littlefish

Counting drinks is a difficult way to determine if you are alcoholic or not, it is not the amount but why we drink. Ordinary drinkers don't undergo a transformation when they drink that fulfills a psychological or emotional or spiritual need. In my case I felt like I was empty inside and alcohol filled up that dark, sad space.

I too went through a period of counting drinks and my consumumption was around what yours is right now. It progressed to daily, all day drinking.

You have gotten some good advice here. Can you quit for 30 days?

hughs dad

To me, Alcoholism is an allergy that we alcoholics have that other don't that causes us to lose control of intake once we have our first drink. I then think the constant intake of a depressent causes a variety of other problems that we think we need alcohol to help with (anxiety, strees, depression, guilt, shame, etc...). It's like buring the candle from both ends. On the one end, you drink because booze is your only coping mechanisim and on the other end, you have a condition that makes it almost impossible to stop before becoming drunk.

An anology to me would be like a person who did not know how to swim, but he / she thought being in water would make them feel better. It's insanity. I think that long term exposure to booze coupled with a genetic disposition to become an alcholoic is the main problem for many of us. To simply use will power to fight this is very difficult because all of our lives we've used booze to help regulate feelings. So, by us NOT drinking, it makes us miserable because now we have to deal with life's problems without any tools. Even though booze is a terrible tool to use, for many of us it's the only one we knew. Witht the help off AA, this support group, medications, and a higher power I now feel I have the necessarty tools to deal with life and to not feel like drinking is an option. Just my two cents... Good luck all!

gritgirl

i think i've heard this guy. i think this the bob d speaker you're talking about.

http://www.xa-speakers.org/speakers/...nwfl200232.mp3

hendershot

My favorite definition: "The man takes a drink. The drink takes a drink. The drink takes the man." Like hughs_dad said, the allergy basically, the idea that I can't have just one, or even a few drinks, once I start.

dasha

Fascinating reading by all accounts,i am still intrigued by this definition of disease of
Alcoholism,definition of Disease being? is like something that eats away at you, and
unless you can find a cure or Antivirus, will pretty much kill you!!!,i guess my point
being am i also a coffeeholic, and a nicotine lozengeholic, as i think and obsess about
these substances also,and cannot live without them!!! so alcohol is high on the list
of mental attachments, in fact no1 because its legal! and offers immediate release
though temporarily? and at a price? from the stress and strains of this life! however
the rollercoaster ride, and extremity of feelings, and physical malfunction it brings
about make it really a class A Highly dangerous drug when misused? conclusion being
if you are vunerable to overuse and get overly attached to any particular substance
and begin to obsess about, and give more than its share of time in your life!
Stay Away From and Aviod!!!

NotTooSure

Thanks for all the advice. It has been helpful. Just because I've been worried lately, I decided to count my consumption. For January, it has been about 12 days of no drinking. 10 days of 3 or less. 1 day of 4 or 5. 5 days of 6-8 (weekends, generally). 1 day I lost count and deemed "too much" because I was out for a friend's birthday and they are big partiers, although I didn't black out.

I don't think that seems excessive, but who knows. I generally attempt to limit myself to 3 or less on a weekday. The weekends I let go a little more. I know 6-8 is still overboard for some people, and heck, maybe it is for me too, but I am a 6'0" 200 pound weight lifter, if that makes any difference. That much is generally spread over 3 or 4 hours and gets me a good buzz, but nothing more.

Anyways, thanks again for your advice and good luck to all.

CarolD

Thanks for checking back with us
Wishing all the best life has to offer....

Don't forget where we are....just in case
you need to discuss your drinking.

humblestudent

Not Too Sure -
It's the "limiting" that you're doing - the classic attempt at controlling your drinking that sure walks like a duck to me, if you know what I'm saying. We all did that. And at times, very successfully - heck, sometimes we quit for weeks or months - months - to prove to ourselves that we were not alcoholics. But what happened when we started to drink again...? The same old cycle of "too much". So, since we totally quit before, well, heck, we're normal, right - no alcoholics here! And we begin again to try to control the drinking. I'm sorry to say it always leads to the same place.

What I wanted was to have my cake and eat it too. Drink and get drunk, but not too drunk, not too noticeable.

If there is no problem, why not just stop altogether? No harm in that. But I suspect that it would be very difficult for you to truly say, I'm done forever.

For me, I just couldn't stand the mental back and forth about it anymore. If I wasn't busy blacking out, it totally took whatever sliver of perceived 'fun' out of it.

least

Alcoholism was/will be my downfall if I drink again. It will mean an early demise and losing the respect of my kids and loved ones. It will mean spending money I can't afford and risking damage to my health. It will mean that I'm not being the best person I can be.

It has too many negatives and few positives, if any. I do'nt need it, don't want it, and live a far better life without it.

justjo

I guess we can all have our own definition of what alcoholism is. I thought it meant -
My sister, drinking any time of the day, non functioning human loosing her hair and turning yellow and bruised. Yelling at me on the phone at all hours of the night, needing money to pay bills. Someone who ends up in hospital because the pain in her stomache cant be relieved or smashing into parked cars whilst driving drunk. Blaming everyone and everything for their problems whilst humilating your kids.
Then letting alcohol kill you and leaving your family to deal with it.

In actual fact - thats just one example.

I am another definition of alcoholism. I need a drink every night now, just so I can get to sleep. It worries the heck out of me.
So I guess, maybe there is no real definition of what an alcoholic is, except what we know ourselves and arent too afraid to admit it.
Jo

Pagekeeper

Ever since I can remember I've been using something outside of myself to make the inside feel better. Food and boys were my earliest choices. It's no surprise to me now that I loved alcohol as soon as I tried it. I began drinking regularly at the age of 13. By the time I was a senior in high school, I was drinking every day and already had one DUI under my belt.

At that point, was I an alcoholic? I had a hard time stopping that's for sure. I was often insanely drunk. I definitely had a problem. But I'm not sure I had developed the phenomena of craving. I drank for the effects. I thought the more that I drank the better the effects would get. Yet if I had to stop after six beers, I wouldn't go absolutely mad for another drink. I'd be disappointed, but not crazy. That was soon to change.

For me it wasn't numbers. It wasn't how many. It was that eventually I reached the point of going literally mad if I couldn't get my hands on another drink after I took the first one. You know this feeling if you've had it. It can't be mistaken. It's an intense panic coupled by a compulsive drive for MORE. And once it's turned on you can't turn it off.