I could really use some advice. I was doing so well and then some personal devastating news came about 3x last week. I relapsed on Saturday at work. I had been too drunk from the night before and I passed out at work, hit my head. My manager found me and called the ambulance. I was taken to detox and monitored for fear of going into cardiac arrest. This is my 2nd time in my 30s that I’m most likely losing my job. With no health insurance now and financially tight that I’m very concerned. I just resigned my lease in this small town and know it’ll be very hard to show my face or have references for another job. Work needs workers comp claim so the medics will have to tell them it was due to alcohol. I respect my place of employment and want to tell the truth but it is just so uncomfortable and embarrassing. This scare has made me never want to drink again but very few chances are given to those who have addictions. Any advice?
I am glad you are alright. The detox was probably the best thing for you. As far as the workman’s comp.. now would be the best time to sit with HR and upper management and fill them in. Embarrassing yes. Uncomfortable yes. But really what do you have to lose? You already think you may lose your job, might as well take the chance that if they know the full truth there will be understanding. The company may just surprise you and be completely supportive of you getting sober, and help you along the way. Good luck to you!
This is what happens over and over again to me if I drink. I had to realize that I am powerless over alcohol. And my life was clearly unmanageable. That’s the first step. I suggest you get to a AA meeting and find a sponsor and read the big book. Our problems only compound until we stop drinking.
Honesty is the best way to go. We are as sick as our secrets. I know for me the more I talk about it, the better I feel.
Like Tim said, get with HR. They can’t share this stuff. I’ve seen people disappear from work and no one knows anything, then poof they are back and do well.
I went to my company and told hr I was suicidal and hopeless m, due to my addiction…
I was sent to rehab m, as well as a mandatory therapist…
I had to wait until the therapist said I was “ okay” to return to work…
I have been back for about a year now.
There is hope, and honesty is the best policy.
Regardless of what happens you will be alright m.
You are not alone.
If you admit you have a problem and seek treatment, you should be covered under the ADA (assuming your in the US?) so they can’t let you go immediately. I “think”, that’s my general understanding of it.
The truth will set you free. Be honest with them. And you should always have health insurance!
Consider this the turning point of your life!
Go to your boss and tell the truth. Be honest. Tell them you have a problem and want to fix it and continue to work there. No matter what happens next at least they will respect your honesty and you can respect yourself for doing the right thing. There are still good people out there. You might be surprised at the response/reaction you get. Stay strong
Hey Sarah. I sent you a friend request. It’s not to late you can get back your life! Add also to IG 843logan
I’ve been down that same unfortunate road you have been. Hope to hear from you soon.
Hello Sara: Are you asking whether to tell the truth at work and asking “us” if your life is a write-off because you seem to think that you’re somehow condemned to live out the rest of your life being unable to get sober a day at a time? I can’t give any advice because I’m not in the advice business, but I will share my experience. I was caught under the influence of narcotics at work while I was a teacher at a school in Manhattan. I went away, got clean and have stayed clean ever since. That was 4 years and 11 months ago. Nobody has felt like asking me anything and I got my job back. I go to meetings regularly, have a sponsor and love my life a whole lot better. If I can do it, then you probably can too.
Be honest. You might be surprised or fired. Get the help you need 
Sorry you had to learn this lesson the hard way. Let me ask you some dumb questions.
Did picking up a drink help?
Is your life better now that you drank?
The reason you drank is because you believed the LIE; that this time, everything would be okay. But it wasn't, was it?
You have to learn to play the scene all the way forward. What happens when you drink? The relief that you feel is very short-lived and when it's all over with, as you just found out, you have more guilt to carry around with you because you know that you accomplished absolutely nothing. And on top of it all, now you have to start all over again.
Relapse doesn't start when you pick up the drink. It starts long before that. There are usually many red flags but if you don't have someone that knows your real well to spot those flags it's going to end in disaster.
So that leads me to my next question. What have you been doing during this time that you were sober? Were you going to AA meetings? Did you have a sponsor? Was a sponsor taking you through the 12 steps?
Hopefully you learned a lesson from this. You're not the first and you certainly won't be the last to learn this lesson.
What's done is done. Now you need to decide what you're going to do from this moment on. You may or may not have trouble finding a job. I don't know you personally and I don't know what you do for a living. You don't have to share this with anyone other than someone in Alcoholics Anonymous.
You say that there's not much available for addiction. Let me give you something to read which has all the answers that you need. This comes from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous a chapter entitled the doctor's opinion.
Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. They are
restless, irritable and discontented
unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks—drinks which they see others taking with impunity. After they have succumbed to the desire again, as so many do, and the
phenomenon of craving
develops, they pass through the well-known stages of a spree, emerging
remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink again.
This is repeated over and over, and unless this person can experience an
entire psychic change
there is very little hope of his or her recovery.”
The psychic change is acquired by taking the 12 Steps outlined in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. I can speak from experience.
If you’re in the US then you might have services in your health care and your company might be obligated to get you those services. Worth a try.
This is well written Dave. Thanks for sharing. This hit home.
Thank you all so much for being so real, honest and supportive. 4 days sober and I get to keep my job. This is a new month and taking it one day, one hour at a time. Wake up calls can be a blessing but I cannot look at it as just a wake up call. This is a disease that I cannot fight on my own (as stubborn and strong willed as I want myself to be) this app is incredible and I’m grateful for you all. Also, I cannot seem to open my messages but I will figure it out soon and reach out. Thank you all. We are in this together! Happy September 