She beat the booze

‘I was drinking bottles and bottles of vodka to get by’

THE weeks leading up to Christmas are often filled with food, drinks, parties and nights out.

Not everyone will be drinking this festive season however.

One woman who will be shunning booze is Ann Black. The 66-year-old, from Kirkton, has been sober for three years.

She started drinking more and more over the years and eventually things came to a head when she had a fall in August 2016.

Although she drank again after that, she decided to pack it in that Christmas.

Ann said: “I didn’t start drinking until I was 18, but it was probably about when the kids started growing up that I started drinking a bit more.

“I can’t tell you when I went from enjoying a drink to needing a drink.

“I started drinking regularly with friends in the early 1990s, and it just seemed to escalate from there. I used to drink lager, but when I started drinking with friends, I moved to vodka and then it just got hold of me.

“I really couldn’t say how much I was drinking, but it wasn’t bottles and bottles.

“I had been in detox a number of times and I always thought that was it, I could start drinking again, and then I fell. It was August 21 2016 when I split my head and had more than 30 stitches.

“I was going to British Home Stores for their last day and my husband said ‘you are still drunk, don’t go out’, and I just went anyway. One of the nurses at the hospital said they had seen people with less severe injuries who had died.”

After her fall, Ann decided to quit drinking and managed to stay sober until she went on holiday.

She said: “While I was away I did the usual thinking ‘I’ll just have one, I’m on holiday’ and when I came back from holiday I was drinking again.

“I just went to Taps (Tayside Alcohol Problem Service) and said ‘I want detox now, it has to be now’.

“A lot of folk said ‘don’t do it at Christmas you will never make it’, but for me that was it. It had to be then or never. I was just in the right frame of mind.

“Something came into my head after the fall that said ‘Ann if you don’t stop this you are going to die’. Don’t ask me what it was, I don’t know.

“I was thinking ‘this is it, if I don’t stop I’ll not see my grandchildren grow up’. The thought of not being there for my kids and grandkids wasn’t an option.

“That was the easy bit, going through the detox, because they give you medication. You go along, they talk things through with you and they give you medication to stop cravings. The next bit is yourself.

“I was determined even to the extent that family members who usually come to me over the festive period were told no to bring alcohol. My husband didn’t have a drink. He and my family have been a tower of strength.

“That first year they didn’t drink in front of me. Some of my friends, when I went in, if they were drinking the glass disappeared round the back of the chair.

“It means the world. This year will be the first year I will have alcohol in the house for people who come in, but I won’t drink it.

“I’m proud of myself and of my family and friends for supporting me.”

Speaking about the benefits of being sober Ann added: “My health overall has improved, I have put on weight, my relationships with my husband, my sons and my grandchildren have improved.”