Phoenix Woman Sober at 70 After 55-Year Alcohol Struggle

Barbara Face, a 70-year-old former training manager from Phoenix, has achieved sobriety after a 55-year battle with alcoholism. She began drinking at age 14 and struggled with dependency for decades.

Her journey included multiple car accidents and a health wake-up call in September 2024. With the help of a sobriety app and online groups, she quit drinking on December 9, 2024.

Face has since seen marked health improvements and recently celebrated her 70th birthday alcohol-free.

Barbara Face began her relationship with alcohol at a young age. She started drinking at 14 when a boy secretly brought beer to a church treat she attended. She described feeling happy but also numb, which helped her forget about tough situations at home.

By her late teens, Face was traveling to Wisconsin to drink, as the legal age there was 18 compared to 21 in her home state of Minnesota. While she viewed herself as a social drinker initially, her habits shifted after a divorce at age 19. She described running with a "fast crowd" where weekends were centered on drinking.

In her early 30s, the addiction deepened. She filled a flask with vodka and drank it while dancing. She later crashed her car into a barrier but did not remember driving home. This blackout scared her "to death." Following this incident, she entered a 30-day treatment center and joined Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), though she relapsed years later.

Face's drinking continued to impact her professional and personal life. After completing a Master's program at Ohio State University, she began drinking hard liquor every night. She eventually took a job at a call center in Birmingham, Alabama, where her hangovers led to erratic behavior and swearing, resulting in reports from supervisors.

She moved to Phoenix in her 40s with the same company. However, her addiction led to dangerous situations. While driving drunk to a casino, she totaled her car on a Native American reservation. Fortunately for her, the attending police officer did not have the jurisdiction to breathalyze her, and she refused testing, avoiding a DUI charge.

For two decades, her consumption increased to one or two bottles of wine daily. She used alcohol for "emotional release" rather than taste, often skipping solid food for liquid dinners.

The catalyst for change arrived in September 2024 following a routine annual check-up. Bloodwork results showed Face had dangerous blood pressure and was verging on pre-diabetes. When the doctor asked about her drinking, Face lied about the amount out of shame, claiming she drank only two glasses of wine a day. The doctor advised her to cut back.

Shortly after, Face received a marketing email for an app designed to help users reduce or eliminate alcohol intake. She downloaded it and began learning about the specific effects of alcohol on the brain, particularly at her age.

She began a structured reduction plan, measuring out her wine and sipping it slowly. She also joined online groups that provided non-judgmental support. "Cutting back lifted my depression a bit," Face noted, adding that she began sleeping better after years of insomnia.

Face successfully weaned herself off alcohol completely. Her last drink was on December 9, 2024. She described the first day without alcohol as "super exciting" and a "huge accomplishment." She faced anxiety regarding her upcoming 70th birthday party, worrying about how to celebrate without champagne, but managed the event successfully.

Following her sobriety, she took a cruise along the River Danube. Despite everyone else drinking, she stuck to cranberry juice and tonic water, enjoying the trip without being hungover. By April, follow-up bloodwork showed marked improvement; she was no longer pre-diabetic, and her blood pressure had lowered.

Today, Face looks and feels better, noting that her face is no longer bloated. She has started doing yoga and feels more fit. When asked if she worries about relapsing, she stated that the thought of a healthy future is what stops her. "As I approach 71, I'm in the last stages of my life, but I still find it worthwhile to be alcohol free," she said.