I am the wife in an alcoholic marriage.
My husband had his low point in fall of 2003. I found myself trapped in the alcoholic cycle. My husband had tried in the summer to get treatment on his own. The facility that he went to was not what he really needed. He was in detox for only 3 days, they overdosed him on Librium and sent him out the door to me. I found myself dealing with a drugged alcoholic who was not detoxed, he was confused, and bouncing off the walls from the effect the drug has on the nervous system. This lasted for a week. I was the only one working, he had lost one job because he was caught being intoxicated at work. There was no unemployment, so we lived off my check and what monies we had saved and more recently credit cards and what ever help his parents have given. He was going to AA meetings at the time. In fact that was what spurred his decision to go through the sorry excuse for detox. In September he got picked up for DUI and had his license suspended. I now am also the sole driver. He had to go to a drunk driving intervention that was court mandated. He was to be dry for 24 hours or he would not be accepted. I knew he could not do it and was sent home after 8 hours. The facility running this should have suggested that he be sent to a treatment facility instead of just dumping him in my lap. They were professionals, this was what the facility they worked for treated on a daily basis. They did not want to give up the $300 fee we had to pay. They wanted him to go to out-patient counseling, because this was the only thing they could offer. That is why I say not all facilities are the same. This was about the time I started looking for treatment centers. I searched the internet over to find one in our area. This site came from that search and what I learned in trying to get treatment for my husband. Who by this time was stealing money from me, selling off tools and heavens know what to get money to feed his alcoholic habit. He hid beer cans all over the house and property, turned my night into his day so that he could avoid me knowing how much he had been drinking. He even started stopping off at the convince stores after going to AA meetings and drinking on the way home. He lost house keys and pairs of glasses. He ended up not being able to get in the house one afternoon and as he stumbled around drunk come one called the police and he got picked up. Thing were getting worse and I was now seeing paranoia along with the change to a nasty wide awake drunk. It is really bad when you, yourself give them alcohol so that they will pass out so you can get some sleep. Finally his body said no more. He started vomiting and he could not stop. He is a diabetic on top of everything else so I pulled out all the information I had amassed from the internet and started calling. I packed for him while he was accessed over the phone. We drove to the treatment center only to find out he needed to be stable to be admitted there. They told us that we needed to take him to a near by hospital and that when he was stable a driver would come to get him and bring him back to the center. He was there for 2 weeks and would have liked for it to have been 3 (insurance only allowed the 2). There truly was a difference between the person I picked up against the one I had left. It has taken me a while to adjust to this person, I still have a hard time with trusting, but I do allow him to have some money. He has started smoking, a decision I was not happy with, but smokes outside because of my allergies. He has taken to Lifesavers Candy, Hershey Kisses and ice cream to help with the cravings. As long as he watches how much he eats he can cover the carbs with insulin. Still have problems with getting close again. It had been awhile, he was not shaving or showering for days so he was not some one a really cared to be with. Hopefully we will grow closer in the coming weeks.
