AcceptingChange

Both my parents drank every night. My mom would start with wine, then have a few manhattans. (Manhattans crack me up; whiskey and a 'drop' of vermouth. Such a fancy name for straight Jim Beam.) Some mornings she complained about her 'ulcer' and stayed in bed most of the morning.
My dad would work from 7-11pm and drink 2-5 beers doing it.
My parents drank with a crowd on Friday nights. They'd host the party, or go to friday night parties and it was mostly a nice dinner and a stocked bar that people helped themselves to as much as they wanted.
I remember when i was about 15, one of the men called Saturday morning, asking for my mom, and my mom was reluctant to get on the phone, but she did. I overheard her accepting an apology. He was a wonderful man, i'm sure he just had a little too much and felt awful the next day. These were church people, but they did like their friday nights.

My dad's brother is an active drinker, really sad.
My mom's father died when she was about 14, a nasty, mean alcoholic.

So yeah, drinking was everywhere when i was growing up.
When i went to college, i instantly found the drinkers. but i was curious about those who didn't drink. It AMAZED me that people didn't drink. I mean, it was everywhere for me. Even on TV, people walked into rooms and they were offered whiskey. In cowboys & indian shows, half the show took place in a saloon.
Compared to other people, i drank a lot. But in my head, i thought i was restrained!
For my mom, i do believe she suffers from severe anxiety, and alcohol was her self-medication. That poor woman tried so many things to overcome her mental health.
But my wife's mom never drank. But my wife's dad drank a lot until he hit about 70 yrs old. But he was responsible, worked all the time, but grumpy.

It's very interesting to me to read the other people's stories. How some families never drank, some drank a little, some drank every night. A huge reason i gave up drinking was i hated drinking around my kids. I was aware of it's stigma, didn't like the fact that the adults in my life drank too much, and i didn't want to have them see me making the same mistakes as my grandparents & parents.

Rev

I think there was a tendency toward alcoholism on both sides, but my paternal grandfather was the only identified alcoholic (I never met him, as he died of "liver cancer" long before I was born).

Rev

Surlyredhead

My Parents were social drinkers, my brother was almost to the point of having a problem but got it under control. I had one Uncle and an Aunt that drank themselves to death, two cousins who continue to fight alcohol/drug addiction, one great uncle who drank himself to death.
LOL, When I tell people that half of my family is wanted by the law, and the other half IS the law, I am not kidding....

scoob

Pretty much everyone on my dad's side. My grandfather quit at 30 when he realized what was happening, my great aunt died a pickle, my aunt never drank because of it, my dad is only newly sober, my sister is a sobriety nazi, she takes it to the extreme of no substance.

barb dwyer

I wasn't 'raised' around alcohol,
but WAS 'raised' around family members who spoke openly
(and confusingly) about being in recovery...

Genetically - alcoholism goes back consecutive generations to Scotland...1600's.

you could say 'the family business' created the side effect of alcoholism.

We are apparently consistently thrown out of countries for
being uninclined to pay taxes....

LOL

laurie6781

I come from a LONG LINE of alkies, lol

My great grandfather on my father's side was the 'town drunk.'

My grandfather on my father's side was developing a problem but died rather young from TB.

My grandfather on my mom's side was a 'binge' drinker, keeping it out of the house and going on numerous "Shriner" trips each year.

My grandmother on my mom's side made her own wine (more like 90 proof brandy, lol).

My uncle (mom's brother) is an active alkie at 81.5 years old.

My dad, well I used to say he was an alkie. With what I know today, not so sure, just a very heavy constant drinker all his life.

My mom, was literally 'allergic' to alcohol and would break out in hives, but she did find Valium, lol

Me, well most of you know my story, lmao

Yep, alcoholism does run in my family.

However, with all that being said, I have to tell you I know of sober alkies today, that there is absolutely NO alcoholism in their family that they can find.

Maybe someone with alcoholism in their family may be more prone to become one, but I do not believe it is the 'defining' reason. I have a sister, that is NOT an alcoholic, has never exhibited the slightest behavior of possibly becoming one. She rarely drinks as she does NOT LIKE how it makes her feel.

All I know is I got 'it', whatever the 'it' is and was given a second chance.

Hope all of you are enjoying your sober day today!

Love and hugs,

Nettaja

Sister drinks heavily, and boasts about it, but she can have one drink other times and not have any more. Dunno. Parents have two or three drinks two or three times a week, socially. The odd occasion stepping over the line, eg at Christmas, but not often. I have heard a story about one grandparent who had problems when I rolled up at my parents drunk one night, but I've never asked for any more info as I'd never met him and it seemed a touchy subject...

battypatty

My mother can count on one hand the number of drinks she has had in her life. I just attended her 90th birthday.

My father gave new meaning to the word alcoholic.

As a child I had the experience of visiting my father in a state psychiatric hospital. He would disappear for weeks/months at a time. We would explain "Daddy is sick." He brought women home from the bar; he took me with him to the bar; he gave away the family car at the bar; we found him passed out in the front yard; he came home in taxis and police cars; he fractured a guy's skull in a bar fight; he was in jail (again) when my mother served him with divorce papers. All of this by my 9th birthday. Then he went to live on skid row in Los Angeles for the next 10 years.

As an adult, I had the experience of attending an AA meeting that my father brought into the another state psychiatric hospital (the place where he found sobriety a few years before) as part of his participation on the H&I committee. When he was sober 16 years I had the experience of involuntarily commiting him to a county psychiatric hospital when he decided to get drunk again.

I was able to be with him when he died sober 7 years later.

Day after tomorrow I will be sober 8 months.

Thank you God!

Bamboozle

My parents drink. My mom does not drink often and does not have a problem. My dad drinks 3-4 standard beers every day. I don't think he's an alcoholic...but I'm not sure he'd ever give up the 3 a day...maybe if something health-wise happened. I think I wanted him to be an alcoholic so I could have someone to blame it on. I'm terrible.

I did find out that my grandfather on my mother's side was an alcoholic. I didn't know this until within the last year. One of my cousins had a coke habbit (and did time for selling...he's clean now and doing well I'm happy to say). Many of the women on my mom's side (myself included) overeat. The addictive behaviors are there. I wonder how many others have alcohol or pill problems...but are hiding it. I wouldn't be surprised.

stugotz

Mom, Dad, six brothers and sisters, all OK. Extended family, no problems. Guess Im the only "winner" on the tree.

AtlasMcGee

Both of my grandfathers were. I never met my moms dad, he died before I was born with heart failure due to extensive alcohol abuse. I was never around my dads father when he was an abuser. I've heard enough stories about both of them throughout the years though & they were pretty bad. My grandfather's, on my dads side, father was an alcoholic too and things got really bad after his eldest son died in WWII, he took out a lot of his aggression on my grandfather as a boy, resulting in my grandfather freezing up WHENEVER he is even asked about his father. I can't even ask questions in an attempt to learn more about my family tree, we're the last living generation in our family name too & I only have one brother.

Yup, alcohol has been a harsh player in my family. So has Pill abuse and other drugs. That's why I'm making the decision to stop now, before it gets any worse. As soon as I started seeing the slippery slope I was treading too closely to I had to make my decision to break this terrible cycle.

Freeport

Dad drank/drinks 2-3 per night almost every day. His brother was a raging alcoholic who almost died from it but got sober through AA his final 17 years on this Earth. Dad's parents both abused booze, heaters, and possibly other chemicals before dying relatively young 40 years ago. Mom's side pretty much teetotalers, though my mom and her brother drink occasionally. They keep it under control. Fair amount of alcohol abuse on my wife's side of the family. It adds up to a bad equation for my kids, which is one reason I choose to show them an example of a father who abstains. Trying to break the cycle with me.

thequest

Parents and older relatives drank as far back as I can remember. I didn't realize that some over used alcohol until later in life.

You know they've been drinking alot when you can smell the alcohol before you notice anything else other than appearance.

BullDog777

pretty much everyone in my family were raging alcoholics except my brother and grandmother. i grew up with it everywhere.

I'm hoping to stop the vicious cycle with me and teach my daughter enough about this disease that she steers clear of it.

Hope4Recovery

Father was and still is at 86 years old. Never in treatment and never hospitalized. The man has the constitution of a bull. I'm 39 and feel that I will die soon if I continue drinking.

threegirls

grandfather, dad, uncles, mom, aunts: all were either alcoholics, addicts or both!

Ride

both parents & g-parents all alky's, im no better, been goin down the road since i became legal....

thequest

I think past family behavior and habits carry down to the next generation. I don't think it's about passing bad genes down but rather breaking the cycle or changing habits on your own. And that can be tough.

All the older relatives in our immediate family drink or drank. Have an uncle who was told to stop for health reasons. After a week in the hospital what does he do-flavor his ice chips with scotch. He's been hospitalized for several stretches over the last few years for unclear problems. You can also smell his breath by 3 4 in the afternoon.

I get nervous because they are loosing body weight as they age and yet their alcohol consumption is increasing. The mood swings are much more pronounced as well. We don't know what to write off as old age stuff or a issue alcohol problem of a younger person. Probably both.

wolf99

When I was a kid both of my parents were always very drunk and high. My brother had problems with alcohol (i'm not really sure how severe), and now he doesn't really drink that I'm aware of. Found out recently both of my moms parents drank a lot. I'm not really sure about anymore of my family though, my parents are very secretive about things. I live with them now, they are always drunk... what has stopped me is realizing that I was turning into them. They are pretty horrible to be around.

onestepforward

Mom: addict/alcoholic
Dad: addict
Maternal Grandfather: alcoholic
Great-Grandparents: 3 great-grandfathers, 1 great-grandmother Alcolhics
Brother: Alcoholic/Addict
Brother: Alcholic/Addict
Sister: Addict
Sheeesh.