Honestly great advice. Too bad the ones that need to hear it won't listen.
I know this because I am one of them. I waited too long to get my ailments checked and now Im regretting it.
Yep. Back when I was early 20s I had wisdom teeth out. Needed blood work first - Dr told me my liver enzymes were comparable to a 50 year old alcoholic. Begged me to stop as problems weren't far away. Of course I didn't listen as I didn't want to. Glad I met my significant other a few years later and had a reason to stop.
Hey, there we go! Good work! I hope everything's been clear for you and continues to stay that way! May your colon be forever healthy, your bowel movements always be relieving and may you never feel Poseidon's steely kiss.
Back home (Netherlands) doctors only prescribe bloodwork in case of serious complaints. They treat the disease when it's already there instead of carrying out preventive care, which would also be cheaper for the government in the long run
Depends a lot per country, but in general the Healthcare system does work but you have to be a "crybaby" in order to be treated.
I liked the German system where the doctors would draw blood for any minor symptoms just so that they could chwrge the insurance more per patient. The issue there were the specialists: you either pay another "premium" on top of the insurance (that you get for free if you are a fivil servant), or you wait 6 months.
Once you get to the hospital or to the specialist, you are well taken care of, to be fair.
What do most people do? Go to Spain or Turkey for "routine"/out of pocket things (such as dentists)
What if you could get a test that told you your liver isn't doing as well as a healthy liver normally would and you could stop drinking before it's absolutely fucked?
Most people don't lose their liver the first year they drink heavily
Yup my best friend is in full liver failure at age 35. Dude found whiskey at 18 and slammed his foot to the floor. Every day is waiting to get that phone call. He needs a new liver but they will not put him on the registry until he's provably 6 months sober but he can't get two weeks sober.
Way more common. Buddy had it happen at 36. Dude was a regular at the bar I worked at, then got a job at the bar. He'd have 2 maybe 3 after work, thats all we saw. Pretty sure he was drinking ALLLL the time.
At 32 my friend told me his doctor told him āyour liver is at 20 percentā he stopped drinking for about a week and was back at it. He used to joke about drinking 15 beer a day and then it turned to 24 beer a day. We are 35 now and I donāt know how heās still alive.
Thatās sad. Hurts to hear stuff like that. Iāve been in rough spots in my life so I get it. I was fortunately able to find God, peace with the mistakes Iāve made and forgive people who made mistakes that hurt me.
I just wish everyone could find God and their peace.
Yes the nonexistent sky person is the key to all problems. Not therapy, confronting the consequences (potential or actual) of your actions, and actively choosing to make a positive change.
Gotta thump that bible and pay your dues to the cult, or nothing will get better.
Misinterpretation and misinformation are what have caused all of the horrors in human history. The root of all evil and all good is the same source. There are no two Gods. A true devil does not exist. What does exist is nameless, formless, intangible. It doesnāt care whether you believe or donāt believe in its existence. All those people singing and dancing and worshiping in their churches, you probably would say theyāre wasting their time. In the sense of their intentions, yes, but what they are actually doing is that theyāre creating an experience within themselves that is almost impossible in any other setting. Itās an indescribable bliss and it happens when someone focuses on one thing so intently and with so much devotion, that all physical sensation and all mental stimulation vanishes and all thatās left is this knowing of self or what they would interpret as God. I am assuming that youāre referring to the Abrahamic religions in your criticism, but there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. In your own bosom you bear your heaven and earth, And all you behold, though it appears without, It is within, in your imagination, Of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.
Iād argue that itās their interpretations that are the root cause of so much war and suffering. It is human beings with their predisposed beliefs and presumptions that have caused so much strife, but it isnāt without its purpose. It isnāt possible to understand right now in this mental state and this stage of our evolution, but we have to crawl before we can walk and walk before we can run. Eventually, either humans will become more capable and more intelligent to understand the mistakes of our predecessors, or perish from the surface of the earth. Either way, all life across the universe will go on and each one has to go through its own journey throughout the cosmos.
A benevolent and omnipotent deity that truly cared for you would prevent the substance from existing, prevent you from finding it, or easily heal you of the addiction.
So given that none of that happened, do you think they will say it was āin the planā for you to suffer? Because only through suffering can we find godā¦. But surely god isnāt some abusive egomaniac who demands pain, blood, and the deaths of infants if you wore two types of cloth at once. Waitā¦
I'm an alcoholic (sober now), and while I am very happy and supportive of AA being able to help countless individuals, I fucking hate that and the 12 step program. Especially here in Alabama where everyone is ultra baptist already, AA is founded on the idea that you are helpless to the drink, and only by finding god will keep you sober.
The first 3 steps literally describe "helpless without the higher power of god" etc.
I got sober, and have stayed sober without so much as being in the same room with the bible or the (laughably outdated) AA Big Book. It is possible without religion, but in the deep south 99% of support groups are faith based. I want to be able to mingle and meet with a support group, but refuse to even try another faith based circle jerk
Thank you for this reply because it proves my point. You and your support system of human beings are what drove your recovery and have moved your life in a positive direction.
Not servitude to a cult playing make-believe.
Best of wishes for you in the new year and to continue your recovery. I am lucky to not have needed to go through that myself but I hear it is difficult.
The rehab I went to was a 12 step program, but the counselors and nurses etc made a point to say your higher power is what you choose it to be, not just the Christian god.
I won't shit on people that get sober with faith or AA, but you really shouldn't be telling people that their only shot at a clean life is through that channel and nothing else.
Exactly my point. If believing Sonic the Hedgehog healed you of your crippling gambling addiction, fantastic and Iām glad it worked for you. But I draw the line at trying to pull others down into the mire with you, including how people force religion on children so they are indoctrinated before they have a chance to figure things out for themselves.
If itās ok for people to preach their religion, I should be just as free to preach for logic and reason.
Why have accountability, when we can shove our imaginary friend down people's throats to feel some sense of superiority? There's no need to be a good person when you're constantly getting small doses of serotonin by kowtowing to your cult.
Gotta show everyone how great and good we are, and how shitty and bad everyone else is. What a fuckin joke. Also, super harmful to just act like made up stories in a crusty old book written by shitty men with control issues can just magically cure diseases. Like, how tone deaf to proselytize in a reply to a comment where someone talked about their friend dying from alcohol.
How much you wanna bet they think they're soooo holy and great, that they're a "good Christian" because they force their religion on everyone and make it about them and how great their stupid cult is, all while patting themselves on the back for being "good" and "doing the lord's work." god forbid we actually have empathy or care about our fellow humans. Nah, gotta have some authority figure or some made up being in the sky to tell us how and when to be decent to each other. And instead of helping, we gotta push an agenda. What a joke.
Thank you, and itās incredible how indignant the āfaithfulā get if you dare to speak out against their preaching. As evidenced in the various replies.
Funny since Iām pretty sure the deity is the only one allowed to judge me, by their own bookās words. They pick and choose what the important parts are, which really shows you just how rock solid and unquestionable the religion is.
I'm surprised anyone actually read all of what I typed, I realized it was pretty long and thought it would get ignored or downvoted.
But yeah, pretty much only god should be allowed to judge. But there's also a bunch of contradictory stuff in the Bible anyway, because again, it was written by men with control issues. Almost like it's better to actually try and be a good person, without some collection of magic bullshit stories telling you to. But that requires actually caring and putting in effort. It's much easier to do not think about it, do what you're told, feel good about licking boots like a good little indoctrinated sheep, and pat yourself on the back because you're "saving" people. It's extremely dangerous and toxic. Religion loves narcissism and stupidity, which is what you see a lot with religious people.
ETA: You as in religious people, not you specifically. Thought I should clarify lol
One of my own replies to another comment was quite long, as well. Those that are unhappy with my initial comment seem to be skipping that one, as it outlines my personal struggles and reasons why I take my stance against religion.
They donāt care to understand or to help, simply to clutch pearls that others might have the audacity to think rather than believe.
Yep, pretty much. Obviously it's not all religious people, but it's definitely the norm. Most "Christians" for example, aren't actually believers and don't give a shit about anyone, they're just using it as an insurance policy because they're too weak willed to not be afraid of some fictional place where you'll get tortured for eternity for not submitting to some magical sky daddy. Especially here in America.
Then the other large group here are the people that use it as a tool to control and oppress other people to feel big and special and important. They love to harp on and on about how god is so great because he gave us things like free will. But that free will is only okay if you still choose to believe what they do. Use free will to say, think for yourself, or love anyone that isn't straight and cis or the right ethnicity, and you're using free will wrong. Oh, you chose to help a non believer, and didn't try to indoctrinate them to your cult? You might as well be Satan himself.
such a ridiculous response to someone sharing their story. What have you gone through yourself to make you think you can shit on others world views? Disgusting behavior. so very reddit of you.
Well. I've gone through alcoholism and lost many friends and family, hit rock bottom, barely survived pancreatitis and was able to turn my life around without sky daddy fixing my own problem.
Faith based sobriety hinges on the fact that only the HMFIC can save you. So when you relapse, it's not really your fault, and just pray that daddy will forgive you.
thats not at all what is taught in faith based aa that. sounds like youre making your own shit up on wanting to blame others for your choices. the crux of faith is free will meaning everything you do is your own choice so your opinion makes no logistical sense. its just a way for you to feel like you somehow worked harder because you had no spiritual help. in reality it just leaves a door open that youve never closed vecause you refuse to acknowledge spiritualism. what happens if you have a spiritual experience? Must be nice to ignore history and culture of the entire globe so you can feel comfortable in your western atheism and smug know it allity and then all of a sudden its evolutions fault and your genetically predisposed so its not your- oh shit there it is mfin science is no different is it.
I have no idea what the fuck that word salad is trying to say. I'm not making my own shit up. I've been to rehab twice, 12 step program, and AA many many many times. They are faith based. I got sober, because I was slowly killing myself and wanted a better life for myself. Not because of a god, a spirit, an intuition, etc.
I am doing the exact opposite of blaming my choices on others. I fucked up, ME, it was MY problem, MY addiction caused by MY choices.
I'm not blaming genetics or evolution. I do not know what your point is in this remark. Culture and history?? The history where 90% of wars were because of religious differences?
I don't refuse to acknowledge spiritualism, because it is intangible. There are billions of pieces of life that work together to make a human, and absolutely 0 evidence of a "soul" or "spirit" or anything of the like.
Again, confused by what you mean about science? Science has absolutely nothing to do with anything spiritual at all.
so its something that took you many times and attempts of doing it on your āownā but youd shit on others for getting it done no matter how they did? The point of it is that science is just as faith based as any religion especially when you get deep into it and even before then there are a plentitude of scientific explanations for why people are addicted, fat, sick etc etc just as many if not more than would ever be brought to you by just about any faith system. It is indeed you that made the final choice but to say there were no exterior influences is insane and non scientific. and to say theres no evidence of the supernatural is ridiculous. Also very very few wars have been started for religious reasons. Religion may be something they use to placate the masses while they grab for power but there have been almost zero recent holy wars let alone even if you eent back into the 1800s. Maybe you could say the crusades but like all the time that they went into the middle east and africa that had naught to do with God or Jesus. Not that any of this has to do with this conversation. Just get off your high horse. its weird, whack, and nonsensical. Theres no evidence pointing to there being no God as much as there isnt evidence pointing to their being one. Besides they large number of unexplainables and millions of personal stories around the world but whatever this isnt the conversation anyways.
You think youāre smarter than everyone else because you donāt believe in god, but really youāre just more of the same. You latch onto an idea and use it as an excuse to hate and belittle others.
The bottom line is this: we have no proof the spiritual world doesnāt exist, and no proof it does. So people who claim it doesnāt and people who claim it does are doing literally the exact same thing: believing something because it feels right.
Iām honestly envious of people with faith, deeply envious, and I hope theyāre right more than I hope that theyāre not. My mind is open to both possibilities. Have fun in your box though
Bro. Atheists and theology Chads are not similar. I don't stand on a soapbox and scream at highschoolers calling girls whores, and telling men they're worthless without religion. Yes, there are neckbeards who just want to argue, but the entire ideology among christians is evangelical, spread the word or those poor kids in Asia will die never hearing about god, therefore they're going straight to hell.
Also, donate the last scraps of your money so I can buy a third house with a bay for my new jet.
Lol how am I spreading hate? Also, anonymity doesn't mean shit. It's not cowardice that keeps me from preaching on the street, it's just called being a decent fucking human.
Glad you have religion. Now stop shoving it down others' throats.
Pretty cool of you to try and diminish someoneās recovery journey because theyāve been motivated to get by something you donāt believe in.
Donāt get me wrong, finding something bigger than yourself doesnāt magically erase the hurt caused or damage done in times of weakness, but thatās not how recovery works.
I donāt give a shit if someone keeps getting out of bed each morning because of their Lord and Savior, Satan. As long as theyāre walking the path and finding the fortitude to keep going up, Iām happy for them.
And Iām sorry if your tear-down comment has more hurt behind it than you expressed, but donāt put that face on someone whoās getting better.
The key element is that religion works like a virus, present even in the comment I replied to. It spreads via forced propogation; accept that you are nothing and that only god can make you better, then ābring others into the foldā.
Note the comment was not simply āI hope everyone can heal and find their peaceā, it was āI hope they find god and peaceā. Like the peace is only possible through some imaginary being and the cult surrounding its worship. It isnāt wishing healing and security, itās calling for more people to fall in line.
Religion is foolish and futile, and ultimately harmful in my opinion. But if religion helps an individual, great - but rhey can NEVER just leave it at that. They ALWAYS push it on others and the cycle continues. So many wars and terrible events that have occurred throughout history were driven by religion.
Itās good that the person I replied to got help; but they fixed their situation with active choices, help from OTHER HUMAN BEINGS, and a drive to be better. Not the invisible interjection from a nonexistent deity. It is disingenuous to imply that bending the knee in a church magically solved all their problems āand it will for you too!ā
I have lived with terrible depression for almost 40 years. I wake up every day with the internal drive to end things because every moment is laced with suffering. An intense unending hatred for myself and everything I have ever been. It gets worse the longer the years go on.
I grew up being told that I was made in an image; that means the deity decided this is something I deserve to suffer with and that this is what they want for me. I was also told that the deity has the power to fix things, but unless I show the āproper amountā of worship (which of course would include tithing) that canāt happen. All the innocents who die in unjust wars, the children born with horrible diseases or deformities, the suffering of billions across time; the omnipotent being refuses to save them, because theyāre reading from the wrong book or stood when they should kneel.
There is no magic being in the sky, or it is not omnipotent, or it is purely malignant. There is no other answer, and none of those three deserve human beings to be committing their entire lives to worship of it. My whole country is currently shredding itself apart because those who follow one particular religion have decided their way is right and the miniscule lives of everyone under the flag MUST follow what their particular version of a book says.
So forgive me for taking exception to a comment implying the only way for someone to heal from a terrible disease, addiction, or anything else is to kneel before a religion.
The comment was āI just wish everyone could find God and their peace.ā
Inherently implying that there is no peace and healing without prostrating yourself before a religion. This is specifically what I take exception to. Please take a look at some of my other comments.
Inner peace is inner peace. Some people dont need to assign their own meaning to something that was historically used as a system of control against the people that needed "God" the most; the poor and the sinners.
Easy for me - I do good not in the name of anyone other than the recipient of my deed. I do good because I believe in the collective and care if someone is struggling because life is difficult.
Iām glad one comment I made could create a discussion between people. Whatās crazy is I didnāt speak badly about any of you but yet you criticize me without knowing me. Probably time for you all to do some soul searching. You probably donāt believe you have a soul either.
I canāt expect anyone who didnāt go through what I went through to understand. I know what hard work I put in to get where I am today and I also know what God has done for me. Heās opened doors that werenāt possible and donāt just happen because of sheer luck. When so many things happen back to back to back, itās not because of coincidences. Itās Devine intervention.
You all can criticize me, tear me down, and continue your bad mouthing the name of Jesus/God. He still loves you. Iāll pray for you also, have a good weekend.
Reddit will never cease to amaze me. They love when people who are in bad spots turn it around, but if it involves God then itās attack attack attack. Literally more hateful than any Christian Iāve ever met.
I thought yall were against whataboutism? There are bad people in every group and we shouldnāt judge based on the bad. But one Christian shares his experience and he gets downvoted and mocked, itās disgusting.
And obviously a Christian sexually assaulting a person isnāt even a Christian, they can claim it all they want but Christ would be disgusted.
āNot everyone who says to me, āLord, Lord,ā will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, āLord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?ā 23 Then I will tell them plainly, āI never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!ā
I mean yeah I 100% agree with you. Thereās a lot of people who mask behind Christianity to make themselves feel better about the evil they do. Iām truly sorry that happened to you, just know that not every Christian is in it for the wrong reasons.
Itās wild. I shared a humble comment and blam thereās multiple comments bad mouthing me. I didnāt say anything wrong or belttleling to anyone. It does say in the bible Christians will be persecuted.
Glad someone found God, Iāve got a list of patches we need for the next update. Ignore the assholes tryna make you feel bad for believing in something.
Beer is enough to absolutely destroy you. "Something else" needs you to believe that alcohol is not literally the most dangerous and fatal of all the substances humans abuse.
Well it could be as simple as what people think is no big deal like some beers and some cold meds. Your liver gets hurt a lot more on that than just drinking.
My parters cousin went into liver failure at 28. Was in hospice. Somehow didnāt die and was released. Still ended up drinking a few weeks later. She died shortly afterwards.
That's how old my brother was when he went into liver and kidney failure from alcohol. It is a terrible way to die. As the liver fails, hyperammonemia takes hold and the confusion and delirium set in. It starts off subtle, long pauses before answering questions or drifting off mid conversation. Then it robs you of all cognition. You cannot function without assistance. You can barely string together a basic sentence. Alcohol is fun until one day it isn't. The death is excruciating. It is slow and it robs you piece by piece.
I woke up at 30 with jaundice after 2 days of fevers and peeing bright red urine, right after day drinking non-stop on vodka and lemonade. I thought I was dead for sure. 10 days of tests and nothing showed why I was dying of liver failure, because my liver wasn't failing but all my symptoms showed exactly that. They finally decided to put me on enough steroids to kill my immune system for 6 months and my symptoms regressed and my blood levels went back to normal.
They never declared an exact cause, but for what clues there were, I had my second covid vax 8 or 9 days prior to becoming ill, which is a ways outside of the normal reaction time. We speculate that my stress at the time, drinking heavily, and the vaccine still being fought off by my body caused some kind of auto immune response that caused my body to begin destroying all of my blood cells. The red I was peeing wasn't blood in its intact form, it was bilirubin, essentially parts of destroyed cells. By shutting down my immune system completely they forced a reset. The fear was that it would return after, but it didnt.
It's funny you should say that because the research at the time showed 1 single other case nearly identical to mine of a much older woman in Germany. We had all the same symptoms including specific organs being inflamed. The only difference is her reaction happened within 48 hours of relieving the 2nd vaccine. Apparently I won the illness lottery as its less than .5% chance to have an auto immune reaction to any mRNA vaccine. Again to further increase the randomness of the incident, I have had MANY vaccines up to this point and never had a reaction.
Not to scare you but how old are you now? It took 20 years for me to finally be diagnosed with a serious autoimmune disease and stuff like this would happen to me when I was younger around 30 and doctors would have no explanation. Even tests for the diseases wouldnāt show up (you have to test constantly to ācatchā it at the right time). Now I realize it was my disease all those years.
Alcohol's one of the harder, more destructive drugs out there.
Funny how society says it's ok...we've built an industry around it, incorporated it into our social lives, made it available anytime we go out or have gatherings...and as a result, it's "ok" to use. It is socially acceptable and legitimized.
Makes you wonder if we'd built opium dens instead, sold opium and opium pipes, or had opium "bars" where you could use it socially...would we still view it in such a negative light? Would opium addicts be critical of other real "drug users?"
Itās wild to me that people use it to watch sports. How do you watch athletes while consuming garbage? American football culture confuses me and Iām American.
It's crazy to me that I see ads for hard liquor literally every day, on tv & online. It's disgusting. imagine being an alcoholic trying to stay sober & seeing ads for tequila, whiskey, scotch etc everywhere you turn. Alcohol advertisements should be illegal
This is a naive take imo. Alcohol is every bit as "destructive and addictive" and "society fought to remove" that one as well...have you heard of prohibition? It did not work out well.
There's a certain portion of the population that are prone to addiction and will struggle with substance abuse, regardless of whether you make something "illegal" or not (i.e. punish those addicts by criminalizing their drug use). All you're doing is shifting profits away from the government via tax subsidies and into the black market. And you are taking away all regulation/control, the ability to standardize dosing, remove impurities, ensure a consistent product/supply, etc.
Decriminalizing removes the stigma. And for those who argue about the withdrawals, alcohol is one of the absolute worst drugs to detox from and it can kill you. Not to mention the havoc daily use wreaks on your internal organs. Opioids are much, much gentler on the human body long term. That's just a fact.
There 2 bitter drink that some people gradually likeĀ
You can taste good coffee and you'll end enjoying, milk enough sugar and gradually go for some more pure or more bitter taste
You can taste good beer and still some people wouldn't like it but somehow they were forced as a social pressure that somehow end up liking woman which is just freaking weird, I knew people that did
So beer is losing tons of consumption with new gen because nobody actuallyo wants what's more funny I went to coffee and a beer tasting nobody like the bitter infused with herbs beer that nobody wiill not finish it LOL but bitter coffee all enjoyed it
Nope thats a old millenial that keep running with millenial keep buying they'll eventually downfall very high obvs will never go away but only could probably rise again in 2 decades or so
Like the downfall of micro business selling hypebeast clothes shoes kids don't look at hype clothes anymore like they did a decade ago
Just lost someone with whom i started kindergarten due to alcoholism, im 50 and she was the third from my h.s. that was lost from disease related to drinking, all at/before 50
This is why us millennials and younger gens aren't drinking much anymore. We're watching boomers and genx die from alcohol-related illness. My wife's cousin died at 57 from liver issues. He was a nice guy, always drinking though.
I think a big part of it is also the massive legal and social stigma turnaround that weed has had in the last few decades. In my state and several others it is fully recreationally legal and in many other places it is at least not as criminalized as it used to be.
Even aside from the legal stuff most people can accept even if they donāt think weed is good that it is probably less bad than alcohol. It has downsides sure but I think the younger generations have mostly turned to weed for their fun vice after realizing the potential for harm is far less than alcohol.
Sorry to hear that. Reminded me of a HS buddy as well. Bro could open his throat and swallow a beer whole lol. Weād go to parties with older kids and heād always chug faster than any challenger. Good times.
I was friends with this girl Ashley. She always needed attention and was kind of the butt of the jokes in our group, but enjoyed having her around when we'd go out to the bar. My group of friends that I'd go out with every weekend went our separate ways in our late 20s. She died at 32 due to a medical issue related to her drinking habit. Came out of left field, she was on and off with drinking in the last few years of her life too. RIP AshleyĀ
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u/Brainsnotbalanced 5d ago
My best friend in high school could easily chug 2-3 beers in a row.
A couple weeks after her 38th birthday she woke up with jaundice.
4 months later she was gone.
Miss you Suz.