Drinking history

[CAPTAINZING2000]

Would you define your drinking a problem at the very start?

Progressed that way!

Started off bad and went to worse the longer I drank

[todd6138]

I remember taking my first drink- a large glass of various liquors no mixer!- drinking it- passing out for four hours- waking up- and then I couldn't wait to do it again!

[CAPTAINZING2000]

or waking up and having the dry heaves

Should've heeded that early warning sign

[Time2Surrender]

Progressive for me.

[nelco]

I did not get sick or get into trouble every time I drank, but every time I got in trouble there was drink there, it just closed in & eventually got worse & worse.....Progressive for me too.

Big book alcoholic anonymous quote ....page 33 more about alcoholism

To be gravely effected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have. This is particularly true of women. Pontential female alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond recall in a few years. certain drinkers, who would be greatly insulted if called alcoholics, are astonished at their inability to stop.

[Ago]

We hear the progression described in the rooms as

Fun
Fun and consequences
just consequences

My drinking was fun and consequences from the first time I drank to the last, the consequences were part of the fun, until they weren't any more, as time went on the fun decreased and the consequences increased.

Clancy (from LA) had this thing in his pitch where it was like playing Russian Roulette, he had the pistol up to his head

beginning of drinking career

click
click
click
click
click

Middle of drinking career

click
click
BANG
click
BANG
click
BANG

End of drinking career

BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
click <----- See??????, I can drink like a gentleman!!!!!!!!!!!

BANG being consequences or "out of control" drinking

Summed it up nicely for me

[dgillz]

I am with Captainzing. I threw up the first time I drank any kind of quantity - 8 beers - but I liked the effect so I waited until I felt better and did it again.

In my teens and early 20s, I did not make enough money to get into any serious trouble, but I did get drunk as often as I could afford it. My buddies were amazed at how much I could drink and I never had hangovers (Dr Bob had this exact same thing to say about his early drinking habits). Later on, I found out from the book Under the Influence, that these are early warning signs of potential alcoholics.

As I got into my late 20s and early 30s and started making some money, I really revved up my drinking, taking it to a new level - say 3 or 4 times a week I would get tipsy, occasionally real drunk, with seldom having hangovers. As people my age started getting better cars and houses and what not, I still drove a clunker and still lived in an apartment. I never drew the obvious conclusion that I could never acquire these things because I spent so much of my disposable income on booze.

By my mid 30s, I was a serious alcoholic - drinking 5 days a week - but still functional and starting to "catch up" with others in my age group in terms of material things such as cars and houses. However I went through several good job opportunities and never drew the conclusion that maybe it was because of my drinking. By then I was a good 10+ years behind most people my age on a decent retirement plan.

By 38 I was self employed, because my alcoholic ego thought I was smarter than any of the bosses who kept firing or disciplining me for drinking. My higher income proved to me that this was what I was meant to do. I was drinking every single day by then, at least half a bottle of bourbon, plus I started dabbling with some other mind altering substances. My lack of doing anything worthwhile with myself couldn't have anything to do with alcohol and drugs, could it?

By 43 I was a hopeless alcoholic. I was not at all happy with my life despite still making a very good income. I was drinking at least a full bottle of bourbon daily, sometimes more. I would occasionally be sober for maybe 2 weeks but I always came back to the bottle. I had already been arrested twice, tried AA twice and nothing ever stuck. I just kept drinking and using and by the grace of god, I never lost my business or died.

After a tremendous 10 day long binge (I called this my "vacation") I was so sick I finally gave AA another shot (after a 7 day detox). Although life has not been perfect, its a heck of a lot better. I have had 2 small relapses (4 days and 1 day) but
I am finally working AA and can really tell the difference.

I am finally saving for retirement at age 47, and feel a little self esteem which I could never feel before, ever.

That's the readers digest version. That was my progression. To be honest if I had the financial means, I am sure this would've taken me 2 years to accomplish. Having sufficient money and being self employed - I didn't have to answer to a boss or worry about smelling like booze if I was working from home - were the big enablers for me.

Great thread.

[CAPTAINZING2000]

Even at an early age, alcohol was so easy to obtain.

Went thru a time around my senior year in H.S. they cracked down on us under gae drinkers. The place I had been getting served since I was 14 wasn't going to serve me for a while. We just smoked more pot or, when, our friends got home from college on weekends went out drinking with them.

One thing I did notice, the guys coming home on the weekends had started drinking a lot more then before. Seemed like, the pot and or, any other substance went hand in hand more then ever with the drink

[sugErspun]

I didn't like alcohol much the first time I drank...I definitely didn't like it the first time I got drunk. There were other "things" that worked better, and were definitely more "cool" for me to do. I recall many times in college looking down on the drunk frat boys and that whole crowd thinking "look how dumb they act". As I got older, and drinking was more acceptable for someone my age (20, 21...) it was not only "cool" for me to be out drinking ~ it was expected and the right thing to be doing as long as it didn't interfere with my life.

I created a life where I could drink a lot each night, sleep late and function rather well. I didn't take classes that started before 11am and I got a good paying job where I worked evenings - (2pm-9pm or something like that). I never thought alcohol was a problem or could become a problem since I had licked my other substance dependencies so easily by making up my mind to do so. The problems began when the responsibilities of life started interfering with my drinking... girlfriends wanting to go "out" on nights I could be drinking. Family gatherings where it was inappropriate to get drunk (when I drank - I got drunk. This much I knew)..I couldn't get into, and stay in good physical shape...the thought that I might have to stop drinking was very scary...but I managed, for awhile.

Eventually - anytime I drank I was drunk, and life was passing me by. I went 30 days once without drinking and it sucked...but I proved I could do it. People began to voice concern about my lack of joy in life (I showed very little except when drinking)...and they suggested I think about moderating, or stopping.

Within 1 year I had been to rehab, detox's...even went to AA (I wasn't as bad as them, really - I wasn't done and knew it in the back of my head). I began to conceal my drinking and that web of lies got so confusing I didn't see any way out...but it got worse. More alcohol was required which meant I had to pull further away from life to drink alone...and then it stopped working. Drinking sucked, life without drinking sucked and I didn't know what to do. So - I went to rehabs, felt a little better and began to really know that I couldn't drink, and even worse - I thought that there was no way I WOULD drink, I really did.

I got drunk, with no explanation as to why and almost lost everything I thought I cared about in a matter of days. I asked for help and started doing what was suggested. So utterly simple....

[Pinkcuda]

You could always continue drinking after a good healthy barf. I learned that in High School.

[CAPTAINZING2000]

Originally Posted by Pinkcuda

You could always continue drinking after a good healthy barf. I learned that in High School.

ooh

some are sicker then others

[Future22]

My drinking got worse after freshman year in college when I dabbled with oxycontin's and drank on them. I eventually lost a friend and another to a sober community in Minnesota and figured I'd better learn from them and stop with the oxys. However, I continued to drink and I drank to get the feeling from opiates which just did not work. Alcohol is more powerful than myself.

[Eroica]

I started out as a social drinker/pot smoker in my late teens, but I started drinking more and more until I was drinking 4/5 days a week in my earlier 20s. Then I discovered hard drugs and was able to cut back on drinking. But when I didn't have those other drugs, then I would go back to drinking. I never got to the point where I had to drink everyday though.. and could always stop at 2 or 3 in social settings.

[Believe808]

Had trouble from the very start.
First drink I can remember (or not remember) BALI HAI, ugh, was so sick, but it was cheap. Continued........

[PaperDolls]

I'd call mine a problem from the very start that progressed from bad to worse to worser.

[AW2486]

Liked it right away. Always wanted more. Took two years for the trouble to show up. I would have to put myself in my drinking progressed camp.

[collinsmi]

Pretty much from the start. To use Ago's (and Clancy's) metaphor the absence of a lot of bangs the first few years were almost certainly a function of money and age - availability. My drinking and the consequences started out bad and stayed that way throughout the duration.

[navysteve]

click <----- See??????, I can drink like a gentleman!!!!!!!!!!!

That was funny!!!!!!

I wouldn't say my drinking was a problem from the get go even though I was a problem drinker very early on. At some point in my teens I couldn't turn off the thirsty switch . Drinking made me more and more and more and more thirsty. I would say that it became stereotypical alcoholic drinking when I discovered morning drinking. When I began staying drunk around the clock I was definitely beyond the point of human aid. I think before that point I could have stopped myself.

[yeahgr8]

I just drank like there was no tomorrow from the beginning, with periods of abstainance but always went back to it! Was a problem for me from the start!

I only ever drank for the feeling, hate the taste of booze, just chased the high everytime!!!!

[CAPTAINZING2000]

I took to the taste of beer like a duck takes to water

[FightingIrish]

My natural inclination from the very start was to drink as much as possible (first time drunk...blacked out and tried to beat up my best friend), but I learned I had to control it if I wanted to keep drinking, in order to maintain my "most likely to succeed" status at school and in life.

Eventually, in my early thirties, after spending about 7 years on a drug detour, I just started drinking every night, after work, then on weekend nights, then on weekend mornings...you get the idea.

By the end I was peeing my bed nightly and living in complete squalor. But I still made a showing out at bars every now and then, where I would drink more or less like a gentleman.

[pinetree]

had blackout the first time I drank. I never should have picked up a drink.

[Dime]

Mine took decades to progress before I went over the line. My tolerance early on seemed considerably greater than my friends. I did like to get a buzz early on but rarely over did it. When I went over the line it was dramatic and fairly fast.

[espresso]

For me, what I call "normal teenage drinking", "normal social drinking" in my 20's.....
progressed to more and more social drinking.....progressed to drinking wine at home alone at weekends....drinking wine most nights (and I don't mean one glass)....drinking wine every night.....to drinking wine according to its proof rather than its cost...to drinking half a bottle of vodka.....at the end I was drinking vodka round the clock...bottles not halves.

[Tazman53]

Well the first time I got into trouble for drinking was in Jr. HS, I got suspended for 5 days for getting drunk on a field trip.

Except for arguments with my first wife for getting drunk to much I never had any real problems due to drinking until I was in my late 20s or early 30s when I got a DUI.

I would call myself a darn lucky alcoholic, I drove drunk/drinking for many years all the time and only had one accident due to drinking and even that one I did not get charged for because I covered all of my tracks very well, my wife told me I was still drunk when she picked me up about 7 hurs after the accident.

Probably the main reasons I did not get into legal trouble was I was a very nice non-violent drunk, I wanted to drink, not fight, the other reason was I never was normally soused until after I got home. Of course to me 8-10 beers was nothing, I usually had at least a 6 pack just driving home from work every day, if traffic was heavy I would kill 8 before I got to the 7-11 and then home.

Mine was mainly progressive, but almost from the beginning it was trouble at times in my personal life.