Expert: Clyde - 5/7/2009

Question
Can someone in recovery from alcohol have recurring days when they "appear" to be under the influence, but have not been drinking?  I hear the effects can be long term--days of mental confusion, loss of coordination?  How long can this last?  What's the liklihood of these symptoms turning around?  I have a close friend in recovery, and I see these signs some days.  What can I do to help when this happens?  I become so afraid he's relapsed, I tend to pull away, and that probably makes it worse.

Answer
Ann,
  Thank you for the question and for being concerned for your friend.  It is good to have some one who cares.

  To the question of the "effects" of alcohol in a recovering person, yes, there are those lingering signs of the disease.  These get better with time and even go away.  

  The key to your question is "how long has this person been in recovery and are they working a program to help them learn new patterns for life?"  I will offer several scenarios since your note does not say which one may apply:

1.)  The newly sober person is looking at days, weeks, and even months of changes in their physiology, their mental state, and their spiritual state.  The body has had to compensate for the abuse of alcohol on its system in a number of ways.  I can not speak to the reasons as I am not a doctor, but there is a book written by an alcoholic doctor entitled, "Restore your Life..." by Anne Geller in which she outlines some of these effects.  One that I recall (because I was reading the book at the time it happened to me personally) is that the fingers and toes may itch up to 6 months after removing alcohol because the nerve endings are repairing themselves.  It depends on the extent of the abuse and how many years the person may have been drinking but you get the point.

    Let it be said that there are psychological effects as well and it takes time to have these alleviated and it takes work.  Drinking is but a symptom of our disease  -- it is really a "thinking" thing not a "drinking"thing.

2.)  For a recovering person with some time (says, 2 years) there may be spells of "dry" drunk in which the person reverts to some old behaviors (drinking may be one of them) which I attribute to some "trigger" that crops up.  Some old personal hurt or fear rears its ugly head and the person does not realize that this signals more work is to be done. The person mentally becomes confused and frustrated and just loses their bearings.  Here again, it takes a continuous willingness to look at one's self and do the necessary things to recover further.

3.)  To a person with long-time sobriety such as myself, it can also happen.  At this length of sobriety it signals that some even deeper issues must be resolved.  This usually requires the help of professional in the mental and counseling fields.

    I hope this helps to some degree as I do not know the particulars of this persons state.  If they are going to AA, have a sponsor, read the Big Book (entitled "Alcoholics Anonymous"), I would suspect they have a good chance of making it through these days you describe.

    What can you do for them?  -- well do not enable but try to support them as much as you can.  it is a disease and they need all the help and prayers they can get.

    Write again if I may be of any further help.

Grace and Peace,
Clyde