Tazman53

Marvie I am an alcoholic and for me not drinking at all has made my life fullfilling and far easier.

I felt the same way for about 5 years, I always would reward myself by drinking more.

One thing I would highly reccommend is to do some research on the progression of alcoholism!

I am an alcoholic and I can attest to the progression of the disease, once alcohol started to create problems for me in my life and the people around me I spent 5 years trying to control my drinking.

I hated controling my drinking because I no longer enjoyed drinking. I would set myself a limit, stop at that limit and sit around wanting to drink even more, eventually I would wind up drinking more. SOmetimes I would try and just quit drinking........ after a while I would figure "Well I have not drank in 3 days, I can't be an alcoholic and I would start drinking again.

Well after 5 years of that I crossed that invisible line into full blown alcoholism, I both physically and mentally had to drink every day even though I did not want to drink, I was like this for 5 years, the only way I was able to stop drinking was through medical detox! After detox I entered into the hardest thing I have ever done in my life........... staying stopped!!!!!

I stay stopped through the program of AA, AA has worked for me, there are other programs out there. If you find that you can not stop drinking and stay stopped even though you want to check out recovery programs, they help a lot of people stay stopped.

Rimmy

I would usually only be able moderate for a few days before it progressively got to be a little more and a little more each day. Within a week, it was back to 18 - 24 and binging for a few days until my body (not my mind) insisted that I not drink for a day, and then I'd try again. I own my own business, happy family etc... but what you suggest never worked for me.

That doesn't mean it wouldn't work for you, but I would suggest being careful. Nice to see you trying to work a program rather than just drinking and forgetting about any problem. Keep trying and you will find something that works for you... and being sober really aint bad at all.

TorontoGuy28

Progression of Alcoholism is very true, just like Tazman said.

3 years ago at my first face-to-face meeting I was like "wow, at least I am not that bad" , "oh man, I've never done that".... YET. You're Eligible Too.

Altough I'm a textbook definition of a functioning alcoholic, I see myself getting worse and worse.

These are some of the "yet"s that I was so confident 3 years ago I would never do :

1) I would drink alone, and hide it. DONE
2) Drive drunk. DONE
3) Lie to the people I love about how much I drank. DONE
4) Manipulate people so I can keep drinking.DONE

Be very careful, I now am chosing not to drink at all, becase after a certain point, I don't stop drinking and crave more and more and more.

Good luck.

Anna

Marvie,

As with many of us here, I tried SO hard to moderate my drinking. It was exhausting. I thought about it constantly - when would I next drink, how much, where. It was a relief to stop.

Welcome and I wish you well.