Originally Posted by
Zamie 
However, my Dr was questioning my liver results after numerous blood tests, my skin was dry and my face and body was bloated. I also resented that I couldn't go a night without caving and buying a bottle.
This is what alcohol did to you. You weren't functioning, you were dying inside. You need your liver. It does a lot of stuff that if it wasn't doing that stuff, you would be constantly suffering. And sometimes, the progression from elevated liver enzymes to hepatitis to cirrhosis is a lot quicker than one would think. The dry skin and face are signs of dehydration - alcohol is a diuretic. It causes your system to release hormones that encourage the production of urine. It sucks water from your body. Bloating is a sign of dehydration and GI irritation. Both common side effects of alcohol abuse.
In the back of my mind what I really want is to be able to drink on a Friday / Saturday night - but not half a bottle of straight vodka.
I hope after a month I will have reset my drinking pattern.
What I want to ask is if anyone else has managed to do this, to reintroduce alcohol and not fall into their previous bad habits? Am I kidding myself?
Given what alcohol did to you, why?
From my personal experience with myself and others that drink like that, I think it's highly unlikely you would have any fun moderating, even if you're able to do so. 500 mL of vodka a night is about 11 shots. That is very heavy drinking and your body is going to remember that.
After a while, you also might start getting withdrawals if you constantly binge drink on the weekends. Putting large amounts of alcohol in your system and then taking it away causes a rebound effect on your brain chemistry that gets stronger over time. Common symptoms are anxiety, jumpiness, nausea, and general discontent.
Life is much better sober for me. It took lots of bargaining with myself, failing, wanting to kill myself, ER visits, detox visits, embarrassing message / texts, embarrassing behavior, financial trouble, health issues, etc for me to realize it. My way was the hard way.