Oh Steph, what a scary situation. Sending many vibes to your brother.

I know quite a few alcoholics and many of them have done really well with treatment.

At last official count, my Granddad (on my mom's side), my Dad, and (probably) my Mom are alcoholics. My Granddad was a for-real liter-of-whiskey-a-day alcoholic (not a fifth; a liter); my Dad pretty much only drank beer, but by god he drank astonishing amounts of it; and my Mom was mostly beer and wine, with the occasional vodka & tonic in a plastic cup while she drove us to school (for real). The only reason I say my mom *probably* is an alcoholic is that she managed to dial her drinking way way back to a few drinks a week now. I've never known anyone to drink like her and not have to quit totally, but she's really truly just a social drinker now.

My Dad has been sober for just over 10 years, and my Granddad drank for about 50 years before being sober for about 15 before he died (unfortunately, in his case, 50 years of drinking the a distillery's worth of whiskey really did fry his brain, but his body just kept going).

What was my point? Oh. I told my brother many times today that if our Granddad, Dad, and Mom could quit (or dial it way back), then he can, too. Dad went cold turkey; our Granddad had medical help of some sort, because you don't cold turkey your way out of the kind of drinking he did.

Mom, Dad, Bro. A smart woman would start to see a pattern and worry about her odds. And I will admit that, about 5:30 (after talking to my brother for the second time today), I really wanted a beer. (I bought a new gluten-free beer yesterday, before all this happened, and I was looking forward to trying it.) I *don't* drink to cope with shit, and I decided that tonight was not the best time to start, and that I want to not muddy my intent, so I'm putting off trying the new GF beer until I'm sure I just want it because I want to try it, not because I want it to shut my brain up.

Coping skills: I haz them.

When DH went into inpatient rehab, we had to wait about a week for a spot to open up, and intake advised him to keep up his maintenance use (in a "we are not advising you to do anything illegal, but..." way) so I am hopeful that someone at a clinic can give your brother some good advice until he can get in somewhere. And hopefully something will open up soon, because that wait is no fun for anyone.

His plan, as of 5:00 today, was to taper off with 3.2% beer all on his own and be done with it, and then go to AA. Honestly, I suspect he's going to need inpatient rehab, based on how bad today has been for him. But since nothing is open right this moment, I just was supportive and said it was great he has a plan and it's smart to not go cold turkey, and told him he can quit.

He said "I kind of wish I had gone on one last bender," and I said, "Well, you don't get one. Take up knitting and go on a knitting bender."

[pause]

"A...*knitting* bender?"

"Well," I said, "or Pilates. I don't care. Just not booze."

"Yeah," he said, "you definitely don't get to be my sponsor."

That's a pretty good plan. And you are doing a good job of being supportive, it sounds like.

Knitting benders totes exist, and it ain't pretty. Or rather, it's very pretty until you find yourself at 5 in the morning with a whole new project because you rolled right into it after finishing the old one because you just had to dig into that new yarn and DAMN. Your hands. Damn.

"Yeah," he said, "you definitely don't get to be my sponsor."

On the other hand, you can definitely be mine, should I ever need one.

Oh, yeah, he doesn't know the pain of a knitting bender. You wake up all covered in gun cozies and you don't even recognize the colorways.

On the other hand, you can definitely be mine, should I ever need one.

Okay, but I warn you -- it's going to be all knitting and Pilates.

You wake up all covered in gun cozies

He probably needs these.

Okay, but I warn you -- it's going to be all knitting and Pilates.

You could knit a foam roller or a reformer or something.

My brother is having really horrible withdrawal (as one might expect) -- bad cramps and the shakes -- so he's going to go to the hospital later. (His wife went to work this morning, but is taking the afternoon off [she just got back in town Saturday night from Guatemala, or Peru, or some coffee-growing country, and since she stayed home from work yesterday, she really needed to go in today], and she's taking tomorrow off.) He wants to wait until she gets home to go to the hospital.

I'm so worried about him.

He needs to go in now. Can you convince him to go?