Problem or just young and careless?
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 2
Problem or just young and careless?
Well, I guess I'll start here. I'm a 22 year college student and starting to fear that I'm losing the battle against alcohol. My parents recently got a divorce and that has really affected my life. Alcohol addiction runs in my family and have even been through the intervention and rehab process with my Grandpa only to watch him lose his battle time after time. I've tried several times to quit and I always slowly drift back into my old ways. I know that college students are stereotyped as "partiers" but I don't have to be at a party to drink. I amaze my friends by my ability to drink mass quantities of straight liquor and still make it to class every morning. I'm just tired of being "that really drunk guy"
All I want to be able to do is go out and have a "few" with my friends but I can't even do that. I can't control myself. Once I start to slightly get buzzed there is no stopping me. I drink till I wake up the next morning and of course that's after a long black out period.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
All I want to be able to do is go out and have a "few" with my friends but I can't even do that. I can't control myself. Once I start to slightly get buzzed there is no stopping me. I drink till I wake up the next morning and of course that's after a long black out period.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
totfit
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Ft Collins, CO
Posts: 1,273
My thought from the way it sounds, especially about your tolerance is that abstinence is the only thing that will work for you. I speak from a voice of experience. If you drink any at all you are always likely to "drift" back to where you were and even further. There are a lot of things one can do in life that don't involve alcohol and a lot of things some of us will miss in life if we drink any at all. It is really pretty simple. This "might" not be your case, but you sound a whole lot like me and many similar others I know. For those like me abstinence is THE only GOOD choice.
bona fido dog-lover
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: SF Bay area, CA
Posts: 99,772
If you think it's a problem, it probably is. I tried too many times to control my drinking but never could. I always went right back to where I had been and it wasn't a nice place.
It's actually a relief to not drink at all as it means I've eliminated all the alcohol-related problems.
Give it a try. Stay sober for a month and see how it goes.
Welcome to SR!
It's actually a relief to not drink at all as it means I've eliminated all the alcohol-related problems. Give it a try. Stay sober for a month and see how it goes.Welcome to SR!
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
You have so many red flags of danger....I certainly hope you
will get assistance soon.
Please check out this link.....
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...influence.html
Welcome to SR...
will get assistance soon.
Please check out this link.....
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...influence.html
Welcome to SR...
Last edited by CarolD; 04-25-2010 at 03:37 PM.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: uk
Posts: 2,548
All I want to be able to do is go out and have a "few" with my friends but I can't even do that. I can't control myself. Once I start to slightly get buzzed there is no stopping me. I drink till I wake up the next morning and of course that's after a long black out period.
What would you say to me if i spent long periods sun bathing and i have a family history of skin cancer??.....
as i see it........you already need help.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Toronto, ON
Posts: 1,591
Slugo, I guess it would be nice to be able to drink a "few" and not end up a mess, but that's what you recognize to be the case. You're asking to be different from the way you are. If you can only drink to be drunk, then it could be that you've got an addiction problem. By inserting the topic of your parents getting divorced, you are of course pointing out an association between emotional distress and the use of alcohol - not just drinking alcohol; "USING" alcohol, which is where my problems started. The buzz feeling is what anyone can have while they drink alcohol; the using is what a person with an addiction issue gets. The ability (not just desire or obsession) to use it like a remedy is something that stays with a person their whole life, as far as I know; at least that is how I am looking at it, and what most people experienced in addiction would tell you.
You've seen what alcohol can do, and you're saying you're getting sick of the consequences that come with it, socially or physcially. I never knew I had the ability to stay away from it until recently, and it took years to reach this point (and I haven't been drinking for 5+ months now). Alcohol for a person like me - and I guess like US - is a lot of hassle that one can do without. It's never going to come through on the promises you pretend it solves. It will help with the buzz and annihilate time when you get drunk, and be a friend to that extent, I won't deny that. But it's not going to help what is inside; that comes from you, your brain with no alcohol, and people that want better for you. If you want to give it a shot, try to stop and see what you can do without it.
You've seen what alcohol can do, and you're saying you're getting sick of the consequences that come with it, socially or physcially. I never knew I had the ability to stay away from it until recently, and it took years to reach this point (and I haven't been drinking for 5+ months now). Alcohol for a person like me - and I guess like US - is a lot of hassle that one can do without. It's never going to come through on the promises you pretend it solves. It will help with the buzz and annihilate time when you get drunk, and be a friend to that extent, I won't deny that. But it's not going to help what is inside; that comes from you, your brain with no alcohol, and people that want better for you. If you want to give it a shot, try to stop and see what you can do without it.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,414
Welcome slugo
I really can't put it any differently than these folks have - there are red flags in your post - and I'm guessing you suspected that, or you wouldn't have come here.
I spent 20 years tying myself in knots trying to convince myself I was a guy who could have a few.
I'm not.
Please be smarter than I was, and realise that now.
D
I really can't put it any differently than these folks have - there are red flags in your post - and I'm guessing you suspected that, or you wouldn't have come here.
I spent 20 years tying myself in knots trying to convince myself I was a guy who could have a few.
I'm not.
Please be smarter than I was, and realise that now.
D
Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 174
I could have written that post when I was 22. It was around that time that I began waking up still drunk and drinking the next day too. Within a year I was drinking for weeks at a time. Everybody's alcoholism story is different, my personal problems escalated extremely quickly because I was in an extremely good financial situation from 22-23 where I could afford to drink as much as I wanted whenever I wanted. I'm 25 now and 13 days ago finally admitted to myself that I had a massive problem.
I knew I had a problem since I was about 18 but I never properly realised to myself that I was a full blown alcoholic who was just getting worse and worse. I'm extremely lucky I never ended up on the street and it was purely because I had some extremely good people in my life who kept me from sinking that low despite my best efforts.
I know you'll make the right choice in the end mate, just keep hanging in there. It's tough to quit at a young age, but you have the chance to be one of the lucky ones who admits and does something about their problem instead of adjusting (ruining) their lives to accommodate it.
I knew I had a problem since I was about 18 but I never properly realised to myself that I was a full blown alcoholic who was just getting worse and worse. I'm extremely lucky I never ended up on the street and it was purely because I had some extremely good people in my life who kept me from sinking that low despite my best efforts.
I know you'll make the right choice in the end mate, just keep hanging in there. It's tough to quit at a young age, but you have the chance to be one of the lucky ones who admits and does something about their problem instead of adjusting (ruining) their lives to accommodate it.
April 18, 2010
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,117
Slugo, I second what a lot of people here are saying. It's very wise of you to realize now that you are not able to stop after you start, and even more than that . . . to take action and seek help! I wish I could go back to 22 and do what you're doing. Good luck.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Michigan
Posts: 758
Originally Posted by slugo 
Thanks for all the replies, my school offers a free counseling service so I'm going to start there tomorrow.
slugo if you follow through with that then that could very well end up being the best thing you have ever done for yourself in your life. If you already know you can't control your drinking at 22, then if you did nothing about it you would probably be looking at YEARS of hardship and problems like many of us here had to go through. Doing something about it now will save you all that heartache and pain. Glad to hear your addressing the problem!
Steve
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