goinginsane

I have a question. Can an alcoholic and pill abuser, who has been in rehab, get out and drink wine socially? Is it possible for them to get used to drinking socially like regular people do? I know someone who tells me he goes to AA meetings and occasionally drinks wine with dinners. That to me seems ludacris. I was under the impression that they have to forget drinking anything with alcohol period.

Barbara52

An addict cannot continue to use their DOC whatever that substance may be. Not if they are seriously in recovery.

PrettyViolets

I do not think they can do this. My husband used to be able to drink entire bottles of wine. They drink one glass--socially--but when they get to be alone-they may drink more by themself.

justanothrdrunk

This alcoholic and pill abuser can't. No way.

Once that first drink hits my system there is no stopping me, not unless I'm somehow physically restrained or unconcious (or dead). Then I *might* stop, maybe.

isitme

I wouldn't think so. Like others have said. They might be able to maintain that for a short period of time, but it will escalade and probably fast.

Reddmax

What's interesting is what has happened to me over the last week with my AW. She's on a business trip, and at the times where she'd ususally be passed out or raving (9 to midnight), she's actually been lucid.

She (so far) has managed to keep her drinking under control during this trip. However, when she gets home, all bets are off. I don't know how she does it.

Redd

endzoner

one drink away from death ... no they shouldnt this will lead to more

Cassey

With everything that I have ever read, alanon meetings that I have gone too, and every piece of literature I could find to read. Everyone of them have said no, not even non-alcoholic beer.

My husband drank the non alcoholic beer when trying to quit and he thought that there is not a difference in smell of non and the real stuff, but to me I could tell the difference right away and he would have one of the real and pretend he was having the non.

It is there battle, I have learned that.

goinginsane

I too have read in several places that it's a very hard battle and drinking non or occasionally is just fooling self saying that this one time will be alright. Especially, when the person is just out of rehab a month ago. One can always escalate into two, then three and the back to being an alcoholic again. I don't think its possible to control it when they have already been a victim to the disease, although, I wanted to know if that can ever be possible when you have a goal of some sort?

cmc

All the replies given here are great.

The more I take care of my end of things, the less those 'drinking' or 'drugging' details
matter to me and I love the freedom, serenity and peace of mind that brings to my life.

I remember a time when I would enjoy a night out with a friend- the music, food and the company all the while counting the number of drinks enjoyed by the family at the next table. You see, I don't need a qualifier for Al-Anon because I qualify myself.
Once I became aware of what I was doing and what was driving me to be that way, I became more serious (and honest) about my own recovery, the quality of my own life improved a great deal.

So, to answer your original question- I don't know of anyone who consistently maintains
their sobriety that thinks it's okay to drink socially, but I find it's really none of my business if they do.

kemarus

It's kind of weird that this came up for me today. My RAH was home when I was on my lunch break. He had just finished work and was dropped off at the house. As he was coming up the steps, he heard a horn honking. It was 2 of his drinking buddies. He talked with them a while and they wanted him to come "hang out" with them. He told them he was busy. Then one asked him if he wanted a beer. He said no way, you know my problem. His "friend" said, come on you can have one beer! What's wrong with one beer? My RAH told him that one beer is too many and at the same time not enough. He told him that if he had one, that would definitely lead to another. See, back in April, my active AH drank heavily and took sleeping pills on top of it. Almost died. Stopped drinking for a while and "thought" he could still hang out and not drink with these people. That lasted until June when he was arrested for DUI with no recollection of what happened at 12:30 in the afternoon.

He told me today that he knows there can never be one beer. He said he fooled himself in April thinking that he could handle it and he could still "hang out" with the buddies and learned just how big that mistake was. Then he asked me to lock the door on my way out to go back to work because he didn't want them coming again and wanted nothing else to do with them.

TTOSBT

goinginsane,
You know my feeling on this :ghug3
IF she is telling you the truth, then she has no idea what he is doing behind her back.
There is no way, as an alcoholic that just went through treatment, he can have one for long if ever.
And for her, she is just asking for a relapse on her DOC.

marshallzhukov

AA would not consider someone to be sober or in recovery if they were still drinking, even one or two from time to time. The answer to your question is maybe a very small percentage of alcoholics who end up in rehab can go back to social drinking, but that is probably less than one percent. There are a lot of people who never have a problem drinking but run afoul of drugs, end up in rehab, and their first question is, "well I know I can't do drugs anymore, but I never had a problem with drinking, so can I still do that?" The answer is, many of those people end up drinking again, and maybe even do it socially for a while, but they will be drinking one night and feeling good and their guard will be down, and the thought will pop through their head "well I think it would be a good idea to go score a bag of (insert DOC)." There are also people who have a problem with alcohol and drugs, perhaps quit, but still smoke marijuana. That is known in recovery circles as 'marijuana maintenance,' and the few people I know who have done that in the past and are now completely clean and sober say that the quality of their life was no better during MM than it was whenever they were using whatever it was before.
Point is, if someone who just got out of rehab is "drinking socially" you're probably making beds in a burning house....

rkymtncowboy

I have seen this scenario with my wife. Her tolerance was built up and she quit drinking for two years. When she started again she was only drinking a pint a day. She got deathly ill and was out on a ventilator for 10 days. When I asked the doctor about it he told me the tolerance was more than the body can handle.

Latte

I don't want to find out so I just don't.

Lilyflower

In my experience - No!

Lily xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

respektingme

No. Stinkin thinking is what that's all about. If someone is truly in recovery and has truly admitted that their life is out of control as they know it, and that they are messing around with life and death, there would be no reason to risk their sobriety of one glass of anything.

prodigal

I've heard it said in many A.A. meetings over the years, "One drink is too many and a thousand drinks are never enough."

eleanor11

Our ability to drink socially went the day we crossed the line and drank alcoholically. When I see alcohol I imagine the word poison written on the glass/bottle. Why would I drink it? This disease kills people, so for this alcoholic I pick up the phone, not the drink.

miss communicat

No.Not if this person is a true alcoholic, no. Alcoholism is a progressive chemical disease. Read the book, "Under The Influence", for great facts to support this concept.

But, if the person merely was a heavy drinker, or was drinking heavily as a phase in their life, but is not a true alcoholic, yes. That type of person absolutely can change.