Jackedjohn

No one can tell you what is best for you. We can only tell you what worked and didn't work for us. I have a huge issue with the word "powerless". I believe it is completely counterproductive when it comes to people who have been beaten up by alcohol in the past. I believe alcohol weakens the person. For me... alcohol made me act in a way that is unacceptable in any situation and for that I will not drink. I'm a good person. I'm a strong person. I'm a person that anyone can count on. I want to keep it that way. I love being that person and with alcohol.. even one night a week, ruins that. I spend the whole next week apologizing. I would never tell a person to go out drinking obviously, but at the same time cannot control what you think is ok for you. It sounds like from your original post that if you just ask yourself "Is this really worth it for me?" You'll know what you should do and how you should handle this. Best wishes

MsCooterBrown

That bargaining such as only one night a week. Turns into Friday thru Sunday..but wait..too hungover Sunday and that goes on until pretty soon you are drinking full time..then..the added perk..you get so worried about getting a DUI that you only drink at home...you ground yourself. Your whole life then revolves around alcohol...any errands ..appts..all of it must be done before you start drinking. Oh wait..maybe that was just me. Plus if you do manage to do some sort of control drinking you will just want to bang your head..all it is is constant withdrawal. I spose everyone has to try it out to see for themselves. May as well go for it and get it out of your system. We will be here if you make it back!!

artsoul

Hi Chriss - I know that when I had periods of controlling my drinking (which only lasted usually for a matter of months), I did the same thing you're talking about - I'd limit myself to drinking only on social occasions. What I found is that I "made up for lost time" - in other words, I would really overdo it when I drank, even I was determined to have 3 or 4 and go home.

Binge drinking, even if it's just once a week, is serious stuff. It's not really drinking in "moderation" at all.

My question would be: can you go out once a week and have 3 drinks max? If you can't, or if you find yourself obsessing over when you can have that next drink, chances are you're a lot like us and may have to reevaluate your plan.

All the best.....

nvrbeentospain

I don't think anybody really knows what you can or can't do. It seems like most people here have felt like moderation didn't work well for them. And yeah, getting drunk ever has a health consequences, so ideally you should avoid that.

I would think that if you did embark on this path, the best thing to do would be to set goals and limits. Write it down and write down what and when you're drinking. That way you'll have to be honest with yourself if you wind up changing the rules a lot.

Either way, whatever happens, you can always come back to SR for support.

newby1961

I think most alcoholics have tried to control their drinking if it worked I bet 1/2 of us would be doing it? What strikes me the most and I know you are not supposed to ever tell someone they are an alcoholic, but why in God"s name would a normal drinker be so caught up in the drama of drinking like a normal drinker? And the clincher, would they also come onto a site full of alcoholics trying to get one of them to agree with them? Non alcoholics don't worry about whether they have a problem or not. Just something to think about. I am not going to tell you to go try some controlled drinking, cause this is a serious disease that takes lives, and I can't in good conscious tell anyone to go try and prove they are not an alky.

Jfanagle

Chriss,

The long and the short of it is; if alcohol interferes with the life you want then by definition you have a problem with alcohol. If it doesn't interfere then you have no need to limit consumption or change your behavior with regard to the consumption of alcohol because it does NOT effect your life.

None of us can make that call for you, only you know if you are less when you drink than you want to be. The amount you consume and when you consume it is your determination.

You have picked a heck of a place to ask questions about "limiting" alcohol intake; WE ARE ADMITTED ALCOHOL CHALLENGED PEOPLE. Some of us to a greater degree than others. We will have a pejorative view of alcohol use, might as well run the idea of "limited" smoking by the occupants of a lung cancer ward.

I don't have a problem with alcohol and haven't had one for some 11 years; if I don't drink, then alcohol isn't among my problems. I and several others here made a decision that we are better people without booze, so in the interest of being as good as we can be, we don't drink. I can't drink on Tuesdays only unless I want to be 15% less than I am capable of being and in my case 15 will get me 20, then 30 and finally 100% less than I can be.

That my friend is the difference between problem drinking and social drinking. Some folks actually are socially acceptable and social when they drink. I am not.

I sincerely hope you find what you are looking for and if it means looking somewhere besides through the bottom of a glass, as it did for me, then you have that option. Always happy to share the experience with anyone who asks.

Jon

Supercrew

For some reason I tried this again a couple months ago, and it worked for about 3 weeks, so if you stop at 2 weeks you will probably be OK!

Chriss as long as you want to drink you will continue to drink. If that one night a week is that important, chances are you will find yourself back to daily drinking rather quickly...at least I did. I found that I can still enjoy being social and going out without drinking, but it wasn't easy at first because drinking to socialize was all I knew how to do. I hope you are successful in your quest, and please stick around either way and keep reading, there are alot of great people here and alot of great support.

Crow3000

Sounds like pure hell to me.

tooling

Drinking 1 night a week would be a horrible waste for me. Why sacrifice my digestion system for one night?

Alcohol disturbs my digestion with just one drink. And i can feel that for months. It has to do with leaky guy syndrome.

At any rate if i was going to get this digestion issue I was going the whole nine yards and getting wasted as much as i could while i was ill.

I'm not saying to do that cause the end is in the hospital. I'm saying 1 night a week really means a weekend drunk. That means eventually you'll be drinking sunday night which could interfere with work or something important. You still risk DUI's and it's not good for you even in that dosage.

Get a new hobby is my advice and treat it like you're running from the plague,.

TheBatman

Is it possible to cut your drinking habits down? Well only you can figure that out. I know a lot of people who used to drink everyday that have cut back their drinking habits. I also know people who used to drink daily for 10+ years who only drink every so often now, so it actually is possible for a alcoholic to cut back their drinking (ive seen it happen).

So is it worth trying? In my own opinion no. But you are your own man and if you want to try it then go for it. But if you "crave" alcohol you may very well be an alcoholic which means when you drink youll want to do it again.

There have been times in my past where i would only drink once or twice a week then the next day i have an urge to drink, but after a few days the urge subsides, so its really like playing with fire for Alcoholics.

ste

I see a problem with it. If you can rationalize one day a week why not more? Will your next post be - I just want to drink on weekends........ ?

SSIL75

I tried this. It didn't work.

kiki5711

I was also one of those fun, life of the party, drunk. Until, I "wasn't". Yea, and it took a few years of dealing with that until I came to the conclusion that "it just wasn't fun" any more. I kept trying to make it go back to fun, but it got more and more NOT FUN.

I hope it doesn't take you as long as it took me.

Freyakitty

Hi Chriss, Welcome! I live in the UK too and I suppose you could ask yourself why is it important for you to drink one day a week? What is it that you are essentially trying to achieve? Because once you realise the essence, you'll probably find there are other ways to get that "essence" that doesn't involve drinking. Let's be honest, after one or two drinks, are you actually socialising? I have found that most people go into their own little worlds and actually become enablers to each other.

Good luck with it though!

skg

Try it. If you find you're unable to stop at just one or two, or that consequences start stacking up as a result of your decision, or if you tumble right back into your cups, consider the phrase: "It ain't the caboose what kills ya!"

Power: THAT was my dilemma...

CarolD

You did say....you kept drinking the next day after you
did your Sat. night pub crawl.

So now...Sunday is also a drinking day?


Quitting drinking was the best thing I ever did ...hope you too
will find a sober future....

bellakeller

LOL. I am a nice person too. My real problem is that my intentions never matched what actually happened when it came to drinking. I couldn't make it work. In fact, I was sicker when I tried to moderate my drinking. It's not about being a good or bad person or being good or bad about drinking - it's about finding a way to stop it. But that's just me.

ChangeIsGood123

I found when I tried that besides failing and eventually drinking more often, I would drink too EXTREME when I did go out that once a week? What difference does once a week or daily make, when its a problem regardless. I also could not stand the obsessing about it inbetween. Its pretty sad when you are just waiting all week to go out and drink yourself to stupidity one night.

reggiewayne

Hi Chriss. I've tried every form of controlled drinking and none of them worked. I have found one way to control my drinking and that has been to quit

For me drinking was my filter for life. Every emotion or problem I had was filted through alcohol. It was a solution for a time and then it became a big problem. So I was left with not only the original problem / emotion but I was also left with the consequences of drinking (less confidence, shame, embarrasement, depression, fear, I could go on forver). It's my expierience that once drinking is a problem, it continues to be one as long as we keep drinking. It's kind of like eating sweets your whole life and then developing diabetes. There is no going back to eating them without consequences.

I can honestly say that after 38 days I don't miss drinking at all. That doesn't mean that I will never miss it, it just means that for today and over the past 38 days I can honestly say it has not place in my life. The obession to drink has been removed. It's up to me to take the proper actions to keep it "at bay" - but that work is so much less of a chore than trying to control it.

drumstick

"I am trying to moderate my drinking to one day a week, a saturday night. But my problem is I quickly change from lager (beer) to stronger alcoholic substances and then I can't stop my self and loose my inhabitions and I will stay out untill the last place that sells alcohol closes and when I get up I will start drinking again... and it will go on "

It's pretty apparent you cannot drink 1 day per week without going back to the vicsious cycle of alcoholism.

Good Luck!