I thought I was high functioning, but one of the troubles of alcohol is that you think you’re more clever than you are. I’ll be one year sober in 9 days. Edit: thanks everyone for your congratulations! Yes, I’m still sober, more than 1 1/2 years now. I’ve held down a job for 8 months, something I was incapable of doing while drinking. I’ve still got a long way to go (get my mystery illnesses sorted out, go back to college, find a partner, etc) but I’m a hell of a lot better off now than when I was drinking.

I am a high functioning alcoholic and everything this man said is 100% correct! I am trying to get sober now though. Made it 2 weeks before I fell off the wagon, but now I have 2 days, it's better than no days.

1 week sober today. Liver disease is no joke

My husband is a recovering alcoholic, almost 2 years sober. He would never admit he was an alcoholic or even that he drank that much, then our daughter got pregnant with our grandson and set him down for a talk. She told him that she was not going to have him around her child with him drinking, that made him mad but also made him stop and look at his life. For the first time he listened when he asked if I really thought he had a problem. He put the bottle down before our grandson was born and hasn’t drank sense. He still struggles most days but I am very proud of him. The best part is the relationship between him and our grandson is beautiful, that baby thinks his grandad hung the moon and stars, grandad is his favorite person. It is absolutely beautiful to see them together.

My mother was one and worked in a hospital that had an inpatient alcohol treatment unit. One day one of the counselors walked up to her privately, put his arm around her and said "why dont you let us help you". She went with him right then. I always wished I could thank that man for his compassion. She never drank before or during work so I think he noticed her tremors that came on later in the day.

My dad was a high functionning alchoolic, lost one his leg from it in a car accident in his late 30's and died from liver cancer at 76yo. My family still deny his alcoolism a decade later and simply wont believe that the man was drinking almost everyday for over 60 years.

This is my dad. He drinks 20+ beers a day and you can barely tell unless he's leaving the cans out. He got severely ill (a direct result of alcohol poisoning) and was unable to drink, and it was like meeting a stranger. He was kind and high-energy and genuinely happy to see us. The second he got out, he started drinking again, and it was back to usual. Thank you for sharing this, Steve.

What's more impressive than a high functioning alcoholic is a person who has conquered their addiction.

You don’t know a high functioning alcoholic until you’ve worked in the food service industry

My guy was this guy. He's over 3 years sober and I am so freaking proud of him!! The disease of addiction is awful.

2 months sober, best gift of all. Don't miss the alcohol.

10 years sober in less than 2 months 10-22-13... I was the guy that nobody thought would ever get sober.

I'm not even a high functioning sober, so my hats off to these people! Edit: after 2 years, ima say yes, this is a joke, it was always a joke. If you are suffering please seek help don't take this joke as a compliment, eventually alcoholism will win as any addiction does.

My friend is a high functioning alcoholic, good worker, hardest working liver in the universe.

That was me for 35 years. I'm sober now and wish I could have those years back. I ruined mine and my children's lives... Addiction is HELL...

4 years sober as of last week. Paramedic for 10 years and EMT since 2000. There are a lot more high-functioning alcoholics in healthcare than you probably think. One of my mentors died from it. It took four of my friends. I’m grateful for the perspective i have gained during my recovery. Now I get to take on a peer-support role and help responders that are struggling with addiction to heal.

Over 4 years sober here! I was the one in the E.R begging for help. Got the help i needed and been sober since.

My dad had a friend who was a high functioning alcoholic. He helped my dad build our old house. He would come in shaking, get a few shots in him and then draw perfectly straight lines he didn’t even mesure. Always blew my mind.

I was told I was a high functioning alcoholic by a colleague. I took it as a compliment. 6 years later as I lay looking as my liver that was near packing up on an ultrasound scan it didn't feel quite so complimentary. I'm three years sober on November 6th.

My Grandmother was a “High Functioning Alcoholic”. She would drink a Gallon, yes I said gallon of Whiskey or Vodka in less than a week. Plus whatever else she would drink with dinner along with Smoking. I had never seen her Sober until I was about 19 years old. She drove with no accidents or tickets, held a job for many years as a bookkeeper, sewed clothing for us, and was the sweetest spiciest grandma I knew. She eventually did stop drinking and even smoking and lived for another 15 years.

I stopped drinking, period. I got a kid now. I can't fuck up my life anymore. I gotta be there for her until she doesn't need me anymore.

I’m a high functioning recovering alcoholic and I will say it took me going to the er room with severe stomach pain and nausea to get sober. Now I am 3 months sober and better for it.

23 months sober and I never realized how much being high functioning alcoholic can destroy you while when seeking help no one around you believes that you need it because they (think) they never saw you drunk/wasted

Had a teacher in high-school a long time ago, years after I graduated we learned that her vodka breath wasn't just a rumor, she was hammered for 10 years and she taught high level calculus and geometry lol

I had a next door neighbour who was the sweetest lady, always gave me snacks and spoke to me like an adult. Think cool aunt vibes. But then one day she got caught driving drunk with her kids in the car. Turned out that she was an alcoholic who had to chug at least half a bottle of vodka in the mornings, just to be stable enough to drive her kids to school. She actually ended up sobering up, getting her kids back, and finding a wonderful man who she’s still with now.

As a former high-functioning alcoholic, until I wasn't... I had gotten by for years - great at work, etc. Then, I came to in an Emergency room in a different State after a 20-some hour blackout. That was the moment I realized I needed help and could not do that, anymore. Two years and four months Clean and Sober.

Yep. That shit snuck up on me real quick. After 2 years enough was enough and i went to rehab. I had to take shots all day long just to keep withdrawal symptoms at bay. It wasnt even about getting drunk anymore, it was just trying to function.

My dad was high functioning for years and years, was positive I didn’t see him sober until he finally decided to lay off it a few months ago, I’m so proud of him every time I think about it I wanna cry lol

Nobody knew I was a pill addict even when I was working 60 hours a week and completing all normal tasks over the course of two years. I didn’t tell anyone. 4 years sober ayyy.!

three years, three months sober. at one point, i WAS a highly functioning alcoholic; mother, military wife, DoD employee, home owner, 401k .. then, i lost - gave away - everything; possessions & respect. i DID gain decompensated cirrhosis. be careful, kids. that shizz truly does sneak up on you.

Yeah I knew one and it wasnt until I worked with her a lot and noticed towards the end of our shift she would get the tremors it took a while for me to realise she always had tremors toward the end of shift. Turns out she wasnt drinking at work and was going through withdrawals by the end of our shift. I asked her one day in private if she would like me to help her sort out rehab. She burst into tears and we sorted it out the next day. Her husband had been trying I think she just needed someone else to notice as well.

In April, I'm sober for 8 years.

Thank you for this. It’s a shame so many people like to think it’s “quirky” when in reality is devastating

Yeah, I’m one of those people who just went to the ER today with life-threatening withdrawal symptoms. (The nurses were absolute angels.) In my experience, this is spot on! I live with two recovered alcoholics and they told me they didn’t suspect a thing leading up to all this. It had been over a year. Addiction is life-consuming and definitely brings out a person’s clever/sneaky side. I adore the chipper delivery btw. I’m riding the struggle bus right now, but these videos are helping me get through detox. Thank you ❤

I had a Prof in University who was constantly drinking "iced tea" in class. I later found out that he was a serious lifelong alcoholic who had been fired from a senior government job for gross incompetence. I had utterly no idea. At the sane time, he was a good teacher and a genuinely nice human being. We had a good relationship even after I finished his class, e.g. he nominated me for a significant scholarship (that I won).

You may be able to pull this off through your 20s, 30s, even 40s. But alcohol will degrade your ability to function over time, until you’ve got a stack of DUIs, you’ve lost your job, and have to go to rehab because you’d die from the withdrawal on your own. Not me, but I’m old enough to have watched this happen to people. It’s a cruel, often insidious addiction. If you’ve beat it, congratulations on your strength and courage.

This breaks my heart. I live with a high functioning alcoholic. You would never have guessed it. They really do hide it so well.

It isn't just begging for anti-nausea medication. Because of alcohol I have: Given myself 3rd degree burns on my legs by stepping into a shower of straight hot water. Hospitalized for days and screaming in pain every time I had to walk to the bathroom. Cut the end of my finger off by slamming it in a drawer. Got stitched up. Vomited so much and for so long that I burned all the mucus membranes in my esophagus with stomach acid. 4 days in hospital. Over a year sober now. And so grateful.

I watched this video a year ago. It was a wake up call. I would show up to work late all the time and always had headaches halfway through the job. I went to counseling and officially am 6 months sober. Shorts can be useless garbage but a serious message with some comedy sprinkled inbetween is nice :)

My husband was a high-functioning alcoholic. Drank at 5 am to get to work, drank during the day, lunch, too. Drank when he came home in the garage. One night, I found him on his knees, face-planted in the flowerbed. He couldn't get up. I asked if he wanted help. When he said 'no', I went to bed. He made it into the house at some point. Passed out on the sofa. But he worked well and kept his job for 5 years.

My dad was a high functioning alcoholic who drank a fifth of vodka and 12 pack of beer every night and never missed a day of work. He did that for 30+ years. When he was diagnosed with liver cancer and had to undergo radiation and chemotherapy he quit. He told me, Not bc he wanted to change but bc chemo made him too sick. Sadly he died at 58. Now my daughter is an alcoholic. It’s a horrible, awful, debilitating disease. Ty. I love your channel!🙌🏻❤️🥰🤗

Very true about not wanting to admit it and certainly not bragging about it. A very dark time of my life that no one really knew was as bad as it was. When my dad finally figured it out, he begged me to quit drinking. A few months later and I decided to do it at home over a 4-day weekend from my job. I detoxed from it at home and thought that I was going to die, but I was massively depressed at the time too so I didn't care much besides drinking a lot of water, chicken broth, and gatorade. The pain in your body, the tremors, the fever dreams, cold and hot sweats, vomiting, and so on... I wouldn't wish it on anyone. The long-term effects of terrible memory loss, poor motor skills (which return with time but never quite feel the same), anything that metabolizes in your liver causing pain, and any other effects are brutal as well. Can proudly say that for 1 year now I no longer drink 1/2 a bottle of whiskey a night.

congrats to all those in recovery and soon to be in recovery. my moms been sober over 33 years now and as one of the reasons she got sober i can proudly say shes a strong woman and you guys are all strong people

My brother in law was a high functioning alcoholic. Died of liver failure last year. It’s all good until all of a sudden it isn’t, and there’s nothing you can do. It’s over and you don’t get a do over. RIP my brother.

I've lost probably 5-6 jobs from drinking while at work, or showing up drunk from drinking before work. I've managed to quit after 3 rehab facilities. I'm proud to say I have over 3½ years sober.

My dad was active duty in the air force and drank from when he got home till he passed out every night then got up every morning, showered, shaved and got to work without being a second late or displaying any symptoms. He was a psych tech and an E-8 when he retired. He had tons of medals and awards in his career. When he retired with an honorable discharge he started a career helping relocate displaced persons from other countries in the US. The drinking increased at this time. He died 20 years ago from withdrawals after being hospitalized for almost 6 weeks after a colon resection due to the drinking. They turned off his morphine pump when they discharged him. He was back in the ER about 16 hours after discharge and died as they transferred him to ICU from the ER. No one except his closest family knew about his drinking. He was never out sick, late, complaining of hangovers or headaches. That is a high functioning alcoholic.

My parents are high functioning alcoholics. My mom fell and broke her leg. I got to listen to her Dr, stand out in the hallway and tell everyone who would listen what my moms BAC was when they brought her in. So as to suggest that no one should feel sorry for her, nor give her any pain meds. Unbelievable. I got him fired.

My father was a high functioning alcoholic, he would hide it really well. His friend who was one as well died from it. Thankfully my dad went to AA meetings and recovered. Been years and years that he hasn't touched a drink. Unfortunately his alcoholic days years ago really took a toll on his health in his older age!!

this is abt meeeeee. (not at all bragging) i been sober for over a week now (after cutting down for a few months) and i’m so much happier not waking up in cold sweats, constant nausea, gut rot, constant uncomfortable anxiety, and i’ve lost weight since too

My dad used to carry a mixed drink or straight liqour into work as a machinist. He couldn't go a couple hours without drinking or he'd get the shakes and immediately get ill. He's luckily doing better now. He didn't even try to hide it.

Shout out to my dad who is trying to get sober after 30 years of being a high functioning alcoholic.. we love you and you can do this just like I did❤

I had a coworker years ago who would call in "sick" around 3:00, 4:00 a.m. FROM THE BAR! On the voicemail, her supervisor could hear the bar noise in the background. She also seemed to have a lot of relatives die because that was a frequent excuse as well.

Story time: I was a high functioning very hardcore opiate user for about 5 or 6 years. But let's talk about before that first; I went from 300lbs to 180. Started an engineering degree and got jacked while holding a 4.0 GPA when I had like a 1.5 in hs. I started crutching with opiates and it's a totally different type of discipline; I maintained a 3.5 GPA and got more buff even with the addiction. I also got an internship at a fortune 500 tech company earning 32 an hour. Now let's talk about the drugs; the problem is that it literally changes the structure of your brain such that the regions associated with discipline atrophy-meaning they literally damage your ability to be discipline. Since I've been addicted I got my electrical/computer engineering degree and I'm one term away from a comp Sci/machine learning masters degree but I straight up can't go right now because I've broke my motivation. I only have one term left too, but I just cant until I'm sober. I have a difficult time doing things I enjoy-it's literally taxing to get myself to play video games because I just don't have the motivation. I know drugs are tempting, but don't ever let yourself use drugs consistently- if it's hard to not use drugs just recognize that it will become orders of magnitude more difficult if you become addicted. It only gets worse too; I started at around 50-100mg per day a few years ago... Now I'm at 6g (6000mg). The medical dose is around 10mg so I'm using around 600x doses daily just to prevent withdrawl. It cost like 50 bucks or more per day as well. And guess what? My tolerance is so high that I can't get high even if I take more. I've taken 17000mg in a day (around 1700 doses) and barely got high. I have to worry about strange things like if a drop of water that I put the stuff in drops on the floor, it might be enough to OD my dogs. If someone drank my piss, it would likely kill them. I've even drank my own piss because I ran out and drinking piss is so much better than withdrawls even if it makes you vomit a few times. I would choose drugs over food any day-I would undoubtedly chose 3 hours of no withdrawals if it meant not eating for 50 hours easily. Bros, please don't use drugs consistently-especially opiates, benzos (like Xanax), or alcohol. These drugs produce nightmare withdrawls and quiting is extremely painful. One time I tried to go cold turkey and gave up after 50 hours because I couldn't sleep and felt like I was going insane. It's so bad that I have a gun but I never bought ammo because if I run out of drugs I'm afraid I'll shoot myself to stop the suffering- I'm not suicidal either, the pain is so intense and there's no escape. You can't sleep, you can't sit still or lay down, you're freezing and hot and sweating and crying and your nose is dripping constantly, light burns your eyes, sound blasts your eardrums, walking makes you breathless, literally every thing hurts, you can't think or focus on anything-there is no distractions what's so ever and it makes death seem like a humane choice because the constant torture is so much worse.

This was my mom. I thought the smell of her beer was her perfume when I was little. She literally drove better drunk then sober.

My mom's lifelong friend was a "high functioning alcoholic" and she hid it from everyone. She ended up dying of liver failure before the age of 50. Its a horrible way to go.

As an ex high functioning alcoholic, I promise the fun runs out when you have to take blood pressure meds to avoid seizures.

7 months dry now and loving every single day of it 🤘🏽🤘🏽

I’m almost at 9 months sober… love my sobriety.. such a better way to live.

I know a paramedic that used to be a high functioning alcoholic. They were one of the best in their state, and had been with the company for something like 40 years. They had seen some shit they would like to erase. Makes sense that one in such a position would want to do that. Their 3 days off were just drinking, but they were always "normal," since we really only saw them on their days off. But like with everyone, it caught up to them, and they got sick. Can't drink anymore, and also had to resign.

Used to be what could be considered a high-functioning alcoholic while I was working at Walmart. That place caused me more stress than the military ever did because one instance of telling the customers how I really felt could lose me my job, so I choked down all the complaints and worked through it alongside half a fifth of vodka each night until I noticed it was severely impacting my ability to sleep properly. Still drink on occasion, but never to the point of stumbling because I don't wanna go back down that road.

If anyone sees this and needs it, talk to your high functioning alcoholics about anxiety. Don’t bring up their addiction. Address anxiety and fear from a mental health perspective. Remind them, they need to value what they inherently offer as humans & that’s being here. Alive. Getting sober for others is hard. Getting sober for yourself because you’ve finally found the key to your healing, is fucking incredible to witness. 5 of my friends stopped drinking over the last ten years once they got help for their anxiety and other mental health problems. It’s an epidemic. Speaking as one, all addicts are running from something. That something is usually grief. Much love.

"And they will never admit they're a high functioning alcoholic" BINGO.

That was me. Uncontrollable vomiting and dry heaving. It was terrible and so painful. 9 months on the 22nd! Best decision I have ever made. Don’t let fear stop you. I have social anxiety and now I lead and speak at meetings. I’m still struggling with schizoaffective disorder at the same time so there’s still a lot of fear. But there’s nothing to fear at AA meetings. Everyone is so understanding. I used to look down, now I look up.

I knew I had a problem. I went begging for help at my therapists, doctors and psychiatrists. No one felt I was an alcoholic because I was functioning and it wasn’t a long term problem. Thankful for my own will to get through it.

My boss told me about someone he used to work with who would bring little bottles of mouthwash with him to work. He always wondered why. Then someone explained it to him, that he drinks it for the alcohol. Because it doesn’t leave the smell on their breath and not as obvious as to what he’s doing. That’s real dedication to alcoholism right there

An old summer job boss of mine was a high functioning alcoholic. He used to work in construction, drink, then be up in the morning like nobody's business. Last I checked though, he has been sober for years. Proud of ya Wayne!

Thank you for being open about how bad it can really get, when I’ve talked with people before about alcoholism in my head I’m like “only on the weekends?” I’d love to go back to that

My father was one. He held a high position in business. No one outside the family knew of his constant drinking until he almost died. He still didn’t quit then even after all the surgeries and eventually died of liver failure.

That is my mother. She's 70. She first drove me home drunk, that I remember, from Girl Scouts when I was 12. I'm in my 30s. I started complaining about her and my dad when I was 15 and no one listened because they seemed upstanding. He overdosed about 10 years ago.

Yup! This was my dad! He got clean and went to rehab in his 50s after lots of scary health stuff.

8 years sober.. the Rehab stuck!!! 🔥🔥🔥

Hearing this almost made me cry, but here I am on my way to get my mornings first beer

This is so true. It's a very slippy slope. I had a coworker whose 30 yr old daughter died of liver failure due to drinking. She left a son behind. It's not a brag, it's a problem.

This was the motivation I needed to not go buy more booze this morning

Friend of mine (fellow lawyer) was up to finishing a bottle of wine a night by the “””end””” of the pandemic. He was still doing a better job than me of keeping up with deadlines, going to trial, drafting briefs, and all that. He called himself out on it earlier this year, and now he and his husband don’t keep any alcohol in the house and only serve nonalcoholic wine at house parties. Hoping he can stay the course, because this profession is a slippery slope to all kinds of addictions and other bad habits.

Bourbon from the time I get home from work until I pass out for most of the three years since I got home from the military. Work just fine if albeit hungover until lunch. Day number two sober. Say a prayer for me y’all. Alcohol has made me stuck and alone. Better days ahead.

The 6 dislikes were from low functioning alcoholics jealous of the high functioning ones.

as someone who is related to actual alcoholics, THANK YOU

My mom's an alcoholic and this is so true. Once you get to a certain point, you need the alcohol to just feel normal

This was both of my parents. Watching them come home and slam as many drinks as they could after work hurt to watch. I'm glad to say that my dad is 80 days sober and my mom is on day like 28.

My stepdad was a high functioning alcoholic. He could fill an entire trash bag with beer bottles on a bad day, drive to the store to get another 24 case, and come back "sober". The sound of glass hitting glass still fucks with me to this day, though.

Ive been dating a real high functioning alcoholic for 3 years now... Thankfully he's working on recovery and is over a month sober!

Oh yes I was one of them. Every day, hust every night a bottle of vodka at the weekend up to 3 bottles. Nobody knows. Now I'm in year 3 of no drinking 😁🎉🎊

Working in the lab is fun with those. Their blood alcohol levels would kill anyone else, but they're awake and alert.

I worked with a high functioning alcoholic. He was one of our senior pilots. He was one of our most capable pilots. They had an intervention before anybody got hurt. He was grounded and lost his license. He was put through rehab by our health insurance. He recovered and was able to get his license back and his flying certificate. The biggest clue somebody told that was a dead ringer for a functioning alcoholic was he used excessive amounts of cologne. It covered the smell of booze.

You are dead on w/ur high functioning addict/alcoholic description, they are in all professions, nursing, teaching, even police work etc….. you can function for years living in hell and barely hanging on getting ur degree, working full time, studying, but everyday you’re just getting through the day. Imagine how great a high functioning alcoholic could be if they put in all that energy into sobriety and what they could actually do with their lives with that kind of will/people they could help. They say addicts have no willpower over their addiction and while that may be true, they are actually some of the most resourceful, willful, and strong ppl there are. Touching to read all of the stories of ppl in recovery ❤

This is the truth. No one who is a high functioning alcoholic ever admits (or consciously acknowledges) they are.

my favorite high functioning alcoholic patients are the ones who come in for something totally unrelated and the doc gets a bad vibe and breathalyzers them and theyve been a .48 this whole time

As a high functioning alcoholic it is so hard to quit. I work better than most people in the office even when I am drunk. Whenever I get sober I do the same work, there is literally no difference in performance & I make the same occasional mistakes, so it gives me the false belief that being sober won't make me a better person, it will just make my life so much more boring. I feel like I can't ask for help or take the time off to help myself because for the first time in my life, I am not struggling financially the way I was before I started drinking and I am afraid to change what is working now for me. Someday I may try, that dude from Smash Mouth dying of liver failure at 56 really makes me question the path I am on

My dad was a high functioning alcoholic. Every night after he got home from work he started drinking immediately. He was a mean drunk and growing up it was like always walking on eggshells. I don't drink, period. Never want my own kids and now grandkids to have to live through what i lived through. Oh and yes, he always got up at 5:30 am and worked all day, 5 days a week. Was never not working. He died two months exactly after his 63rd birthday. He had cirrhosis of the liver, emphysema, heart disease, had gone blind and only weighed 86 lbs. when he died. He had developed Type 2 diabetes from heavy drinking and poor choices in eating that caused the blindness and heart disease.

My husband was a high functioning alcoholic in his youth. He sobered up in his 20s and never looked back. I'm so proud he was able over come all sorts of trauma through out his life. I'll miss him dearly.

15 years sober. . This is so accurate! I love that you posted this!

Nah, we had a family friend. He drank at least one 5th a day. Usually 1 at work and one at home. He had a nice family, successful business, and happy well adjusted kids. He really was a good guy

we don't call in sick or miss deadlines, if we start doing that, it will give us away and then also we cannot call ourselves high functioning.

My mom was a high functioning alcoholic, I spent my first 22 years of life only ever seeing her drink alcohol from morning to night. She would even drink and drive, with a open beer in her hand and a closed beer between her legs for when she finished off the open one. She literally had to drink first thing in the morning or else she would go into shock from the lack of alcohol. Sadly, she passed in 2010, and shockingly, not from alcohol but cancer, but at the same time, alcohol didn't help it either because of that, she refused to go to the doctors for the longest time.

Used to be a high functioning dope head for 4 years, then a low functioning one for 3. 👌😶 Been sober almost 5 years now with 3 kids . I finally got fully sober off everything , including cigs and most of my heavy meds ,a month after becoming pregnant with my first child. Being pregnant put into perspective how harmful the drugs were to our body and then after giving birth I knew I had to stay alive and obviously clean to be a good mom ! My kids gave me my second chance at living and now I'm living free. 🙌

I would hundred percent relate to this my dad's a high-functioning alcoholic and there's no world in which he would confess that to be true

I was high functioning for years until I wasn't anymore. Well, ppl still didn't know but I knew that just around the corner, it would be impossible to hide . And I was terrified of that. Terrified enough to get help before it came to that. 6 years sober, if anyone is reading this, it is possible to have a beautiful, exciting life without alcohol. It takes time but you will eventually get your SELF back. Don't give up before the miracle.

Yep, that was me. Only I ended up in the hospital when I was so far gone they gave me two days to live. :D Three years sober, two and a half years with a new-to-me pre-owned liver.

Very, very true. A "high-functioning alcoholic" will be walking and talking at work with a BAL of 200 and you'd never know.