A former alcoholic has lifted the lid on her life-threatening battle with addition that saw her drinking five bottles of wine a day and nearly dying twice.
Katie Hurley, 36, from New Orleans, Louisiana, began drinking at the age of 16.
She became addicted at 26
By 26, she was engulfed in a serious drinking problem that caused her to resign from her job and develop an inflamed liver.
And in 2018, when doctors warned her she wouldn’t live to see her next birthday, Katie knew she had to make a change.
Now, after a long battle with alcohol, Katie has gotten candid about her fight to take back her life and being sober has been the best thing to happen to her.
She said: ‘Alcohol does not discriminate, and it will not stop until it has taken everything from you and those you care about. But recovery is possible, and there is hope on the other side.’
How her drinking habit evolved over the years
After developing a ‘rocky relationship’ with alcohol at 16, Katie began always reaching for another drink. During her college years, she partied every night and had no problem ‘downing drinks.’
The 36-year-old explained: ‘I’ve had a rocky relationship with alcohol since I was 16. One drink was never enough for me.
‘In my early 20s, I was your typical college student, partying hard, blacking out, and downing drinks like there was no tomorrow. Instead of maturing out of it like some of my friends, I just kept diving deeper into the drinking scene.’
Following a breakup at 25, Katie moved to Europe, where her alcohol problem intensified. However, at the time she hadn’t come to terms with her alcoholism yet.
But, by age 26, she was compelled to confront how serious her drinking had become.
Her first effort
‘On Christmas Eve 2013, I contacted my parents and informed them that I had a drinking problem. ‘I told them how I couldn’t go a day without alcohol. They were extremely supportive. They flew me home and checked me into my first rehab clinic,’ explained Katie.
While her time in recovery was positive, she relapsed a few months later, and things began to spiral again.
Things worsened up
‘I started drinking significantly more than I had previously. Worse, this time around, I was doing it in secret. I was hiding wine bottles around the house and drinking at work,’ she admitted.
As time went on, Katie found it increasingly challenging to hide her addiction from her family, and its toll on her health became more pronounced.
‘I started to feel very ill. I was vomiting, bloated, and had stomach pain, which turned out to be an inflamed liver,’ she explained.
She ultimately resigned from her job, fearing her coworkers were getting suspicious of her drinking habits.
Five bottles of wine in a day
And because she had no responsibility, things worsened. ‘I was drinking five bottles of wine daily. I drank like this for about two months, getting sicker and sicker,’ she recalled.
However, Katie finally had a wake up call in 2018 when she was hospitalized three times in a row.
Doctors offered a stern warning: If she continued to drink excessively, she may not live to see her next birthday.
And when her father caught her ‘chugging a bottle of wine’, Katie went on a long bender that ended up with her in the emergency room.
The confrontation
She explained: ‘My dad caught me chugging a bottle of wine in the yard. The confrontation sent me over the edge. I was so angry I went on a 36-hour bender that ended with me in the hospital emergency room.
‘I was placed on a psych hold and helped to detox from alcohol for a few days – it’s essential to seek medical treatment when trying to quit heavy drinking as the withdrawals can be life-threatening.’
