alcoholism and sucide

[jodybak]

I am new to this site.But am looking for anwers. My son who was 21 years old and suffered alcoholism and alcohol abuse completed sucide while in an alcohol induced blackout. I know if he had not been drinking it would have never happened. How common is this. How can alcohol change someone to the violent rage that my son suffered at the time he took his life? He had been in counceling since the age of 14.

[ibizan]

with some ppl they are so emotionally fragile and their brains/psyche can snap so quick....and the person u thought u knew is a lost entity.Rage doused with alcohol is explosive unpredictable dynamite and your boy snapped!so tragic!sigh!no rational xplanation out there for this!

[jodybak]

My son was such a wonderful young man. What I can't understand is how being in an alcohol induced blackout can occur after only 3 beers. It always did that to him. He hadn't been drinking often but on this day was sooo out of his head. There was absolutely noting of my son there. I was there when it happened. He had been in an absolute rage, talking in different voices etc, for a while, the girlfriend had just broke up with him....he was on one side of a locked entry door, I was on the other....he starred right through me, his pupils were dilated hugh,,,he was not responding to my speaking to him....stomped his foot twice at one time to make me think he'd shot himself, then five minutes later actually did. He did not respond to anything I said, all he cared about was the girl coming back,,,,then no response at all. How can alcohol affect the brain so much. 1/2 before he did this he and I talked on the phone and he had plans for the future...had just started school, and was on new meds for bipolar...the alcohol kicked in and it was the end. What is it called when alcohol causes that big of a change in someone's brain. He didn't have a plan or even want to die....but when he drank he became so violent...the next day he would not remember anything.

[narla]

I am also sorry for your loss,I am also a recovering alcoholic 8 months clean,I often had suicidal thoughts and still do even though I'm sober which shows the alcohol just compounded my thoughts,I was so close to ending everything 2 years ago that it took my daughter telling me she was pregnant with my first grandchild to make me re-evaluate my life,I still have the thoughts but i don't attempt to act on them now.I think it is more my depression and anxiety that cause me to think life is hopeless at times.

Best Wishes  Denise

[rod44]

I like the others am sorry to hear about your plight. I lost a family member as a result of suicide and alcoholism. It leaves so many unanswered questions, so much guilt for the family left picking up the shattered pieces and an empty void that no one can understand.

As an alcoholic in recovery and looking back to when I was drinking I remember going into a dark place from where I could find no way out, I often thought about suicide and did act on those thoughts but did not have the courage to follow through and for this I am truly grateful. For me sobriety is not just about stopping drinking, it is about recognizing why I was so dependent on drink, learning to express my emotions, to say "I am not ok today and I need help" and getting the required help. Alcohol is a depressant and will bring you down, add to this the financial problems, relationship problems, problems at work, the anxiety and fear that most alcoholics who are active in their addiction experience and keeping in mind we are probably drinking to try to deal with emotional pain that made drinking so attractive in the first place, this all contributes to amplify what is already a very vulnerable and volatile salutation. If you cant honestly express how you feel when you are down it is very difficult, what may seem a small problem to most can become overwhelmingly difficult and distorted in the mind of an addict.      

Ray

[ibizan]

So sorry to hear this about your son.What Boogieman tells u is so true.I have worked in the counseling field with mental health and substance abuse for 24 years.I'm sober/clean 26 years.If one really wants to take their life.....they have a plan and its very secret from from their loved ones.They are in a black hole and see no way out.They have no consideration for the pain they leave with their survivors.NONE!They are totally absorbed in ending their own emotional pain.Hope u can find some support and healing in your lifelong journey in reconciling this.

[boogieman]

Hello. Sorry to hear about your son. The incidence of suicide is higher among alcoholics, even those who are sober. There is usually the existence of major depressive or anxiety disorders prior to chronic alcohol abuse, or the development of such as a result of it. I reached a point myself a few years back where I almost succeeded in suicide through an overdose, and it was only by chance or fate that someone happened to find me in time for the emts to bring me back. Today I'm on several medications that are supposed to help with my own psychiatric diagnoses, of which some existed before my drinking got bad, and others developed as a result of it. I also use support groups and see a therapist. But there are no guarantees, good or bad, as these conditions and their evolving treatments are not fully understood. Please ask If you have more questions or concerns, please ask, there is a lot of support here. You may also benefit from support groups as well to interact with others who have been through the same issues. Take care, GM