“Alcoholism is more serious than a disease, it is like a psychic infirmity”

“I stopped alcohol on March 26, 1995, it was a Sunday. But first, I will explain to you why I started drinking. Before knowing why and how we stop, you must already understand why We started to avoid getting there “, underlines Philippe, 68 years old.

Alcohol: “Given my personal circumstances, it was the dive in dependence”

After his university degree and his military service at the end of the 1970s, Philippe began to look for work. But this quest was stopped at its 26th birthday by the occurrence of a hodophobia. It is an intense and irrational fear of travel and trips away from home. “At the beginning, I was afraid to go to Marseille, after it was to Dijon, after it was up to Nancy. After four years of psychic degradation, I found myself locked up in a department at about 20 kilometers around my house. “

It was then that Philippe decided to consult a neuropsychiatrist. The latter prescribed neuroleptics to him. “It was a huge stupidity knowing what happened afterwards. You see neuroleptics have an unfortunate effect. They can act on sexuality. And that was my case.” He adds: “My hodophobia was still there. But as a bonus, I suffered from anorgasmia and almost helplessness. I let you imagine the psychological consequences.”

Faced with the persistence of undesirable effects after stopping treatment, Philippe decided to consult a psychiatrist to talk about his mental and sexual disorders. She offered him homeopathic drugs, but for fear of meeting new complications, he did not dare to take them. “After a year of consultation, she told me, you should smoke a little and drink a little to relax.” Philippe, who did not drink and have not smoked since the end of his adolescence, tried to follow the “advice” of his doctor.

“Given my personal and intimate circumstances, it was the dive in dependence. At first, it was a cigarette, two cigarettes, and a glass here and there. After three months, I was At 12 cans of beer per day. issue.”

“I then got worse in champagne because I thought it was less bad for my health”

Hotels, bars… Philippe multiplied outings and especially glasses at that time. “I then got worse in champagne because I thought it was less bad for my health. But that remains alcohol. I do not advise anyone to follow my example with champagne.”

“You know, alcohol is the traitor. We always believe that we dominate the situation. But in reality, it is always he who dominates you.” In the following years, he experienced many alcoholic episodes where beer and champagne were part of his daily life, with important peaks in 92 and 95.

“I was in their thirties and I thought my life was over,” Recognizes the former alcoholic who has thus pushed himself into alcohol dependence … Until the electroshoche occurred in March 95. The event was so striking that Philippe still remembers this weekend with precision. “On Saturday March 25, 1995 … That day, I exaggerated the dose. I was all alone at home, I ruminated and I went too far with alcohol.”

“I had to go to my parents for dinner. When I got up from my chair, I didn’t stand up. All night, I was afraid that the body could not eliminate alcohol. Has the trouble that it causes irreversible damage to my entire physical nervous system. The frostrum of my life.

Fortunately, on the morning of Sunday, March 26, Philippe was still there. “I said to myself: the sky gives me a second chance, I must not waste it because there may not be a third.” His decision was then made: he had to fight against his dependence on alcohol.

Alcoholic weaning: “My approach was not understood by everyone”

Shortly after this nightmarish night, Philippe consulted an alcoholist installed near his home. “I told him about my case. He did not try to give me medication. He said to me: Listen, in your case, you have to stop overnight. If you touch up a drink, you will plunge back . The man who had then followed the doctor’s recommendation to the letter. He stopped net alcohol. “I stopped alcohol overnight and it saved my life”he assures.

“It is sure that the first days, it’s very hard. You have to stay humble. You must not say: I will hold 20 years without alcohol. Because otherwise, you will plunge right away. You have to say: I will hold 24 hours, or even 48 hours.

“Thus, I held one day, then two days, then three. From a year, already, it was a good heritage. And I continued like this.”

To resist alcohol, Philippe started walking alone in the wild two hours a day. “This habit helped me regain self -confidence and learn to exist alone, and especially without addictive substances.” Thirty years later, he continued to travel the paths of his region every morning in order to fight against his “own nature”. It is also still distant from the big dinners and evenings to isolate itself from the temptation.

“My approach was not understood by everyone, but that is what worked for me. By becoming thin and without addiction, I saved myself. I have no cholesterol, no diabetes and not hypertension. , zero medication. “

Alcoholism and temptation: “So far, I have always resisted”

If Philippe saw his weaning with much less difficulty today, it was not always simple. “I had hard blows in 30 years: the death of my mother, the death of my father, health problems … There, I was tempted by alcohol. At these times, I go to Corner supermarket, I buy a bottle of champagne. I always resisted. However, he recognizes that this defense mechanism is completely personal to him, and not recommended by health professionals.

Alcoholism has been recognized as a disease by the World Health Organization since 1978. An element that has also made its way in the minds of the general public. But for Philippe, having problems with the drink is much more than a pathology. “I think alcoholism is more serious than a disease. I see it as a psychic infirmity. We do not live without his addiction. We do not heal. We always fight.”

Given his personal experience, he admits to watching the Dry January with a circumspect eye. “People say to themselves” well, I’m going to stop alcohol for a month “and they think it’s a feat. It’s good to stop a month, but when there is a problem, you have to work in the long term. “

If for him, we must remain humble in the face of alcohol dependence disorders, he does not underestimate the value of his efforts and his journey. “My pride is to have managed to rebuild a life without addictive substances. It is my victory … so far. When I look at myself in the ice today, I am no longer ashamed of myself. No more the impression of being a lost in society or in the family, as thirty years ago.