I went to an addiction treatment facility with a program designed specifically for health care professionals. At the end of the extensive five-day evaluation, it was suggested that I stay for an extended period of time. I was told that if I did not follow the suggestions, it was likely that I would not be able to retain my license to practice medicine. At the beginning of treatment, I was angry. Here I was in an expensive treatment center insurance wouldn’t cover, and I was not earning an income, but rather accumulating expenses as a partner in our corporation. I couldn’t see how important it was for me to separate myself from outside stresses so I could focus on me.
- One day I made a mistake and took a painkiller.
- I sat down to a Central European breakfast of buttered bread and sliced peppers with my partner, hung over and wondering how I acted during my latest blackout.
- I have been in numerous rehab facilities – long and short term.
- As famous addiction recovery stories go, hers was well known to anyone who grew up in the 80s and 90s.
- After promising to never follow the same path, a traumatic event lead her to substance abuse.
- Give yourself a chance and get your life back.
After six years, I was becoming dissatisfied with work because I didn’t feel I had adequate support from my group or the hospital. After a brief job search, certainly hindered by my alcohol consumption, I returned to the large academic practice where I trained. For the most part, it was fear that kept me from even considering sobriety. We tend to make blanket judgments about the unknown, and I did just that with sobriety. I knocked it because it wasn’t glamorous, tsk tsk-ing those who declined alcohol, conjuring images of them grasping their brown bag bottles. Yet for many of us, substance dependency robs us of our health, our relationships and yes, even the simple happiness of everyday life.
The Michael Palmer, MD Medical Student Health Lecture Series
The hardest part of 2012 was when a good friend of mine passed away at the age of 26 from heart failure. I went to his grandmother’s house afterward and hugged his mom as everyone cried around me. Both of my parents worked, but we still had money problems due to my dad’s drug and alcohol abuse. In 1995, we moved up to Washington state to start a new life. This was supposed to be the new beginning that we all needed. My dad vowed to stop using, but like all alcoholics, he didn’t.
Which this ironically helps start the addiction process for many veterans while we still live with the pain and mental issues. In addition to the right medical and professional care and local support groups, online resources can play an important sober success stories role, too. This year, we’re honoring alcohol recovery blogs that are committed to educating, inspiring, and empowering people on their recovery journey. The moving force behind Progress Valley is to help people help themselves.
Featured Sober Living Success Stories
When I started college I didn’t think about the school work and instead just thought about the social life. During my freshman year of college I would not go to class. I would drink almost every day and sober success stories I ended up doing things I said I would never do. I ended up in the hospital for an alcohol overdose. Even after that incident in the hospital, I still didn’t believe I had a problem with alcohol.
What does being sober feel like?
Your emotions can shift a great deal while you're getting sober. After quitting drugs or alcohol, you may feel more irritable, anxious, or depressed. The first year of sobriety can be challenging, and many people experience a mix of emotions. However, after a year of sobriety, most people report improved mental health.
I attended daily AA meetings for the first ninety days. Later, I cut back to three to four meetings a week as I returned to taking call at work. At the appropriate time, with the guidance of my sponsor, I was able to make amends to everyone I had harmed, including myself. I was struck sober, lying on my living room floor, unable to get up, bleeding from a gastric ulcer just before Labor Day weekend in 2004. That is where this amazing journey in sobriety began. I often want to share about how wonderful sobriety is, but that can feel overwhelming because there are so many experiences I could discuss. I’ve decided to share about trusting the universe and what happens when you do.
Because I would start something, get taken over by the disease, and then abandon it. I got into the college I wanted to and then dropped out. I got a job I really wanted and then I got fired. So when Sober House I got sober, it gave me self-esteem, it gave me worth, it gave me a purpose. I didn’t know that I had so much potential to help people. At first it was difficult, but now it’s just become my life.
