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[UPDATE] My [33/M] girlfriend [27/F] is an alcoholic, 4 years sober, and for some reason this concer (by Sparky)

 Sparky (0)  (29 / M-F / Massachusetts)
23-Jan-21 4:30 pm
[UPDATE] My [33/M] girlfriend [27/F] is an alcoholic, 4 years sober, and for some reason this concerns me

https://www.reddit.com/r/relationshi...holic_4_years/
I know it's only been two days since I made my original post, but enough has happend that I think it warrants an update. I got some really good replies to my previous post that helped me battle my intrusive thoughts more.
One thing that I should have made crystal clear was that I was not at all contemplating breaking up, I would have walked around with those thoughts for the rest of my life and stayed with her. Intrusive thoughts are only a problem if you act on them, sure it's annoying for me to have them but as long as I don't ruin my life because of them then they don't do much damage other than make me anxious and I can live with that.
But I took many advices that I got, I talked to her again about it. I told her that I sometimes think about what would happened if she relapsed. She told me that if for some unknown reason she would drink again on her own free will, she would get so much anxiety that she would want to keep drinking. I asked if there is a chance it could just be a one off and she could get back to not drinking again. She said it's hard for her to speculate, but maybe she could relapse and then not keep drinking. She has never had a relapse since she decided to quit so she doesn't know.
My logical brain with the thoughts I choose myself doesn't think she will ever drink again, and my emotional automatic brain felt some relief knowing that it could just be a one off thing and things could return to normal even if a relapse were to happen.
I got a super good reply from someone that said that if someone has been 5 years sober, the chance of relapse is around 5% and therefor less than a previously healthy person getting addicted to alcohol. This gave me tremendous relief knowing, because I know people that got addicted to alcohol at age 40+ that only drank a few times per year before that.
I am very secure in my relationship otherwise, I can't obviously know, but our relationship has just improved over it's duration. Like I reoccuringly feel that "this was the best day we have ever had" and I get new days like that all the time. So the risk that our relationship would deteriorate or that we would fall out of love feels minimal. So the risk of her relapsing, and then keeps drinking so we can't live together feels so minimal compared to the risk of meeting a non-alcholic that could just fall out of love with me like most relationship ends.
I have found a public option for therapy that I can afford. I discovered that I can go to family counseling alone first, the people that work there are therapists and it says on their website that both couples and individuals can come. Then maybe my GF can come at later state, but I feel that I have a personal issue and not a relationship issue.
I live in a small town, so if I went to Al-Anon, I would knew some people that go to those meetings, but I am considering going to meetings the next town over that is an hour away. I will do that if my current progress regresses.
Thanks to everybody that took time to reply. I feel way better now and very happy in my relationship with less fear than ever.
TLDR I asked Dating.mobi for help, and I got help.


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