De-Addiction Centres: The Right Vikalp for Alcohol Abuse!

Where did my life go!

I started drinking regularly at the age of 18 when I went to college at Manipal, Karnataka for my Bachelor’s Degree. I had just passed out from school & was going to a hostel for the first time in my life. I was very excited but scared at the same time. Staying in a hostel without any one to stop me was too much freedom & I was enjoying every moment of it.

How it started!

I started drinking at home when I entered11th Standard, but that too, only whenever there was a party or a family function like marriage etcetera. On occasions only, but when I went to college my Alcohol intake increased day by day. In the beginning I used to go drinking with my friends almost every evening, then it progressed to afternoon as well and before I knew it I had started drinking every morning, afternoon and evening. 3 years passed in a drunken stupor, I don’t remember how I managed to complete my graduation.

After college when I started my first job in A Five star hotel at New Delhi, I was so busy working 16 hours a day that I was drinking only once a day depending on my shift duty, but on my off day I developed the habit of drinking at least half a bottle alone.

As time passed I changed jobs but luckily I never had a drink during working hours, at the same time I realized I was settling into a pattern. I used to drink one & a half quarters every day &three quarters on my off days. Starting from morning, through the afternoon then in the evening. The excessive consumption of Alcohol started affecting my family relations, I was married now & my frequent drinking was causing a lot of tension in my family.

The first time I went to a de-addiction centre, it was at Vimhans Lajpat Nagar New Delhi. I was admitted there for 15 days where I underwent clinical de-toxification. It was more of a hospital than a de-addiction centre & more emphasis was laid on medicines.

The second time, I went to a rehab centre in Chennai. My physical condition had worsened & the figures on my Liver Function Test were sky high. I was admitted there for a month. There, the treatment was more conventional to a de addiction centre & the treatment approach was more holistic combined with medicines. At Chennai, I was given a medicine after having which, if I had alcohol in any form I would develop a severe reaction. A reaction so severe that I could even die. So I was on that medicine for around 8 months after which I started drinking again, after convincing my family that I had stopped drinking. But, nothing could be farther than the truth! My physical condition was worsening & so were my relations at home with my family.

Separation & Divorce

After 15 years of marriage, my wife got separated from me & my daughter too went with her as my wife did not trust me to take care of our daughter.This was because obviously, I was drinking heavily at that time & I was between jobs & could not support my daughter financially. During that period I went into Depression & was now mixing anti-depressants &sedatives with Alcohol. I was alone & depressed. I was having suicidal tendencies. After one year of separation we filed for Divorce.

The Turnaround

As a last resort my parents got me admitted into Vikalp De addiction & Rehabilitation Centre in Ghaziabad , where I have been under treatment since the last four months. I never thought I could stay away from Alcohol, that I would die without Alcohol. But, here I have been without Alcohol since more than four months now & enjoying an alcohol free life. At Vikalp each day starts with an early wake- up then cleaning of our living space followed by Yoga & Meditation for one hour. Then we have breakfast, after which we have a morning meeting where all our issues are addressed by our counselor. That follows with another session called “Just for Today” in which, a thought connected to our addiction is read & discussed everyday, followed by an Input session in which, we are given knowledge about the disease & its repercussions. Then we are served lunch, after which, we get rest period for one & a half hours. After rest, we have a spiritual awakening session flowed by games & entertainment, finally ending with a session called sharing in which we share details about our addiction, how it nearly destroyed us & how we are learning to live once again.

After spending more than four months at Vikalp Rehabilitation Centre, my physical & mental recovery is complete & I am now working on my spiritual recovery.

At Vikalp, the treatment programme which is followed, is the 12 Step Programme made famous worldwide by Alcoholics Anonymous. Here, minimal medical intervention is done & emphasis is laid on developing a strong will power.

In the last four months, I have realized that I want to work in a de addiction centre so that I can help other people who like me feel that their addiction, which is actually a disease, has taken over their lives to such an extent that they no longer have a desire to live. I want to help people get up again & get going with their lives!

 

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