my observations that turns a problem drinker into the gutter
 

I have read on here that many people go from drinking wine or beer onto the stronger liquor like vodca and bourbon to get a stronger buzz. Also people who drink in the morning or early afternoons to avoid hangovers are more likely to develop dependence. Just wanted to know what other SR members thought of this.

I assume these are all symptoms of progression of the condition.

That's why I stopped/in process of recovery. I didn't want to go farther down slippery slope!

For me the quantity of alcohol or type never mattered , but the mad obsession taking me over did : When Can I have it/I want more/Never enough/Iam running out. I could go 3 days without it easy, but those three days I would be thinking and planning what and when I would have it again. Great way to live.

I drank the same from my early teens to my mid 20s. Just as alcoholic at 15 as 25.

Though now sober I could still say I'm just as alcoholic at 58 as at 15, because it's not about the alcohol.

With regards to turning to the "stronger stuff" as a progression symptom, for me it was the exact opposite. My drink of choice was always hard liquor as I HATED the taste of beer and wine. When I became so desperate that I bought beer and wine because I could get it easier (in our state liquor stores close at 9:00pm and all day Sundays), THAT was a sign of progression for me. I would go to the store or gas station in a dead panic having run out of the hard stuff despite trying to "portion" it in such a way that a huge bottle lasted through Sunday.

As for the drinking in the morning or earlier in the day being a sign of progression it most definitely was with me. When I started leaving work for lunch time and guzzling vodka to stop the shakes, accidentally going overboard which meant slurring my words when answering the office phone, carrying the mini bottles of wine in my purse to stop the shakes, leaving a BAR long enough to go to a liquor store to get a bottle (so I could make sure I passed out that night) and then returning to the bar to carry on as a "normal drinker", I could no longer deny to myself that I was in way over my head.

I am thankful beyond words that I do not have to live that way today.

Yes Kellye C I started off drinking the hard stuff like vodca but progressed down to beer because I thought it was less harmfull. Then in the morning the hangovers got so bad that when I woke up having a drink in the morning didn't seem like such a bad idea.

For many years it was just a few beers at night, after work. Many years. I was still dependent upon alcohol. The average person doesn't drink regularly or do they think about planning when they will drink....Alcoholism shows up in many ways...

I have tried to use hard liquor to keep me from drinking too much as beer I can put down like water but liquor makes me gag and get nausous so I have drank it to keep from getting to drunk. But at the same time I am afraid of that progresion that you were talking about.

INH

I remember my first drink. But don't remember my first morning drink. But whenever that first morning drink came, it was all downhill from there.

Yes, I tried to keep my alcohol intake low by adding Valium to the mix "to take up the slack"..

Wishing everyone a great sober day.

Bob

I posted about this a while back. It seems as if once the alcoholic turns to Vodka things go down hill fast. Morning drinking does seem to lead to physical dependence. When I was on a bender I would have to have booze in me 24 hours a day.

Ugh, that reminds me of my once daily battle to wait til 11:30am as opposed to 9:30am. It wasn't AS BAD of a day if I could wait till 11:30am - but man, if I started at 9:30am it was an absolute guaranteed day of chaos.

I remember being a little disgusted by an old partner when he would drink a couple of MGDs on the way to school in the morning. Six months later I was drinking malt liquor all day any day that I wasn't working. Days of chaos. Between the hideous hangovers and the wino alley body odor I switched to better beer. I never drank much of the hard stuff unless that was all there was, the booze I liked was too expensive and all of it was too fast and strong for a good long maintenance binge. Vodka does seem to be an end stage choice. I never went there but I saw lots of boozies hiding little cheap vodka bottles. I never really thought about any of this in terms of alcoholic behavior. Why is that?