My Partner - Anonymous and Confidential Treatment

I have lived with my partner for nearly twenty five years. I know how hard it is to share your life with a using drug addict and alcoholic. I tried everything I could to change her behaviour - pouring bottles of expensive alcohol down the drain, buying drugs for her and rationing them, cutting up her credit cards, spying on her and many other mad things. I used manipulative behaviour to persuade her to go into treatment so that she could stop drinking and taking drugs. Everything failed.

Then suddenly - without any intervention or involvement from me - she decided to stop and started asking where she could get help. We found Addictions UK from the Internet and phoned them and to my amazement they were able to start her on a course of treatment straight away. Slowly she got stronger and stronger and she is sober and clean today. She is now back to paid employment and our nightmare days are over - even if everyone tells me that I must live "a day at a time" with the sobriety/clean time and recognise that there are no magic cures for addictive behaviour.

She kept in contact with Addictions UK and I am grateful to them for their treatment. I received a lot of help from their family and friends help line which was very beneficial - especially during the early day.

We first contacted Addictions UK nearly two years ago and my partner is now coming up to two years clean and sober. I cannot tell you how grateful I am now. I recognise that my nagging and controlling behaviour just did not work. Unless you have been there it is impossible to write about the pain that addictions cause. It is certainly a family illness - as my support worker used to share. The anonymous and confidential treatment that we received was so re-assuring. We did not want our problems to be recorded on medical records for obvious reasons.

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