a few questions please

[scotty2]

First - is it common for alcoholics to become paranoid?  My husband (not in recovery) comes up with the most off the wall stuff - no merit to any of it.
Second - He had his gallbladder removed about a month ago - he is still having problems - does his drinking (beer - but at least 12 per day - probably more) contribute to it?  Yesterday he moaned and groaned all day long with diarhea all day as well.  Still having paid where his gallbladder was.

[Tink70]

Alcohol will make you paranoid.  Alcohol made ME paranoid.  Alcohol destroyed my gallbladder as well.  I went about a week after surgery before I was drinking again.  It's been 3 years since I had it removed, and 2 years and 4 months since I had a drink and I still get pain in that area.  They call it "phantom pain" but sometimes it real.  He'll have to get sober to tell.
Tink

[BethisTroubled]

hi--from another with an alcoholic husband. Been married for 25 yrs--and my marriage is the hardest thing Ive ever had to survive. My heart just wont let me give up on him--even though I cant stand him most of the time. On top of his SEVERE alcoholism--he has high blood pressure--sleep apnea--and a couple of weeks ago--he told me he was bleeding from his rectum...but...would he go see a doctor?? NO :-( I am so scared one morning Im going to wake up to him dead beside me. Our marriage is not functional--it only esists--drinking is his number 1 love..and it has accumilated to a 12 pack a day(mind u..he gets off work at 4--and is passed out by 9) and he consumes a case on saturday and a case on sunday. He is now wetting the bed nightly--coughs n snores in his sleep so bad--and is a walking time bomb--hes not abusive--only to himself. I am so scared..I am at wits end..I left the marriage 5 years ago..and out of pity--I came back--as he accumilated his 5th DUI--was losing time at work--and was threatening suicide--I KNOW this is NOT my fault--but my nature and my heart--came back to enable him some more. His attitude is: Im am alcoholic--and thats just the way it is. He has had 5 DUI's--lost his father from complications due to his severe alcoholism--lost a brother a few years ago for the same reason..his dad was only 54 and his bro was only 43 when he passed. Its sad...but yet enlightening to know others are going through the same thing--so I can have someone to talk to. Well..thanks for listening--and may God be with us all.

[working dog]

it's funny..after you stop drinking for a year or more you can pick out an alcoholic so easy...off the wall and paranoid...when your in it its hard to see yourself and others being weird....it will get worse so get ready...all kinds of stuff will fail......billy

[nanabandm]

Hello fellow sufferer of a husband addicted to drink. I'm writing from Wales in the UK so if some of my spelling and grammar puts you off, that's the reason why!
My husband drinks Guinness and was  diagnosed with cirrosis and also was told to lay off the drink three years ago.
Not taking a blind bit of notice he carried on drinking under the blissful impression that because he never touches spirits/liquor or wine, he is not an alcoholic. The fact that he can drink 20 pints of Guinness and still walk upright, speak coherently and lucidly does not seem to have alarmed him at all!!!
He started having awful pain in his lower back, diaorrhea which was black and his mood patterns were very erratic. Sometimes like a complete stranger to me. He swelled up like a big balloon and couldn't walk or even put a pair of socks on. He was admitted to hospital, drained of ascites and told he had a damaged liver and signs of cirrosis. He was told to give up the drink and he'd be OK even though he had Cirrosis. Did he give up? Did he ****. Three days after 2 weeks in hospital he was back on it. He's been in hospital 4 times since then. This last visit was the worst. He was bleeding from his rectum and really ill. His liver has decompensated and he also has hepatic encephalepathy. He was given 24 hours to live but he pulled through. He came out of hospital last week, like a zombie, completely detoxed, warned that the tiny bit of liver which is keeping him alive could give out at any moment. So what does he do? Yeeeeeeessssssssss, he is on about 5 pints again. He is so completely jelly-brained that he thinks it's all a fuss about nothing and there is nothing wrong with him. He has no sense of right and wrong and has started walking out of shops with things blatantly tucked underneath his arm. I'm forever apologising for him and taking goods back to shops in our small town! He rambles on and on about the same thing and is as mad as a box of frogs! He's not abusive though or violent thankfully so I am supporting him and making sure he takes his medication etc. It'll only be a few months at the very most before he dies. How old is he? 44. Tragic isn't it. I know how difficult it is to make them see sense. It rarely happens. But if your husband can get himself to the doctor and the doctor does the tests and tells him how serious it is, maybe he'll be scared enough to start looking after himself. My husband has it all going for him, lovely family, modest home, he had a good career too. But he'd rather die young and leave us all with broken hearts than stop drinking. If you have any other questions for me please ask. I'm sorry I'm painting a miserable picture but unless your husband stops drinking and gets help, he'll end up like my Byron. Take care of yourself and please don't be afraid to ask me anything. xxx

[boogieman]

hello. paranoia as well as other issues are to be expected with the abuse of any drug including alcohol. i have experienced  delusional ideation both in active addiction and especially during withdrawal from alcohol (better known as delirium tremens). in regard to "off the wall stuff", i certainly came up with my share--often in an effort to justify or protect my abuse of chemicals. from a physiological stand, drinking can do an immense amount of damage to the gastrointestinal organs as chronic use impedes the processing of alcohol. this can lead to numerous conditions such as pancreatitis, cirrhosis, and cancers of the digestive tract. sadly, these conditions may not become symptomatic until they have become fatally irreversible. i have seen this firsthand in alcoholics. i would recommend taking an honest look at the situation with a doctor as well as checking out al-anon for yourself. if alcoholism is present, accurate information is one of your best resources. best wishes--gm