fordman_mustang

just wondering if theres different types of alcholics like i know some people who drink every day in the AM and PM and always drinking then there are people like myself who might go 2 or 3 days with out drinking but every time i touch a drop it leads to more and more until im totoally gone. just curious if thats both cases of being an alcholic or not.

Aristo

Admitting you are alcoholic is an individual thing. It's up to one's self to judge for themselves.

Having spoken to my Dr about this very topic - he advised me that there are people who call them selves alcoholic who drink 24/7 and there are people who drink daily at night - And there are people who constantly binge drink.

Then there are the people ( who don't consider themselves alcoholic) who drink daily, but have no problem stopping for months at at time and don't miss or crave it.

So it's up to the individual to decide for themselves, regardless of drinking pattern.

IMHO

igfan

Hi Fordman,
Alcoholism is a progressive disease, it can start as just going overboard once in a while but eventually if you don't do something about it you can be that person who drinks constantly, not because they want to, but because they have to. If you have a Big Book read the chapter "More on Alcoholism", it's very helpful.

Pick-a-name

It is a progressive thing. If you haven't read "Under the Influence" by Dr. James Milam, I highly recommend it. I believe that subject is one of many that are discussed.

Good question.,,can be confusing!

CarolD

For understanding alcoholism...I recommend...

"Under The influence"
and it's sequel
"Beyond The Influence"

they are carried by Amazon

There are stages of alcoholism
The end result of untreated alcoholism
is death.

debsjsu

I totally agree with the information you have already been given. Alcoholism is progressive and you can stop at any stage in the progression. That is why we hear so many different "stories". Some people make it all the way to the pervabial "gutter" before they stop. Some people realize they are headed there and decide to do something about it before it gets that bad... Also there are different "styles" of drinking.. The "buisness man" style may drink with the Office people and "hide" his excessive use of alcohol. The "country boy" may go out and drink with the "good ole boys" thinking his drinking style is "normal" b/c "everybody" is doing it. Some drink every day. Some "binge drink" There really is no "real" "typical" alcoholic. My idea of alcoholism is this.. If alcohol is causing you ANY problems in your life.. family, social, job, emotional, or otherwise. Then you might want to quit for a while and see if those problem get better. What do you have to loose by trying that?? If you have tried to quit in the past and can't then you might have a problem and would be wise to check this out before it takes your life and health away from you, b/c it is very possiable that is comming next. If you need help quiting there are many different recovery options avaliable, many of them are listed on this thread. I use AA it has worked well for me.. Any questions that you may have, please do not be afraid to ask, many people here will be avaliable to help you, I have never ask myself if I had a problem with ketchup I wonder why??? I did have to ask myself if I had a problem with alcohol, and I did... guess that was why.... Just a thought.... I still eat ketchup..... Love to you Debs

midgetcop

I think everyone has a different "style" of drinking, and some may be similar to others' experiences.

I used to binge drink - every couple of days I would drink and drink and drink....etc. and then remain sober for my working days. Who knows though, eventually it could have progressed to the point where I was drinking even on work days. Thankfully, I stopped it before it hit that point.

Don S

There is no clear definition of 'alcoholic'. Alcohol abuse behavior manifests itself in many ways, including all of the variants described above. For some people, abuse of alcohol is a progressive problem, and the health effects can be fatal. Other people can drink heavily all their lives and then die of something else. Like, say, smoking-related illnesses.

nocellphone

I know of only two different types of alcoholics:

1) Active (still drinking)

2) Recovering (sober)





By the way, midgetcop... Love yer avatar!

Sugasnaps

Alcoholism is alcoholism.

Varying degrees of progression in the grips of the addiction most definately exist. So in a way there are different types of alcoholics. It's up to the alcoholic how deep they dig the hole of alcoholism before they make the decision to climb out. I don't view myself as any different from anyone else who has alcoholism. I know many who had a super high "bottom" and I know many who had to lose everything and everyone before they stopped.

aasharon90

Hi, im Sharon and Im an Alcoholic.

I always thought i was a prim and proper drinker. I drank like a lady. Pretty glasses of wine. The fragrant bouquet swirling in a wine goblet. Yeah right. Then i thought i could drink u under the table because i never got sick or my consumpton was alot. Yeah right. Or i was like my grandfather...he sure could put away booze and never stumble and fall. Now that i think of it, he did die of liver disease. Smoking and drinking hand and hand. Na, that wasnt me.

I still had the car in the garage, the marriage, family, stay at home mom, house....but boy was i miserable. Raising kids staying at home....it was what i wished for and i got it.

I look back today on my behavior when drinking. It definitely was normal. My behavior spoke volumes. I didnt know it at the time but im sure it was there in balck and white to my family and friends.

I had everyone fooled for so long i thought. When my family finally stepped in and did a family intervention on me, they were just as surprised as i was that no one detected i had a problem with alcohol.

It was a bad car accident in Feb 90 that landed me in the hospital for 10 day with them removing my spleen then followed by an attempt to end my life a few months later when i took a drink for the first time after my accident.

It still amazes me today to see how rapid the progression of my disease was in that short amt of time.

In Aug 90 I did spend 28 days in rehab recieveing the knowledge and tools of recovery to learn how to live life one day at a time with out alcohol.

Today, 15 yrs later, i still apply the steps to my everyday life and continue to share my ESH with anyone who wishes to hear it or read it.

Thanks for letting me share.

debsjsu

I know now that when I realized that I was an alcoholic and was ready to "tell" my family and friends. Who I thought didn't know... lol The only person who had NOT KNOWN for all those years was ME... All that time the only person I had been foolin was myself... The people I was "afraid" to tell, already knew... One of the things that I told one of my sponsee's to do was to go home and ask her closest family and friend if they thought she was an alcoholic, when she questioned if she was or not... She got her answer... Her mother had saved every newspaper clipping of everytime she had been arrested for PI and DUI and several other alcohol related incidents. Her family very kindly shared with her stories of different things that had happened over the past year. After this conversation she didn't have any more doubts, I would not have suggested this if I had not known that her family was going to be VERY kind and LOVING with her... However It did answer her question.... Love to all Debs

fritolay

I used to abuse alcohol, but now I don't. I drank a lot of light beer every night, and then went gambling or fell asleep. I peed the bed a little over a dozen times, and blacked out (didn't remember the night before) 3 times. This, over the course of 5 years of heavy drinking. I stopped abusing alcohol 3 months ago for a combination of reasons. First, I wanted to lose some weight and didn't see how that would be possible with 1200-1500 alcohol calories per day. Second, I got sick (throwing up and stuff) for about 2 weeks and couldn't complete my nightly ritual of drinking, so I thought that maybe my sickness was related to drinking (gastritis), and since I had already greatly reduced my drinking during that 2 week period of sickness, I may as permenantly reduce it. Third, the constant diareah stopped when I didn't drink the night before, and I felt better. Fourth, I had more productive hours during the day when not dealing with the next day's after-effects of heavy drinking. I never sat down with myself and said "I'm an alcoholic and I need to stop", and I never had an intervention, and I had never attempted to stop drinking prior. A few people had told me I drank too much, but of course I already knew that. Was I an alcoholic? Which type was I? I don't put any faith into that terminology. I abused alcohol, I felt better not abusing it, I weighed the advantages/disadvantages, and decided I would stop abusing it. The week following my cessation was difficult to get through, because I was experiencing physical withdrawl symptoms, which was bound to happen based on the quantity I consumed. Mentally, I wasn't that hooked on it, but some people are. Some people can never drink again for fear that the first drop will bring back the mental urges. Everybody is different, but I am sure there are certain clinical criteria that could define this addiction further, but not much progress has been made into that area.

CarolD

See if this helps...

http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/faqs.htm#1

c'est la vie

Is there actually a difference in being physically addicted or mentally addicted?

Is it more difficult to stop/stay stopped with one or the other addiction?

What allows some people the luxury of recognizing their abuse and stopping it while others are oblivious and drink themselves to a seemingly bottomless pit?

Autumn

Most addictive drugs are classified into two categories; physically and/or psychologically addictive. Depending on the drug (and the individual), they can be either or both.

I'm not too sure about that. I assume it depends a lot on the individual. I would guess the psychological addiction is the greatest bear since it never seems to disappear for some people.

That's a good question Ang. Some people just drink/drug themselves to death. I think a lot of addictions stem from or are exacerbated by obsessive-compulsive disorder. Maybe in some people OCD is more severe than in others, making it that much more difficult to stop. I don't have OCD, so maybe that's why I was able to quit drinking without an undue amount of physical/psychological craving, and cigarettes/nicotine as well.

Hopefully Don (or someone else) will come along with some brainy stuff to add to this.

equus

In journal articles they have started talking about type 1 and type 2 alcohol dependency, it's a rightfully slow process from there to any medically based categorisation. From memory the division adresses two possibly distinct groups based on age of onset, severity of withdrawal/drinking, speed to dependency, and outcome chances.

Because of multiple causes and interplay between them I think it will most likely divide - that's my bet. Diagnostics are tools (this bit gets hard to describe!). They are tools of perception, like a child just sees cars but then as they grow into adults they see multi people carriers, hatch backs, sports cars. Or a child may just see dogs but if they learn about dogs then they see a 'german shepherd' or a poodle. Once upon a time we saw 'insanity' but in learning we began to see depression, anxiety, OCD, psychosis. That's the process - from consumption to cancer, TB, - then types of cancer and strains of TB.

In one sense it's always tempting to simply say - 'Yes but they are all still mammals' instead of seeing a mouse and elephant are distinct - yet a mouse and elephant share vast similarities, from bone structure to reproduction.

That's why diagnostics are tools, as they're sharpened and as learning takes place 'mammals' no longer functions as well as 'elephants' and 'mice' - the connection still matters and is addressed in 'families of disorders' but how something is seen and understood becomes more refined and the clock doesn't go backwards. No debate, arguing or bleeting from any quarter would see the return of 'consumption' as a label in preference to TB or cancer.

From my personal perspective 'Disease' is a huge word - like 'animal' in it's clumsiness and lack of usefullness to medicine, it's disappearing in preference to something more refined. I have yet to be forwarded or shown a single JOURNAL article engaging in the 'disease debate' - things have simply moved on. It was perhaps a place to start - for me definitely so, but has become very much like trying to see 'furry mammals' as opposed to dogs and cats, while they are furry mammals that no longer describes them to me.

Based on what has been repeated over and over again in diagnostics - it will split, it certainly won't return from alcohol abuse / alc dependency back to alcoholism, although I think alcoholism will remain part of it's history for decades to come, titling journals and as shorthand. I think eventually though even that changes.

Arura

Personaly i think there are different ways to drink and class it as alcholisium,But that does'nt change the intoxicant...drink,There's also at different stages of Alcholisum

.So is a woman who buys a bottle of wine per night, any different to the
person who drinks cheap cider all day...?

people are different so we react different.But i do belive that alcholisum,
is a progressive illness.So well all react differently...

just my 2ps worth...

Autumn

Thanks for the great info Eq. I love some good, durable common sense and objectivity! Your post was easily understood..... thanks for the "diagnostic" description also. This is very interesting.

Right.

As it should..... enough money is being spent, with solid results and evidence in scientific research to validate a more refined description of alcoholism. Where the difficulty lies is changing people's minds who cling to old, outdated beliefs. Oh good - maybe SR can too, lol.



"Alcoholism" seems an easier word to swallow as opposed to "alcoholic". Maybe the words won't disappear entirely or be replaced, but will evolve into meaning which alleviates prejudice. I mean, there will undoubtedly always be a certain amount of prejudice and misunderstanding, though nothing like history has shown, however.

equus

A journal article on this subject - because I'm surfing free offerings it's old in real standards (2000) but not so old as to be irrelevent. The full article covers 100 years of the history of alcoholism.
reference:
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF ALCOHOLISM: THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Karl Mann*, Derik Hermann and Andreas Heinz
Department of Addictive Behaviour and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, J 5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany

link:
http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi...urcetype=HWCIT