Safe to say I feel the same way. It took me a good 6 months away from alcohol, and a lot of work on myself before I started to see what the possibilities were with a life without it.

It would have been difficult for me to be talked out of going back to drinking after I found out about my neuropathy, but I sure wish I did listen to the message I was being told. I would take any improvement to my current situation if I could get it. Now my pain might always be as painful, and I might never gain my strength back, and I might always have to rely on medication because of it.

That additional damage is most likely not reversible, and from a long term perspective, is resulting in a decreased quality of life. The idea of a few drinks here and there, which could alone make it worse, as well as adding the risk of going back to old habits, is not the direction I can afford to go in.

But that's not something I could come to terms with while I was also fighting not to drink on a daily basis. My mind was too caught up in it all. I personally needed to take a step back and get my hands around not drinking, before I could really understand the situation I was in.

I always used to think about the fact that I wouldn't be able to enjoy that glass of wine in Italy or Spain, or that Guinness in Ireland. That made the idea of not drinking so difficult. In the end all I had to do was not drink just in the day that I was in, and rinse and repeat. Eventually my outlook on it completely shifted. That took time though.