Alcohol Freedom Blog

In my post last week, I mentioned the challenges of coping with the holidays. I’d like to share some ideas with you that I think will help take you away from bad habits this holiday season:

1. Get plenty of sleep and exercise. Proper rest and being active helps you handle the extra stress of the holiday season.
2. Design your ideal day. Sit down and think of a perfect day, think of the things you would do from the moment you woke up until the moment you go back to sleep. Where would you work, where would you be, what would you wear and with whom would you spend your time. Thinking of the life you want can be a powerful trigger to help you evaluate your current activities and habits.
3. Do something completely different. Take a walk through your neighborhood to view holiday decorations, go on a picnic or visit a museum. Familiarity can be a trap, especially around the holidays. When you are trying to drink less, it’s difficult to keep the same social schedule or routine without reaching for a drink.

Through the use of anti-craving medication and our proven Freedom From Alcohol Method ® we’ve helped so many make it through the holidays without excessive drinking. If you need help now, please consult your doctor or contact me to learn if our program is the right one to help you curb excessive drinking.

As the holiday season is upon us, there are usually more opportunities or excuses for functioning alcoholics to over-indulge. Informal happy hours with co-corkers are filled with well wishes for most, and pitfalls for the alcoholic. Work sponsored holiday parties and social gatherings are also risky endeavors that could lead to embarrassing behavior and career threatening transgressions.

Holiday parties are one source of opportunity for the high functioning alcoholic but of equal concern are the senses of loneliness, stress and despair that many people feel during the holiday season. (If you often feel extra stress this time of year, The Mayo Clinic has some great tips to cope with the extra stress of the holiday season.) For many people, making it from Thanksgiving to New Years’ usually involves excessive consumption of alcohol.

What’s important to remember is that most alcoholics are not on the street begging for change. Most are among us contributing to society and holding down jobs. Most are like you or your friends. In between work and drinking, alcoholics often attempt to have normal family and other relationships. It’s only as the disease progresses, usually without self realization, that alcoholics begin to sabotage their careers and friendships.

So how do you know if you have a problem?

1. Keep a journal of your drinking through the holidays
2. Set a hard limit of drinks and see if you can stick to it
3. Take the alcohol screening test

Most importantly, whether you feel you have a problem or you feel you don’t — but still want to curb your drinking; contact me today to see if The Freedom From Alcohol Method® is right for you.

If you were searching for proof that your drinking before or during work is not hurting anyone but yourself; the new book Flying Drunk by Joe Balzer is an eye opener to the dangers involved in drinking. As the Flight Engineer on a commercial airline flight, Mr. Balzer, along with the Pilot and Co-Pilot, was arrested for flying drunk with 91 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft that he was responsible for getting safely from Fargo to Minneapolis.

As we’ve discussed in a previous post about alternative alcohol treatments, alcoholism is a progressive disease that forces most people to hit bottom before they get help. For professionals, it’s important to realize that you are in the grasp of alcohol before the loss of your health, family alienation and or the loss of your job. In Mr. Balzer’s case, getting arrested for being intoxicated at the controls of a passenger jet was his bottom and it resulted in a federal prison sentence.

While most people may not directly put other lives in danger by succumbing to their cravings for alcohol; the risk to your career and the consequences can be the same. You could hurt yourself or another innocent person while driving to work or make mistakes that would jeopardize your career path.

Many in the financial and insurance industries could also make compliance related mistakes that, while sober, would not have occurred. The important thing to do is become aware of the warning signs of an alcoholic and have the courage to reach out for help. There are many confidential alcohol treatments available that don’t require in-patient care. Please get help today.

It takes one to know one. That old expression from our adolescence usually rings true. Experience is a great teacher and is a powerful engine for the human experience. Even small children learn from experience. Whether we are learning a letter or a color, once we know how to identify something we can easily pick it out of a group. However, what’s true for the telltale crooked lines of a “Z” or the calming of the “blue” sky; is not true of alcoholism.

Many people only recognize an alcoholic as the person on the street with a bottle in his hand or someone that is not able to hold down a job. As defined by Merriam-Webster, Alcoholism is the continued excessive or compulsive use of alcoholic drinks.

Because they don’t know how to recognize it and the effect of the alcohol, alcoholics are very often blind to their own disorder. As their disease progresses, most alcoholics are functioning members of society: They hold down jobs and are successful in their careers, and family life; however, in hindsight many such drinkers have observed significant problematic issues unaddressed in these areas that he or she denies or is unaware of. Without help, it’s very likely this disease will cause the loss of all these things held dear.

I encourage you to read a recent post on taking your life back and recognizing signs of alcoholism and to get help today if you think you may be a high functioning alcoholic, or might know someone who is.

How do you know when you need help? As we covered in previous posts, Alcoholism is a progressive disease that seems to occur unbeknownst to the person with the affliction. The functioning alcoholic does not necessarily realize that their pattern of drinking has become more predictable and that they are slowly increasing their consumption.

So if you think you might be a high functioning alcoholic, or someone you care about or respect is questioning your decision to drink; how do you know if you have a problem?

Here are the three strategies to help you arrive at the answer to the question: Do I need help?

1. Set a limit for your drinking. If you can consume 2 or 3 alcoholic beverages over the course of your night out and can consistently stop without having “just one more” or “one for the road.” You may not need help. (In all cases we would recommend you consult with a qualified medical practitioner.) The key is to be honest with your self and to set a limit that is safe and much less than you may normally have.
2. Keep a journal of your drinking. Note not only the date and day but the times, types of drinks and amounts. If you see any patterns developing or drinking not within normal realms (The two martini lunch only happened on Bewitched), then please seek an impartial consultation from a medical professional.
3. Take a que from the Office of Professional Management and review their handbook on alcohol in the workplace. When you think of the warning signs, do you think of yourself?

The key to addressing High Functioning Alcoholism is honest self evaluation and to  get help today.

Magnificent Desolation is not only the title of Astronaut, Buzz Aldrin’s new book, but a feeling very familiar to those plagued by alcoholism. In his new tome, Buzz Aldrin, a hero to millions and the 2nd man to walk on the moon, reveals the ugly truth about his decline into alcoholism.

Mr. Aldrin’s tale is a familiar one: he struggled to adjust to new challenges in his life and a new-found lack of purpose. He, as many alcoholics do, felt he did not have a problem and then chose to ignore it. After his divorce in 1975, he rarely ventured out; except to buy food and alcohol.

In the struggle for your own life and control over alcohol, it’s important to realize that you are not alone, you are worthy of compassion and a new future. Even national heroes like Mr. Aldrin have walked the same path as you and have cleared the fog and found their way again. Although Mr. Aldrin was a celebrity, he was so consumed and his battle well known; he took the extraordinary step of 28 days of in-patient treatment.

While effective, in-patient treatment can be a barrier to those that do not want publicity or cannot “drop out” for a month or more. It’s important to note that new treatments like the Freedom From Alcohol® Method, are available. Through the use of anti-craving medication and counseling, you can still participate in your life while receiving confidential treatment to help you abstain or lessen alcohol’s grip on your health and behavior.

Ever since I was a young man in college, I dreamt of a life dependent on alcohol. Yes sir, work hard and party hard. Long days in the office with longer happy hours and a few two-martini lunches peppered in were for me. Loss of focus, trembling, night sweats and alienation of my family and friends were exactly what I had on my goal sheet.

Of course the preceding paragraph is written ‘tongue-in-cheek’; however, if you’ve known an alcoholic or someone who just called themselves “A Drinker” you can probably identify with this paragraph. Because of its progressive nature, alcoholism is particularly damaging and deadly because those affected have the illusion that they are in control. They say things like, “I don’t need to drink- I just like to drink.”

So some pertinent questions one who drinks excessively should ask themselves are:

• When did I stop designing and planning my life?
• And how did I become a drinker?
• Is this happiness?
• Is this the life I want?

There are no easy solutions, but what’s important for all of us, is critical for someone fighting addiction to alcohol: Focus on the life you want.

Focus not on your failures, the addiction or cravings, but on the life that you want to regain. Lay out a strategy. Write down your goals and the steps required to reach them. Think about how reaching those goals and how becoming free from alcohol would make you feel and how it would enhance the quality of your relationships and your career.

Alcohol dependence and craving is not easy to tackle on your own. There are many alcohol treatment plans available. Find one that is right for you and take action. Get help today and focus on your new tomorrow – now!

With the admission of US Representative John Sullivan of Oklahoma and Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island that they are again facing a battle with alcohol, there has been a new discussion of HFA’s or High Functioning Alcoholics. Most alcoholics are not living on the street but are, to the outside observer, a productive member of society.

HFA, Functioning Alcoholic, or Functioning Alcoholism are not conditions or a diagnosis, but merely descriptions of the progressive nature of Alcoholism.

These terms are usually used to describe someone that is consuming alcohol at dangerous levels, yet they don’t display the typical signs of intoxication due to the body’s slow build up of tolerance to alcohol. They are usually well liked, productive and very few may realize that they have a problem at all. Slowly, as the levels of alcohol needed to incite a “high” in the alcoholic increase, their ability to be productive wanes and they begin to show more outward signs of withdrawal; including urges to drink more frequently.

As is true for any addiction, the alcoholic or excessive drinker has to want help before treatment can be effective. Because the effects of alcoholism slowly get worse, most deny that they have a problem with alcohol, and those who are functioning alcoholics will need to find their bottom before treatment can be successful. For some it can be the first sign of tremors or friends or loved ones’ finally confronting them with their concerns.

If you suspect that someone you care about is drinking more than they should, seek more information about alcoholism and have a frank open conversation about your concerns. And if you a professional worried about the stigma of in-patient care and your patient is ready to seek help, consider confidential outpatient options for alcohol treatment.

As alcoholics, we have experienced the sheer malevolent power of addiction. The disease of alcoholism takes prisoners and when it remains untreated, many will succumb to its destructive capacity. Experts call it a progressive illness since the more one abuses alcohol the worse their overall condition will become. It simply becomes progressively worse for the untreated, unfortunate alcoholic who lacks the constitution or support systems to fight back. Continue Reading »

Why do people in general consume alcohol? Is it because they like the taste of an exotic cocktail, or they want to appear sociable when in the company of others who are drinking? Or maybe they like the way one drink helps them relax just the tiniest bit or they enjoy a fine glass of wine with certain foods. These are totally acceptable reasons for imbibing, and millions of people who drink this way are doing so without ulterior motive. Continue Reading »