Hi and welcome to you. I also had a problem with the idea of "powerlessness" and the idea of Step One as I understood it before actually being guided in the steps (right now I am on Step Three) by a sponsor. I was very glad to read "The Doctor's Opinion" because it explained very clearly what I have always believed, that alcoholism- or at least my alcoholism- really comes down to a medical issue and not that I am inherently some horrible person who does bad things. It's plain science. My body handles alcohol differently from someone who can drink safely. I can't. I basically have an allergy to alcohol. Once I looked at it like this I was able to fully adopt the idea of powerlessness and yes, absolutely my life had become unmanageable. For me, it had real deal become unmanageable and I was full blown into my alcoholism with daily drinking, morning drinking, shakes, drinking straight out of the bottle on my front porch for all the world to see at 7am, vomiting on myself, passing out then waking up still on the front porch and carrying on drinking type alcoholism. But, my life was unmanageable long before that, even when I was still "functioning" and "only" drinking in the evenings, etc.
That said, there are plenty of character flaws to work on and we alcoholics have many. Just because my disease is a medical one does not mean I get a free pass to behave any which way I want and the steps ahead will allow me to address these issues and become a better person. While the root cause may be physiological in nature there is certainly a psychological component to alcoholism and AA is one way to address that.
If you told me that chopping off my own face would help me stay sober I'd do it. A lot of people have told me AA does just that so I figured I'd give it a try. I am at a point where I would do anything for this and what I have done up until now has not kept me sober (including rehab, though I still consider it a great success, the best thing I have ever done for myself and the real start to my serious attempt at permanent sobriety) so I am reading the big book and working the steps with an online sponsor. I do not have a meeting in my town that I can regularly attend, and actually did not care for the particular group anyway, so I am doing this all online, but do feel it is helping. But, Step One is crucial.
I really like your idea of finding a sponsor and asking her about it. I have been totally honest with my sponsor, often responding to questions in a way that may not be the "most correct AA answer" but feels like my most honest response and she has been very encouraging and always reminded me there is no one right answer to all of this. the one crucial exception, I believe, is that there is only one way to start and that is admitting your problem and your powerlessness over it.
Best of luck to you. If you do not find that AA resonates with you there are many other ways to get and stay sober. But again, as others have said, they all require you admitting you have a problem and that you need to stop drinking. Controlling or moderating are not solutions. We don't have control over alcohol once we start and we have to admit that we can't touch it ever again- no matter the program.