‘I WAS DRINKING THREE BOTTLES OF WINE A DAY’
Nikki Rushin has been sober for two-and- a-half years. Follow her @ASoberLady In July 2020, at the age of 48, I was three stone overweight. I had a swollen face that was flushed red and covered in spider veins. I sweated profusely, even in winter.
The first thing I did every morning was vomit bile or blood. Strange bruises had started to appear on my stomach, even though I hadn’t walked into anything. I later discovered that the bruises were caused by my drinking – an enormous daily consumption of alcohol that had affected the clotting factor in my blood. My blood pressure had soared to a dangerously high 190/100, and I was put on two hypertension medications.
At my worst, I was drinking three bottles of wine a day, topped up with rum. But since 16 July 2020, I haven’t touched a drop.
When I stopped, I did it ‘cold turkey’, which in hindsight was dangerous. It could have caused seizures and, at the levels I was drinking, might even have been fatal. I was lucky. And after a few days of shakiness and unsteadiness, my health began to improve.
I didn’t realise how ill I had felt until I quit. Some of the changes happened quickly, others were subtle, and I can only pinpoint them by looking at photos over time and comparing my progress.
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