I’m a recovering alcoholic myself. It’s a really difficult disease to treat, as it really affects the soul, your emotions, and your physical and mental well being. This doesn’t take into account how your disease affects those who are close to you.
I’m not sure where you are exactly in getting treatment, but usually you’ll need to go to a detox program for 3-4 days. If you have never been to a 30 day in-patient treatment program, go and go now. If you have insurance or lots of cash, try and find one with nice surroundings where you have some freedom (verses a lock-down facility). V alley Hope has a great program. They have at least four or five facilities across the country. Most people can’t afford Eric Clapton’s Crossroads, but being in Antigua, it can’t be too bad of a stay for a month.
There are no known 100% program “cure rates.” Relapse is quite common. Less than 20% of those individuals who go to an in-patient treatment program stay sober during their first year out of treatment. Most treatment programs are based on the AA 12-step program.
That being said, except for the first step, all of the other eleven steps of AA are based on Catholic principles. Bill W’s (and AA’s) spiritual advisor was a Catholic priest (see the Appendix of the Big Book).
So hopefully, between AA and The Church, you’ll find the support that you need.
Once you make a commitment and start treatment and a program, you’ll literally need to take each day as it comes. Life will still have its many challenges and hills to climb, but it will be easier to handle as you’ll have a clean head and hopefully will have some “spirituality” to help you on a daily basis.
The hardest part of it all is that is at the end of the day, only you can save yourself. And trust me, God will not grab that drink out of your hand (He might give you some very strong hints).
Unfortunately for alcoholics and unlike drug addicts (who can stop going to their drug dealers and physicians), alcohol is everywhere. There’s a legend in AA where two men are way up in the tundra and in one barrel, one of the men discovered a fifth of whisky and in another barrel, the other man found the Big Book. So one man got sober and the other stayed drunk and died. I doubt the story is true in any manner, but the point is quite clear that one, alcohol is going to be everywhere you seem to go, and of course the second point is if you are truly an alcoholic, you’ll eventually die from the disease ( or jails, institutions and then death).
Stay strong and pray. John of God, Martin of Tours, Matthias the Apostle and Monica Urban of Langres are patron saints of alcoholics. I’m sure they’ll help you too.
God Bless.
