunk” is a difficult task. They are like chameleons who can hide against any back-drop with ease. You have no clue where they are, and you run around frantically calling the Sheriff’s department or the hospital, friends, relatives, neighbors. Nobody ever knows anything in these situations. Sometimes you find the alcoholic person, sometimes you don’t. When you don’t you have to sit and wait for him or her to just “appear”, or for a hospital to call you with some word. This is the family’s worst nightmare.
All the love in the world does not help the alcoholic. They have such a deep-seated hatred for themselves that it doesn’t matter in the least whether that hatred is warranted or not. They simply go “crazy” and get drunk. It doesn’t take much. So, what exactly is alcoholism? It’s hard to say, unless you’re a medical expert, but I doubt if even they can tell us everything, because alcoholism is a very complicated disorder that just will not go away. It’s the ultimate never-ending nightmare, the demon in disguise.
Once the addiuction grabsone they are forever Addicted to the grog. Itcan be controlled but it will grab themagain if, as you say, they become stressed out and seek release.
I hav enothing but admirationfor those spouses who stand by their alcoholic spouse.