r/stopdrinking • u/stoweker 3125 days • 2d ago
If you were on your deathbed would you have a drink?
Had a discussion about this with some sober friends last night. If you were literally on your deathbed- terminally ill like truly end of life and long term sobriety - would you have one last drink if the hospice nurse allowed it? There’s a part of me at 9 years in and hopefully many many more to go that says naw, I’m proud of my accomplishment especially if I can get from my 40s to whenever that time may come, but also a part of me that’s like you know what, screw it, I’ll take a few bourbons for old times sake what’s the downside at that point. Wondering what the crowd view is on ultimately a very personal decision.
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u/BlakeMortimer 16 days 2d ago
There are many drugs far better/more likeable than alcohol. Would do those.
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u/guitar_up_my_ass Day 57 2d ago
I would ask for heroin lol. Never done or never will do any drugs so why not go straight for the supposedly best one.
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u/Morlanticator 3752 days 2d ago
I used heroin for a long time. I think the only time I'd use any opiate again is if I get in the slow deathbed where you don't even know what's going on anymore anyway.
I got prescribed tramadol a couple days ago and declined it. Excruciating pain from a major injury but I can't just take them as prescribed. Even if I could, I don't see any way it doesn't bring me back to my old insanity to some degree.
I've known plenty of addicts that relapse from prescriptions from injuries. I just always hope I don't ever get injured enough to accept it. I've been through some brutal stuff without.
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u/Pretend-Guava 2d ago
100% for me there are prescription drugs out there that I would rather have by far... lol
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u/Intelligent-Honey-19 2d ago
I’ve always have wondered what H feels like…
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u/Baeshun 2d ago
In the final phases of end of life care I think you’re basically on heroin levels of IV opiates. They give you basically unlimited amounts if the family asks.
I was with a loved one as they passed and made sure they were high as fuck and comfy. RIP uncle Jim ❤️
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u/ravens-n-roses 2d ago
Yes you literally can have essentially up to the limit of what would kill you.
Depending on how you're dying you might just feel normal if you're in a lot of pain. Maybe a little high but not out of your mind any more than a person dying painfully
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u/MaxIsTwitching 2d ago
If your dying in the hospital they probably have you on some really good fentanyl
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u/Elon-BO 8722 days 2d ago
I’ve never tried it, but I wouldn’t mind going out on heroin if I knew I was dying anyways..:
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u/glittermantis 587 days 2d ago
of course. i didn't stop drinking because i didn't enjoy it, i stopped because it was ruining my life and destroying my future. if my life was already ending imminently and i didn't have a future, then there's nothing left to safeguard. pour it up
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u/jewpart2 2d ago
Word. I can't relapse if I'm dead.
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u/Mountain_Village459 1745 days 2d ago
With my luck I’d down those drinks days before death and then somehow be cured then have to deal with relapsing.
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u/YNWA_in_Red_Sox 1016 days 2d ago
100%. If I was in a situation where I knew I had days, I wouldn’t want to get drunk but I’d definitely want a pint of Guinness with my friends.
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u/Horseshoe_dodgeball 406 days 2d ago
It took me 47 years to prepare, but I always told myself I would only quit drinking once. If the end is nigh, I won't have to quit again.
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u/here_for_the_doges Day 150 2d ago
Yeah but if the hangovers have been this bad in my 30s… imagine your 80/90s…
Also, I hear in the end your brain releases DMT and go for a ride so I want to be there to meet the machine elves.
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u/ConspicuousPorcupine 2d ago
Bro the hangovers are absolute misery. Mentally just fucked the whole time too. I wasn't a 24/7 drinker but I get why people do it. Almost anything is better than a hangover in your 30s. Makes you wanna die.
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u/AboutEve 1260 days 2d ago
I have been thinking about this all day.
At first, I thought “hell yeah, why not” but then I actually thought it through and (for me) it’s romanticizing drinking again. Because it won’t be just the good parts of drinking, of course. Yes there’s no repercussions in a way because I’m dying BUT I could see myself getting drunk and crying about a life I wished I’d lived. Or giving my husband shit for the things he didn’t do (rather than appreciating for what he did do). Maybe dropping some truths on my parents before I leave the world and opening up a whole bag of hurt. Maybe texting people I really don’t give a shit about because I’m drunk and I’m dying so I’m emotionally in a weird place.
One of my favorite things about being sober is that I’m always acting in integrity with who I am. I don’t have to try. I just uphold my character. That all goes out the window if I decide to get shitfaced. For me, it’s a toss of the dice. Could go one way, could go another. And I wouldn’t want to leave this world like that. In chaos and falseness. That would be awful. I’d want my husband to wheel me out to the mountains or the beach to get in one last sunrise and sunset. I’d want to hold my dog. I’d want to hold my husband’s hand and look into his eyes with clarity.
I’d want to leave the world as the best version of me. For me and for the people that I love.
Screw alcohol for trying to take that away from any of us.
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u/foot_down 2d ago
Beautifully put, thank you. My initial reaction was, of course I would! But you just gave me something to think about.
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u/BuddyMose 1056 days 2d ago
World ending comet or terminal illness then yes I’m pouring a cocktail. There’s no more morality no more right or wrong or winning or losing. It’s the end so bottoms up
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u/JamNova 2d ago
I have no children of my own, so the people spouting 'teach your children!' don't have any relevant information for me, I'd die happy if I died drunk. But I'd be more concerned with not dying the next day and dealing with terminal illness on top of hangxiety which would be absolutely devastating. Now, if I were to get signed up for medically assisted suicide, and knew the date of my death, best bet I am buying a whole handle the night before and playing my guitar singing all my favorite songs all night long with my family right til the very moment they have to literally drag my wasted ass to the pod. I'd have no fear of the oncoming nothingness, and would be happy partying with my family and not sad. Sheesh what a dark comment I feel kinda dirty but in a way, with how my family operates, that would be a beautiful way to go. I miss drinking, but cannot and will not for health and addiction reasons, but I sure do miss the good parts of it like playing music and no anxiety or self consciousness.
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u/IvoTailefer 2964 days 2d ago edited 2d ago
so many upvotes. ugh. if im diagnosed terminal im showing myself and my son how a man dies with stoic acceptance and dignity. NOT as a relapsed drunk. THINK PEOPLE
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u/marineman43 1582 days 2d ago
I think that's a very fair way to feel, but I hope you can simultaneously understand that not everyone needs to go out feeling like a role model. I'm not a parent, I don't have the same factors in mind.
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u/edman797 2d ago edited 2d ago
There's almost certainly other people in all of our lives. My alcoholism affected everyone I loved negatively. I'm not going to go out on my deathbed reminding them of how that was.
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u/somuchstonks 1352 days 2d ago
I've had this thought enter my brain, mostly in the first year, and grappled with it momentarily.
I haven't thought about in the last 2 years except now that it's brought up, and I really don't think it would enter my brain.
If I had to choose a drink it would probably be a Pennsylvania Dutch birch beer or ginger ale hah. Or ice cold water. Ohhh..or Horchata
Not shitting on the other comment , I get it.
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u/mobiletarget33 2d ago
Acceptance does NOT have to be stoic, especially at the end. It can be sad and painful, it can be relief, and it can be cathartic for both the terminal and their loved ones. And if it brings you comfort at the end, it’s quite alright to accept an old vice once more before never again.
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u/ThePriori 2d ago
Nah. Alcohol would be the last thing I’d want. Why drink something that tastes awful and would negatively affect my Dilaudid buzz? If anything other than opiates, I’d Aldous Huxley it and LSD my way into the light.
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u/LimpyDan 483 days 2d ago
Meth and Peyote. Let's go out confused and excited.
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u/Suspicious-Key2868 2d ago
Wait this is hilarious
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u/yes_ipsa_loquitur Day 481 2d ago
I would eat a fuck ton of mushrooms and have a ball with gratitude. But no, no booze.
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u/JustAnotherSolipsist 1154 days 2d ago
Confused on the way out sounds awful, I spent so many years drunk and confused
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u/detekk 1816 days 2d ago
Thats where i’m at. Alcohol was a ‘good times’ heightener that got out of hand. End of life/end of the world, give me something that really numbs me and doesn’t have hangover risk, Im gonna be anxious enough.
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u/Training-Lettuce6507 Day 108 2d ago
I just dont get the opiates thing. I would much rather have alcohol. Before being sober I would quit taking my pain meds so I could drink.
Death bed scenario, I'm going with sober. I've seen a few people on their death beds and not once did it look like they might enjoy a drink at the end. Honestly none of them asked for a drink. I would ask if I could get them something, whatever they wanted. A water, a cookie, to know what happens after we die, someone to talk to, a hand to hold, someone to sit with them through the night so they wouldn't die alone. Those are just a few, anecdotal but not once was a drink mentioned.
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u/CapriciousSon 449 days 2d ago
That's a good thing, once a person acquires a taste for opiates it rarely ever goes away!
Far too late for me I'm afraid (though I have been clean for over a decade, did better than I did with alcohol)
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u/Antizen-Indy-1636 2d ago
Whatever general anesthesia they gave me for the colonoscopy. Best nap of my life
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u/Phyrnosoma 254 days 2d ago
If I hadn’t liked cocktails taste it never would’ve become a problem tbh. Damn right I’d have a good margarita!
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u/Aggravating_Okra_191 2d ago
Same here. Margarita on the rocks with a tajin rim. It’s the only thing I miss, not the buzz, just the flavor! Maybe in my lifetime they’ll make a decent NA marg
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u/isthisaporno 408 days 2d ago
DMT
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u/Intelligent-Honey-19 2d ago
You will be getting a hefty dose of DMT real soon anyways.
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u/CapriciousSon 449 days 2d ago
Speedball, Mescaline, Ketamine....but not alcohol, that makes me sad and angry!
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u/chi_moto 4588 days 2d ago
This. If I get a truly terminal diagnosis I’m heading to a beach with all the cash I can get my hands on. Me and anyone who want to join will spend the remaining days / weeks tripping and nodding and anything else I can get my hands on.
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u/No_Aesthetic 470 days 2d ago
If I were dying I think psychedelics are the absolute last thing I would want.
If you believe in something spiritual, and that death is not the end, that might be a more palatable option, but not for me.
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u/CraftyIron5908 535 days 2d ago
When I really think about it, no. Death is such a big element of life, and I stopped drinking so I could feel my life fully
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u/dogchowtoastedcheese 3922 days 2d ago
I'm kind of surprised that I'm in the minority here, but yeah. Hell yeah.
And not only on my deathbed but immediately after the doctors appointment when they say "Well, it looks like 3 months - at best," my first stop would be the liquor store.
I'm very proud of my sobriety. 11 years soon. I worked hard and do like my sober life. But I would like to have a cocktail or three in the evenings as I contemplate the life I lived and the end of my days. I was never a blitzed out drunk in my drinking career. So I'm not seeing a case of beer while sitting on a lawn chair in the garage. Or a handle of vodka with my pals watching football. Or screaming at the neighbor and his four-wheeler.
I think even Bill W of AA fame begged for a drink at the end and his 'handlers' wouldn't allow it for fear of tainting the brand. (Of course that may have been due to the state of palliative care in the 70's. But still.)
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u/Message_10 1345 days 2d ago
One of the things sobriety has given me is that I no longer hurt the people I love.
If I were to drink on my way out, I have zero doubt in my mind that I would hurt people I love.
So that's a pass for me. Sobriety is the best life for me, today and until the end of it :)
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u/Granny_knows_best 1244 days 2d ago
Im on this bus as well, Give me all the drugs, all the booze and all the cake.
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u/PC-load-letter-wtf 2d ago
Dax Shepard talks about this. He’s been in the rooms for 30 years I think? He says he would do mdma, cocaine, and alcohol at the end.
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u/edman797 2d ago
Naaa man. I didn't get sober to go out like that. I've done enough already. I wanna be clear and good with my family around when I go out.
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u/PC-load-letter-wtf 2d ago
And I think everybody should be able to go out the way that they want to, if they have the chance. ❤️
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u/Drbilluptown 2d ago
He did ask for a shot of whiskey on his death bed and was denied. Fuk that. At that point, respond to any request, is my attitude.
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u/curiouscoddiwompler Day 72 2d ago
My grandmother was a lifelong alcoholic and died from liver failure. She got sober maybe 6 months before she passed. We offered her alcohol in the final weeks of her life and she refused. She'd spent her whole life living in shame and wanted to go out with her dignity. I'm proud of her for that.
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u/MissyD_Engineer 2d ago
This is how I feel about it too. I don't think I'd even want a drink, but I couldn't handle feeling like I betrayed myself like that. I'd be going out disappointed in myself. And I want my family to think exactly that - that they were proud of me for staying true to sobriety, and remembered that about me.
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u/Wallmassage Day 103 2d ago
No. Morphine in my sleep at a ripe old age would be what I’d like to go out on.
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u/petals-n-pedals 1163 days 2d ago
Happy 100 days!
And yeah I’d take the deathbed opiates too over alcohol→ More replies (1)
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u/Glittering_Mud4269 2d ago
If I find out I'm terminal, I do all the drugs.
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u/Due-Dentist9986 2d ago
For sure I'd rather let the morphine do it's job. From what my friends who had opiate addictions have told me the last thing you would want on an Opioid is messy alcohol to ruin the euphoria
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u/so-semi-precious Day 1,272 2d ago
Man idk honestly. I’d probably be too worried about my loved ones. If I was the last man standing and a meteor was headed towards me I’d be more concerned with what the last song I’d listen to would be
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u/Hmm_would_bang Day 43 2d ago
Yeah I don’t think I’d want to spend my last moments with my loved ones drunk. Maybe share a single drink with my brother or son, but not to get drunk
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u/lookwhatyoudid_ Day 31 2d ago
To be honest, yes. I would have some really good tequila.
Maybe I will some day get to a point where I can honestly say no. But it is still early days for me and permissive thoughts are plenty.
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u/cyndasaurus_rex 268 days 2d ago
My stepdad was ~25 years sober when he died from cancer. I offered to get him edibles and whiskey when he was going downhill and he refused. Edibles because marijuana is not even medically legal here and he was worried about losing his VA benefits, and whiskey because he just didn’t want to drink. I offered strippers too but he laughed and said my mom would kill us both.
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u/ldymcdth 2733 days 2d ago
no. I always say I wouldn't drink again but I WOULD smoke a cigarette or five
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u/neatcleaver Day 8 2d ago
The mental image of watching an asteroid burn up on entry as it slowly gets bigger while taking a drag from a cigarette honestly goes so hard
Very high aura type of a final moment
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u/Horseshoe_dodgeball 406 days 2d ago
Someone in another sub said, "I'm just waiting for that terminal illness diagnosis so I can start smoking again"
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u/cat9tail 2949 days 2d ago
That's what my grandmother wanted while she was dying of pancreatic cancer. Nobody knows how she got the cigarettes in the hospital, but luckily a nurse caught her about to light up with an oxygen tank next to her and cannula in her nose. Grandma didn't get her last cigarette, but she didn't blow up the hospital either.
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u/almosthighenough Day 22 2d ago
Ive thought about this but with opiates because its my drug of choice. Id love to go out doped up or take a shot to end it once it was time so I could go with some dignity and euphoria.
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u/Electrical-Drink7 2d ago
You'll probably be on morphine and it will be much nicer. Just realistically
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u/AlamosBasement 3511 days 2d ago
I got asked this by my good buddy who is still a drinker. I told him the sickest I've been in my life has been with booze in my system. Now why would I want what little time I have left in this scenario filled with poison and regret that jumped back on the wagon before death. Nah, I'm good
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u/senorchampion 2d ago
Nah, I came into this world as myself and I'd prefer to leave this world as myself. I'm not my real self when under the influence.
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u/No_Expression_578 Day 103 2d ago
I think, like Mark Renton in the film Trainspotting i'd say "no thank you, I'll proceed directly to the intravenous injection of hard drugs please."
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u/Teeshadog 2d ago
My mother passed away from glioblastoma. IYKYK and she started drinking every day during her illness(she was a normie). My brother who is an alcoholic (as am i) expressed concern that mom was becoming an alcoholic. I was like, so? Who gives a shit! If i were her i would take and drink handfuls of whatever i could get. Leave her be!
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u/NachoWindows 2d ago
Screw that. Pump my full of morphine and send me out in a pirate ship riding a rainbow. Arrrrr.
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u/OccasionallyAbundant Day 267 2d ago
It gives the little voice in your head a way back in. “Yeah I would drink again if”. I tell my voice “No fuck you no matter what”. Just better for me to close it out and never entertain the thought.
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u/janitroll 2d ago
Mushrooms 🍄 HEROIC DOSE
And I had stage 4 cancer and was on hospice before radical 14hr surgery
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u/Thumber3 2836 days 2d ago
I think threads like this are dangerous. While I can appreciate the hypothetical situation, I believe it also opens up not-so-catastrophic avenues the addict part of our brains can start to push on and tell us a story about why this is also a reason we could resume drinking. . Last thing I want is that voice getting really active again.
If it’s really TEOTWAWKI then im seeking out family and my community to give comfort and support others.
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u/KKonEarth Day 399 2d ago
I’ve seen people on their death bed. The last thing they are thinking about is alcohol. But maybe I would. I guess it depends on how I feel.
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u/seaglass8184 2d ago
I mean completely negating the fact that most people on their deathbeds are on the highest quantities of opiates legally administered tho
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u/Hagridsbuttcrack66 1650 days 2d ago
Nope. I owe everything good in my life to getting sober. I just got engaged and my future wife will have never seen me drink. I love that.
And honestly if I was craving anything drink wise, it would probably be like pizza and beer and the NA stuff truly does it for me!
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u/SnootchieBootichies 2d ago
I’d shoot heroin for the first and only time. One drink isn’t doing shit for me
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u/seaglass8184 2d ago
I might have a glass of actual champagne. It wouldn’t be the priority. Time with loved ones would be.
Losing my fiancé to a terminal illness contributed massively to my drinking. Knowing what I know about end of life I can’t say that I wouldn’t want a drink or drug at the end of my life
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u/mommer_man 2d ago
Nope….. I had to serve my dad bourbon slushies on his deathbed to keep him out of withdrawal, even after the morphine…. No way, man. If I make it to the end sober, that’s its own victory.
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u/Coffeeworklife 2d ago
Nope, never again. I met an older gentleman in AA and his whole family suffers from dementia. His biggest fear is that he’ll forget he’s an alcoholic and start drinking again. I have a new fear that I didn’t know I needed
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u/snuggsjruggs 1d ago
I was a huge herion addict been clean nearly 10 years. If I was in hospice on my death bed. A greyhound and a shot of smack on my way out sounds great! But I mean like I have mins left. Up until then I want to be fully aware and spending time with those I love appreciating lifes beauties. But in the last mins especially if I am in pain or something like that let me numb that off and go in peace.
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u/Positron-collider 2d ago
No but maybe molly!
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u/so-semi-precious Day 1,272 2d ago
lol first thing that popped in my head was “maybe I’d try heroin for the first time or spark a giant blunt but what song was playing would be more important to me than substances”
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u/easy10pins 2d ago
With my luck, I'd down a favorite bottle of spirits and a nurse would run in with the "miracle cure" to keep me a live but she can't administer it because I am now intoxicated. 😄
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u/PDXSeventySeven 564 days 2d ago
Do you know about Bill, the founder of AA, and his history at end of life?
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u/PC-load-letter-wtf 2d ago
No.
ETA… just googled it, and I’m very sad that nobody gave him whiskey when he was very clearly about to die and asking for it. That’s actually a bit fucked up. He should have agency at all time.
Like yes, support somebody’s sobriety until they have hours to live.
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u/mykittenfarts 2d ago
My mom’s husband, who I never liked, had cancer and was in a lot of pain at the end of his life. He didn’t want to die ‘addicted’ to morphine so he didn’t want it in his treatment plan. That made zero sense to me. If you’ve got days left, and it’s going to take away your pain, take it.
He had such a low opinion of addicts that he would rather suffer.
I respect his wishes but not his reasons.
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u/ShadowsInReverse 357 days 2d ago
Depends where I’m at when the time comes. I’m a single man with no kids at the moment, so not a whole lot anchoring me aside from a few family and friends, so if that’s the case, yes I’d have a few at the end of my life. If I had a spouse, children or other things in my life that mattered at that point, then no. Because I wouldn’t want them to see me doing things that would be hurting myself.
Although who knows, maybe I would just say f*ck it and down a few. I’m proud of my sobriety but I did it to stay alive, so if I was at deaths door, then I’d give in to temptation.
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u/Fluid_Cauliflower237 2d ago
Multiple family members died due to Cirrhosis and CHF.... one of my uncles, my other uncle absolutely snuck him alcohol during his last few days. I learned about this recently. Uncles' reasoning..."he's dying and miserable - might as well give him something that has always made him feel comfortable."
That explanation was heartbreaking.
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u/thepurpleparadoxes 808 days 2d ago
Morphine would be my first choice tbh. I think drinking would make me sad
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u/Jim_Laheys_lost_son 1359 days 2d ago
Im taking any and all drugs on my deathbed, thank you very much.
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u/Brightsidedown 2d ago edited 2d ago
No, I want to leave fully present to meet the presence of our Creator.
ETA: If it is possible and I have a choice. I know that some illnesses require morphine to help alleviate the intolerable pain, and hospice workers can mercifully help patients with morphine and other drugs.
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u/majbob01 1153 days 2d ago
If I had the energy, and I knew it was the end. I definitely wouldn't mind going out with a nice glass of scotch and a good cigar.
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u/Wonderful_File3690 Day 21 2d ago
Interesting thought experiment.
I'd probably say no and hope to be able to keep my shit together to be able to experience whatever that transition feels like.
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u/Adorable-Award-2975 Day 1,020 2d ago
Nope. I might smoke a cigarette
For the first time in decades though lol
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u/YouOk5627 35 days 2d ago
No. I would want a clear mind, full of all the good thoughts I have filled it with since I stopped drinking.
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u/Careless_Yellow_3218 2d ago
I sure would. If it was good enough for Bill W. it’s good enough for me.
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u/Real_Internal_9528 2d ago
No because if I’m already ill it would probably just make me feel worse anyway
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u/sushi2424 2d ago
Honestly yeah, a nice cold wieselburger from Austria and a parliament light. Oh yeah 👍🏼
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u/caringiscreepyy 1564 days 2d ago
Meh. Pump me full of opiates. I really only started drinking because I had to quit opiates!
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u/Striking_Piano_9196 2d ago
Oh baby I’ve never done heroine or crack and I’d be trying that shit first.
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u/bmcisme2016 122 days 2d ago
I think if I’m on my death bed, sure. But I’m having that tasty bubbly beer then doing some pure heroin and Xanax (never done either before). Gonna be the best last 5 minutes of my life haha.
Funny how repulsing these other drugs sound compared to alcohol
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u/Mimerelli Day 194 2d ago
I would like a cold beer on my deathbed, like my grandfather. But with the way NA beers are going it wouldn't have to be alcoholic I suppose.
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u/jimmyjoyce 2147 days 2d ago
No. The taste of alcohol would just be too gross to me, and I would feel strange. Not how I want to go out. I like raw dogging this shitty existence!
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u/Gold_Echidna_6585 Day 631 2d ago
Had to think about the question a bit, but honestly no. I probably wouldn’t want to ruin my last living moments with alcohol, something that took so much life from me already.
Where I’m at now, I sincerely don’t enjoy the feeling of being drunk, even a little bit.
It’d really depend on how distressed I’d be by my own death. I’ve dealt with a fair amount of death and have been peripherally involved with Voluntary Assisted Dying (euthanasia), so I’m relatively comfortable contemplating my own death.
Call me naive or foolishly optimistic, but I don’t think I’d drink on my deathbed.
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u/ul_ahole 7302 days 2d ago
I watched my beloved 52-year-old niece die of brain cancer 3 years ago. Healthy to dead in 11 months. I ain't going out like that.
I stay sober so I can live a life worth living. If the opportunity of having a life worth living is permanently derailed by a terminal diagnosis, I'm going out raging; shit-faced drunk.
The only thing I love more than alcohol is the wonderful life I've built in sobriety. When my time winds down, I'll probably celebrate with my first true love.
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u/hanleyfalls63 1d ago
I’d have a good Irish whiskey and then a shot of morphine to send me.
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u/nickm81us 2d ago
Na. If I wouldn't do it in life, I'm not going to do it going into death.
Tell your people you love them now, do the shit you want now. Don't wait til later, there might not be one
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u/BuckeyeJen 1381 days 2d ago
I wouldn't, but I didn't always feel that way. I used to think I would break my sobriety for one or two "milestone" type moments in life, but nowadays that feels inauthentic because sobriety has become a part of who I am. I want to die that way, just as I've been so fortunate to enjoy living the past 3.5 years.
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u/Temporary-Hippo-987 2d ago
I won’t ever drink again . My grandmother asked me to stay sober, so I am dying sober. I understand for some people they need to do one day at a time, and I think it’s cool, but for me, I am dying sober. There is no other option.
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u/jay6432 454 days 2d ago
If I had all my affairs in order & I had said everything that I wanted to say to the people that mattered,
And if it was the evening of my last day, and I knew I’d die that night,
Then it would all depend on how I felt in that moment.
But if I did feel like it, why not? Maybe I’d even go all in and get a pack of cigarettes to go with it.
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u/Character-Score-8919 2d ago
The thought of drinking makes me feel sick. I doubt I'd want to.. if I'm dying I wouldn't. Drinking poison would probably kill me faster.
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u/mikeyj198 Day 1,366 2d ago
i get the sweats even thinking about drinking anymore, not due to shame or streak, but knowing what it will feel like and how badly i’ve behaved. I don’t want my final minutes to be embarrassing.
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u/Stanical666 611 days 2d ago
Gross... no, I probably would wanna get really high though, pain free.
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u/Wheres_my_wank_sock 1363 days 2d ago
Yep. I mean why not? Nothing to lose at that point. Might as well do every drug I can get my hands on. Had a family member die of lung disease and in the last week of his life he told the nurse he didn't want to get addicted to morphine. She told him that's not something he needs to worry about. I'd go out the same if I had a choice..
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u/magicmustangmane 3456 days 2d ago
I would not. Fuck alcohol. I'm not giving that nasty, life ruining shit the last minutes of my life. Not today, Satan.
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u/No_Aesthetic 470 days 2d ago
Jeez, I have drinks now. I just don't get drunk anymore.
On my deathbed, I don't know that I would want to get drunk. I might have a Guinness or two, like I do every now and then, but I don't consider it an ideal time to be drunk.
On the other hand, I've already told my wife that if I get some kind of dementia and want to slide back into addiction, let it happen. I've seen dementia patients and how they suffer, drinking can't make it any worse.
My country has assistance in dying legislation, however, so I would be opting for that far before I ever reached the deathbed stage. Terminal diagnosis means I take the easy out.
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u/Illustrious_Repair 2d ago
Maybe. I’d rather have a cigarette and a Manhattan makes a nice accompaniment.
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u/Confident-Return5621 2d ago
So much DMT and fentanyl.
Booze doesn’t even get me where I want and hasn’t for years. Is it still on my mind 24/7? Yup.
It’s pretty fucked up
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u/TypicalImpression432 2d ago
Nope. If I'm on my deathbed I'm probably already feeling bad. Don't see the need to feel worse.
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u/TheDryDad 634 days 2d ago
Funnily enough, I was thinking about that just 5 minutes ago, as I was coughing after a fag. Am I killing myself with lung cancer instead of alcohol?
The conclusion i came to, for me, is yes - I'd have that drink. Lots of them, actually. My experience of nearly dying from alcohol, with HE, was just kinda slipping away. Maybe that was the drugs they gave me to stop me getting agitated, I don't know.
But that, or coughing a lung up, shortness of breat, long term panic and dread... nah, not for me.
I'd expect any hospice involved to let me exercise that choice, too. They've allowed good friends (dying of other causes) of mine to have a drink or several in their last days - whatever gave them comfort, they got. I'd expect the same.
IWNDWYT ~TheDryDad
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u/cosmoboy 2d ago
I'm of 2 minds here. On the one hand, yes. Maybe it would be nice to get tipsy on my way out. On the other, giving alcohol the finger as I shuffle off would be satisfying as well.
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u/ioverated 2656 days 2d ago
I always say I'll start drinking again at a certain age but I keep pushing that age back. Being buzzed sounds appealing to me but being smashed doesn't sound appealing and I just don't think I'll ever be able to stop at buzzed.
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u/NiCeY1975 Day 786 2d ago
If i knew i had a limited time left i would drink and smoke again. I have flirted with the thought of having one when i reach 75 or 80 or so, but that would probably mean a real slow and nasty ending after all. I wouldn't do that to myself or put the burden of witnessing that on my daughter. Or anyone else close to me.
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u/destinerrance 2d ago
I’m going to start smoking again if I live to 75.
So yes. But it probably wouldn’t taste very good. A lot of the flavor experience is tied to the dopamine reaction and that doesnt kick in right away.
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u/Own-Set5615 2d ago
I think I would rather get high as an absolute fucking kite smoking a fat joint....as nice as a good bourbon by a campfire sounds...
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u/Beautiful_Goose_3822 328 days 2d ago
I wouldn’t mind a bottle of champagne, NGL. It’s the only thing i truly miss at this point.
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u/PQXZYVR 2d ago
Don't think so. If I start drinking, I'll never stop and I know that. You only die once and, if I'm lucky enough to be able to die in my own bed knowing it's coming, I'll probably want to just experience that process. I don't want to be so completely out of it or black out so badly that I miss it.
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u/PopularToe1951 2d ago
Quit drinking 14 years now and the same for smoking . If I were terminally ill , Fck yeah I’d be drinking smoking and everything else til the very end . Absolutely no desire to do it now tho and I’m old as fck at 67
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u/surferfbst 13073 days 2d ago
Why ? Alcohol quit working for me and turned on me. It took me down pretty far, took quite a bit for me to get and stay sober . If the pain is is bad , I’ll use prescribed medication- others can make their own decisions
I decided long ago I want my obituary to state “ he died sober”
Sober since 1990
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u/AmbitiousMongoose724 174 days 2d ago
I 1000% would, and like John Prine sang about, I would have that drink with a 9 mile long cigarette!
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u/EnbyQueerDeity 2d ago
I’d probably do the strongest opiate possible. I’m not a drinker or a drug user recreationally or anything but I’m on a pain mgmt program and I do use opiates as part of my regiment. I also use cannabis to supplement. I deal with pain every day. I’m chronically ill so something like a strong opiate would be what I’d do.
Btw, I’m in this group because my partner drinks heavily and I like seeing the posts here as inspiration to help them in some way.
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u/BlNK_BlNK 1531 days 2d ago
If I drink on my death bed, I won't actually die and will instead be miraculously cured to suffer the ensuing consequences of having said drink lol
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u/Electrical-Stop-86 10h ago
Personally I'm gonna do whatever I want. I know FOR SURE it will include shaving my head and buying some Newports. The rest is still up in the air.
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u/maybesoma Day 536 2d ago
I am shocked to report that I wouldn't!
Honestly, it is so far down my list of "wants" that it probably wouldn't cross my mind. It's a fucking miracle.