A TikTok star who became an alcoholic as a teenager has revealed the harrowing realities of binge-drinking and how she finally gave it up.

Audra Hanson, 25, from Fargo, North Dakota but now living in Los Angeles, California, US, picked up her first drink when she was just 16 years old.

"That is when my problems with alcohol began – and they never ended, I was an alcoholic from day one," Audra told Jam Press.

"It was the answer to all of my problems, I had no more anxiety, I felt happy and I felt free."

She was invited to parties, where alcohol was available, and soon she had fallen in with a crowd who encouraged her drinking and the situation spiralled.

Audra had previously done well in high school but her frequent late nights and hangovers quickly started taking a toll on her schoolwork.

She would also suffer blackouts frequently.

She said: "I started to drink, I began to skip classes and didn't take any of it seriously anymore.

"My senior year I went to school drunk a few times.

"After the age of 18, I was regularly blacking out.

"I have no idea how many drinks that would be, I could easily finish bottles of wine to myself.

"By 20, I was blacking out virtually every time I drank, I had months where I would drink almost every day.”

While her physical health suffered, Audra also began to feel the mental effects of excessive drinking, constantly feeling exhausted and "hating" who she was becoming.

She said: "I didn't start to get bad hangovers until I was 20 and then at 21, they became terrible.

"My body was completely rejecting the alcohol and I felt like it was shutting down.

"The hangovers also started lasting for several days including shakes, cold-sweats, blurred-vision, vomiting, wheezing, and fatigue.

“I was at one of the lowest points I’d ever been."

At the time, she was taking college classes but ended up failing and withdrawing out of a lot of them.

The drinking got so bad, she ended up needing hospital treatment around 15 times.

Having suffered from anxiety and depression for a long time, Audra used alcohol to numb her feelings but found it only made the situation worse.

She added: "Once the drinking began to intensify, so did those feelings.

"I started to notice that drinking wasn’t as fun as it used to be and that I didn’t feel the same from it anymore.

"Eventually, drinking led to terrible panic attacks and emptiness."

Audra’s friends and family tried to help her over the years but it would be a long time before she accepted that she had a problem.

She said: "My parents tried to get me to quit using at 16/17 when I was in high school and sent me to an outpatient treatment facility in hopes that I would quit.

“Then from around 18- 20, I had questioned my relationship with alcohol many times but I always assumed that it would self-correct and I would grow out of it.”

In September 2018, when Audra was 21, she came home from a trip to Las Vegas and noticed she had strep throat so went to see a doctor.

Audra added: "The doctor looked at my chart and saw that I had been in the emergency room several times that summer for my drinking and told me that I really needed to stop and that this was a serious problem.

"It's what I needed to hear that day and at that point, I came to terms with my alcoholism, but I didn't quit right that day.

“It was the day after my 22nd birthday when I had a huge spiritual disturbance, I knew that if I kept living my life this way that alcohol was going to kill me.

"I had already come to the understanding that I was an alcoholic, but now I was faced with an even bigger problem - I didn't know how to stop."

Audra got in contact with Hazelden, an addiction treatment centre, and enrolled in an outpatient treatment for the following week.

She said: “I spent six months there and It was the best thing I could’ve done for myself. I finally understood my addiction and I was not alone in my disease.”

Audra went through two relapses, one at 23 after 14 months of sobriety, and one month-long relapse in May of 2020.

Since the second relapse, Audra has stayed sober but admits it hasn't been easy.

She added: “I consider alcohol to be my first love, I was really mourning the loss of a relationship when I gave up alcohol.

“The biggest change for me has been mentally. I have learned to love myself for who I am and understand that turning to alcohol is not the solution.

"My relationships have felt more fulfilling and I am able to show up for the people I love.”

In November 2021, she started sharing her story on TikTok and she now has over 14,000 likes.

Audra, who now works on the business development team at Oceanrock addiction treatment facility, said: “The community on my Tiktok page is absolutely incredible. People are so supportive and have also expressed their own journeys with sobriety.

“I am very passionate about destigmatizing addiction and mental health issues, so if I can help people by sharing my own journey through sobriety on social media, that's all I care about.”

One person said: “I’m so sorry babe we are a sad generation w happy pictures. Sending you lots of love thank you for sharing this.”

Another added: “I’m super rooting for you - alcohol is used by many to fill holes and ends up drowning us.”

A third person wrote: “Sobriety is hard. 9 years and counting. It's really amazing how much more there is once you actually start living. Keep Going.”

Another said: “I gave up 4 years ago. I was drinking daily constantly sick and foggy. You've got this you can beat this you’re incredible."

Someone else commented: “Girl I’m right there right now. Happy healing my love.”