am i an alcoholic?
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 20
am i an alcoholic?
i definitely drink more than i should... i have a flask of jack daniels with me at all times no matter where i am or what im doing.. but i can usuaally pace myself, like i only get really smashed maybe 3 times a week.... but i cant imagine not having that flask with me.. and i drive (not when im really ****** up, but i'm never really completely sober either).. im sure there are ppl here who have way more serious problems than me.. but im still really young too... should i be concerned?
Guest
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 2,013
Sounds like you should be concerned yes. You may find that your tolerance builds over time and thus you don't even feel the effects of that flask anymore, so you need a bigger flask and then a bigger one etcetc so your driving and your way over the limit. You may also find without that flask you cannot function/cope with life and that ain't good either. You may just find you stop leaving your house completely and just start drinking 24/7/09. Only maybe's but it sure won't feel good if they come to realisation.
All the Best.
All the Best.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 20
i feel ok as long as i can have a drink when i need one... but another problem i have is insomnia.. i need to get really drunk if i wanna sleep... like right now im not that drunk but i am drinking, and its almost 6am and this is my second day without sleep
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,606
Hi again Sara
I think you belong here.
I never carried a flask but I did most things with booze - it was my complement to everything - but it stopped doing what I wanted it to do....it didn't take the pain away anymore, it didn't make me forget, I got sicker and sicker with or without it, and I needed more and more just to feel some kind of normal....
it's not easy to get out that cycle but it's possible - if you want it.
D
I think you belong here.
I never carried a flask but I did most things with booze - it was my complement to everything - but it stopped doing what I wanted it to do....it didn't take the pain away anymore, it didn't make me forget, I got sicker and sicker with or without it, and I needed more and more just to feel some kind of normal....
it's not easy to get out that cycle but it's possible - if you want it.
D
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,606
It was difficult for me to imagine too - so I drank though my 20s and my 30s and nearly into my 40s....to the point where it was either stop or die. I really hope you're smarter than me.
It really was the best thing I ever did
D
It really was the best thing I ever did
D
Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Chepstow
Posts: 359
Originally Posted by liquidfireangel 
i know im hurting myself, but i cant imagine what i would be like without drink and certain drugs
I reckon you could be one of 'us' judging by the insanity of that post I've quoted, and I meet young alcoholics in their early twenties who wouldn't have seen their thirties the way they were drinking. Age has nothing to do with it.
Me? I was a 'lightweight alcoholic' compared to some of these young people who've lost everything including their health. You do need some help, but whether you're willing to receive it is another matter.
For some people they end up dead before getting help; for others they have to wreck their lives and health before they get it. The lucky ones are the ones smart enough to get help before anything too drastic happens.
Me? I'd lost a family and a military career I'd spent 17 years in before I went to AA; that was the price of my alcoholism, and I got off lightly.
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
Here are some facts....
Welcome to our recovery community....
Progression of Alcoholism
Here's how alcoholism typically progresses:
SOCIAL DRINKERS — Most Americans are characterized as social drinkers. Statistics indicate, however, that one of every 16 drinkers will become alcoholic.
WARNING SIGNS — The individual begins to drink more frequently and more than his associates. He drinks for confidence or to tolerate or escape problems. No party or other occasion is complete without a couple of drinks. Driving and drinking become routine.
EARLY ALCOHOLISM — With increasing frequency, the individual drinks too much. "Blackouts," or temporary amnesia, occur during or following drinking episodes. He drinks more rapidly than others, sneaks drinks and in other ways conceals the quantity that he drinks. He resents any reference to his drinking habits.
BASIC ALCOHOLISM — The individual begins to lose control as to the time, place and amount of his drinking. He gets drunk unintentionally. He hides and protects his liquor supply. He drinks to overcome the hangover from his prior drinking. He tries new patterns of drinking as to time and place of drinking. He attempts cures by moving to new locations or by changing his drinking companions.
CHRONIC ALCOHOLISM — The individual becomes a loner in his drinking. He develops alibis, excuses and rationalizations to cover up or explain his drinking. Personality and behavior changes occur that affect all relationships — family, employment, community. Extended binges, physical tremors, hallucinations and delirium, complete rejection of social reality, malnutrition with accompanying illness and disease and early death all occur as chronic alcoholism progresses.
Source: American Medical Association
Here's how alcoholism typically progresses:
SOCIAL DRINKERS — Most Americans are characterized as social drinkers. Statistics indicate, however, that one of every 16 drinkers will become alcoholic.
WARNING SIGNS — The individual begins to drink more frequently and more than his associates. He drinks for confidence or to tolerate or escape problems. No party or other occasion is complete without a couple of drinks. Driving and drinking become routine.
EARLY ALCOHOLISM — With increasing frequency, the individual drinks too much. "Blackouts," or temporary amnesia, occur during or following drinking episodes. He drinks more rapidly than others, sneaks drinks and in other ways conceals the quantity that he drinks. He resents any reference to his drinking habits.
BASIC ALCOHOLISM — The individual begins to lose control as to the time, place and amount of his drinking. He gets drunk unintentionally. He hides and protects his liquor supply. He drinks to overcome the hangover from his prior drinking. He tries new patterns of drinking as to time and place of drinking. He attempts cures by moving to new locations or by changing his drinking companions.
CHRONIC ALCOHOLISM — The individual becomes a loner in his drinking. He develops alibis, excuses and rationalizations to cover up or explain his drinking. Personality and behavior changes occur that affect all relationships — family, employment, community. Extended binges, physical tremors, hallucinations and delirium, complete rejection of social reality, malnutrition with accompanying illness and disease and early death all occur as chronic alcoholism progresses.
Source: American Medical Association
Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Chepstow
Posts: 359
Interesting, Carol, though stuff like this never changed any of my behavior patterns when I was drinking; though I'd like to classify myself as a 'top end basic alcoholic with some characteristics of a chronic alcoholic', if I wanted to put myself in a pidgeon hole.
In fact I might put something like that in my sig; thank you.
In fact I might put something like that in my sig; thank you.
Guest
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Orlando Florida
Posts: 220
It is more difficult for people early in their drinking career to make the jump to sobriety because of denial and the "cost benefit analysis" of Drinking hasn't gone into the Red yet.
Imagine a scale of Alcoholic Severity from 1 to 10 with 1 being a Weekend Binge drinker only, and 10 being a Homeless Skid Row Bum eating out of a Dumpster who lost everything and will die from Withdrawls if they stop drinking.
Most Alcoholics no matter where we are really at on the scale can always point to #10 and say "see, I'm not that bad". However look at all of the years of suffereng we choose to endure as we move up the scale. Is that really a smart thing to do?
And make no mistake, it always gets worse. It never gets better. Once we have started we can only move inexorably toward #10. We can stop at any time but we will never be any lower than the highest severity number we ever achieved.
Myself, I am at a high 8 or a low 9 on the scale. Earlier in my drinking career when I was a 3 or 4 I looked down the road and didn't see any good things happening and just decided on my own to quit. I quit drinking for 6 1/2 years relatively easily and with no assistance.
I then got the bright idea that I still had some drinking left to do and picked up again. Even after 6+ years I immediately started at 4 and steadily kept moving up the scale. When I finally entered the severe 8-9 territory I am in now, the problems from Alcohol and the difficulty stopping were exponentially worse and I had left a trail of devestation in my wake.
I guess my point is that there is really no downside to getting sober sooner rather than later. If your Alcoholic brain is telling you that there is....it's lying.
Imagine a scale of Alcoholic Severity from 1 to 10 with 1 being a Weekend Binge drinker only, and 10 being a Homeless Skid Row Bum eating out of a Dumpster who lost everything and will die from Withdrawls if they stop drinking.
Most Alcoholics no matter where we are really at on the scale can always point to #10 and say "see, I'm not that bad". However look at all of the years of suffereng we choose to endure as we move up the scale. Is that really a smart thing to do?
And make no mistake, it always gets worse. It never gets better. Once we have started we can only move inexorably toward #10. We can stop at any time but we will never be any lower than the highest severity number we ever achieved.
Myself, I am at a high 8 or a low 9 on the scale. Earlier in my drinking career when I was a 3 or 4 I looked down the road and didn't see any good things happening and just decided on my own to quit. I quit drinking for 6 1/2 years relatively easily and with no assistance.
I then got the bright idea that I still had some drinking left to do and picked up again. Even after 6+ years I immediately started at 4 and steadily kept moving up the scale. When I finally entered the severe 8-9 territory I am in now, the problems from Alcohol and the difficulty stopping were exponentially worse and I had left a trail of devestation in my wake.
I guess my point is that there is really no downside to getting sober sooner rather than later. If your Alcoholic brain is telling you that there is....it's lying.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: HouseSprings,MO.~~USA
Posts: 32
Heard this at a meeting once.
Alcoholism:
The only disease known that can be self diagnosed and self treated,which paradoxically
proceeds from exercising one's own self will??
Wassup with that:wtf2
Alcoholism:
The only disease known that can be self diagnosed and self treated,which paradoxically
proceeds from exercising one's own self will??
Wassup with that:wtf2
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