Originally Posted by
Nevertheless 
I have been wanting to bring this up since I joined this forum, but I was afraid to. There are two sides to this coin.
I quit drinking a few weeks before joining this forum, and I'm kind of glad I did.
If I would have come on here and talked about thinking about it, and heard all the people saying see a doctor or go to the ER. I believe my alcoholic mind would use this as an excuse. (I can't quit I have to go see a doctor, or this might be dangerous) (although I had quit a few weeks at a time in the past), but I still would have used this as an excuse.
But I think there is a strong possibility I wouldn't have quit just because of that, and I really wonder haw many people have put off quitting. Saying (oh, I can't quit now, I have to see a doctor). We alcoholics use every excuse in the book whether we realize it or not. I'm sure men are worse than women about this, but I believe it's true.
I also know the danger of detoxing is very real, and I'm not trying to say it isn't.
I guess my point is. Alcoholism kills or handicaps also, and when someone decides to quit. There might be a small window of opportunity that gets slammed shut because subconsciously there is an excuse to put it off.
I am not trying to upset the apple cart. But like I said, there are to sides to this coin.
Fred
You raise a good point, I've used this very site as a reason to drink in the past. "So and so drank
that much? I don't have a problem, gimme a beer."
I can see both sides too, but it's more like a trick coin you speak of in my eyes - one that is heavier on one side. In a situation like this, when not advising a doctor can be fatal (all in the hopes of catching someone's window), it seems the lesser of two "evils" to me. And really, if the person is making excuses to drink, they're just not done drinking and there is nothing anyone but that person can do about that.