Self-medication With Alcohol

[Stretch]

During and after service I had been self-medicating with Alcohol. This went on for many years. I was trying so hard to forget. One day I woke up on a couch somewhere, and a lady was giving me a plate of food (sourcrout and weiners). I took the plate. I ask her who she was. She said, "I'm Annette".

After awhile I asked her where I was and what I was doing here. She said, "You live here". I was afraid to ask any more questions from that point, for a while anyway.

They got worse and worse after that. It took me 5 months to get out there, and then only because Annette got the mumps. She was a nice lady, but I didn't belong there. I didn't know any other way to cope with what had happened to me during service and after VA rejection in the early 1970's.

While often confused with passing out, or losing consciousness after

excessive drinking, blackouts do not involve a loss of consciousness.

Indeed, individuals can engage in a wide range of goal-directed,

voluntary, often complicated behaviors during blackouts -- from

driving cars to having sexual intercourse (White et al., 2002).

-- Aaron M. White, PhD, Assistant Research Professor, Duke University

fyi…. http://www.duke.edu/~amwhite/Blackouts/index.html

[LarryJ]

Yup, waking up with someone feeding me sauerkraut.....and weiners....that'd be scary!

[Stretch]

Here is some thing another guy did.

I remember having several more that night and plenty next morning.

I have a shadowy recollection of being in an airplane bound for New

York and of finding a friendly taxicab driver at the landing field

instead of my wife. The driver escorted me about for several days.

I know little of where I went or what I said and did.

[LarryJ]

Here is some thing another guy did.

I remember having several more that night and plenty next morning.

I have a shadowy recollection of being in an airplane bound for New

York and of finding a friendly taxicab driver at the landing field

instead of my wife. The driver escorted me about for several days.

I know little of where I went or what I said and did.

Now, I KNOW that that never happened.

How do I know, you may ask.

Because I used to travel from my home in Texas back and forth to Manhattan every other week-end for 3 years.

I never MET a friendly taxicab driver in NYC, so I know, FOR A FACT, that this story never happened!

[calton]

ditto Stretch, so what else is new?

The VA had me in a lock-down for three months in 1974 because I got drunk and had no idea where I was, and for one month again in 2007. I have no idea where I spent my 20's, just trying to forget. Shit happens - like they say.

Listen to this song by George Jones, it is interesting.

http://home.comcast.net/~singingman7/TNOTW.htm

ditto Stretch, so what else is new?

The VA had me in a lock-down for three months in 1974 because I got drunk and had no idea where I was, and for one month again in 2007. I have no idea where I spent my 20's, just trying to forget. Shit happens - like they say.

Listen to this song by George Jones, it is interesting.

http://home.comcast.net/~singingman7/TNOTW.htm

[Commander Bob]

During and after service I had been self-medicating with Alcohol. This went on for many years. I was trying so hard to forget. One day I woke up on a couch somewhere, and a lady was giving me a plate of food (sourcrout and weiners). I took the plate. I ask her who she was. She said, "I'm Annette"...

... I didn't know any other way to cope with what had happened to me during service and after VA rejection in the early 1970's.

Good Morning Stretch.... Have you ever driven on the German autobahn? It sounds like you woke up in Munich, and it took you around 5 months to get out of there. I hope you can glean some good memories of that time & place, and the Braunhilda lady, Annette. Coping with what happened during military service and with the VA rejection of the early 1970's was especially a challenge for those of us who lived through it. Congratulations on surviving that era. It sounds like the self medicating drinking, is a coping thing of the past. Welcome Home.

Edited February 23, 2009 by Commander Bob 92-93