I dont know who else to turn to at the moment. I am 17 years old and have a problem with drink. I drink when im sad I drink when Im happy i make excuses to drink. When I have had a bad day I go home and reach for the nearest bottle and dont stop til I feel better again. My family have noticed it and I have pushed them away from me and forced my self into  homelessness. The only people i have managed to hold onto is my gran and my partner who is trying to help me stop.

I dont know what to do because I tried to stop and lasted 2 weeks and then as soon as I had the chance i started drinking again. I have been kicked out of 2 colleges because I was no longer attending and lost my very good job because I was never focused at work.

Can someone please give me some advice!

Fran, I'm so glad you have found this board and posted. You are in the right place. I started drinking when I was 13 years old,actually I drank before that ,but the serious drinking began then. I drank for the same reasons you gave, but I now know I drank because I am an alcoholic. I got sick and tired of being sick and tired, I got tired of hurting my loved ones and myself, I reached my bottom in Feb.1985,I took my last drink then,I was 29 years old.

Fran have you ever been to an AA meeting,please find one and try it. In some towns there are ones that are for young people, but if you can't find one just go to a meeting. All the people there have been where you are and you will find help. I'm sure you can find a number in the phone book or in the newspaper, you can find a number for AA on the net, they can also give you info about meetings in your area.

Welcome to the board and I hope you will keep posting.We are all here to help one another. I wish I had found AA when I was your age, I would have been able to become the real me sooner.Most of all Fran. just for today don't take a drink, and when you get up tomorrow,don't take a drink. It's just a one day at a time deal.

(((Hugs)))

GammyRose

Dear Fran. The disease of alcoholism can grab us at any age. We become addicted, and cant quit, and stay quit on our own. I know a young lady in the AA program that got sober, and stayed sober one day at a time. She was 15. It sounds as if you have accepted the first step. There is an AA number in your phone book. Give it a buzz. You wont regret it. Find out where the AA meetings are in your area and attend them, as often as possible. You will be met by others of all ages, that have been where you are at, and will welcome you with open arms, love, understanding, and support. And share with all of us on this site. YOU ARE NOT ALONE, as we all share our experience, strength, and hope with you. Let us know how you make out. We care about YOU!!

Hi Fran, good to have another Brit here, I'm getting outnumbered by everyone else! Excelent advice there from Gammy and Phil. Only thing I'll add is that the sooner you sort out the problem, the better the chances are of escaping without long term health problems, catch it early and get your self to a meeting. I gurantee you will feel better! Get as much support from you family as you can too.

Keep on coming back here for support too and let us know how you get on.

 

Best wishes.

Chris.

-- Edited by Cabbageheadchris at 12:00, 2005-01-11

Hi Fran, I would like to say to you that you are ahead of the game at a young age. What I mean is that it sounds like you are hitting the bottom and your aware of it. In AA that mean that the getting high is not working anymore and we feel negative feelings. (were human). This is good that your reaching out for help. It means that you are ready to start living in the answer to your problem with you drinking. I came to AA feeling the same. I drank and did drugs just because it was the middle of the week. I couldn't wait for the weekend so I could really tie one on. This the insanity of this disease. Attending 90 AA meeting in 90 day's is the way I got a start on dealing with Alcoholism. I hope I giving you some food for thought? As they say keep coming back it works.

thanks for your brilliant advice. I will look up AA in the phone book and attend the meetings. Will I be able to take my partner for the first few sessions? Yeah i suppose admitting i have a problem is good because I have been denying it for years and when my doctor said I was along with all my family I started to believe it.

Well i have been drinking since i was 11 but not seriously until about 7 months ago when I moved out of my mothers house due to years of mental and physical abuse and thats when I started drinking alot more. It was a way of hiding the pain. Instead of facing up to it I numbed it with drink. I am 18 in 2 weeks and dont want to be an 18 year old alcoholic especially as me and my partner are planning to start a family in the next year.

thanks again for your wonderful advice. Also what are the AA meetings about and what do you do during them. Oh and one other thing what are "12 steps" have heard about them but dont know what they are.

thanks

Fran

xx

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Copyright © A.A. World Services, Inc.

 

Hope this is usefull, I've found that stopping drinking helps too! (laughing)

Best wishes

Chris.

-- Edited by Cabbageheadchris at 13:47, 2005-01-13

-- Edited by Cabbageheadchris at 13:49, 2005-01-13

thanks just wondered what they were, dont fully understand them but now i know what they are. Thanks. Im quite pleased with myself I only had 2 pints yesterday. I know I should have had none but it was there and I had to drink it. Felt like I was being physically pulled towards it so I gave in. Wish I could stop!

x

You recieved some real good advice. I would like to add sober up and try a meeting. Just try.The obsession to drink can be overwelming, it seems to pull you to the drink. I had to ask god's help to get me back into the rooms of AA. I could stop on my own, but not for long. That's what I needeed AA for. And as time went on to learn how to try to live in peace and serenity. Never to young!! You can Save yourself alot of grief, like i should have.

Good Luck 

Rick