checkmate1

I never understood the morning drinker a couple shots to stop the shakes? I am amazed that people apparently do this for years before they realize there's a problem?

Justfor1

I think most realize it's a problem that just don't want to deal with it. I knew for years I was an alcoholic. I use to watch others drink & was amazed at how they could drink 1 or 2 glasses. When I got to buying pints of Vodka to drink during the day BEFORE I went out for the evening with friends, I knew for sure.I also knew that I was a drug addict because most people were going to work at 8AM while I was off to buy dope on the West Side so I wouldn't be sick for the day. IMO the denial thing is a myth. I think I was in denial of the damage I was doing to other people though.

sunrise1

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

Matterhorn

I thought my tremors was due to stress and coffee. I would get up early and have 2 light beers to calm me down, which worked for a short time. I then started throwing up and the tremors became debilitating...I then needed more light beers and then I would get even more sick to the point I couldn't hold anything. If you asked me several years ago about drinking in the AM, I would have thought you were crazy. I checked into the ER and did detox...it is amazing how a career in drinking,
which started social could turn into this. I am fortunate I have people around me that have supported me in my efforts. Alcohol is a very serious and powerful drug and should be respected and not handled lightly...I am afraid of it now and never want to go through that experience again. Thanks for letting me share this.

Sapling

Same deal for me...I'd get up in the morning and have a couple just to stop shaking...Sometimes I couldn't hold it down...I'd throw it up and then drink a couple right after that...What was pretty wild for me...If I was running out at night and I needed to go buy some in the morning...I made sure I had two left so I could drink them before going to the store...So I wouldn't be shaking like a leaf when I paid the guy...My last two years of drinking were like that...From when I came too...To when I passed out....Which sometimes was several times a day. That sh!t gets it claws in you...Watch out.

blackstrat6

Yep I couldn't go to sleep unless I had a quart or 2 to wake up to.. Oh the good old days! lol Same as you Sap, 2 to 3 mornings a day.

Sapling

That's some scary sh!t to go through...

Matterhorn

Sometimes I would have the store clerk keep the change while buying my 12 pack because I didn't want to hold my shaking hand out and wait for him to count the correct amount. Also, my morning brew was always warm and hidden.

Sapling

I did that too...I'd try and have exact change...Like it really mattered...Buying an 18 pack at 8:00 in the morning....I also know that as soon as I had the beer in the car...Without even having one yet...My shaking would stop...I was at peace just knowing I had it. That's fricken sick. And I was.

blackstrat6

"I also know that as soon as I had the beer in the car...Without even having one yet...My shaking would stop...I was at peace just knowing I had it."

Totally! I had to have beer on hand to be able to quit. Pretty twisted but its what worked for me.

Elisabeth888

Someone at my meeting calls it sink drinking. I could not agree more. It always took a few tries for me to get the alcohol down in the morning.

Ghostlight

I drank in the morning because I WANTED to. Never experiened the shakes or other signs of withdrawal.

I was a morning drinker, and I liked it.
Would get a 12 pack at 8:30 when the store opened, and add a shooter or two of whiskey just to kick things in.

I enjoyed that first buzz in the morning, plain and simple.
Sick. Now I know. I still know friends who are morning drinkers, and they do it because they like it.

Just my experience as an alcoholic, which of course, I didn't realize at the time.

desertsong

Matterhorn and Sapling, I'm right with ya. You sound just like me. I always kept a couple of airline bottles of Jack Daniels in the nightstand drawer next to my bed so I could knock 'em down before I got up. I'd wake up shaking and couldn't get out of bed without them. Sometimes they'd stay down, sometimes they wouldn't; if I threw them up, I'd just keep knocking a couple back until they stayed down and my shakes went away. Of course, the down side of that (one of MANY down sides) is that I wouldn't be shaky anymore, but I'd be half drunk by 8 a.m. What a horrible way to live.

Sapling

I was way beyond liking it...It was survival for me. Keep me alive till I die.

zxcirce

Right. By that point I totally knew I had a serious problem. I just didn't care anymore. At all.

LDT

I would leave my house at 3:30 a.m., go to the 24 hour store, pretend I was buying "breakfast" for my family that was still sleeping, stuff my little 4 pack of wine under the breakfast goods, check out, slam drink the 4 pack on the way home and be nice and calm for coffee when everyone got up........OR, I'd be throwing up the 4 pack before coffee. And then it wasn't even coffee by the end. It was wine in my coffee cup. All the cashiers at every gas station knew me by name, knew what I was there for, knew I drank before the sun came up.....to the point where when I did stop drinking and came in for just coffee or gas, they would say "no wine this morning?" How embarassing is that?

bmwcycle

one of my favorite sayings was "You can't drink all day if you don't start early!"

So glad I have graduated to a better life,

Noro

Yeah, I know the feeling. I remember sometimes I'd have barely enough money to afford a bottle for the day, and I'd be paying in dollars bills and coins, and I'd spill the change on the counter trying to hand it to the cashier.

As far as the morning drinking thing goes, I did that but I was well aware that it was a problem. I don't see how anybody could see it otherwise. I just drank and accepted it, though.

Sapling

No kidding...I'm grateful I lived through it.

Everymile

Hey guys first time poster here.Long time lurker and I have to admit I was a huge morning drinker. always at least a liter of wine before I had anything important to do.