Carrly

Why are some people light Alcoholism and other people hard Alcoholism .

Okay what I mean by light Alcoholism is people who drink 2 or 3 beers a day or get buzzed 2 or 3 times a week.

Where hard Alcoholism you get really drunk every week or 2 times a week.

SDSurfn

the only difference between "light" alcoholism and "dark" alcoholism (if there are such things)


...is time.

CarolD

Welcome to our Alcoholism Forum... Carrly...

There are different stages of alcoholism
I started as a social drinker...then into heavy ....
next came active addiction.
I still don't know on what day or which drink slid me downwards.

My progression was slow....have you noticed that your drinking
has increased or that your problems have?
Yes I read your earlier thread in Newcomers...

However we can and do recover ...quitting alcohol was
the wisest thing I ever did...

Justfor1

For most of my 20's I was a "alcoholic lite." Around 28 & into my 30's I was "alcoholic super heavy" with a side of drug addiction. It is a progressive disease and my life mirrors that of that fancy chart (Jellanick??) that they frequently show in rehabs.

Nevertheless

I honestly don't think there is any explaining it. I think I inherited my alcoholism.
From my first beer adventure on I simply loved the buzz. As soon as I turned 21 my first stop after work was the beer store. Through my 20's and 30's if there was a noon football game on sunday. That meant party day. Beer after breakfast,or at times beer before breakfast. And I couldn't tell you squat about those days. Somewhere in my early 40's though I kep't my drinking pretty much till after 4 or 5 oclock. I think it was because passing out before 3 in the afternoon was more than I wanted to put up with. So I did somehow manage to cut back somehow. But don't think for a minute I wasn't a full blown alcky. I just managed to somehow keep control till after work.
My dad also somehow managed to cut back. He was around a 5th a day before I came along. But somehow before me,he cut back to beer. I think he knew if it got out of hand it would end in divorce. And he wanted to keep things half way under control more than he wanted to lose it.
I think it's like other diseases. Sometimes it can go on for years. Sometimes it can kick your ass in short order. And sometimes it does somewhat lighten up. But once you got it. Thats it.You got it. And i don't really think there is any predicting it.
Fred

tomsteve

i couldnt have said it better. if it's called that, i could say i was alcoholic light for some time. but then i crossed the line and into full blown alcoholism( it just took time) and no longer had the ability to make the choice to not drink or stop after 2 or 3. it was the disease of alcoholism making my choices.

Riel

How could drinking 2 or 3 beers a day be a problem? That would be like the elderly French lady who smokes a single gauloise each day after dinner.

I mean you wouldn't be harming your liver or your wallet, you'd be safe from DUIs and fights with your spouse, you wouldn't miss work or school due to hangovers - God if that were your biggest problem you'd have life on a stick.

Anybody who can reliably stop after two or three drinks, and never goes further than that, is the opposite of an alcoholic IMO.

choublak

They're just at different stages of alcoholism.

TorontoGuy28

Yup, Alcoholism is 100% progressive.

That has been my experience.

Boleo

This parallels the "real alcoholic" vs the "hard drinker" debates held countless times in the 12 step forum. It has been debated so many times without a clear conclusion that it has turned into the proverbial dead horse. :horse:

hypochondriac

Actually you can do a lot of damage just drinking 2-3 beers a day.

freshstart57

If you have a glass of wine with your meal as an end in itself, then no problem, or even two glasses.
If you drink for the buzz, then hang on, it's gonna be a rough ride. You can call it a progressive disease if you want, but I think it is the same as any other drug where a tolerance to its frequent use is developed. It takes more and more to get that buzz as the tolerance to alcohol increases.

Terminal cancer patients need larger doses of morphine to deal with their pain over time. Does their morphine use constitute a progressive disease?

DayTrader

There are two concepts that helped me with these same questions. Made me mad as hell when someone told them to me but, after stewing in them for a while, really started to make a lot of sense. The are:

1. Because

and

2. So what

"Why are you right-handed Michael....why were you born to white partents....why did you grow up in Michigan.....why aren't you 90% as smart as you are.....why didn't you get/have/do X, Y or Z?" (or vica-verca). See.....my mind likes to ponder the great realities of life. Note, I didn't say the "great question" of life because they're not questions that I'm pondering, it's reality....REAL actual things.....that I'm pondering. Fact of the matter is, the best thing in the world for me to do it just ACCEPT reality as it is, quit seeking answers to questions I don't need an answer to (but THINK I need an answer to) and life gets a whole lot easier.

Even if I did get the answers...what difference would it really make? If you ARE a full-blown hard-core alkie....and there's no going back.....then what does it reeeeeeally matter as to why/how it happened. We ALLLLLLLLLLL have problems or issues of some sort - the successful folks among us recognize them, chart a course to succeed in spite of them, and get moving down that road.

I spent many months.....maaaany months.....thinking, wondering, questioning, philosophizing why and how I became this alcoholic I'd become. Truth be told, not only did I never "figure it out," I got nowhere.....no growth......until I just accepted my reality as it is, let go of the notion that I needed to know why/how, and started moving forward from where I was.

BackToSquareOne

I think DayTrader nailed it. It's one of those what is, is things. I have a brother that's a year older and he never drank, he always said he didn't like the way it made him feel. I on the other hand loved the way it made me feel, it just is what it is.

Justfor1

I'm not so sure. I've seen reports that 2 drinks for men and 1 drink for women daily lowers stress, good for blood, ect..... Of course, this doesn't apply to us alcoholics.

Boleo

"There is no reason to suppose that the world had a beginning at all. The idea that things must have a beginning is really due to the poverty of our thoughts."
(Bertrand Russell)

TheEnd

I understand what you mean although I don't think there are any answers. I have some friends who are admitted alcoholics that seems to keep it in check. They don't binge or have any of the negative consequences, and have been doing it for years. Sometimes they even stop drinking for a period of time. I have one friend that has established rules:
1. Don't bring hard liquor into the house
2. Never drink and drive
3. Don't drink in the morning
4. Etc...

I could never live by any such rules, I broke them all and then some.

Carrly

The difference of alcohol abuse and alcoholism is people who have alcoholism cannot go with out drinking with out feeling sick.

Where alcohol abuse you can go with out drinking and not feel sick but it becomes habit.

Also most alcohol abuse you may always get really drunk really hard but you can go days with out drinking and get no withdrawal symptoms and people who have alcoholism cannot.

Dee74

Not sure where you're getting your information from Carrly but it's not very accurate.

I'm an alcoholic - for most of my drinking career I was a binge drinker....I could go without drinking without feeling sick tho....

I could also go for days without drinking...that's what binge drinking is...it's not better than everyday drinking...it's just different.

I knew people who drank more than me- they lead full lives and have never identified themselves as alcoholics.

I know people who drank less than me and who died through their drinking.

It's not how much you drink or how often, Carrly...it's what happens to you when you do.

D

Forward12

I don't think there is a such thing as a "light" alcoholic. Someone having 2 or 3 drinks a couple times a week is pretty much just an average responsible drinker.

To an alcoholic, 2 or 3 drinks is just getting started on your way to drinking yourself into oblivion, every single day.