Cathy31

First drink at 13 (blackout./drunk/raiding liquor cabinet for fun with friends!)

Started drinking heavily at university at 17 - always bingeing, blackouts from day 1

Moderated (!!) to about 2-3 blackouts a week - ie 'only' drinking 2-3 times a week but always a binge - til I was 31 and found this forum. I half heartedly tried recovery for a year and a half until March of last year when I did it properly and was kind of forced into a corner. Now 18+ months sober...I have a good relationship wtih ex husband and a wonderful life. I still sometimes cry at the wasted time and hurt I cause but AA and the 12 steps is helping me to forgive myself.

Cathy31
x

dave47

Started drinking at 16,binged from the off.Drank spirits and beer until mid twenties and then knocked the spirits on the head.Drunk premium lagers for about 20 years,so i think i've always been a problem drinker.The last ten years have probably been the most responsible, but thats not saying much.

Signal30

I didn't start drinking until I was 28. Prior to that the amout of drinks I had you could actually count on two hands minus a few fingers. In my teens I was a Pot smoker. When I did started drinking, it took about 4 years of being out of control before I relized that I cannot drink like a normal person.




Tom

collinsmi

13

Never

24 years

Shaneo20

I had my first drunk where I was completely paralytic at age 12 or 13. From 14 onwards I drank 3 or 4 times a week to get drunk. Developed a really bad cannabis and alcohol problem by age 19 where I'd smoke up to 2 oz of dope a week and drink everyday. Eventually alcohol won the competition and became my sole priority and I was drinking up to 24 beers a day. Woke up to myself at 21 and quit for 2 months. Got back on the grog and drank heavily everyday (till pass out) until 3 months and 10 days ago. I'm 27 now and I've never drank responsibly. I would have to say that I've always drank alcoholically however if you asked me whether I was drinking alcoholically in my late teens or early twenties I would most likely have said "no I just like getting really drunk whenever I can."

Kellye C

I played with drinking (stealing a drink here and there) in my teens but never enough to get drunk. When I hit 19 I started partying with an older cousin. I started drinking more often but never enough to get DRUNK. I couldn't stand the idea of being out of control.

I got truly stinking puking blacked out drunk on my 22 bday. I learned a huge lesson about mixing huge amounts of liquors and adding sweet with hard liquor. I was so sick that it scared me off of drinking for the next 13 years. I would drink occasionally but the second I started feeling it I would relive my birthday and immediately freak out and stop.

At the age of 35 I married a raging alcoholic and became the co-dependent trying to control his drinking. After all my efforts failed I decided if you can't beat em join em. I joined him and very shortly I was outdrinking him. That disaster of a marriage lasted a year then I moved back to Texas but I kept drinking. I had gotten to where I really looked forward to nightime where I could knock myself out.

I drank alcoholically for 3.5 years and had so many blackouts, rounds of alcohol poisoning that I lost count. I became so physically addicted to alcohol that I could not go more than 2 hours without a fix or withdrawals would start. I was facing major organ failure (kidneys and liver) and even in the midst of that I could not stop.

It's interesting how different people got started on the path and how long they were there but in the end the results were basically the same.

Hugs,
Kellye

Justme57

I had my first drink at 21 , and it was downhill from there , put it down at 57 now 4 years sober this month
I have SR and AA to thank, and of course my HP LOL
HUGX
leigh

Pilgrim

Hugs to everyone here!!!