After 25 years of alcohol addiction, Erwan says he quit drinking overnight after having a click.

Since then, he says he has been released.

At the microphone of Olivier Delacroix, on "La Libre antenna" of Europe 1, Erwan retraces his path, from his alcohol addiction to his abstinence two years ago.

TESTIMONY

Erwan realized he was addicted to alcohol when he was 25, when his party drinking turned into a lonely daily drink.

Explaining that he could not envisage his life without alcohol, he continued to drink for 11 years before going to see an addictologist.

After a first withdrawal attempt, Erwan finally stopped drinking overnight after having a click.

At the microphone of "La Libre antenna", on Europe 1, Erwan recounts his life spent under the influence of alcohol and how he managed to free himself from his addiction.

>> Listen to Erwan's testimony in full here

"I am 44 years old. I grew up in a family where there was a curse around alcohol. We have had several alcohol-related deaths. My mother was an alcoholic. I saw her get drunk every day. days of my childhood. My father took to drinking a little later. When I arrived in the student years, I knew the business school and the open bar parties, what today is called the 

binge drinking

Massive drinking started I drank a minimum of two or three liters of beer on Fridays and Saturdays At first it was only the weekend, then the addiction accelerated. 

"

I knew I was addicted, but I didn't envision a life without alcohol

"

I only realized I had a problem when I was 25.

For me, from 18 to 25, I was just a party student who drank a lot.

When I started working, I started drinking a lot with my colleagues at lunchtime.

Then, I also started drinking in the evening alone at home.

When I moved at the age of 25, I realized that I no longer had my hands on alcohol.

I was terribly in need.

I realized I was addicted, but I didn't try to cure myself. 

I continued to drink until I was 36.

It was 11 more years that I knew I was addicted, but I did not envision a life without alcohol.

I was very afraid that I would be told that the exit was abstinence.

This is one of the reasons why I did not go for treatment.

I was starting to have symptoms, such as terrible nervousness and trouble sleeping.

Alcohol interferes with sleep and since I had a toddler son, my sleep was very much impaired.

Then there was a violence that rose in me.

I limited myself to objects.

I have never abused anyone. 

"

I had to be away all the time to drink in secret

"

All of these symptoms have happened.

So, at 36, I decided to go consult for the first time.

I was lucky enough to be followed by an addictologist at the hospital.

It went very well.

I refused all drug treatment because all my life I had seen my parents take too many drugs.

Finally, through dialogue, I started a six-month abstinence.

But I told myself that I was not sick and that I was going to drink moderately at the end of these six months. 

At the end of these six months, I followed several small rules - not to drink regularly and to avoid beer and rum - which allowed me to last two years with moderate consumption.

Then, I made trips abroad where I started drinking beer.

There was a cold winter, I drank rum and it was off again.

All the symptoms returned.

In the summer of 2019, I was fed up.

I had to be away all the time to drink in secret.

I felt like I was going to have an accident. 

>> Find Olivier Delacroix's Libre antenna every evening on Europe 1 from 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. as well as in replay and podcast here

I clicked and stopped drinking overnight.

I did it alone, without any medical treatment or follow-up.

I am a very lonely personality.

The others certainly encouraged me to drink.

Isolating myself has helped me.

Fortunately, I did not have delirium.

I was lucky.

You shouldn't do this on your own normally.

There is only one cure, and that is abstinence.

It should not be seen as a life without alcohol.

It is a life of freedom.

For those who are addicted, moderation does not work.  

When I quit drinking it completely freed me.

I couldn't take it anymore, I couldn't sleep anymore.

Over the next three months, I wrote my book, 

A Detour Through Hell

, in which I recounted 25 years of hell.

I started drinking at 18 and finished drinking at 43.

It's been almost two years since I quit.

You have to learn to live again, because 25 years is a long time.

During the first year without alcohol, we keep a nostalgia for drunkenness.

The second year is much easier.

I'm in this dynamic, it's over for me. "