Teri - alcohol

[Guest guest]

Teri,Like any good alcoholic, I just worked up to it, like training for a marathon! OK, that is complete sarcasm...I told my gastro staff that I'd stop drinking during treatment. I stopped for 3 weeks, started treatment on the 22nd day. I'm human, though, and about 3 months into it thought "one microbrew won't hurt". Oh my god how wrong I was! I consider myself reasonably smart, but a couple weeks later had to try it again! Definition of insanity and all that.About a month after treatment I tried a Red Stripe. I'm a beer snob, big-hooved horses and Rocky Mountain spring water do nothing for me. A Red Stripe was about as light as I could voluntarily go. It actually went quite well physically, and I gradually ramped up to a dangerous level.Now hear me, ALL OF YOU! I know some of us come from AA backgrounds, some can't conceive of touching another drop of alcohol, but I enjoy my microbrews and a good healthy shot of quality scotch occasionally. My mom preached to me as long as I can remember, "All things in moderation." Well, for a long time moderation and alcohol didn't live in the same county for me, but they're almost neighbors now.Anyway, I knew the drugs I was on could mess up a fetus up to 6 months after I stopped tx, so for 6+ months I was pretty cautious. Even now, I drink substantially less alcohol than I did before treatment, and know if I overdo it by my body's reaction.Please hear me, folks! I'm not advocating going back to bad habits once you're clear. I'm advocating LIVING your life with quality, and if that includes a beer or a bowl, who am I to judge? Just remember, speaking for myself, my lifestyle before tx damaged my liver, tx damaged my liver, so it's in my best interest to keep that in mind. Not let it be one of Don's dragons of the mind, but just keep it in mind, like a bum knee when you're playing baseball, you accommodate what your body requires.Teri, one of the big things that treatment taught me that I've remembered is BALANCE. If you like a drink and know if you go too far you'll pay for it later then so be it. And if you decide occasionally that the payment is worth it, that's your decision, no one else's. However, if a bat and your liver occasionally talk, then you've recognized the boundaries.SteveLife is much more fun when thought of as a scavenger hunt as opposed to a surprise party. Jimmy Buffett Re: [ ] Don - More of HCV and the 'Dragon in our Heads'

Uhm Steve... can I ask a question.... (waving hand in the air like crazy) How the hell were you able to drink after treatment. Even 6 months later? I mean, I can handle one or two every once in awhile but if I go beyond that it feels like somebody hit me smack in the liver with a baseball bat. And if its hard liquor... one will do me in. I used to be able to drink and handle my alcohol but not anymore! I don't think the part of my liver that is regenerating itself likes alcohol at all.Teri_,_._,___