MelindaFlowers

I drank nightly from the beginning but I realized I had a problem when it kept taking more and more alcohol to give me the buzz I craved every evening. And naturally, then the blackouts started.

I also realized when the daily hangovers started. I remember looking around at people at work and realizing that nobody else was hungover.

Kallistia

When the alcohol became a priority above and beyond everything else in my life.

Kallistia

When I was more afraid of not having alcohol than I was of losing my job and the life I've built for my son and my self

zlhzlh

When I bought a bottle in the afternoon, drank it and pretended I hadn't, then drank another with my hubby after in the evening. Then I realized I preferred drinking on my own and not with others...and it rollercoastered from there.

bullmas

When I started hiding whiskey in empty Listerine bottles

biminiblue

When I realized the buzz lasted for an hour, then the other 23 hours were spent either chasing that buzz, recovering from it, or just being miserable and wanting it all to end. The 3AM wakeups in terror, the fear or anger in every situation - the realization that I could either drink or have some kind of normal life, but I couldn't have both.

Bunny211

It had been pointed out to me once when I brought nips into a movie theatre (what, normal people don't do that?!) that maybe I had a problem but I did not think so.

When I started drinking daily I knew it. I just knew I was an alcoholic. I kept pouring the booze down my gullet and beating myself up saying "You're such an alcoholic!"

FarToGo

So many signs over the years (over 30 years!) many of them listed by others here, blackouts, more drunk than anybody else at a function or gathering, hiding empties, first thing on my shopping list, often the only thing on my shopping list, drinking every day, hungover every morning............. all of these and more for years and years.
I too was in denial and had engineered my life around drinking alone or drinking with other heavy / problem drinkers, everything else had become dull for me (really I had become dull). I knew I had a problem for a long long time... just didn't do anything about it. Shame, but at least I have made a good start now.
Good thread!
xx

stevepearce

It's hard to say. It's all a bit of a mental blur. But I would say when I tried to stop and couldn't. It's taken me about another 10 years to get where I am now, 5 weeks sober.

Dropsie

I suspect we have all "known" for a long time, but for me the point of no return was when I quit and then tested the waters.

Then I really knew and can't un-know anymore...

thisisme

When I thought it was helping with me deal with the death of my son.

OldTomato

It's hard to pinpoint an exact moment when I thought "I have a problem", I think I always knew - it just had to get more serious for me to acknowledge it. I was going to great lengths to hide my drinking for a long time, people were commenting on how I always smelt like alcohol, I knew it was wrong. Unfortunately it took a lot more than that to make me consider seriously quitting.

MelindaFlowers

This. Word for word.

SoberLife2014

Hmmm. Probably when I started drinking around a 6 pack a day and then sneaking extra drinks.

Rcvringaddict30

Truth. I have to say the same thing as Melinda, that this quote sums it all up for me as well. Also I'd like to say thank you was when I realize that my drinking wasn't for celebration anymore it was for medication.

Soberpotamus

I began to suspect it in my early twenties, age 20 or 21, when I was binge drinking my way through college. I remember being hungover on first day of classes sophomore year. I suspected I might be in the minority.

I was fairly certain I had a problem by age 26 or 27.

secretchord

I passed out in front of my kid again. This time I felt guilty. I felt out of control.

Autumnlover19

I knew I had a problem in high school. My friend bet me $5 that I couldn't not drink for 3 weeks and I made it 2 weeks and lost. I also blacked out in high school. We used to drink cheap vodka with Gatorade ugh.

I knew it was a big problem when I started working at a bar at age 25 and began drinking daily.

I knew I was an alcoholic, dependent on alcohol, when I was 30 and shaking so violently I could hardly walk or talk, let alone do something like hold a pen to write at work the next day. And I found that a few shots at and during work could fix that.

otter

I'll go with the 'when I was too sick to function without alcohol' answer. Kinda amazing how it creeps on you.

MelindaFlowers

This too. I hosted many movie nights and boardgame nights where the people I was with maybe had one drink or possibly two but I kept going to the kitchen to refill my drink and would have the same amount I would have if I were drinking alone which was upwards of 12. This is why I loved hard alcohol and 7-Up. You could have like four or five servings of alcohol in one glass and people couldn't really tell from looking at it. Maybe a half-dozen times over my drinking years somebody would take a sip of my drink and their face would look like they could just tasted gasoline. I could barely tell there was alcohol in it.

They were stone sober and I was completely drunk.

It's really interesting now because I can spot someone who's had more than two drinks from about 10 pieces. After those 12 drinks I must have looked insane. Or pathetic? Both?