Jim G. – Sober 21 Years

As a medical doctor who secretly battled his own addiction to alcohol and drugs for many years, Jim's alcoholism literally affected the lives and well-being of others. Jim grew up with an abusive father whose military career relocated the family many times during Jim’s childhood and adolescence. He faced additional suffering during countless hospitalizations for medical conditions related to hemophilia, a rare bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot properly. Turning to booze and drugs during his high school and college years, Jim’s escalating alcoholism accompanied his medical degree, internship, and residency into his position as a OB/GYN at a major hospital. Turns out that the hospital culture, with its hard-working and hard-drinking doctors and nurses, further fueled Jim’s lifestyle with alcohol and cocaine. The effects of constant use soon threw Jim’s personal life into turmoil, replete with three failed marriages and ever-deepening despair. Professionally, his drug and alcohol- impaired medical practice became a severe threat to the safety of his patients. By the time Jim was intervened upon by his hospital and placed in rehab, he had had enough and was desperate to recover. Thankfully, he found a strong AA community that offered him the ego-deflation and no-nonsense support he needed to get sober. As he grew in that community, he built a humble new life in which he could be of real service to others, especially those in the medical profession who find it difficult to admit defeat by the disease. Jim’s story offers a rare perspective we don’t hear often in ordinary AA meetings, especially since many physicians attend closed meetings amongst their own. But his involvement and service as an active participant in everyday AA is proof positive of a man whose AA program is on solid ground. I’m grateful Jim’s here with me on AA Recovery Interviews and believe you’ll find this podcast to be both enlightening and reassuring. So please relish the next hour with my friend and AA brother, Jim G. Check out Howard’s Big Book Podcast, the complete unabridged audio version of the First and Second Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book Podcast is an engaging cover-to-cover, word-for-word reading of all 11 chapters and Personal Stories, many of which were left out of the Third and Fourth Editions. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Or listen on https://bigbookpodcast.com [Disclaimer: In strict adherence to A.A.’s traditions, my anonymous guests and I speak for ourselves only, not for Alcoholics Anonymous at large. We share only our personal experiences with A.A. recovery. We acknowledge that AA’s sole concern is the recovery and continued sobriety of those alcoholics who turn to the Fellowship for help. As members of AA, our primary purpose is to stay sober and to help other alcoholics achieve sobriety. – Howard L.]