Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Speaker A: Welcome to the Alcohol Tipping Point podcast. I'm your host, Deb Maisner. I'm a registered nurse, health coach, and alcohol free badass. I have found that there's more than one way to address drinking. If you've ever asked yourself if drinking is taking more than it's giving, or if you've found that you're drinking more than usual, you may have reached your own alcohol tipping point. The alcohol tipping point is a podcast for you to find tips, tools, and thoughts to change your drinking. Whether whether you're ready to quit forever or a week, this is the place for you. You are not stuck, and you can change. Let's get started.
Welcome back to the Alcohol Tipping Point podcast. Today on the show is Jacob Scholze, a Wisconsin father of three, hardware store manager, and a grateful liver disease survivor. He's here to share his story about finding freedom from alcohol and his experience with liver disease. He has a goal of inspiring others who need hope and support in starting or maintaining an alcohol free life. And I think it's just really interesting to hear his story about how he came to drinking and how he discovered he had a liver disease when he went into the ER finally and had been kind of ignoring symptoms that were showing up in his life and kind of, I guess, almost brushed away by himself, but also other medical providers he'd gone to. So I think this is a really interesting story for those of you who have found yourself drinking too much and maybe you're having concerns about your liver. We do talk a lot about the liver, and we'll share Jacob's experience, but also some things for you to look out for and some ways you can love your liver, which obviously number one is drinking less or honestly, not at all. That would be the number one way to love your liver. If you're having difficulty changing your drinking, taking a break, quitting, giving it up, wherever you're at in your journey, I just want to invite you to the next alcoholiday. Here we are, almost in sober October. Another really good month to take a break from. Alcohol. Like that can be your go to. I'm doing sober October, and a lot of people are doing it. So I want to invite you to the next alcoholiday group. It is a monthly dry group that I run. I've been running it for over three years now, and we just practice not drinking together. I give you lots of resources, lots of tools to help you with cravings, to help you with social situations, to help you navigate this month, and mainly to help you practice not drinking I'm not about perfection. I'm not about shaming. I'm about giving you a safe, non judgmental place to practice not drinking. Whether you're ready to give it up for a month or you're done or you're done and you just need some extra support and tools. So do check that out. I'll put the link in the show notes. Alcoholtippingpoint.com alcoholaday I call it an alcoholiday because I think that it is a gift. It's a vacation. It's a vacation for your liver. It's a vacation for you. It's just so, so good for your mental and physical health.
And I think that it is more about what you're getting and not what you're giving up. So do check out the next alcoholiday. As a podcast listener, you always get 20% off using the code love. L O V E. All capital letters. It's super affordable. Less than $3 a day. You get access to me. We have twice a week meetings, all kinds of support. It's in a private group. I'm very much about privacy. I understand that for a lot of people, that's an important aspect to changing their drinking, and that helps people feel safe and more comfortable. So check that out and enjoy this episode with Jacob.
So I want to thank you, Jacob, for coming on the show.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. Appreciate it, Deb. Thanks for having me.
[00:04:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, tell me a little bit about yourself, like where you're, where you're at, what you do. I'm just curious about you.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: Okay, well, I live in Wisconsin. I have a wife and three daughters. And for work, I'm a general manager for a family owned hardware store and lumberyard. So that's a little background of who I am or what I do. I guess. I basically, in the. My social media is just kind of a hobby, kind of a therapy for me, and hopefully it helps some those that are following as well.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: Well, thank you. Thank you for being here and sharing your story. Because I think the more people share, the more we reduce the stigma of having any issues with drinking or alcohol.
You're a dad from Wisconsin and you work at the hardware store.
How awesome. And I don't want to, you know, like, you're just a normal dude, right?
[00:05:33] Speaker B: Yes. Yep. Absolutely.
And I think that's, you know, a lot of it, a lot of. Some of my issues with it, I probably hit fairly well because a lot of. A lot of times people would say, you know, I didn't realize you had, you know, had an issue with it with drinking, or you didn't drink that much, did you? You know, and, and so I think. I think it's one of those things that, that's kind of why I've been trying to be a little more open about it, because we. Because, like you mentioned, the stigma. We are hesitant to admit we have a problem or maybe we need some help or we don't, we don't want to be viewed a certain way, and so we kind of keep it private. And so I think a lot of people are privately struggling, and so my hope is being open about it. They feel that they, too, can be open about it, whether it's reaching out to myself, reaching out to you. You know, you probably have noticed ones who've reached out to you since you've opened up, and a lot of different ones that have. That's been their experience. And so I think it's important that if we, especially if you've come out of it and you've gotten free from that, it gives people hope that they can get free, too, or they know they have a safe place they could turn to, someone who could maybe relate to what they're dealing with.
[00:06:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. We're hope dealers.
[00:06:57] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: Well, I would love to hear about your experience with drinking. Maybe like, how you grew up with it and then how you quit drinking or, like, just more of your, your journey.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: Sure. Yeah. You know, as, when I was younger, I. Drinking was for fun.
You know, sometimes you might overdo it in the early stages, but I wasn't dependent upon it. You know, it's just kind of a fun social thing that looked like fun. Everybody was kind of, you know, you saw it in a different light. You didn't really see dangers of it. You just thought it was fun to be with your buddies and stuff like that and having a good time.
And then as I matured and as I grew up, you know, I have drinks in social settings. You know, you go out to eat maybe a beer or two after work some days. So it was just, it was just a.
It wasn't that. It was like an instant addiction for me. You know, I'm, I'm. I. A lot of times there, you hear stories of different ones that immediately, as soon as they started drinking, they, you know, they were addicted right off the bat, and, and they, and they couldn't have more than just a few drinks. But for me, I. I come from a perspective of a slow progression. And so I think that I had, my perspective is that it can happen to anyone because, you know, I. Because it didn't happen overnight for me. It was a long process, and. And so eventually, I started turning to it, you know, for stress relief more frequently.
And then I'd occasionally would drink earlier in the day, sometimes in the morning on, like, a vacation or something like that. And so it progressed. And then just before COVID it was starting to get a little bit out of hand. But it was really during that COVID pandemic, that's when it became a real problem, one that I did my best to hide from others. And it was just, you're home a lot. For me. I was an essential worker. It was. It was a. In the hardware industry, it was crazy busy, actually. Everyone was supposed to be staying home because there's this pandemic, and we're just swarmed with customers everywhere, you know? And so you're not really sure if you should be leery of that.
But then we also had a smaller crew because we had given the option of people that weren't comfortable working. So then you're working on a skeleton crew, and it's crazy busy as ever. You're working long days, running back and forth. You're worried about the pandemic because you're not really sure what it. How dangerous is it, you know, and is it gonna affect, you know, your family or your loved ones? And. And so there's a lot of stress that goes with that. And then as you turn to alcohol for stress and anxiety, it relieves it for a time, and then it just gets worse. And then it's like that slow spiral downhill from there, where you become very dependent upon it to manage that stress, and it just actually makes it worse. And that's where you can get where it became a problem for me.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you for sharing about that. And just some things that stood out to me. Washington, that, you know, you started out, it was fun. You weren't addicted at first. And I think that we had been talking about this in one of my groups or something, but I never really had that either. Cause you're right. You do hear some people that were like, I took that first sip of alcohol, and I was like, I know ya, and it wasn't like that. Right? It was progressive. It started out as something fun. And did you grow up in Wisconsin, too?
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Yep, I grew up in Wisconsin, which is a very big drinking state. And so it's. It's everywhere. And. And so it's even hard sometimes to determine whether you have a problem because you tend to compare yourself to others. You know, I'm not drinking as much as them or, you know, and I even have had people asked me to this day, you know, like, well, how much were you drinking? And. And. And it's what I found is that they're asking kind of because they want to come. They're kind of comparing their own drinking to you. They're not really judging you. They just kind of want to know, like, what level are you at? Because maybe, where am I at? You know, because I didn't really think that you had that big. Had a problem, you know? And so.
So you do have.
Yeah. So I guess that is a big part of it. This area is the drinking culture in Wisconsin.
[00:11:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that I've read that Wisconsin has the most beer consumed per person in the state.
Yeah, not in the state. I mean, in the United countries.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Wouldn't surprise me.
[00:12:16] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Just huge culture. So just, you were in the soup, and then, you know, you started to drink more later on in life. And then Covid hit and with that, like, the fear and the uncertainty and all the stress that went along with it. And so then you gave alcohol a job just to help cope with that stress and anxiety. Anxiety and uncertainty that was going on at the time.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: Right. And to. It was. It was kind of boring. Everything was closed, you know, just home. So then it's like, oh, let's just. Let's. Let's have some morning drinks, you know, or some day drinks. And because we don't have anything else to do, we're stuck at home all day, and at least it makes it a little more fun, you know? Or you think it's. You think that you're having fun with it or it's relaxing you and you're not thinking about the concerns of what's going on in the world right now and that sort of thing.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And like you said, everybody else was doing it.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: And then when did it become a problem? Like, when were you, like, I need to do something about this, or, like, tell us more about what was going on around Covid. And then.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: Yeah. So it became athlete around that time or right after that time, you know, you start to realize that, I knew I had a. I knew I had a problem, but I didn't know what to do about it. I didn't know how to stop. I was tending to, you know, hide. Hide drinks so that I could get. So I could drink more and not have be noticed that I was drinking more. You know, I'd have, you know, that show drink where you look like you just have the one, maybe, but you're maybe getting an extra one on the side that nobody knows about things like that.
And so I knew there was kind of a problem. It was even getting to the point where you don't even really enjoy it anymore. You know, it's just like, you just, you have to have it and you have to have a certain level now because you build up this tolerance in order to, you know, and, and so it's like, it's not even enjoyable. It's so it's, it's, it's lost. It's. At that point, you're kind of like, I know I need to do something, but I don't know what to do. And I didn't really.
I was afraid to admit that I had a problem.
Every, you know, a lot of those that I. A lot of my friends, we all, they all drink as well, and, and maybe they're able to moderate better just thinking about being around it and everybody else's drinks. So it's hard to. How do I stop? You know, because, and I was, I was kind of afraid to ask for help. And, and one, one of the things that I. So that I kind of knew that, that it was, it was a problem, and I knew alcohol was dangerous, but I didn't realize how dangerous it really can be, especially if you overdo it. And so for me, as far as quitting, it was partially do or die because I had become dependent to a point where in addition to, you know, a poor diet at the time, too, I had put on quite a bit of weight during, you know, Covid area where I wasn't eating very well. You know, the drinking sugary cocktails and that sort of thing is nothing not good for you. So I. But what happened is I became very ill with a liver disease, being diagnosed with cirrhosis. And so I, I needed to quit immediately because my life was on the line at that point. And this was in March of 2023 that I was in. I started. I was in the ER. My life basically changed drastically. Um, but it was a miraculous turnaround for me. I recovered to the point where I was, you know, to a point where I was told I could drink in moderation.
Um, but, wow. But what I realized were the benefits of sobriety far outweighed alcohol use. Um, and I was always someone who could never understand why someone would not want to drink. Like, I kind of thought life would be boring. Like, people who didn't drink, like, why don't you want to have a drink? Like, loosen up. It's you're missing out. You know, I'm thinking to myself, when it was. When I enjoyed drinking at the, you know, but it had gotten to that point where it wasn't, but when there was that certain point where I was kind of thinking that it would. And so thinking that I'd never drink again the rest of my life was kind of like a life sentence, like, oh, man, this is going to be.
How can that. How can I go on the rest of my life not drinking? You know, it's funny how your mind is, but you're so programmed. Cause you've been doing it for so long.
And so what I found, though, in sobriety was the complete opposite.
Life is so much better. It's so much.
There's so many positive benefits to it. And it was like, probably I kind of was always, as I was healing, I was still kind of thinking, well, maybe I can have some drinks, maybe have a glass of wine with. Dinner with my wife, and, you know, maybe I can. I can moderate it again, you know, get back to where I could just be smart about it and just having a stop at one, or. But you get. I got to a point probably seven months in, and, man, it's just that mental focus was so much better. It was so, so clear.
And. And then you started, there was, you know, and we will.
I think we'll. We'll probably talk about some of the benefits further in this discussion, but they, at that point, it was like, I don't really want to ever drink again because I have seen so many benefits, and, and there's different ways. It doesn't mean life is perfect, doesn't mean that there's no bad days, but there's. When you have been at this level, when you've been at a level of feeling dependent, it's life changing. And so I would say, if you think that it's going to be boring, just give it some time, because my experience has been the complete opposite.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I heard that a lot.
Well, I'm wondering if you could share more about, like, how going into the ER, like, what was going on with your body, what, what happened there.
[00:19:06] Speaker B: Yeah. So this is, you know, basically what it was. Was it. As far as this is kind of the liver disease part of it. I started getting some symptoms probably in 2022 that I didn't realize were related to liver. You know, my, um. My legs were really getting really stiff at night and really tingly, and it would wake me up, and I'd have to get up and stretch and it. And I just wasn't comfortable. I was miss. I started to miss some work because I wasn't feeling well, and I don't miss work. Um, but I just. I just couldn't.
I couldn't. It was just too difficult for me. I was not comfortable. I couldn't sit very long. Something wasn't. Something was starting to not feel right. I did get that checked out, and they. We didn't really talk too much about alcohol being an issue with it. It was more. Maybe I had some other. Something else. I'm trying to think what it was. They. They thought it was, but.
[00:20:08] Speaker A: And they didn't check your liver enzymes. Then it was just kind of like, hey, I'm kind of. I'm kind of tired. I'm having some uncomfortable pain.
Leg issues?
[00:20:22] Speaker B: Yes, it was. It was. It was.
It's like a muscle. Muscle disease that you can get.
[00:20:30] Speaker A: Okay. So they're thinking it was more like fibromyalgia or.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: Yes, yes, something like that. Or.
Yeah. Anyway, so they were. They were checking some other things. They were going to do these other tests. And then I guess the point that I think I will tell you about liver, about this liver issue and how scary it can be. Is it. Yeah, there were some symptoms, but I didn't really know it was related to that. And so I think the thing my caution would be to anyone is it happens. It comes on, and when it comes on, it comes on fast, and it comes on when you least expect it, and.
And then it gets real serious, real fast, and it's scary because even though you might, if you don't, if you aren't getting those checkups, those, you know, having your liver enzymes checked, you know, that. That might be a clue that things aren't. If you're not being honest with your doctor about how much you're drinking, it can sneak up on you because you. You could have. Certain. You could. You could be developing cirrhosis and not even realize it. And then it can get to a point where it gets real serious because, I mean, it was. I was starting to, like. I was. I had those symptoms, but, like, a couple nights before I was in the hospital, I was out at a business function having dinner and drinks and. And I wasn't feeling the greatest, but I was. I was okay. And then, like, we had company the night of the. The day before. The next day I was in er. You know, that I. And it was mainly because, thankfully, my dad was.
I said I wasn't told him I wasn't feeling well. I kind of told him a little bit about what I was dealing with. And he's like, you need to get this checked out, and you need to go, like, today, like, make an appointment with your doctor or get see. To see whoever doctor you can get into. You need to get in today and get it checked out. And I could just see the look on the doctor's face when he. I could still remember he just had this, like, real concerned look, you know? And.
And that's when I realized that he's like, we need to get you over to er. Like, there's, you know, there's fluids that are building up in your abdomen, and. And so when it gets to that, extremely serious, so hard and fast, you know, I'm very fortunate to be alive today because I was told without a transplant, I had about three to six months, and transplant wasn't an option for me. And it's a dark place to be in. When I told you I have three kids, they're under ten years old. At the time, I was 38 years old.
And I'm thinking, what have I done? Like, what have I done to myself? You know? Like, this is so not worth it. And.
And you just. You just think that you're invincible and that will never happen to you, but it's. It's really on the rise. You know, if you. If you do some research on it, you'll see that liver disease, liver cirrhosis, things like that are on the rise, especially in younger people. And alcohol is a huge contributing factor to that.
[00:23:49] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And, um, I was just going to go, oh. Because people are always like, what should I look for?
And just some of the common symptoms of liver dysfunction include jaundice that's turning yellow. Maybe the whites of your eyes are yellow. Did you have that?
[00:24:10] Speaker B: Yep. Yes, I did. Yeah, that was actually, you know, I maybe started to have it, and I didn't really pay attention to it. Cause I didn't really think about, you know, I could. I could kind of tell. I knew I had struggled with drinking, and I could tell that the doctor knew I did, you know, based on how he was. Questions he was asking me. And I'm like, oh, man. Like, then I knew that part of this is preventable, that I. I caused some of this damage here that I'm dealing with right now. And.
And it got real, real fast. And. And so when I got in there, I remember that was one of the things they started looking at was they said they saw some john to. Some yellowing in my eyes. And then, yeah, the different signs that you'll have you know, for liver issue, real, really dark urine, you know, there'll be swelling of your legs, ankles, feet, abdomen. That's the cites or edema. Those are. Those are real common factors, you know, because your.
Your liver is not functioning like it should be. And so you start to. And that was one of the things that was happening with me is my stomach was just getting really full, and. And.
And it was like I was. I would say I was. Felt like I was bloated, you know, or something like that. Not thinking it was fluids, you know, but something isn't right here. Something is weird, you know, this is. This is really.
And it gets very uncomfortable.
Other, you know, early things that sometimes not everybody has. The, like, the yellowing of the skin and eyes, I've been been told, is that's.
That can. That's when it's really serious.
That's at this really serious stage, you know, sometimes it's just anxiety, loss of appetite, you know, some pain in your right side. You'll have that tingling in the legs and feet, that stiffness. Like I said, was, you can. You'll easily. There'll be easily bruise.
You'll. You'll be. Changes to your skin, like redness of your skin. Rosacea. I mean, I used to get real flushed, and, um, you know, I guess there's even signs I didn't. I never really paid attention to them or the doctors never talked to him about. But there's, like, signs in your nails that you can get. And then also your brain is affected, and that's, you know, your brain is affected by every time you drink, really, when you do the research, but confusion, disorientation, forgetfulness, changes in mood, concentration, memory, all those things are things that, you know, that brain fog and some of that, those are all different signs that can be signs of liver disease. And so everyone can have different types, and you'll hear stories. And I have done a lot more research because I. When I was going through it, I wanted to, you know, you're doing a lot more, you know, research, and even after the fact, I'm interested to hear other people's stories. And so you hear different ones and different things that affected, you know, some that have lost a maid, and they survived, but they both had it, you know, but they both had completely different symptoms. So.
So it can be scary. I mean, those are. Those are all, like, you know, it. It.
The one thing that they'll. That that's. That's real important to understand about it is if you look at the percentage they say of who, how many get cirrhosis based on, for drinking that they're basing off heavy drinking off of a certain, you know, if you look at this, what they, what they say is heavy drinking. Well, a lot of times people are doing more than that. Those numbers, you know, so that's going to increase the percentage of chance that you might be at risk. And, and it's, it's, it's, it's scary, you know, and I guess the, the important part about sharing is that I didn't have any idea that, I mean, I can't believe how oblivious I was to thinking that I would deal with any of these issues. You know, I never paid attention to them. I would, I would look for the stories that say, oh, it's good. Alcohol is good for your heart. And, you know, you look for those, those, they write articles about wine is good for, you know, so much. Alcohol has benefits and all these different things, and, and they actually have articles out about stuff like that. And it's really been proven false in most cases. But, but you do look at those articles and that's, those are the ones you hang on to when you. I have a problem.
[00:29:03] Speaker A: Yeah. So true. Yeah. I want to point out a couple of things. You know, just like we talked about your alcohol use being progressive, and it got worse. The liver disease is much the same. Like it starts out, you might just have fatty liver, which is the earliest stage of alcohol related liver disease. It's the most common and it's very reversible. And then it may progress into alcoholic hepatitis, which is the inflammation or swelling of the liver, and you start to destroy your liver cell, liver cells. And then that can progress to alcohol related fibrosis and cirrhosis, which is the scar tissue on your liver. And so it is not functioning as it should be. And a lot of people aren't able to reverse course then and may need a transplant. And it sounds like you had progressed to that stage when you went into the hospital.
And.
Yeah. And now here you are, you're out healthy. Can you talk more about then, like, what happened, how you recovered?
[00:30:17] Speaker B: Yeah. So for me, it was, it's been miraculous. And I guess that's, that's kind of the other side of the story that I haven't shared in detail that I think is important message to share as well. But I'm also not a doctor, so I don't want to, you know, say that this is what you should do, but I will say from, this is my own personal experience of what I dealt with is traditional medicine, and doctoring did nothing, was not effective way to treat this.
And because they, they only have so many tools in their toolbox, they tried, like steroids, they tried, you know, then it's like, okay, well, they can do a transplant. Well, that's major that, you know, getting on a waiting list. The chances of you getting it. Chances. It's a serious, very serious surgery to have, and it's very expensive.
And yet what it came down to is, thanks to my wife, she did a lot of research on functional medicine. And I will tell you right now, functional medicine has been an eye opener for me, in my experience.
And that is really, if you're not familiar with functional medicine, that's more the natural methods that they use. They try to treat the, instead of just giving you something for the symptom, they try to figure out what's causing that, fix that. So, so that, you know, what's the problem? Well, you need to, you know, it's, it's almost sounds like when I, when you really start to think about it now, at the time when we started looking into this, I was kind of, I was seeing so many doctors, had so many tests done. I had started to lose hope. But it was when I met with a functional medicine doctor that I had hope again. And it was, it sounds so simple, but it's really just going back to the basics of eating healthy, you know, supplements. Um, there's one of the things that is hugely important, I would say, if somebody's ever in this situation to look into, is ala infusions, alpha laploic acid. There's a book about it. It has been shown, it's like basically a, one of the most potent antioxidants on earth. And it can heal organs. It can, it's shown evidence to heal liver, kidneys. And I've just talked to another doctor that is very familiar with Ala and worked with doctor that wrote that book, and it has been extremely effective in helping people that have cirrhosis, people that have had liver issues, and not to mention many other benefits like neuropathy.
And so really, for me, it was a healthy diethouse, not drinking, obviously, those ala infusions, supplements and vitamins, homeopathic type type things, and then exercise, you know, has been huge for me, too. So, you know, those are, that's really been my, it was, it's been like, I, if you look at my page, you'll see before and after pictures. It's, it's, it's unbelie, you know, a lot of people who have seen me and I haven't shared all the pictures. I mean, there's some that are. If you really saw you would. It's. It's absolutely unbelievable. I'd be, honestly, if you look at me like last April to today, like, oh, I bet.
[00:34:14] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:34:15] Speaker B: And I'm fortunate that it's. That I've made, but I've worked really hard to, you know, to be, I haven't been perfect with my diet, but I've worked really hard to be as healthy as I can. I'm very disciplined with supplements and vitamins. I did those ala infusions. I still take an ALA tablet or a pill in a pill form. I exercise, you know, two to three times a week, minimum. And I've worked really hard to get to this point with a lot of good help from a lot of really good functional medicine doctors. And, and, and so that, to me, is one, one area I have, when I've talked about this, I see that there is a lot of people who, when I've done any podcasts or anything like this, where I talk about some of the things that work for me. There's a lot of people that are dealing with cirrhosis or liver issues, but they're kind of at a standstill because they are trying, because, you know, liver transplant might not be an option or for whatever, you know, whatever reason that might be. And they're not getting.
They're not being advised to do things like diet and supplements. Those things are just not something that the hospitals recommend, other than maybe a multivitamin typically doesn't, you know, not all doctors, but I'm just. And they definitely have a place. I'm not trying to be disrespectful to what they do do, because there's a lot of good things that they do, but they particularly are focused on pharmaceutical type of pills. And if there's. They basically told me there was no magic pill for. To fix this.
And I kind of argue now I have about 30 of them. I take every day, magic pills that are working, you know, so.
So there is hope. I guess that's the thing, because sometimes you can be left hopeless. I left that hospital just completely hopeless, and functional medicine gave me hope again and saved my life.
[00:36:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing your experience. And, yeah, because typically, if you get to that point of cirrhosis, there is typically no cure. Like you said, in modern regular medicine, it's maybe a transplant or something else, but it sounds like your scarring has resolved itself or your liver is at the point of baseline health or.
[00:36:59] Speaker B: Well, I haven't actually gotten it scanned or anything like that. And basically they did a biopsy that they came up with initially. They said, the one first person that I talked to, they said I had fatty liver, you know, and, which is real common. It was becoming more and more common, like you had just mentioned. And so maybe it wasn't. I didn't have, like, the serious, the most serious form of cirrhosis yet. You know, where you, where it's irreversible, it can get, it can be, it can get to a point where it is irreversible. If you do too much damage and you don't stop drinking and you just keep, you know, don't change your diet and you don't do anything at all, don't change any habits, then it could be irreversible. But the, the secret I, the secret, I will say, is that it hasn't been told much, and it is, is that, is that AlA infusion, it's actually, cirrhosis is reversible with that. From what I've been told by these doctors that have used AlA through their personal experience, they have had great success in that. And if you do research on it, you'll see that. And I actually went back to the hospitals and talked to one of the doctors that I really liked there, and I wanted to explain to him about this, that, hey, if somebody's in my shoes in the future, here's a, here's something that might be something you could share with them, because then they at least have some hope, you know? And he said he would do a little research, but it was kind of like, well, there's not enough studies done on that. Just because it worked for you doesn't mean it'll work for other people. But I thought, well, either you got no hope or you got some. Got a chance. If you give me a chance, you know, you, it's amazing. What if you get a little hope and, and drive again? Because what a difference that can do mentally, and then you can just, you see that there is possibilities.
[00:38:59] Speaker A: I was gonna say, like, I mean, to be your own advocate, to be your own patient advocate is so, so important, and to give hope, like you said, and, you know, the majority besides, if you get to that very end stage liver disease, the cirrhosis, your liver is like, I call it the groot of all organs as far as healing itself, and so much of the damage is reversible. And number one is that stopping drinking, you had that alternative treatment that worked for you, but if some people are like, okay, what else do I do to love my liver? The good old, like, drink lots of water, stay hydrated, eat fruits and vegetables, have the green leafy vegetables, the spinach, the broccoli, the cabbage, have other liver friendly foods. Movement, like you said, exercise, increase your fiber intake. And then maybe you do want to look into the supplements or alternative options for you as well.
[00:40:10] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And you want to, you gotta, like, with supplements and stuff like that, you want to make sure you're getting high quality ones, you know, ones, because there, unfortunately, there are some that aren't as effective. But you're right, the best thing is, is just eating healthier and getting those vitamins from those natural, healthy greens and that sort of thing. You know, for, for me, one of the big things was sugar is really not good for your liver. So especially when early stages, I was at, like, at a, you know, no sugar, don't take any, don't have any sugar. And that included even fruits, you know, natural sugars, at least in the initial stages, because you're right now you need to allow your liver to heal, and that will help it to heal faster if you. And so that was very, very difficult to. Not, especially because you go, because you do, those sugar cravings are real. When you've been, when you've had, with drinking and stuff like that. And when you go off that, you do get sugar cravings. But, but just cutting out the sugar, that's also just as important. But, but, yeah, you're absolutely right. Just a healthy, really healthy diet is, is huge. And there, there's, there are certain, um, supplements that are really good for detoxing the liver and that stuff. But, but, yeah, definitely make sure the one, the ones that I got are highly recommended, very clean supplements, maybe a little bit more expensive than some other ones that you might buy, but they're working, so that's, that's all I can say is that all these things are helping. So.
[00:41:45] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I mean, and just like, we don't talk about alcohol and having a problem with alcohol. Liver disease is one of those diseases that's not a sexy disease to talk about. Right. More people would talk about. Yeah, they would talk about breast cancer or, you know, other people don't talk about. They hide that they have anything wrong with their liver. So I think it's great that you're talking about it.
[00:42:12] Speaker B: Well, you too. I think there's a stereotype, obviously. What is the first thing you think of is somebody has liver issues, they have a drinking problem. You know, I mean, because a lot of times. And, and so it's like the elephant in the room if you don't mention it, you know, and not every case is alcohol related. You know, there are, there are definitely liver diseases that are caused by sugars and diet or maybe a pharmaceutical that had some side effects or whatever. There's diff, there's different things that can cause it, but it does tend to be anytime the liver is mentioned, one of the first things that, whether people admit it or not, they're thinking about it, like, I wonder if he drinks a lot of, you know, it's just a natural thing.
[00:42:57] Speaker A: Well, and I had read, you know, some of the studies show the risk of alcohol related liver disease is about 25% for women that drink two or more alcoholic beverages per day over the course of ten years. That's not that much alcohol.
[00:43:14] Speaker B: No.
[00:43:16] Speaker A: And then for men, it's more than three drinks per day for ten years. So that's a 25% chance of having some sort of liver disease, whether you're the fatty liver or more progressive, because then of those that start out in the beginning stages, 25% of those have the chance of progressing to cirrhosis.
And like you said, alcohol induced liver disease is skyrocketing for women. During the pandemic, it was up 30%. I don't know about for men, but, yeah, it's very common. And you're seeing it more and more in younger people.
[00:43:57] Speaker B: Yeah, no, those are, those are, those are. I appreciate you sharing some of those statistics, because that gives some, gives people a solid perspective of what we're talking about here, because, yeah, you say that's 25%, and that, that's, if you drink that much now, let's say you drink twice that much, you know, now you're obviously, your percentage would increase of chances of it, you know, being worse than that, even.
[00:44:25] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think, you know, whether you go through your regular doctor or not, I'm a registered nurse, so I'm very in the establishment, but I understand the frustration. But what I want to say is you going to your, your annual doctor's visits, getting lab work done, getting your chemistry panel, which is just checking, like, your electrolytes, your kidney function, it has your liver function tests on there, and that can be just a good preventative test to do. They usually run those when you're getting your wellness exam. So that is something you could check for so that you don't get to the stage. You know that, Jacob, you know, you ended up getting where you had the, the yellowing and the ascites, the swollen, you know, the more progressive part, like, we can catch this. We can do something about it, and. And you can recover and heal.
[00:45:26] Speaker B: Exactly. Because.
Yeah, that's a good point. You know, when you're getting. When you're doing your wellness check, just like she, like you just mentioned that, you know, when you're. If you had those, they, they look at those numbers. Those, those numbers. I became an expert on those numbers because I saw them so regularly.
[00:45:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:44] Speaker B: And, and nurses and doctors, they can look at those numbers and, and know what's going on, and then that's really important that you're honest with them about what you're. How much you're drinking, because they're not, you know, that's their job. That's your job. If you don't know, if somebody says they only drink, you know, I have an occasional drink or two drinks, but you're drinking six drinks and you're not telling them, you know, they, they could invite, you know, they can advise you when they see those numbers, if they. If you're honest with them that, you know, here's what you really need to do, because this could get serious, and we don't want it. They don't want that for you either. So.
[00:46:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they want to get help. And I understand, like, it is hard. It is hard to ask for help. You know, I always quote the three, three hardest things to say. I have a problem. I need help. And worship us.
[00:46:42] Speaker B: Yes, exactly.
[00:46:44] Speaker A: Yes.
Well, I'm so glad that you're sharing your story. You're inspiring other people that you're doing so well. Here you are more than a year out. Is there anything else you want to share with people who are listening?
[00:47:02] Speaker B: Yeah, I guess the one that I would share is the difference between alcohol dependence and sobriety. Freedom. I think this has been dramatic or drastic. Um, that's it. If. I guess the way I would explain it is if you're someone who doesn't really have a problem, you can moderate well, and you're just looking for something to give you an edge, whether it be physically in the gym or exercising, you're an athlete. You're looking for that edge. You know, a lot of really successful athletes, they're giving up drinking and they're seeing results or seeing benefits or maybe in your business, maybe you're trying to start a new business or you're trying to get ahead in your business, and sobriety can give you that edge that you're looking for. Now, if you're someone who's dependent or more addicted. I think the difference, that's where I really see a drastic difference. Because you go from constantly thinking about that next drink, feeling like a slave to the substance and then just going to like this complete freedom. And I was just thinking about this past weekend, about how much my mind used to be consumed with when I could get my next drink in and, or maybe I could stop here quick and get one or maybe, hey, why don't we stop? And, you know, just like it was just consumed my thoughts and it was all it was, it had become where that's what I felt like I needed it all the time. And it's such an incredible feeling. And unless you have, haven't ever, if you've ever felt so much like a slave to it, it's hard to understand for me to even express into words. I found I feel better, I sleep better, I'm making progress in the gym. I feel like I've aged backwards. Like I just turned 40 and I feel like I'm like 30 again. I mean, it's like, it really, that's the honest truth. You feel real human feelings. You know, you feel compassion, more compassionate. You actually care about things again, because I, you get to a point where you just numb yourself so much that you just don't even care. And it's not like when you actually feel things again, it's, it's like you appreciate life like, so much different. It's just, it's, it's, you enjoyed little moments and, and you feel like you're present for them and it's, and I could go on and on because the benefits are so endless and you can feel like your authentic self. I mean, it's, it's. And so I guess the way I would put it is, you know, depending on doesn't mean you, even if, even if you don't aren't addicted, if you give it a break, you will see and you'll feel better and you might have that edge that you're looking for and whatever you're looking forward to doing your life. And if you're somebody who is, but if you are someone who is struggling, if you can, it's not going to be easy. But, and you may. And it's important to ask for help, but it's so worth it. I guarantee it. If you ask people, I don't. I have not talked to anyone who has quit drinking that has said I wish I was drinking again. I regret it. Like, they're like, it's the best thing ever.
[00:50:34] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, gosh. Well, thank you so much for sharing your experience and for just being a hope dealer and inspiring people.
[00:50:46] Speaker B: How.
[00:50:46] Speaker A: How could people find you?
[00:50:49] Speaker B: Uh, you can find me on my primary account is on Instagram. It's at feel underscore sober. Underscore good. So it's like, feel so good, but it's feel sober good. That's kind of the theme with love it. And, uh, I'm also. I mean, I'm on TikTok and Facebook and as well, but, uh, Facebook is feel dot sober, dot good. And tick tock is the same as Instagram. But whatever way, you can always message me if you had further questions that you just wanted to ask me about related to anything we talked about. And I just think if you. If you're somebody who's thinking about or trying to stay alcohol free, somebody who is thinking about it, I encourage you to give my page a follow.
I try to share hope, I try to share some humorous, I try to share some, educate people on the dangers of alcohol.
And I really. I do it to help other people, but I also. It helps me a lot. It keeps me accountable.
And so, yeah, that's. That would be probably the best way to reach or follow me if you'd like.
[00:52:00] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate you.
[00:52:04] Speaker B: Well, yeah, well, thank you so much, Deb, for having me on. I appreciate you invited me and what you're doing with your social media as well, and trying to create awareness to some of the dangers and also provide hope to other people.
[00:52:21] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Alcohol Tipping Point podcast. Please share and review the show so you can help other people, too. I want you to know I'm always here for you. So please, please reach out and talk to me on instagram at alcoholtippingpoint and check out my website, alcoholtippingpoint.com, for free resources and help. No matter where you are on your drinking journey, I want to encourage you to just keep practicing, keep going. I promise you are not alone and you are worth it. Every day you practice not drinking is a day you can learn from. I hope you can use these tips we talked about for the rest of your week, and until then, talk to you next time.
