"alcoholic",a very bad word
 

ignore my laziness for proper grammar posting,thank you :)

that word,alcoholic,really bothers me,just too broad spectrum,its like calling allergies the flu. those who know me here do agree i am an alcoholic and i wont disagree.

i talked to my 21 year old college son today,i asked him to have a man2man with me,he agreed,the kid(guy) made so much sense,he explained that my everyday drinking beer has affected everyone in my life and thats why i am having hard time with in-laws and whole family circle. he said he dont see me as alcoholic but a problem drinker who passed on my many chances of restarting peoples opinions of me.

see,around here once deemed an alcoholic you are finished with a great number of people in your life,scary but i am already at that point! :(

when i hear someone gossip about somebody and call them alcoholic,i sometimes wonder because thay drink responsibly in my eyes,and i am a 12 pack daily drinker.

any thoughts?

btw,im stopping drinking today,will it last? who knows :c011:

I know I'm an alcoholic. Once I admitted and accepted that fact, my whole world changed. I'm no longer a victim. I can't claim ignorance or denial. I had to fess up to what my responsabilities would be now that I cannot drink safely ever again, regardless of what anyone else wants to call me.

What used to be acceptable behavior on my best drinking days, now is unacceptable on my worst sober days.

I'm a recovering alcoholic and I'm starting to become a grateful one.

I rarely tell anyone that I'm an alcoholic.

I know that I'm an alcoholic and I don't need to hear anyone else's opinion about it.

Focus on your recovery, Homer.

It's good to see you back here :)

I think it's probably more important that we do something about our problem than name it.
I hope this time can be you time - whats your support, Patrick?

D

its the opinions of others that makes the word bad,its almost like 'non-alcoholics' thrive on just knowing an 'alcohoic'!
its the same with anti-depressants which are now like aspirin,you are on anti-depressant you suck! and for many its a lifeSAVER!

can i post "people suck!"?

It doesn't matter what your 21 year old son thinks... what do you think? I remember when I was 21 and my newly divorced father went to AA, I was like, WTF...

I haven't asked my 22 yo son what he thinks... doesn't matter... we do a lot of cool stuff together... hunt, fish, hike, ski... if he wants a beer, he has one, I like diet coke... we have a great time. We don't talk about alcoholism, I am recovered. :)

Stop drinking, if your life gets harder, if you become restless, irritable and discontent, if you can't stop completely.... well, maybe you are alcoholic, but it's not for me to say...

Keep posting!

I hope you find the desperation and willingness to go to any lengths to recover, Patrick. It's painful to watch, and I wish there was more we could do for you.

LMFAO

none :(

if you have a desire to stop drinking, I can recommend a 12 step group that has a fair amount of experience in the area. Sure helped me anyway.

wow,i forgot how friendly this place was ;)

i dont have much of a choice now,its quit drinking now or have my whole entire life change(wife of 21 years,boys 21&14).

NEVER say you are proud of me tho if i go extended time without,seems to jinx me.

Sorry to hear that you have no support Patrick.

I didn't have any support from family or friends either, but I went looking for it and I found it.

If ever you're interested there's a sticky post in this forum on recovery programmes - you may have seen it before, but there's a few options in there...

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...formation.html

Good luck

D

Patrick-

I don't even know where you live but there are already a bunch of folks, just like you, who are either trying to get sober or are already sober and sharing how they did it.

...and guess what - it's free of charge.

Seems like a no brainer to me if you honestly want to get and stay sober.

The term alcoholic is a very dirty word in todays world. Whenever I see a new doctor for whatever issue I will never, never tell them I'm a alcoholic and drug addict. Why? Because the you do you are treated differently. Many doctors and hospitals do not consider addiction a disease. This has been my extensive experience.

That's interesting. I've never had that experience. I suppose each doctor is different.

You can't turn back time Patrick, but you can make a better future. Stop making excuses about your drinking, lack of support, whatever. If you really want to stop, get help and stop. Whether it's AA or another program or counseling doesn't matter, what matters is how much effort you put into it. If you do no work, you get no results.

I use it knowing that the word evokes a lot of stereotypes and emotions. I haven't really thought about it but I suppose it's because once I take the step off throwing it all out there as directly as possible it makes the other person less uncomfortable, there's less they have to worry about saying in turn.

I'm sorry Ana...I've had the exact opposite reaction/experience.

Could it be our thinking is different? I think I've heard you mention you've been doctor shopping for valium? I'm sorry in advance if I'm wrong.

Patrick... you can say what you like but people don't suck. My opinion of them does sometimes.....but that's a problem I have with judgment - it has nothing to do with whether they really suck or not.

I've learned, in recovery, to try to quit judging people and yanno, the less I judge "them" the nicer and better "they" seem to get. Gee....I wonder where the problem was rooted. ;) I've also learned that the less power I give my resentments (as in thinking ppl suck, for example) the happier I feel... and nobody had to change but me.

Good luck to you.

The OP has a problem with alcohol... from what I can see, he's been delivered an ultimatum... quit drinking or lose his family... and yet he seems stuck on this word, label, whatever... Alcoholic.

Just focus on getting sober Patrick.

I'm glad to see you posting.

Jomey