Hopeful
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Eau Claire WI
Posts: 5
Hopeful
Well I just joined this a few nights ago, and already I think that it is such an awesome thing. I was going to go to my first AA meeting last night, but I dont think I was quite ready yet. I think sometime this week I'll try and make it. I'm still coming to terms with the idea that I have a problem. I didnt think I did. I thought I was just acting my age sometimes. I'm 26. I dont drink every night. But its the way I drink. Everytime I drink I get fall down, blackout drunk. My friends all got used to how I drank and almost thought it was normal for me. Well, my boyfriend finally got sick of it. He broke up with me and told me that I needed to change. I felt, and still feel completely alone. Then I see that I really am not, and there are other people out there with similar situations. It really makes me hopeful that I can do something about this, and maybe, hopefully get my life back.
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,510
Walkera,
That's why most of us come here. This is place where people understand and know what we're talking about. It's hard to others to really get it.
I'm glad you recognized that you have a problem and I hope you continue to read and post. There is lots of support here.
That's why most of us come here. This is place where people understand and know what we're talking about. It's hard to others to really get it.
I'm glad you recognized that you have a problem and I hope you continue to read and post. There is lots of support here.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Omak WA
Posts: 1,049
New to Sober Recovery...
Hi Walkera, 
I am so glad you have found this forum and are posting. It is a big step to make a decision to get some help.
We are all here to help you, answer questions, and share our experience, strength, and hope. :ghug3
Will be looking for your posts.
kelsh
I am so glad you have found this forum and are posting. It is a big step to make a decision to get some help.
We are all here to help you, answer questions, and share our experience, strength, and hope. :ghug3
Will be looking for your posts.
kelsh
Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: CA Native
Posts: 2,509
Let me just chime in here ... a LOT of people have a bit of a misconception about the nature of the disease of alcoholism and believe it to be the sole province of the 'daily drinker'. This belief is informed by the observed usage pattern exhibited by the typical drug addict. People who are hooked on opiates or nicotine make for great example of what I'm talking about. They NEED their stuff every X minutes/hours or they start to freak, right? Well, in reality, when they were earlier on in their addictions, things were not like that. But these drugs happen to be of a nature that tolerance and dependence develop pretty damn quick with continued use for almost all people.
On the other hand, this pattern of use with alcohol is much more slow to develop with the vast majority of people, for some it will never develop no matter how long they drink. There's a whole host of reasons why alcohol is a rather unique drug, one of the most important distinctions about it is that unlike with opiates, cannabis, and nicotine, the brain has no native 'alcohol' receptors. What alcohol actually is is a straight up POISON - that's why it gets you f-ed up, and it's also why there's such a wide spectrum of addiction and behaviour-change potential associated with it.
Anyways, the point of all this is this: One need not be drinking everyday to be exhibiting the traits of alcoholism. Some people who are legitimate alkies NEVER develop a daily drinking habit, what they develop is a binge habit. It's just different body chemistry and genetics that usually determine this. MOST people though who DO eventually develop daily drinking patterns did start out as hard-core binge drinkers, so in a very general sense the state you are in now could be considered 'early addiction', but unfortunately 'rules' with the progression of this disease can be very hard to pin down in any universal sense.
One thing I can tell you is almost universally true though is that binge drinkers (i.e. people who go typically at least 5 days between drunks, each of which usually lasting one or two days) don't generally have the same kind of withdrawal symptoms that the daily type of drinker must go through when quitting. SO you got that going for you at least. But I'm afraid it doesn't make you NOT an alcoholic. The blackouts are pretty much always regarded as a MAJOR indicator of someone who is predisposed to alcoholism.
Personally, I've drank to the point of a good buzz at least 1000 times, and gotten pretty wasted at least another 300 times in my life I'd say - and I've NEVER had a blackout. Never once woke up NOT where I planned on spending the night (well ... unless it was voluntary). Only maybe 3 times did I have to think for more than a second about how I got home the night before, and about the same number of times have I had someone tell me I did something I had no recollection of from the night before - and drugs were always also involved in those times.
I'm not saying this to you to make you feel bad in any way, nor to brag. I just happen to be a drug addict, not an alcoholic. But I used to drink A LOT, and quite often. Just don't happen to have the genetic predisposition for developing alcoholism. But people who DO have regular blackouts, as I say, can be almost entirely certain that if they keep drinking in spite of that fact, they are going to end up in BIG trouble at some point.
Just my $.02. Take it for what it's worth. Don't take this thing lightly and you'll be doing yourself a big favor in the long run....
On the other hand, this pattern of use with alcohol is much more slow to develop with the vast majority of people, for some it will never develop no matter how long they drink. There's a whole host of reasons why alcohol is a rather unique drug, one of the most important distinctions about it is that unlike with opiates, cannabis, and nicotine, the brain has no native 'alcohol' receptors. What alcohol actually is is a straight up POISON - that's why it gets you f-ed up, and it's also why there's such a wide spectrum of addiction and behaviour-change potential associated with it.
Anyways, the point of all this is this: One need not be drinking everyday to be exhibiting the traits of alcoholism. Some people who are legitimate alkies NEVER develop a daily drinking habit, what they develop is a binge habit. It's just different body chemistry and genetics that usually determine this. MOST people though who DO eventually develop daily drinking patterns did start out as hard-core binge drinkers, so in a very general sense the state you are in now could be considered 'early addiction', but unfortunately 'rules' with the progression of this disease can be very hard to pin down in any universal sense.
One thing I can tell you is almost universally true though is that binge drinkers (i.e. people who go typically at least 5 days between drunks, each of which usually lasting one or two days) don't generally have the same kind of withdrawal symptoms that the daily type of drinker must go through when quitting. SO you got that going for you at least. But I'm afraid it doesn't make you NOT an alcoholic. The blackouts are pretty much always regarded as a MAJOR indicator of someone who is predisposed to alcoholism.
Personally, I've drank to the point of a good buzz at least 1000 times, and gotten pretty wasted at least another 300 times in my life I'd say - and I've NEVER had a blackout. Never once woke up NOT where I planned on spending the night (well ... unless it was voluntary). Only maybe 3 times did I have to think for more than a second about how I got home the night before, and about the same number of times have I had someone tell me I did something I had no recollection of from the night before - and drugs were always also involved in those times.
I'm not saying this to you to make you feel bad in any way, nor to brag. I just happen to be a drug addict, not an alcoholic. But I used to drink A LOT, and quite often. Just don't happen to have the genetic predisposition for developing alcoholism. But people who DO have regular blackouts, as I say, can be almost entirely certain that if they keep drinking in spite of that fact, they are going to end up in BIG trouble at some point.
Just my $.02. Take it for what it's worth. Don't take this thing lightly and you'll be doing yourself a big favor in the long run....
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Eau Claire WI
Posts: 5
Thanks everyone for the support and encouragement. Thanks bvaljalo, what you said really opened my eyes. I am a binge drinker, and I'm sure if I do not do something about this now, something really terrible could happen later on. Well, some terrible things have already happened, but hopefully I can work all that out!
Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: CA Native
Posts: 2,509
Glad 2B of service 
I'm sure if you think about for a minute you'll see that having blackouts, irregardless of the eventual outcome of your 'drinking career' as we call it, are in and of themselves potentially VERY dangerous. I'd say even more so for a woman than a man, if you catch my drift...
And believe me when I say ... your body chemistry will NEVER change in the way it reacts to alcohol. It is what it is, and I implore you NOT to harbor any illusions about that fact. Every single one of us here will tell you same thing in this regard, I guarantee it.
The good news is, once you begin to really face the reality of your situation and it truly sinks in that quitting drinking is a life or death issue ... it gets much easier to quit for good. Once you let go of the illusion that you can continue to drink (or take X amount of 'time off' and that'll sorta 'reset' you so you can restart) and have things somehow be 'different' than they now are ... you'll have taken the first BIG step towards recovery. This IS an incurable disease for which the ONLY known remedy is abstinence.
Take it from all of us. We've done enough collective research to fill a 1000 medical journals ...
I'm sure if you think about for a minute you'll see that having blackouts, irregardless of the eventual outcome of your 'drinking career' as we call it, are in and of themselves potentially VERY dangerous. I'd say even more so for a woman than a man, if you catch my drift...
And believe me when I say ... your body chemistry will NEVER change in the way it reacts to alcohol. It is what it is, and I implore you NOT to harbor any illusions about that fact. Every single one of us here will tell you same thing in this regard, I guarantee it.
The good news is, once you begin to really face the reality of your situation and it truly sinks in that quitting drinking is a life or death issue ... it gets much easier to quit for good. Once you let go of the illusion that you can continue to drink (or take X amount of 'time off' and that'll sorta 'reset' you so you can restart) and have things somehow be 'different' than they now are ... you'll have taken the first BIG step towards recovery. This IS an incurable disease for which the ONLY known remedy is abstinence.
Take it from all of us. We've done enough collective research to fill a 1000 medical journals ...
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