Inspired by a patient that came in for follow up after initial consult a few weeks ago, that one dude who wanted to quit drinking alcoholic beverages managed to get through the first stage.
On a previous post Random Spiel, Alcoholism during the Holidays that covers the spike of cases involving alcohol intoxication and withdrawal during the holidays, I have low expectations when people come in for consult and follow up during these days.
At some point, I just lost count on the number of people I interviewed and managed as alcohol use disorder, either they are about to enter into a withdrawal state, psychotic state due to chronic alcohol use or just prone to intoxicate themselves.
I think I've heard all the excuses and reasons why they never followed through about quitting the habit despite how it dampens their ability to function socially and at work. But it's part of the job to keep saying the same spiel over and over again. I love my job enough to be patient with these people. They need help but some just need more convincing to do so.
But there are cases when people gain a pretty good insight about their condition and voluntarily opt to get consult to quit the habit. I don't have high expectations for patients that don't want to get confined, detoxified and readied for rehab since out patient consult services hopes on the outcome that patients actually do follow through your instructions and not find it in themselves to quit an ingrained bad habit.
One such case is a man on his early 20s just trying to make ends meet but resorted to alcohol just to cope with the demands of life from left and right. And like any other new case of alcohol use disorder that comes in, I did the whole routine of telling them where this condition will lead if they didn't change and what's currently happening to their system. They come in because they couldn't sleep and need alcohol to make them sleep.
So what makes this case note worthy? they came back and actually followed through my advice, slept better, took the meds and planned their route towards healthy living with an optimistic view point. I'm surprised myself at the outcome when I'm so used to hearing how patients relapsed because there's no one else that could stop them from drinking if they really wanted to once they walk out of the clinic.
I'm not asking for miracles but seeing cases like that young man going through the process of recovery was something. We talked about his plans on diverting his attention to productive habits like going to the gym, pick up a hobby, and being more present for his kids. For the rest of the world, it just appeared like a regular consult to the doctor but for the man, this consult was helping him managed his stress and keeping him away from being an emotional wreck.
It just made me reflect on how my efforts weren't wasted coming up with the usual spiel to convince people to be healthy. These past few days have made me a little pessimist because of others shortcomings but I want to believe in people. In people's capacity to change for the better, for themselves and the people around them.
I'm looking forward for the next consults just to see how much progress they made for themselves. If they relapse, fine, let's just start over again, trying to change for the better may seem cliche but it isn't wrong.
Thanks for your time.