The Main Problem With Alcoholism
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Originally Posted by soberlicious 
You do know that alcohol enters your bloodstream, right? Vomiting has nothing to do with whether alcohol can kill you.
What are you going to do to address your drinking problem?
What are you going to do to address your drinking problem?
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Don't you think vomiting has saved a lot of alcoholics from over-dosing?
Alcohol is a deadly drug not to be treated lightly. I'm glad you've quit.
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Lots of people die from heroin overdose, and it's partly because the more they use, the more they have to use to get high - but meanwhile the lethal dose doesn't change, so "high" gets closer and closer to "dead". Alcohol is kinda the same way, you build up a tolerance and need to drink a lot more to get drunk, but meanwhile the lethal dose is still what it is. I used to drink 750-1000 ml of 80-proof booze in an evening, then go to bed and wake up in the morning and go to work - that was a normal daily routine. I was once measured at 0.46 BAC in a hospital, which for some people equals dead, but amazingly I remember most of the evening, never threw up, and walked in under my own power.
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Originally Posted by zerominuszero20
I'm just not drinking. don't you think vomiting has saved a lot of people from over dosing?
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Pointing to the tragedies of overdose deaths avoids the way in which a drunk life is really death by a thousand cuts - a wasted life, a lost life.
Like they say in Bronx Tale - nothing sadder in life than wasted talent. To me the true sadness of sacrificing life to alcohol is not the headline cases, Winehouse, Joplin, etc etc - but the time and love and potential and experience that all get ruined, wasted, lost and sacrificed to the booze.
Like they say in Bronx Tale - nothing sadder in life than wasted talent. To me the true sadness of sacrificing life to alcohol is not the headline cases, Winehouse, Joplin, etc etc - but the time and love and potential and experience that all get ruined, wasted, lost and sacrificed to the booze.
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Originally Posted by lessgravity
Pointing to the tragedies of overdose deaths avoids the way in which a drunk life is really death by a thousand cuts - a wasted life, a lost life.
Like they say in Bronx Tale - nothing sadder in life than wasted talent. To me the true sadness of sacrificing life to alcohol is not the headline cases, Winehouse, Joplin, etc etc - but the time and love and potential and experience that all get ruined, wasted, lost and sacrificed to the booze.
Like they say in Bronx Tale - nothing sadder in life than wasted talent. To me the true sadness of sacrificing life to alcohol is not the headline cases, Winehouse, Joplin, etc etc - but the time and love and potential and experience that all get ruined, wasted, lost and sacrificed to the booze.
Fine examples of wasted talent and lives also.
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Originally Posted by lessgravity
Pointing to the tragedies of overdose deaths avoids the way in which a drunk life is really death by a thousand cuts - a wasted life, a lost life.
I agree that it's also a tragedy even if death is not the outcome - abuse, wasted families, wasted careers, the whole ball of wax.
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Originally Posted by zerominuszero20
i'm just saying most people will have a vomit response if they drink too much.
It's very very easy to bypass the vomit response by drinking so much so quickly that respiratory arrest begins before the body can respond to the toxic levels of alcohol in your system. This can happen to anyone if they drink too much too fast.
Thousands of people die this way every year. It can happen to seasoned drinkers or first time users, Russian roulette.
Even before you hit toxic levels, many people don't LIKE the feeling they get as the alcohol levels accumulate in their system. They feel sick, woozy, out of control...and they learn not to drink that fast so that they don't feel that way.
Barring the odd mishap many folks seem able to drink responsibly for years...alcohol isn't going anywhere and neither are other people in the world who drink it. What I needed to address was the fact that *I* never seemed to be able to drink responsibly or safely.
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I hear you when you say alcohol is ao easy to get hold of. Back in England I lived in a little village yet within a mile radius I had seven places where I could buy booze.
Two pubs, a big supermarket, an off-licence and three express stores.
I could buy booze almost around the clock, only except from midnight - 6am or 11pm - 7am on Sundays. And that is in a VILLAGE.
However, I just didn't drink anymore. The first few times I found myself automatically walking towards the booze sections. Scary, huh? So I simply swivelled and walked away. I know booze ian't going anywhere but that's ok. I don't drink anymore and that is that.
Two pubs, a big supermarket, an off-licence and three express stores.
I could buy booze almost around the clock, only except from midnight - 6am or 11pm - 7am on Sundays. And that is in a VILLAGE.
However, I just didn't drink anymore. The first few times I found myself automatically walking towards the booze sections. Scary, huh? So I simply swivelled and walked away. I know booze ian't going anywhere but that's ok. I don't drink anymore and that is that.
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Originally Posted by MindfulMan
I didn't. I still have a wine fridge with a couple of cases of very expensive wine that I'm sure is lovely. I serve it to guests and give bottles away as presents.
I was told at rehab that I needed to call ahead and have friends get all of the wine out of my house. I didn't. I got home and had plans to take it away, or sell it. It was too much of a pain. And I seriously had about zero temptation to open a bottle or pour a glass.
Honestly I had just made the decision not to drink anymore under any circumstances.
There was one big caveat. I have roommates who drink and they had an open bottle of tequila in the freezer. After a few days of that bottle calling to me and feeling hugely triggered, I had them remove it. I wouldn't allow myself around open bottles of hard liquor for about 90 days, just in case. I had one really bad last craving/trigger walking past 3 bars in downtown LA, where I had my phone out to phone a friend from my outpatient rehab program. Once I got out of there, I was fine, and it was actually the last significant trigger/craving that I had, and it was about 120 days sober. I've got a few days to 500.
Been sober 18 months. I rarely have cravings and the ones that I do have are quite mild and quickly dissipate.
It's not how far away or available booze is to me. It's making that decision that I am no longer a drinker. Period. 18 months later I'm still sober.
Everyone is different. I had a Paul on the way to Damascus moment (and I'm not even religious) in rehab soon after finishing medical detox. I can't control my drinking. It might take weeks or months or even years, but I will go back down that rabbit hole of addiction. If I take one drink evidence shows that eventually my life will go to crap and I will end up very sick from alcohol. Once I start, I can't stop. But what I CAN control is...not taking that first drink. Ever. Period. The only way to assure that I will never end up in rehab again is to never drink ever ever again. So I won't. Being drunk is no great shakes, being under the influence of NO substances is a far more enjoyable state of mind.
I started to like life so much better without alcohol, even the 'just one drink' alcohol, that it's now a no-brainer. I can be around booze no problem; I just got back from a beer bust, where ironically my bottled water was more than a big draft beer. Zero interest. I had way big fun meeting people. Right about the time I was leaving some really drunk guy made a very indecent proposal, so I decided that was my cue to bail.
As an aside, when I was drinking heavily i assumed that EVERYONE was wasted at bars and parties. In reality, very few are.
I never formally did AVRT work, but I kinda ended up there.
Try changing your thinking along these lines. It worked for me. I also did inpatient rehab, a bit of AA for the first 90 days or so, outpatient therapy, and individual psychotherapy...just to be sure it all stuck. It did.
I was told at rehab that I needed to call ahead and have friends get all of the wine out of my house. I didn't. I got home and had plans to take it away, or sell it. It was too much of a pain. And I seriously had about zero temptation to open a bottle or pour a glass.
Honestly I had just made the decision not to drink anymore under any circumstances.
There was one big caveat. I have roommates who drink and they had an open bottle of tequila in the freezer. After a few days of that bottle calling to me and feeling hugely triggered, I had them remove it. I wouldn't allow myself around open bottles of hard liquor for about 90 days, just in case. I had one really bad last craving/trigger walking past 3 bars in downtown LA, where I had my phone out to phone a friend from my outpatient rehab program. Once I got out of there, I was fine, and it was actually the last significant trigger/craving that I had, and it was about 120 days sober. I've got a few days to 500.
Been sober 18 months. I rarely have cravings and the ones that I do have are quite mild and quickly dissipate.
It's not how far away or available booze is to me. It's making that decision that I am no longer a drinker. Period. 18 months later I'm still sober.
Everyone is different. I had a Paul on the way to Damascus moment (and I'm not even religious) in rehab soon after finishing medical detox. I can't control my drinking. It might take weeks or months or even years, but I will go back down that rabbit hole of addiction. If I take one drink evidence shows that eventually my life will go to crap and I will end up very sick from alcohol. Once I start, I can't stop. But what I CAN control is...not taking that first drink. Ever. Period. The only way to assure that I will never end up in rehab again is to never drink ever ever again. So I won't. Being drunk is no great shakes, being under the influence of NO substances is a far more enjoyable state of mind.
I started to like life so much better without alcohol, even the 'just one drink' alcohol, that it's now a no-brainer. I can be around booze no problem; I just got back from a beer bust, where ironically my bottled water was more than a big draft beer. Zero interest. I had way big fun meeting people. Right about the time I was leaving some really drunk guy made a very indecent proposal, so I decided that was my cue to bail.
As an aside, when I was drinking heavily i assumed that EVERYONE was wasted at bars and parties. In reality, very few are.
I never formally did AVRT work, but I kinda ended up there.
Try changing your thinking along these lines. It worked for me. I also did inpatient rehab, a bit of AA for the first 90 days or so, outpatient therapy, and individual psychotherapy...just to be sure it all stuck. It did.
Yes, I noticed the same thing early on in sobriety. Most people can have a few drinks and be done.
I also rarely see folks come to work in the morning completely hungover.
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