Clutch B

If you can take one drink of alcohol and then stop, then perhaps you're not an alcoholic.

Philly

I agree with Tommyk-I think each of us is different I have never tried to quit before and I did drink alchollically for a few years even though I only drank on weekends. My reason for stopping was to stop drinking that way. I am giving myself one year of absistence and then I will determine if I want to have a drink or two. That does not mean I am going to drink on day 366 but I am not going to consider it until after one year.

About the relapse- if I do have a drink again and would start drinking like I did before it would be a relapse. But in the future if I drink an occasional drink I would not consider that a relapse since I hopefully would have given myself a full year to decide.

I like this site because I am hoping I will gain enough knowledge from this and reading because I do not attend AA. I am only on day 128 so have alot of time to think about this.

Dee74

I don't believe a period of abstinence rests you Philly - if you drank alcoholically, especially for a few years, it doesn't matter if you 'rest' for 3 months, 6 months, a year - you'll still drink alcoholically. Forever.

This is my personal experience. I've also seen many of my friends relapse, I've heard of 25 year men who have fallen - right back to the worst of where they left off.

I see many of the same stories here day after day.

Each of us may be different, but I guarantee every one of us who is alcoholic will get the same result.

D

doorknob

I don't even use the term relapse. Going back to using is a choice, plain and simple.

least

My daughter told me off good when I told her once I 'fell off the wagon'. She said, "no you didn't. You jumped off. It was a choice". She was right. So anytime now that I have the urge to drink I have to remind myself how much I do NOT want to start all over. I like being sober and want to stay that way. Drinking never did anything good for me and each time I relapsed it was harder to crawl back up on the wagon.

RufusACanal

A drink of booze after any period of self-proclaimed not drinking, is a relapse. Of course, the basic requirement of honesty might figure into this example.

Relapse; to fall back into a former mood, state, or way of life, especially a bad or undesirable one, after coming out of it for a while.

Jadmack25

I am a lay minister of the Eucharist and when giving the chalice, I do finish what is left in it after communion. I have never even considered it could be a relapse before now. In my
case I have a small amount of beer, whisky or wine on special occasions, but if I have just 1 drink more it is Gee up Neddy, and I can't stop til I drop. Made that discovery, and the choice to limit the amount and when I had a drink, after I drove xah home when I was so drunk that I didn't even know I had driven. That was my wake up call.

God bless