Justfor1

Today a person can be mandated to AA meetings for their first DUI. IMO that does not necessarily make them a alcoholic.

MrBean

uhh...what?

sunrise1

Well- if you are aware that you may be on a speeding train headed at a brick wall, you can either wait until you hit said wall, or you can get off at any stop you choose beforehand.

Having done the latter- I really suggest it.

MrBean

All I got out of this was:
"I'm ok, why should I quit?"
"Ok. Then don't quit."
"But I know I should stop"
"Ok then get help and stop"
"But why SHOULD I?"

DayTrader

Keep comin' back. You'll get to the point where you can "get" something productive out of everyone's posts.

Fandy

you can drink or not drink, it's up to you...but if you "always drink to blackout", sooner or later you are going to hit the brick wall. I just hope that you are not behind the wheel of a car, injure someone else, or get into a situation that will harm you more than you'll ever know.

drunken women are not pretty, they are the butt of many jokes.

Kza

Thirty something woman at an AA meeting I went to said she switched from ordinary bars to gay bars because she kept ending up in random men's beds but still nothing changed. If OP is a woman I wonder how her blackouts are happy.

Zee

Well, I bought myself a one way ticket to Liver-land. No going back for me. It's a very painful, extremely scary, exhausing, itchy and nausiating place to be. I'm 41. It happened very quickly. I wish you luck whatever you decide to do.

inahole

Wow, Zee, that IS scary!! I am worried I may have some liver stuff going on. Just reading your post makes me nervous. I hope you are OK! Why "itchy" if you don't mind my asking?? I MUST stick to this thing! And minimize the damages now!

2granddaughters

Hang around at the meetings for a while. Most come back in worse shape later, some die... none that I know go on to drink socially.

All the best.

Bob R

hypochondriac

Hey Babycat,

Why were you admitted to hospital? If you don't mind me asking...

I quit for health reasons. I just got back from a party where I knew that had I been drinking I would have behaved with more dignity than the other drinkers there. I wondered for a minute why should I quit? I'm more responsible than them, I would never drink and drive, or act stupid... and maybe there is a possibility I wouldn't carry on drinking the next day... I don't know.

But really the fact that after a few months sober I am trying to think of reasons why I can drink is really really worrying. Why can't I stay sober? My motivation in a way when I feel like that is to just stay sober and see what happens. Sometimes I don't see a really good reason to give up completely but then what is the reason I need to drink? I plan on giving sobriety a better chance x

Ursula745

Well, I guess I didn't have to quit smoking because I didn't have lung cancer. I guess I could've stopped once I developed it.

CarolD

Let's all chill a bit please....

I take every post seriously and hope you will too.
This is our alcoholism forum....members ask questions about their drinking.
Others may offer expereinces in hopes they are useful.

If you have no expereince or feel you are unable to share with
support....it's not mandatory you reply

Please go find another thread to share on. .


That is one of the strong points about recovery discussion boards.

CarolD

BC...
I too was a blackout drinker for many years.
I got into so many dangerous situations often with unsavory strangers I would go out with friends....then stay after they left.

I have large gaps in my memory about those days...what songs were
popular....what style clothes I wore....where I went ..what I did?.

Please read this link ...blackouts are explained on it.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...influence.html

The best news for me...once I quit...the blackouts immediately stopped as did my reckless behavior.

purpleperson

For me, it was also really hard to take my issues with alcohol very seriously when I was much younger (college age, early-mid 20s). For one thing, a lot of young people (who are not alcoholics) drink quite a bit during those years, center many social activities around alcohol and are still really into the bar scene, etc. So, even if YOU know, deep-down, as I did, that my drinking patterns were different (continued drinking when getting home from a night out, drinking at EVERY opportunity, blacking out, etc), it was easy to lie to myself and just blend in. That, plus, I didn't suffer any obvious health effects, was young enough not to suffer obvious or dramatic physical effects (red face, etc), and I felt like with just a cup of coffee and a few advil, I could be fine the next day.

As my college years and early-twenties passed, and I got into my later 20s, all of a sudden my peers were going out less. Sure, they'd still meet for happy hour and have a drink or two, but it would end there. Friday nights might still mean a bar, but Saturday meant a kick-ball game in the park, a movie or some other non-drinking activity. Meanwhile, I always wanted extra drinks at happy hour, or to have beer during kick-ball, etc. It got harder and harder to lie to myself and it got harder to interact with peers normally. Also, I started to suffer health issues. I attributed them to other things, of course, but painful acid reflux, increased and intense panic attacks and constant dry, red, itchy eyes (from dehydration) began to creep up. I also noticed that my skin gradually became blotchy and inflamed, my eyes a lot less bright, my nails brittle and my hair pretty limp.

These things got progressively worse, and eventually I found myself (around 28, 29, etc) hiding away in my apartment to drink (because my non-acloholic friends had better things to do) and drinking more and more to try and cover up the physical pain and effects of drinking.

Finally, at 30 (this year), my physical health came to a breaking point. My digestive issues got very bad (interfering with graduate school and work) and I was suffering intense anxiety and panic attacks. I was drinking to ease the anxiety. Earlier and earlier each day. When I finally reached my breaking point, I was basically not getting out of bed much, hardly able to eat and not living up to my responsibilities. I was sad a lot and very lonely. I looked awful and was not at all healthy.

I tried to cut down on my own. At first, this was successful but, it was only good for a few weeks, then my intake would slowly increase. Finally, I had enough. I reached out to my parents and a couple of trusted friends. I talked to my Dr. and just stopped (all my tests were normal and my doctor did not feel that I was in jeopeordy of severe physical withdraw). I stopped both smoking and drinking. I was lucky that I did not have withdraws from the booze, other than insomnia. I am about 4 weeks in and do not miss it one bit.

My digestive issues are very much settled, I can eat nutritiously and regularly, my panic has gone WAY down (I have always had panic disorder, but drinking made it so much worse), I look a hell of a lot better and I can think much more clearly. I have been able to go out with my friends, go to ballgames, etc and have fun without drinking. I feel much more balanced. Blacking out in no fun and embarrassing.

I guess I'm hoping that my experience is a good lesson for you. I get that you might not have motivation RIGHT NOW, but if you're already hearing a little voice that says "maybe this is no good," then you should stop. There isn't much of a point anyways, so might as well not tempt fate.

To me, put a label ("alcoholic") on it or don't, whatever you want. But if you're doing something that is harmful to you (even just your reputation and your conscience) then you should probably stop. I think there is a lot of help available and the sooner you do, the better off for you. I hope you never get to even the point where I was (with bad, though not permanant effects).

Good luck!!!

tomsteve

there is always the possibilty that before alcohol causes health issues for you, it causes health issues for someone else, like they die as a result of your actions while drink.
it happened to me. it didnt stop me from drinking. took about 14 more years of gloom, dispair and misery( which i wouldnt admit when i was drinkin) before i got help.

if you want to drink, that is your choice and our hats off to ya. if you want to stop, that is our problem and we can help.
i sure hope you want to stop before the gloom, dispair, and misery starts.

sugarbear1

If you aren't concerned about blacking out, then there doesn't seem to be any problem.

babycat

I was severely anemic. My hemoglobin was waaay too low so I had to get a blood transfusion and spend a couple nights in the hospital. All non drinking related.

babycat

Not exactly sure what that is supposed to mean. I don't like when I black out, but the fact is it happens and nothing bad seems to happen. But I don't WANT it to happen....
Why is my question so controversial? Did no one else feel this way?
I definitely feel as tho I am being grilled and giving much harsher advice than certain other repeat posters get.
But, truly, i do appreciate those that have talked to me. I really, really do. Thank you.

Dee74

The problem I had with blacking out is I never knew what I'd done...all my friends (all heavy drinkers too) would say 'oh you were fine'...but I always had this feeling of unease...

Because the consequences got greater the more years I drank, I eventually found out I really wasn't fine and I was putting myself in dangerous situations and making a downright nuisance of myself.

I don't miss that uneasy feeling at all.

I hope you decide to do something sooner than I did tho, babycat

D