kissproofworld

Hello everyone,

I am unsure of where to go or what to do. I am a 34 year old male who has been drinking heavily since for about 15 years. During that time, I had some pretty serious episodes, but thankfully avoided trouble with the law or life-changing personal tragedies. I have also substantially cut down my drinking from what it was years ago; however, I have been drinking every day with almost no exceptions (I was sober for about a week earlier this year, and about a month 5 years ago). Normally, i drink 3-4 units a day, but occasionally I end up drinking more (maybe once or twice a month).

On New Year's Eve, I got REALLY drunk. The hangover was so bad I didn't drink for two days. Then Wednesday, I had maybe 3 beers over the course of the day. Thursday, I hung out with my brother, who is in recovery, so I didn't drink. Friday, I felt pretty awful--brain fog, body aches, etc.--the classic symptoms of withdrawal, albeit mild. Yesterday was pretty bad too, and I didn't sleep much at all last night.Now I'm wondering if I am an alcoholic who needs to quit all together, or should I just monitor my drinking?

Reading other people's stories, my behavior is nowhere near that, but clearly, my body is trying to tell me something. Advice?

suki44883

Alcoholism is progressive. It never gets better on its own. Since you had some of the classic withdrawal symptoms after a day of not drinking, it sounds like your body may be coming dependent on alcohol.

Sober Recovery is a forum for support for people who want to quit drinking. If you decide that is what you want to do, you will find some awesome support here. We don't generally suggest moderation because it never works for an alcoholic long term.

Welcome to the forum. Glad that you are becoming aware of how alcohol is negatively affecting your life. You don't have to wait until it totally destroys it, but given time, it certainly can.

GirlFromCO

No offense, but are you sure? It reminds me of a lot of things people post over in the newcomer's forum. Have you read much there?

aeo1313

I don't drink daily. I binge drink once or twice a week and I am here. I am new and confused as well. I am giving up on labels and instead thinking on ways not drinking would be better for me.

kissproofworld

No, I'm not sure. I'm pretty confused, actually. I just meant that I don't drink near the volume on a daily basis that many people here have or do. I will check it out though. Thank you for taking the time to respond.

GirlFromCO

NP. Lots of people struggle with the same question: am I or aren't I? Ultimately you get to decide. You'll find loads of insight on the newcomers forum. It's pretty active with people who are trying to figure out the same thing.

Dee74

Hi and welcome Kissproofworld

We get a lot of different kinds of drinkers here - I'd be surprised if you can't recognise yourself in some other posts...as a former daily drinker myself I actually think we're at the high end of the spectrum....

Regardless of whether you want to own the label 'alcoholic' or not I think it's clear your drinking is causing you problems and you want to stop. Thats an admirable goal

You'll find a lot of support here

I hope you'll consider seeing your Dr though - detox can be problematic for some of us, especially if you've been a regular drinker.

D

endlesspatience

The other day I made a list of all the days of the past month. I looked back at my diary and I put a check against which days I drank. Not how much I drank, just whether I drank or not. There was no hiding the fact that although I wasn't drinking every day, I was drinking A LOT more often that I thought. And that pattern had been repeated the month before and the month before that. Having made the decision to get sober last year I was shocked to see I was descending back into alcoholism. Elsewhere on these boards I've discussed what I choose to do about it. But can I say to you as a fellow drinker, the first step is to be honest be with yourself about your intake. Don't worry about labels at this point. Just try to know your patterns and ask yourself why you chose to post on this forum in the first place.

2granddaughters

You are like a lot of the newcomers who find themselves at a table in our AA group, they ask if I think they really are an alcoholic.....
I tell them that if they find themselves sitting at an AA table, yes, they undoubtedly are.

pangur

@ Kissproofworld, you've the same pattern of drinking as I had for years. I spent years telling myself that it's not a problem as I'm not displaying classic alcoholic symptoms. The more I study about alcohol abuse and dependance, the more I realize I have a problem. I suggest quitting for now, see how you feel, but remember, there's a pattern of drinking daily, that's a warning sign in itself. I'm only 3 weeks off it, the first week was tough, but now I'm enjoying not getting buzzed every evening.

NewxYork

If you need to contemplate about giving up alcohol...most of the time you need to. Most non-alcoholics dont count sober days.

gaffo

I'm starting to realize that a big part of my alcohol problem was thinking about drinking so much. The amount of time wasted worrying it. Of course drinking like I was was bad. How could I intellectualize it so much? Not drinking is better for anyone, alcoholic or not. Why did I waste a single minute figuring out something so obvious, never mind a huge portion of my life?

I finally embraced the simplicity of not drinking anything at all (except in my dreams). I know that I can never drink again and it doesn't scare me any more. It excites me. After ten weeks my life is no more miserable than it was before, in fact it's frequently much better. I discover cool new stuff every day, one day at a time.

SR is a fantastic resource. It has really helped me. There are some great people here.

kissproofworld

So...thanks all for replies.

Due in part to them, and other factors, I had the cliched but very real 'moment of clarity' today. It was cold, and very unpleasant.

I haven't been honest with myself or anyone else regarding this. The scary part is, I thought I was being honest.

I am alcoholic.

It hurts to say it.

Thanks again.

TheEnd

I would keep hanging with that brother who is in recovery.

2granddaughters

Welcome.. now let AA help you be restored.