lizw

I thought it might be nice to identify with some of you who come from an alcoholic home or a home affected by alcoholism.

What I mean by this is, people who have alcoholism in their own family - not just in their partner/husband/child.

For example in my family, while my parents aren't alcoholics
- my grandfather on my mothers side (my mothers father) is an alcoholic
- my nana's brother (my great uncle) is an alcoholic whose had numerous 'treatments'.

And on my fathers side,
- both my nana and grandfather (my dad's parents) liked to drink, a lot.

I am an alcoholic (sober 10 years) and one of my younger brothers is also an alcoholic - not sober but been to treatment.

It's like 'the family tree of alcoholism'. lol.

For good measures, I'll also add that I believe my mother has an eating disorder (like my older and younger sister do too, the older one is in recovery from that) and one of my uncles and one of my great aunts has a mental illness, both on my mothers side. My youngest sister is also in the process of being diagnosed with one.

That's me. So how about you?
:ghug2

LucyA

Don't have any that I'm aware of, except my brother.

Having said that, my Dad was adopted so there could be a family of alcoholics connected to me somewhere.

peaceteach

Great uncle, grandmother, father, brother, exhusband, possibly son--all were/are alchoholics. It's left a warped impression on me that most other families don't have when partying or celebrating. I hate that my life is so focused on this disease that I see a "drunk" at every party in the making, that I feel like I can spot them in stores and restaurants, and that it dominates my thoughts. I miss rose-colored glasses

Barbara52

Both my parents were alcoholics. My father was an abusive drunk, beating all of us as I grew up. Mom was emotionally abusive. My father quit drinking one day when he came out of a bar, slipped on the ice and broke his ankle badly. He never did drink again but never got into a recovery program either. Dad died 7 years ago. Mom still drinks at 87.

Both of my brothers are alcoholics, the older one has been in recovery for 20+ years. My younger brother doesn't think he has a drinking problem.

I managed to avoid alcoholism. I drink now and then but can take it or leave it. My addictive behaviors goes more to using food to compensate and smoking cigarettes.

Bernadette

hey lizw--

My dad was an active alcoholic for the first 15 years of my life. He was sober/ recovered for the next 20 yrs until he died.

All three of my brothers are alcoholics. Oldest is a teetotaler now but smokes pot 24/7/365, middle one has 30+ days in AA (woo hoo!) and little bro...still active alcoholic.

Both my father's brothers are raging alcoholics, they're in their late 60's early 70's now and it is very sad... My grandmother (their mom) was an alcoholic. My other Uncle (mother's brother) is also an alcoholic. I have about 5 first cousins (out of 20 total) who are active alcoholics and 2 1st cousins who are sober/recovered through AA. I have 4 2nd cousins in Ireland who are active alcoholics...and I'm sure many more ancestors I cannot name who were "on the drink."

Pretty much anyone in my family who has achieved sobriety did it through AA so far.

Peaceteach I can really relate to what you said - I also have this heightened awareness of alcohol and people's behavior around alcohol in every social situation...but even as a little girl it started...I was aware of the smell of it and the way certain people behaved when they drank it...

B.

SlvrMag

Both my parents are alcoholics. My mom drinks beer all day long but can still walk a straight line...sorta. My dad was a hard alcohol drinker-he would be drunk before 10:00 am. He was very violent while my mom is a "happy" drunk.

sailorjohn

Both parents, have some mental illness on Mom's side, for sure. Mom is bi-polar also. This thread was started a while back, needless to say I am a firm believer that it's all genetics. Either you is or you ain't.

stillredhot

My mother died from alcoholism and my dad has been one most of his life until recently. He is taking chemo and CANNOT drink..so he doesn't.

GiveLove

Mother, father, sisters, brother, aunt, uncle, you name it.

lizw

??? I started this thread about 3 hours ago.
Lol.

:ghug3

mentorjeffy

My family from as far back as immigration, that is my great, great grandparents all had alcoholism. My children are also afflicted with this disease. There are some members of the family including myself that are in recovery. Thanks for the thread.

OverItNow

My side of the family has (luckily or unluckily--depending on the party) for the most part, some sort of weird chip implanted that turns us into vomitting messes after a few beers. We very rarely drink--wine on holidays, etc.

Now, if this was a threading asking if we had any hand-wringing, heavy sighing, staring out the window martyrs--well, my family has that market cornered!

coyote21

That's FUNNY!:ghug3

Thanks an God bless

Coyote

lizw

After a lot of thought and a conversation with my mother, who visited this afternoon, I have decided (chances are) she has a mental illness too, as she has some pretty bizzare ideas about responsibilty.

I don't think it ever crossed my mind she maybe 'mental' until recently when I did a 5th step with my sponsor, who past comment on the fact my mother told me not to go to sleep one night, when I was 13/14, spat in my face and told me she had a knife and was going to kill me. My sponsor said this was quite 'mental' despite it being a reaction to me being kicked out of college, which didn't happen overnight either as there was all kinds of things leading up to this.

So after the conversation I had with her this afternoon I can really see, that despite the lights being on, no one is home.

sailorjohn

Misspoke, sorry. Someone started a thread a while back asking the same question, IIRC. Either that or I'm getting senile

In any event, it's always interesting to see everyones take on this, hopefully the thread will have legs.

SlvrMag

I think the person meant a thread on this subject was started a while back!





Duh, me...maybe I should READ before I post!

DesertEyes

Everybody in my family has some kind of insanity. Alcoholics, child abusers, wife beaters, pedophiles, eating disorders. I had one aunt that tried to break the cycle, but she never found recovery or a good shrink and ended up killing herself. My brother is one of the least crazy ones, he's hugely addicted to caffeine and nicotine which is destroying his heart. I may be the only who has found recovery. I'm glad for me, but sad for everybody else.

Mike

TTOSBT

Oh boy....My Mom is an alcoholic. She quit drinking 20 years ago but has never done any program, still very much has the "ism". I have 4 siblings, all 5 of us are alcoholic IMO. There are others issues as well. My husband is a normie, my 17 year old has his head VERY much on straight and hopefully will escape this disease but he knows that he has all sorts of predisposition to it. My grandfather was an alcoholic. Haven't done much looking beyond that. My Mother was adopted, as was my paternal grandfather so the genetics would not be easy to trace.

baileyboop

My STBXH is an alcoholic, and there are several alkies along my maternal line. Lots of alkies in AH's side also.
My maternal family has a long history of several addictions. I am a smoker. My mother and ALL of her siblings, parents, ect. were smokers. I am one of only 2 smokers left in the family-haven't learned that one yet... ; )

Latte

I was adopted at 2.5 but I have nurture and nature going for me. My birthfather was an alcoholic/addict and obese. He died of a massive coronary. My bio grandmother (mothers mother) was mentally ill and treated it with alcohol and drugs when she was younger. One of my uncles just hit his third strike for drug dealing/using and he's going to spend his life in prison. My adoptive father is an alcoholic and he has Parkinson's affect and drinking is making it much worse. I'm the only one in recovery.