My addiction...

[Natural Selection]

I normally wouldn't do this, but I don't really know what else to do. Hi, my name is David and I'm an alcoholic. While I don't beat my wife or drive around drunk and crazy I am still an alcoholic and it has affected my life greatly over the last five years. I have recently decided this is a problem and want to take steps to better my situation. I KNOW 100% I CANNOT DO THIS ALONE.

So, I've come up with three realistic solutions. I can try and quit cold turkey with only my wife and room mate for support. I can try A.A or I can file an F.M.L.A claim and enter into a in patient rehab facility.

I think rehab will be the most likely option to succeed for me, but I am EXTREMELY worried that upon returning to work I will be terminated for the first thing they can think of. As being gone for a month would not be good for my company at all and they have a track record of doing very shady things...

So, what do you think I should do and why?

 

[JGlass]

I would start by asking a mod to delete this post. This is a bad idea. Why? Because the internet is a ruthless place.

Good luck.

 

[Natural Selection]

I would start by asking a mod to delete this post. This is a bad idea. Why? Because the internet is a ruthless place.

Good luck.

Yeah, I expect some dick head responses, but I've got pretty thick skin and words can only hurt so much.

 

[Remix]

I normally wouldn't do this, but I don't really know what else to do. Hi, my name is David and I'm an alcoholic. While I don't beat my wife or drive around drunk and crazy I am still an alcoholic and it has affected my life greatly over the last five years. I have recently decided this is a problem and want to take steps to better my situation. I KNOW 100% I CANNOT DO THIS ALONE.

So, I've come up with three realistic solutions. I can try and quit cold turkey with only my wife and room mate for support.

I'd advise against that. Alcohol withdrawl, which I'm afraid to say you will have to go through has some nasty side effects. As in it can cause you to have convulsions. Doing it (mostly) alone is not an option I would recommend. Also, they probably can't be with you 24/7 so there's always the chance that you could slip and end up back at square 1. I'm not trying to be alarmist, but I think that the more support you have the better.

I can try A.A

This has the same problem. I think AA can, and would help you. However, it still means you'd be going cold turkey. I think that it would be more helpful after you've gone through withdrawals and are trying to stay clean, which is probably the hardest part.

or I can file an F.M.L.A claim and enter into a in patient rehab facility.

That would avoids the worst parts of the first two with the lowest risks of you getting alcohol while your wife and flatmate aren't looking with immediate medical aid if things go south.

There's also a fourth option. Speak to a doctor and see what he can do to help and would recommend. I can be reasonably confident that you won't be the only alcoholic he's treated, and if after talking to him you decide to quit at home, he can prescribe things that will make the process easier, such as a benzo for tremours and disulphram which will make you feel like hell if you slip (which if nothing else is a good incentive not to)

I think rehab will be the most likely option to succeed for me, but I am EXTREMELY worried that upon returning to work I will be terminated for the first thing they can think of. As being gone for a month would not be good for my company at all and they have a track record of doing very shady things...

If they do that, speak to a lawyer about wrongful dismissal. And if your bosses question why you need to be gone for a month ask if they'd prefer that to you being drunk while working.

Hope that you can get clean buddy.

 

[Harthan]

Ask people who care about you.

 

[Remix]

Ask people who care about you.

Also this.

 

[Slyfox696]

In all honesty, this is probably not the place to seek advice. Ask people you know and trust, or absent that, talk to a counselor about the best course of action.

I would ask the following question...why would you work at some place you simply do not trust? And why would your company want to fire someone who has gotten themselves in a position to do a better job?

 

[shattered dreams]

If it is something that you have to do (and it is) then what might happen at work is irrelevant. I would read your work policies thoroughly and then talk to your manager directly about the situation and options for proceeding.

 

[Natural Selection]

In all honesty, this is probably not the place to seek advice. Ask people you know and trust, or absent that, talk to a counselor about the best course of action.

I would ask the following question...why would you work at some place you simply do not trust? And why would your company want to fire someone who has gotten themselves in a position to do a better job?

I'm great at it and I can't make more money walking in the door anywhere else.

Because, being gone for a month would inconvenience them and they would have to find someone to run my store while I was gone and that could end up with them(my supervisors) having to actually work in a store.

They bend any labor law they can whenever they can. Which to a degree I understand because in business cash is king.


EDIT: I fully expected you to be the one to bash me to bits, thanks for the pleasant surprise.

 

[Slyfox696]

I'm great at it and I can't make more money walking in the door anywhere else.

Because, being gone for a month would inconvenience them and they would have to find someone to run my store while I was gone and that could end up with them(my supervisors) having to actually work in a store.

They bend any labor law they can whenever they can. Which to a degree I understand because in business cash is king.


EDIT: I fully expected you to be the one to bash me to bits, thanks for the pleasant surprise.

I only bash stupidity. I don't attack people for who they are, just when they say stupid things.

But I think you realize what is more important, which is getting yourself healthy. If your job chooses to not want you back because you're helping yourself, then I would argue it's not a job worth having. Maybe you can't make the same amount of money walking in someplace else, but money isn't everything.

 

[Shadowmancer]

Out of curiosity how do you know you are an alcoholic?

 

[George Steele's Barber]

If your job is a concern talk to an employment lawyer ahead of time and share your concern. I don't know much about addiction to be of any help otherwise.

Best of luck.

 

[Natural Selection]

Out of curiosity how do you know you are an alcoholic?

Let's see, I have gotten drunk almost everyday for the last five years. The thought of not drinking scares the shit out of me. It runs deep on both sides of my family and like my dad always says I don't care what anyone thinks I care what everyone thinks and if everyone thinks I have a problem, I have a problem.

 

[IHW]

Find something else to be addicted to, like sex.

Good luck. Both my parents were alcoholics while I was growing up. I know its hard to quit, but if you don't- it could fuck a lot of things up.

 

[ABMorales787]

My grandmother is an alcoholic. For over 10 years, she'll wake up and serve up a glass Bacardi with Sprite until she's asleep. It's reached a point where if she doesn't drink, she becomes anxious, starts to shake uncontrollably and such. She's even been developing memory loss issues. Not long ago she called panicking that she was lost on the road. She knew where she was but she could not recall how to reach her own home. It's become a very very scary issue. If you really feel like it's an issue, don't sit on a computer googleing for answers. Call a neurologist, a psychiatrist, anyone you think can help.