fancy19

Hi,
I'm 33 and have been drinking probably almost everyday for 3-4 years. It's just beer and could be anywhere from 3-8 per day, avg of 4 per day I'd say. I've never had any issues besides the wife telling me I drink too much. I feel guilty and want to cut down or stop but I find my self always justifiying another day of drinking by saying I'll quit tomorrow or after this weekend. Given my history, if I quit now will my liver be OK? Given the amount I drink, am I safe to go cold turkey or should I wean? The last time I had my blood done was probably 1.5 years ago and my LFT's were within normal limits. Lately I've been having about 3x 7.8% 500ml beers/day.

Thanks in advance!

Taking5

Those are small quantities to this alcoholic. I wouldn't think you would have serious withdrawal issues but I would talk to a Dr regardless.

CarolD

As far as I know....there is no accurate way to predict
how anyone's de tox will go. Too many variables are
factors.....some not nown or visible
Best to have an honest talk with your doctor.
Be both safe and sober...."yup:

Please read this link

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...at-we-did.html

Glad to see a new member
Welcome to our recovery community....

Nevertheless

I drank at least a 12 pack a day and stopped many times, but seldom made it past a week. Detox would have only given me another excuse to put off quitting. And believe me,the last thing I needed was another excuse.
As far as your liver,one thing is for sure. If you keep drinking your odds of problems will just keep going up.
I wen't for 30 years saying "Ill quit tomorrow". Thats almost eleven thousand tomorrows. I hope you can quit sooner than I did.
Fred

223

Hi Fancy!

The liver can be surprisingly resilient but it depends on the individual and of course the amount of alcohol consumed over time.

I'll just give you my personal experience with mine. Firstly, I've much older and drank waaaay more than you (but don't let that make you complacent).

Fairly recently my Dr. ordered blood test(s) for my liver and my enzymes were high. After a couple of months of sobriety, I redid the test and the enzymes were back to normal. Pretty simple fix.

However, I also had an ultrasound done and my liver does show signs of scarring which my Dr. did not seem overly concerned about (as long as I stayed sober of course).

Best get it checked. It's a quick and painless procedure.

ElegantlyWasted

My take (I drank in a similar manner)... Here we go...
"It's just beer". So? It's still alcohol. 7.8% x 500 ml (16 oz here in the states) x 3 is the equivalent of a six pack. Drank quickly you can get a great buzz and escape to oblivion. I chugged 2-4 24 oz Steele reserves nightly after biking 20+ miles. Gave me a great speed ball effect. My point is that Gould could be either heavy normal or severly abusing depending on details such as body weight, how quickly you're drinking them, and why you're drinking (self medicating?). I know that I intentionally put myself in la la land with the amount you drinking when I consumed 48oz in 30-60 min. I know I was abusing, and that my bac was jacked up to illegal levels for driving. The average male metabolizes 1-2 (normal drinks per hour.. 3-4% 12.oz beer), any thing over that will put stress on your organs, and obviously the longer you have been doing this the greater the possibility of cumulative damage. I'd go see a doc be honest about the details of use and do whatever tests are recommended. If they come back "normal" don't use it as an excuse for abuse... Best of luck and hope it works out!

artsoul

Hi fancy! Glad you're wanting to get sober. I drank like you did for a long time, but I could see it was slowly progressing. I was always looking forward to that next drink and it got to the point where I had hangovers even if I didn't drink that much the day before.

Keep posting and reading. SR is a great place to come for support!

YaDude

Its not easy to quite because some else wants you to. Unless you want to quite for yourself your not going to stop.

DayTrader

normal / social / "healthy" drinkers don't worry about how much they drink nor do they try to control it, unsuccessfully, for 3 or 4 years. The raw number of drinks is irrelevant. It sounds like once you start, you can't keep to your plan of limited drinking. I was in the same position for a while myself.......probably around 10 yrs of it. Wanting to control it but the reality was (my experience was....) that I never or rarely DID control it.

The company line is "see a doctor" and tell them honestly what you're doing. Get some advice. I was drinking (I'm not positive but it's close) about 3 half-gallons of Captain Morgans per week.....for years. "Tapering off" alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllways led to another drunk - and I tried it a thousand times. Luckily, I was forced to quit cold turkey (by the legal system). Had there been annnny wiggle-room I would have started right up again. That was the start....... AA made life worth living again. In those "stupid meetings" that I didn't think I needed I learned how to live, and live HAPPILY, without the booze.

The same offer's on the table for you. Take it and run with it, try another program, try your own program, or keep on drinking. From what you mentioned of your experience when you drink, those are your options.

(heh....boy........ "tapering off" still just sounnnnnds good though, doesn't it? Why is it all the stuff that sounds good never IS good? )

fancy19

Thanks for the advice all. Has anyone tried the AA online chat's? Do they help? how long do they typically go for? Do you go on daily?

fancy19

We'll good news is that I had my annual bloodwork/urine done as I have HBP and all labs were normal although I noticed my GGT was not tested, just ALT and AST. HbA1c was also good so thats nice to know. I was a bit worried as I was having some faint tightness below my right ribcage and some discomfort in my bowels but 2 doctors were not worried about anything(mild constipation or gastritis possibly). I have not had a beer in almost 4 days and had no withdrawal symptoms whatsoever I guess I'm relieved that my labs were normal. My family doctor is on vaca so someone was filling in for here but when he asked how much I drink per day I told him 3-4 and he kind of laughed for a split second and said wow LOL. I thought that was kind of weird but whatever. It's Tuesday and since last Thursday morining I've only had one beer on Friday night. I'm going to celebrate tonight by playing SC2 all night LOL.

223

That's great news Fancy. Thanks for the update and keep up the good work!

TexasNative

Good for you and good to hear no probs health wise. Eventually you would get to more than a few a day so it's good you are shutting it down. Especially if you raised your eyebrows at it and decided it was something you wern't cool with. If you wound up drinking 15-20 a day you reallllly wouldn't be cool with it ;-)