My former horrible life
I really wonder whether, prior to 3 June 2007, there was anything I could have done to ‘cure’ my alcoholism. I couldn’t walk past a pub without going into it, I would think about having a drink as soon as I got up, I would carry on drinking throughout the day (obviously I had no job), and alcohol was the dominant factor of my life.
My fulfilling recovery
For 40 months now, I have not touched a drop of alcohol. I am a true alcoholic – in other words, once I have one drink, I’ll have another, and another, and I won’t stop until I collapse. I feel genuinely as if I have an ‘allergy’ to alcohol, in the way that some people are violently allergic to peanuts. If I have a drink, it will kill me. Last time, I had an alcoholic drink, I woke up after an inexplicable gap of two months (my parents unfortunately know what happened for everyday in those two months as they attended the Critical Care Unit of the Royal Free NHS Hampstead daily). Although disabled, I have led an extremely fulfilling life, completing three books, two law degrees, two papers on Parkinson’s disease, and become a Fellow of the Royal Society for Encouragement in the Arts, Commerce and Entrepreneurship, a Member of the Society of Biology, and an Associate of the Institute of Directors.
I would like to use this opportunity to say that I have never been a user of illegal drugs. I despise illegal drugs, and for the some reason I never had the same loathing of these drugs that I did against another potent drug – alcohol. I am very proud of this fact, and that my Consultant has proof that I have never tested positive for any drugs ever, even despite countless hospital admissions. I equally hate illegal drugs as I do alcohol now, with a passion. I would espouse my recovery in alcohol as inspiration also for people experiencing addictions of other sorts. For example, in my recovery group, we have people who are addicted also to zopiclone and gambling (not together).
I am not only abstinent from alcohol – I live a most wonderful life in recovery. Even when I am surrounded by people drinking (for example in pub quizzes of some of the socialist organizations I am a member of), I don’t think about drinking (in the same way some people detest Vimto). I am in recovery, attend weekly (or at least, when I can) an ‘after care’ meeting for other individuals in recovery. I believe that nobody as such is “cured” from alcoholism – they have been totally devoted to spending every living day in the absence of alcohol.
My commitment to helping others through my recovery
I am passionate about explaining my recovery to others. In fact, I regularly speak to people who feel as if they have ‘drink problems’, not as a Doctor, but as a member of Society. I feel that all sick medical doctors should be intensely supported by the regulators in the medical profession health-wise globally.
Dr Shibley Rahman’s personal Twitter page is http://twitter.com/#!/shibleylondon and his personal Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/shibleyrahman
Posted on
Tuesday 8th February, 2011
A portrait of the muse who transformed painter Pablo Picasso’s life and art went under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London today. La Lecture depicts his secret lover, Marie-Therese Walter, who was 17 when Picasso, then 45, introduced himself as she stepped off a Paris train. Their relationship was kept secret for many years because of her age and because Picasso was married.
The 1932 painting was expected to fetch between £12m and £18m, but actually it went for £36m in the end (i.e. double).
Ms Walter inspired a number of works including La Reve as well as Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, both painted in 1932. Indeed, until La Lecture was painted, Ms Walter had only appeared in Picasso’s works in code with her features often embedded in the background of his paintings. It was when the picture was exhibited at a Picasso retrospective that the artist’s wife, Olga Khokhlova, realised there was another woman in his life and their marriage subsequently broke up.
Here is the painting for free!
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