LazaB

For me it has been 12 years.

Dee74

for me it was about 20 - throw in other drugs and it was closer to 30.

D

Abraham

Well if I count when I first started to when I quit its 34 years. Started at 14 drinking every weekend ended at 48 drinking every day all day. It was fairly innocent at first or non alcoholic. You know the story

FeelingGreat

I would say about 10 years of problem drinking.

january161992

Took my first drink/ drug after high school in June '80 ...

and my sobriety date is Jan 16, 1992 so ...

~11 1/2 years

SoberCAH

BullDog777

27 years...I don't think I've done that math since the first week I got out of the hospital.

God only knows how I survived that. I'm eternally grateful to my creator that I got one last chance..

Stayingsassy

I started at 14, not really hitting the bottle with any regularity until 19-20.

I was 48 when I quit. Almost 30 years.

With no drinking during my three pregnancies and multiple attempts to quit starting 2008, the most I made it was 4 months. Always trying to quit, not making it. Until it got scary to drink, then I put it down for good.

Stayingsassy

I started at 14, not really hitting the bottle with any regularity until 19-20.

I was 48 when I quit. Almost 30 years.

With no drinking during my three pregnancies and multiple attempts to quit starting 2008, the most I made it was 4 months. Always trying to quit, not making it. Until it got scary to drink, then I put it down for good. Life without it was a relief because life with it was clearly headed for death.

Jack465

I drank heavily for 5 years. Might not seem like that long, but it was enough to do damage to most areas of my life.

Ken33xx

From 20 until 35 I was pretty much a daily drinker.

Problems related drinking started almost immediately. I stopped drinking 27 years ago and not once has anyone who knew me back then ever said, "Come on.. Why'd you stop?"

kk1k5x

First time drunk at 16, things took a turn for the worse at 18, and this time stopped at 29 (currently 30, 10 months sober). My twenties are basically a dark pit of nothing.

Rockbottom1964

40 years. Began drinking at around 16 and loved what alcohol did to me right from day one. A crap childhood didn’t help; always the odd-one-out kid who was the laughing stock of others. Alcohol (and cigarettes) – when I had a bit of money – helped me escape for a few hours.
By 30 I was drinking 12 to18 beers a day. Stopped at 37 for almost 12 years, then started again June 2013 and rapidly progressed to a bottle of Scotch a day. Stopped six and a half years later (December 2019); broken family, broken financially, broken everything...
I’m now 56, so, about 40 years with a not-so-small gap in between.

108 Days sober and counting each day…

aasharon90

I drank for about 13 yrs before entering rehab
at 30 and have remained sober using a program
of recovery incorporated in all areas of my life
on a continuous bases for 29 yrs.

With Willingness, openmindedness and honesty
you to can achieve a strong, solid recovery foundation
to live your life upon for yrs to come, just like so
many before you.

Listen, learn, absorb, apply, then pass it on.

FBL

Started drinking at age 14 and didn't stop until I was 43. Kind of ebbed and flowed over the years. Spent the final 10 years drinking every single day and it nearly killed me. Been in recovery for nearly 11 years now and am in great health!

Notch8

I did a shot or two of whiskey from maybe age 20 until 25-ish when I started pounding beers. Went through a really tough time around age 30 and I would say that was the start of an alcoholic lifestyle, mostly hard liquor. That kept up until my late 30's when I had a rude wake-up call and knew I had to quit but didn't really want to. Struggled with "off and on" sobriety for over four years before taking it seriously. I am sober over a week and I am determined to keep it that way.

MelindaFlowers

12 years. That’s 4,380 days. I drank probably 4,365 of those days.
4 years not too bad, every night
4 years bad, every night.
4 years really, really bad, every night.
Quit at 32.

Reid82

About 18 years in total. The last 10 years was when the trouble really started. I had long (ish) periods off the drink from 2014-2019 until I stopped fully
last May.

Joybot

Between 2000 and 2007, I casually and socially drank. At home, I would have one beer and maybe a shot and I'm done for the night.

Also in 2007, I was pretty much alcohol free because I was physically active and was really into staying in shape and I was.

In 2008, for whatever reason, I discovered an online game and became obsessed with it and with that, my alcohol consumption along with it. The enhanced experience was like a combination of drug and visual.

And it just escalated from there. It wasn't entirely the game's fault but mine. Everything was just so much more fun under the influence.

And of course, that problematic drinking bled into other social circles. And then, I started drinking alone at home while just being stimulated by everything on the internet.

I think my worst bout of drinking came in 2017 that was nonstop til 2019 because I was now inside a social circle that loves to party.

Now, here comes COVID19 and we're cooped up in our private sanctuary going out of our mind.

It never ends.

cubsfan2k

I've been drinking around 12 years. I usually drink a pint once or twice a week with occasional breaks followed by the crash back into it. It's pathetic because I drink alone.