Note from Mike: this post comes from a friend of mine, Joe. Joe and I first met in a meeting when I was visiting the States a number of years ago. When I told him more recently about this site and how I was sharing my experiences here he asked if he could share also. If you too would like to share your experiences please get in touch. Joe is going to talk about his experience going to a rehab clinic.
Intro
When I was first thinking about getting sober I turned to the internet to see other people’s experiences…I had not yet built up the courage to go to my first meeting at this time.
The stories I read online proved to be very helpful in making me decide to go sober AND in choosing to go to a rehab center. Sorry not rehab, the place I went to preferred to be called a “Wellness & Recovery” center. But you know. Exactly the same thing just a different name.
At the time I was in my late 20s, had a fairly decent job that allowed for a lot of time working from home. I had a house and a wife. I also had a pretty heavy drinking problem. Most days I was putting away a standard size bottle of vodka. Sometimes more, but not often less.
Most mornings started with me vomiting and feeling just shitty. That is until the first couple of drinks had settled me down a bit.
Even with all this I remained quite “functional”. I still kept up with what I needed to in work. I wasn’t a model employee but my tasks got done. Working from home allowed me to hide the true extent of my drinking from all of my colleagues.
Eventually though enough was enough and I finally admitted to myself that I needed help. I needed treatment.
Looking for facilities
This was relatively easy I must admit. I went to my family physician who luckily had lots of experience in this area. Within a few days I was sitting down getting evaluated…the result of which would be a recommendation for inpatient treatment.
After some back and forth with my insurance company…they are never easy to deal with…I settled on a 28 day stay in a facility about 2 hours out of my city.
Checking into this facility was less than glamourous I must say. First all my belongings were tossed through. Then I was given a very thorough pat down…just to be sure I wasn’t hiding a handle of vodka down my pants or something.
The facility
The place itself was quite nice…not Hollywood starlet rehab clinic nice, but nice enough. There was a few recreational activities like table tennis, basketball and pool. There was also a T.V room that was always full regardless of what was being shown. Most of my downtime was spent reading. Luckily the facility had a wide selection of books as I stupidly forgot to bring my kindle or any books of my own.
The treatment
For the first few days I had to remain in the “Detox Chamber”…seriously thats what the official name was.
In here there wasn’t much in the way of activities. Just a TV really and books. This is where I spent the next 4 days while I detoxed off of alcohol. The staff gave me a number of medications to help me through it. There was pills to prevent seizures, pills for lowering my blood pressure, pills to help me sleep, pills to ease the cravings.
After this I was allowed free rein of the facility. Which is what I did in my downtime.
The schedule in this place was pretty rigid. Kind of like what I imagine prison to be like.
Wake up, Breakfast, Group session, Therapy, Lunch, Group session, AA or NA meeting, Dinner, Group session, Free time, Lights out.
That was the general gist of it. As I say it was pretty rigid and your personal schedule was shared with you every Sunday for the next week. One-on-One Therapy if you were having it would slot in somewhere and you would have to stop whatever you were doing to attend.
Most of the group sessions were pointless and merely an exercise in keeping us busy. Some had merit though. I learned how to correctly process my emotions to avoid getting worked up or overly emotional, which I figured was one of my triggers.
I was also allowed unlimited use of the phones. Which I believe I was only one of the few that was allowed that access. Most people were given limited access as part of their treatment. I was allowed unlimited as my therapist didn’t believe me communicating with my friends and family would put my treatment in jeopardy.
Fellow patients
During the first few days in detox I had a chance to meet my fellow patients. Mostly they seemed to be around my age or younger. Everyone is generally supportive. A lot of people seemed rather non-plussed by the whole experience and I got the impression that checking in wasn’t exactly their choice. They were being told to go by parents who still held the purse strings. Which again surprised me since the place was nice but not trustfund kid nice. But anyway I didn’t pry so I don’t know what the full story was only the pieces I heard throughout my stay.
I got to know a lot of the patients, but not really in-depth. Making new friends wasn’t part of my recovery plan so I just generally kept to myself and “did my time”
Staff
The staff was perfectly friendly at all times. The therapists were good and seemed knowledgeable. Nothing really to mention here. It was really what you would expect from professional medical personnel.
Post-rehab world
When you get out you are really happy to see other people. And to eat other food. I should stop comparing it to prison because you are free to leave at any time and it was only 28 days…but that is how it feels.
At the advice of my therapist when I returned home I got a new therapist who is closer than the one at the center and I also started to attend weekly meetings…which is where I met Mike.
After a few months I stopped seeing my therapist as I believed the meetings would be enough to sustain my soberness.
In General
Overall I would say my experience was positive since afterward I came out sober and have remained sober since. I feel though I maybe didn’t need to actually be holed up there for the full 28 days. That maybe a detox program followed by daily therapy/meetings would have sufficed. Particularly since the downtime is so boring.
But then again I did it this way and it worked so why question it.
Note from Mike: I just want to thank Joe for sharing his thoughts with us today and also to tell everyone reading that if you have any questions for Joe about rehab please feel free to ask in the comments section below and I will make sure that Joe sees them.
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