• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

My uncle is dying.

A

AStar617

Diamond Member
He is what one might call a "functioning alcoholic" for as long as I've known him (he came from Trinidad to the U.S. about 10-15yrs ago). His daily regimen is something along the lines of two 40oz. bottles of beer and a flask of Johnnie Walker every evening after work.

On 12/26 during a Christmas visit to my grandparents', he seemed fine, upbeat and chipper. He went into the hospital via ambulance on 12/27 complaining of chest pains. At first he appeared ok but took a turn for the worse.

Turns out his heart is functioning at 25% due to excessive alcohol abuse, which causes the inflamed heart muscle to slowly stop functioning and collect fluid around it. Apparently once the 72-hr withdrawals hit, he tried to refuse treatment and started pulling all the tubes/wires etc. from him (stating "I have something I need to do") until my mother intervened by telephone.

According to the doctor, he may need a heart transplant but putting him completely under could send him into seizures due to the alcohol withdrawals. In any event, if he drinks again, he will most certainly die.

Please, if you know someone who abuses alcohol, or any other drug for that matter, get them help. Do whateer it takes. It WILL save their life.

1/3 EDIT: I just learned that my uncle suffered a mild stroke yesterday. This was noted by my aunt who realized he wasn't recognizing things on one side of him in the hospital bed. The heart muscle's inability to properly pump blood has probably caused blood clots to be formed, and one might have broken off and traveled to the brain. Another indirect product of the alcohol abuse. 🙁

Apparently he's still trying to get out of the hospital too. The new plan is to take his clothing/shoes to prevent him from leaving. He has always been the type to never leave the house without being immaculately groomed, and has already made the statement that he wouldn't be caught dead leaving "in the same clothes I showed up in", so this should be a sufficient deterrent.
 
My uncle is similar. I've never seen the guy sober. Literally. I'm certain he must have been in order to go to work every day, but every evening and all weekend long, he was drunk. He died of a heart attack last month. He was 50.
 
That's tough man. I've had a few friends that were taken by addiction. It makes you feel so helpless. You know all they have to do to get better is stop abusing, but most of the time there's nothing you can do to make them stop. 🙁
 
my step-father drank like that. he ended up dying in an accident though, which wasn't his fault at all.

it's incredible what hardcore addicts will do to their bodies before giving it up. 🙁
 
My grandfather on my mom's side came to the usa from sweden with a whole bunch of money with which he bought multiple apartment buildins in NYC. his alcoholism got the better of him and they lost everything.

he died as a bum in the streets of the bowery in NYC. my mom and grandmother were called to the hospital while he was dying and he did not even know who they were.

i never met him.

I am sorry for your loss.
🙁
 
i dislike alcohol, im glad my body hates it, waste of money IMO, proably a once in a month zip of hipnotic will be ok if in a party or something.
 
Some people seem to have a physical tendency towards alcohol addiction, I have a couple friends who had to quit drinking completely because even one drink puts them over the edge, while many other folks (myself included thank goodness) can take it or leave it.
 
Originally posted by: enyce2k9
i dislike alcohol, im glad my body hates it, waste of money IMO, proably a once in a month zip of hipnotic will be ok if in a party or something.
Click to expand...

Eh, it can be fun if you're reasonable about it. It doesn't have to be expensive. I can get 24 bottles of Rolling Rock for $14 around here, so $3.50 for a six-pack. Beer snobs hate it, but I like being able to enjoy a cheap beer. 🙂
 
heh well beer, i just dislike it, i prefer drinking orange juice, even at a party or whatever, i feel more gangsta anyways drinking juice in front of pple.
rum, nasty, its like swallowing a shot of rubbing alcohol, well to me that is.
my parents dont smoke/drink so i believe i got those "healthy genes".
 
I work with an alcoholic who hasn't touched the drink in 6 or 7 years. I talk to him about it sometimes to try and understand the addiction. I can take it or leave it, but usually choose to take it after work. Not get all pissed up, but I usually have a drink or two after work. I can't imagine NEEDING it though. I also ask him if he feels he can have one drink and stop there for the night......he says "probably, but I'll never know for sure"
 
Alcoholic cardiomyopathy, kinda sad really.

Ive got one guy in the ICU now who went on such a bender he needed to be on mechanical ventilation for a week. Highly functioning 35 year old professional too.
 
Originally posted by: mrrman
sorry to hear that...wish my bro would stop drinking..he's heading in the same destructive place
Click to expand...

No time like the present... Even though my uncle wasn't really a desirable person to be around for the better part of his life, it was really hard on my dad and his siblings when he died, because they never did anything to help him. But there's a difference between drinking a lot and being an alcoholic...
 
Unfortunately my dad died do to hepatitus C and alcoholism and I know from experience that guy is screwed. Once your health starts to deteriorate and insatiable need for alcohol kicks in the end is basically guaranteed soon. Living becomes secondary to the addiction and you cant think clearly enough to see whats really happening. All you know is want a damn drink and you want to drink it until you cant feel anything anymore.

All we can do is learn from their tragedy.
 
Some people have a harder time coping with life their others. They forget thier pains & they like to stay there. I've had two of my uncles die of liver failure before I was sixteen, with another one sure on the way. My father himself is slowly steeping his way into the club. He just hates life & his condition so much that it fuels him to drink. I've tried everything, barring locking him in his room like a prisoner till he binges himself out of it. Bargaining with him, threatening, pleading, leaving him completely alone at home, nothing will work that isn't his own doing.

I just feel so awful about it, not only because he's helpless, but because for a time, I made it my function, selling that crap to other suicides. 🙁
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top