So my husband was on a 6 month binge drinking episode…. It was ridiculous: it was the first time I have ever seen him intoxicated by alcohol. He was drinking whiskey everyday and night. He’s also an attorney. He was drinking and driving, going out in the middle of the night, however; when he was doing this he was kind and helpful around the house. We have been married for almost 9 years together 10.5. He was sober all that time however; October 2023 is when he began to drink. It was at a Jason Alden concert. I wasn’t sure how bad of an alcoholic he truly is until I saw his binge drinking for 6 months. He had recently began working the steps in AA again. He is now in an awful mood and seems to be full of stress. Is this normal? I’m not familiar with this type of behavior and I have recently started Alanon meetings too. Can someone please explain to me why he is being such an asshole since becoming sober…
Thank you for sharing your experience, @Jrhams. It is difficult to understand the behaviors of our loved-ones who struggle with substance misuse, and we want to validate that it is normal to feel confused by this. We hope we can help support you in any way you need.
you need to talk to him and chat about what’s really going on and it could be that being in early recovery and finding his way doesn’t always go accordingly and doesn’t know where to go with it all as recovery from alcohol is a whole new world, change and getting to know yourself all over again is no easy task and recovery is a slow but wonderful process and if he keeps at it it will get better
Sorry to hear about the issues. I second, you need to talk with him more about how he feels and what is going on in his mind but also if he is still working on recovery, it can take a little while for him to be able to voice his thoughts. Having gone through a period of non drinking after really drinking every day for almost 2 years, it took me a while to figure out things.
Just wanted to check in and see how you were doing.
mood changes, ups and downs are super common at the beginning of recovery. he is just going through withdrawal and probably new to feeling his emotions without alcohol and it is really hard to deal with life in general for us alcoholics to be able to deal with life without alcohol at first. since he is in aa, with time and working the steps, it will get better. also, he is so lucky to have you that you are also involved in your own recovery with alanon.