north

Gettingstarted - that was great advice - and reminded me that the OP is probably still in college. If so, he ought to take full advantage of the medical and counseling resources that are usually more available (often for free) as a student than when you are out in the cold hard 'real world'.

catmilkyo

i went into a treatment program for alcohol around my 22nd - maybe just before it?
anyway, blackouts were not uncommon for me while partying in high school. it just got worse when i got more into the lifestyle, hanging with other hard drinkers, alcoholic, and addicted people.
i thought i was too young at 22, and that perhaps i had just hung out with the wrong crowd, chose a bad relationship, or had a psychological issue. but basically, i thought i could moderate my drinking, or at least be able to drink hard like the people i liked to hang with, and not be miserable and make bad decisions.

for me, nothing changed. since that first go around, i had periods of sobriety, functioning hard partying, functioning full out drunkenness, drug use and abuse - life would have been a lot easier if i had been able to see that i just couldn't live that way and be happy, healthy, and sane. alcoholism runs in my family, i never drank responsibly, was getting loaded from the get, and so on. so yeah, i tried to moderate and i failed every time. sometimes sooner than others.

do you really just want to be able to have a few? or do you want to be able to get buzzed but not cross that line? what are your friends like when it comes to alcohol? have you ever blacked out? passed out? i guess i would be asking myself these questions if i were you. and maybe take advantage of any counseling services (in private) or mentor like relationships, or hell . . . young people aa meetings even. i know that they have them on college campuses in the city i live in.
good luck.

DayTrader

No need for me to post, RobbyRobot hit all the major points better than I would have.

avgcollegekid

Thanks for the advice everyone I'm realizing by reading all of your posts that I need to try something like going a few weeks without alcohol to see if I can do it easily. Unfortunately, the thought of staying sober for more than a week bothers me. I haven't done it in about a year.

artsoul

I think if we added up all the times and ways people here have tried to moderate, it would be an astounding amount. So, there's a good deal of experience here to go by.

It sounds like it would be so nice to be able to drink socially, but in order to do that, you'd have to believe that having a drink is no big deal, that you don't really care about whether you have one or not.

I don't see how that kind of change is possible. Just by wishing for it, we're already admitting just how important drinking really is to us.

DarkDays

Your basically asking about moderating, Nope its a form of never ending torture, tried it so many times , My whole life becomes worse than just drinking what I want. Drinking just a few beers here and there and counting down days or planning when I can do this again and never ever being fulfilled ,pure torture. For me its drink when and what I want or do not drink at all.

KarrieJay

For me, I know it isn't possible to drink "normally". I proved that to myself by trying repeatedly for years to drink normally, only for each occasion to end in disaster.

Part of the problem for me was that, unlike some, I wasn't always an alcoholic. I was able to drink moderately for a long time and it was only during the last 15 years or so that my drinking got out of control. At some point - and I'm not sure when - I just lost the ability to drink normally and from that point onwards, I only had two modes; sober or wasted. By that stage "wasted" was a foregone conclusion from the moment I took my first sip of alcohol.

But because there had once been a time when I was able to drink normally, I clung onto the illusion that I would find that ability again. And I spent years trying despite the consequences (and there WERE consequences). I've now come to the conclusion that that time has passed. I really do think that there's a line in the sand between normal drinking and alcoholic drinking, and once that line is crossed there's no turning back. It's like there's been a short circuit in my brain that prevents me from being able to move smoothly from sober, to mellow and then stop, in the way that I used to. I can now only move from sober to blackout and as the years progressed, it seemed to take less and less time for that to happen. Or perhaps I was just drinking faster and faster.

That's been my experience. And from what I've heard from other alcoholics, it's not untypical.

langkah

ACK, that sounds like a good experiment to try. After the few weeks you mention that you'll try to stop (1 week=a week, 2 weeks=a couple of weeks, 3 weeks=a few weeks) then pay attention to how it goes.

If you are quickly (quickly=within a couple of months) back to square one then you might want to take a look at going without any booze or dope for at least until you graduate and snag a decent job.

If you can't even stand reality for 3 weeks without getting drunk then nevermind the above, as that would indicate you're too far gone for that plan to be possible for you to follow.

Hope you can go the few weeks.

Music man

It's definitely not possible. In us alcoholics theres something that prevents us from doing it, maybe it's in the genes?

If you know you have a problem at 20 y/o, consider your self lucky for knowing so early.

A lot of us ( me) don't think they have a problem for years and years.

langkah

How are those few weeks going for you, ACK?