The last time I blogged was about a month ago.
So much has happened in this time I have neither had the opportunity nor the emotional capacity to write.
I spoke to him like I said I would in my previous post. Not as openly and honestly as I’d hoped, but we spoke none-the-less. It didn’t achieve much, but there was a small attempt on his behalf to improve, followed by another rapid decline back to where we had begun.
Last Tuesday I broke. Last Tuesday I stopped being afraid of hurting feelings and causing upset and I spoke my mind. We’ll get to that though.
About 3 weeks ago we had a pretty busy weekend. One of my best friends was leaving, so we had a going away for him, and then we had two days at Comic Con. The week before was manic for me preparing costumes and party decorations.
He helped me cook on the Friday, eventually. Working nights doesn’t suit him particularly well, especially with the morning drinking before bed. The party went without a hitch, apart from his manic depressant side coming out about 9pm. Everyone else left our house about 10 to go out. I managed to cheer him up enough to take him to get kebab – a challenge when he was pretty drunk, which is quite a rare occurrence. Of course he fell asleep on the couch that night. It still upsets me when this happens even though it is incredibly common.
I sat with him for a while that night trying to persuade him to move, but it wasn’t a successful attempt. Instead it led to a conversation where he told me that he liked me a lot, but he needed to be on his own and be making music like he used to. He just needed to be alone. It would be fair to say that I did not sleep well that night – I think that is hardly surprising.
He eventually came up around 9am the next morning. I was sulking in bed having gotten up to make myself tea and have a cigarette and ignored him even though I could see he was awake on the couch. I told him he was an ass. For sleeping on the couch? He asked. Do you not remember what you said to me last night? I asked. He didn’t. I told him.
What followed was a tense half hour of trying to get him to speak whilst he stomped around muttering to himself what an ass he was. That wasn’t what he wanted he assured me. It didn’t do much for my insecurities though.
We managed to get to Comic Con eventually early afternoon. We had a really nice afternoon, the people watching is my favourite. It was warm too which meant we were able to sit outside and just have time. That evening we ate dinner with our friends, they decided to go out but we stayed in and watched a film. It was a lovely evening. I certainly don’t miss going out and partying – I’m getting too old for that!!
The next morning he wasn’t well. He hadn’t taken his normal medication the day before and had forgotten to bring it with him. We went for breakfast in the hope it would make him feel better. It didn’t.
This left the 6 of us who were there in an awkward situation. We had 2 cars there, my partner needed to go home, which was an hour and a half drive away, and another of our friends needed taking to the airport which was an hour in the wrong direction of coming home at the end of the day. I desperately wanted to take my friend to the airport to see him off, but I also didn’t want someone else to miss out on their day by taking my partner home. I ended up driving him home and then going back for a few hours of the show and then on to the airport. By the time I got back that night I was exhausted.
In hindsight, this was the first glimpse of physical side effects that we got. His drinking was drastically reduced that weekend and he paid for it. Being at home and having a few beers sorted him out. Unfortunately that didn’t do anything for my tiredness.
The next weekend was bonfire night. We had arranged to go to see fireworks with friends on the Friday night. It fitted well, he sleeps during the day and would be awake in time to go and see them. Our friends were at the house by the time I got home from work. He was, of course, asleep on the couch. I managed to wake him and get him upstairs to change but I didn’t get much further than that. He felt unwell and refused to leave the house. So I ended up going alone. This upset me a lot. I was starting to get tired of missing things because of his drinking and the subsequent feeling unwell. I didn’t miss the fireworks, but it was something I was looking forward to doing with him. By the time we got back he was up and drinking again. He looked so ill. I can’t remember if he made it to bed that night or not, he probably did eventually, I lose track of it.
That Saturday was his self designated stop drinking day. He researched online and found some non-medical withdrawal relief and set a date. We had a lazy morning and I went out with a friend and left him a list of chores as a distraction and he went off to the post office to pick up the withdrawal meds.
Looking back I have regretted that escape time I had that day. I desperately needed it, to have a break and some time with my friend, but not drinking made him incredibly ill. He was incredibly restless and had really bad shakes. He was messaging me while I was out – the only thing that stopped the shaking was alcohol. I regret it because I was not there for him. It’s a really sad way to feel because I should be able to go out and do things without worrying about my alcoholic boyfriend having an episode.
By the time I got home he had stabilised. He had done more research online. Cold turkey was not a good idea. He was just going to drink beer until the physical withdrawal symptoms calmed down and then eventually he would wean himself off that.
Physical withdrawal symptoms were new, and worst than that, for me, they were absolutely terrifying. Sometimes he’d look like he was almost convulsing. The twitch had moved from just being his eyebrow to his whole body shifting like a sudden shrug. Time for me to go back and see my counsellor!
Picture source:http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02761/Larrain_Trafalgar__2761355c.jpg