fu7pink

Once you have stopped drinking and admitted that you are really bad at it... can you ever recover enough to be a social drinker (my def ie: one or two every now and then)?

Ananda

I tried that and it didn't work for me. I thought I had fixed the underlying problem. It was like playing russian rulet...I might only drink 3 a nite now and then, but eventually I fell into the bottle...and most important of all....it took me 8 years to get sober again and i am lucky i didn't die before i got sober again.

So..no, i don't think so...but more importantly...not worth the risk. You can outgrow some alergies, but would I eat something I had a deadly reaction to as a child just to see if I could???

Thanks so much for posting this. I need to remember

Freedom1990

I tried that experiment after 4 years sober, and the progression of my alcoholism was frightening.

I 'thought' I'd just go tie one on good and then jump back into the program.

The alcoholic in the back of my head had already come forward and was driving the bus to hell, shrieking with glee.

I was never a black out drinker prior to recovery, and the second time I drank during my relapse, I woke up the next morning wondering how I had gotten home.

I had driven myself and my car had smashed into the back of the garage, pinning my oldest daughter's bike between the wall and my bumper.

I spent the next several days living in overwhelming fear, wondering if I had killed someone, hit another car, etc etc while I was driving that night.

I continued to binge drink the next two months.

Alcoholism is cunning, baffling, and powerful for me.

If you're not convinced you're an alcoholic, or that you can drink socially again, by all means, have at it.

My higher power certainly gave me the choice of free will, and I ran rampant with it.

Rob B

I can't, here's why. Once I take a drink I develop a craving that makes me want to drink more and more, I can't stop once I start, this is what differentiates alcoholics from social or even hard drinkers.

You can recover so you are not thinking about booze one way or another, but to put alcohol in my system no matter how long I have been sober would be a bad idea. I am positive the craving would kick in immediately and I would be screwed.

dancinggirl

No.

Thentram

Social drinking has never really been an interest of mine. If I am hanging out with friends and drinking my mind is always plotting to see how much alcohol I can get my hands on while there. If I know I'll only be able to have a few drinks I'll then start getting anxious to get home where I can continue on my own terms. 1 or 2 every now and then just isn't enough, so why bother?

ftumsh

i'm exactly like thentram. i simply can't.

Bamboozle

Every time I think about drinking...all I have to do is form a mental picture of my liver. It actually cries to me and says, "Haven't you already punished me enough?"

The "social drinking" I've done would be plenty to satisfy over 10 lifetimes worth. I don't believe I need to do anymore. May I remember this the next time I think having just one sounds like a good idea.


Besides, what's the point in only having one? One was never enough for me...I drank to get completely plastered EVERYTIME. Look where that's gotten me in life. No, thank you.

Do you want to become a social drinker?

RufusACanal

"The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death."

"Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish this, but it hasn't done so yet."

Excerpts from "More about Alcoholism" and "There is a Solution", First Edition Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

ftumsh

i went to reply to this that i would LOVE to, but know that i cannot. but...... i'm not really sure whether i would. it's a great question. sometimes i think about and miss the great times i had up until the age of 23 (when i started to drink alcoholically) and then slap myself "no - you'll never stop at one or two and you'll die". basically i am a bit envious of others because i love the bar and nightclub atmosphere.... or i did.

Bamboozle

Hey ftumsh, you know what helps me with that? I think about it and realize that more than a handful of those people who look like they're having such a good time probably have a disasterous relationship with alcohol themselves and are in denial. I had fun myself.........but.........I can't be like "normal drinkers", whatever that's supposed to be. Oh, well. Every time my drinking thoughts creep up, I have to remind myself of all the money I've wasted over six years. I remind myself that organs don't last forever and I don't have health insurance. I remind myself that my life is miserable now because I drank and did nothing else. I am to blame for the situation I'm in. I don't like what I've become--I'm trying to change myself now. Life has to be better than what I've made it out to be. I hope it's not too late.

TryingSoHard

I second what everyone else said (in short, no.)

But I also think that we tend to ask this question because the idea of never drinking again - at all is just too damn scary and overwhelming. So we ease our fears by trying to convince ourselves that we'll get sober, we'll "fix" our little problem, and then we'll be just like everyone else. We'll be able to have that glass of champagne on New Year's Eve or that beer during the big game and that will be that.

Except that it won't. Not for us.

sugErspun

I know I can't.

Can you have one or two and just stop fu7pink? (All the time?)

What is your experience with trying to control the amount you drink once you start? Have you ever said "I will just have 2 drinks.", just to find yourself starting on your fourth? I used to think I changed my mind, but in light of the certain consequence - changing my mind didn't really make much sense.

I do know people who were heavy drinkers at one time of their life - even got into some trouble, then they cut back and now don't drink often and rarely get drunk without planning on it. But they never experienced the inability to control the amount they drank once they started - it was always the 'plan' to drink too much....a lifestyle of sorts.

TCF355

Being bad at drinking can be different from being an alcoholic. If you are an alcoholic, then the answer is simply no, you cannot be a social drinker as this is the very nature of our affliction. With only 11 months sober, the idea of social drinking pops into my mind frequently, and if I ever have any doubts about whether I am an alcoholic, I simply recollect the state I was in right before my sobriety date. That ends my hypothesizing right there.

justanothrdrunk

Not possible. I've tried and failed waaaaaay too many times to risk trying again. Not. An. Option. (for me anyway)

Russelrb

Something I do not even want to think about. I never was a social drinker and never could be. If I could be a social drinker I would never have become and alcholic.

SelfSeeking

Two nights ago I was in a really bad state of anxiety and told my SO: "GOD I wish I wasn't an alcoholic so I could drink right now!" This is how my mind works.

No social drinking in my future... it's all or nothing for me. I've seen all, and prefer nothing.

tommyk

Same here.

I don't think I ever was a social drinker, so I guess I can't go back to what I never was.

TTOSBT

Why? Social drinking sounds a little torturous to me, lol.
I drank to get buzzed, drunk, escape. I don't want to be a drunk today and all I have to do is add alcohol to my life to be one.
So nope, I am truly allergic and EVERYONE is better off that I do not try to drink socially

Tazman53

That was my dream for many a year, I would quit for a few days or a week or 2 and think "I got it licked this time, I will control it this time."

I have found that for me it is far easier to not drink at all then to try and control my drinking.

I have heard it said that "When I controlled my drinking I did not enjoy it and when I enjoyed my drinking I could not control it."