Welcome, cargile - glad to have you with us. It really helps to talk things over here - everyone understands what you're going through.
As the others said, if you've been drinking heavily it's best to get help with detox. I'm glad you recognize that once you start, it's hard to stop. I drank the way you do when I was 26 - but I didn't think I was in danger. It was much harder to quit many years later. Good that you're taking a look at what it's doing to your life.