lametramp

Hi all

I think I'm an alcoholic. Before a week ago when I decided to stop, I was getting to the point of drinking half a carton (approx. 12 beers) most nights, including work nights.

I'm not sure if my issue is alcohol or just beer. I looovvvvvvvvveee beer. I don't crave alcohol of other types and in fact, I don't touch spirits anymore--that I've been able to control. Beer however I can just drink non-stop. I won't lie though, I do like being drunk.

As I said, it's been a week now since I had a beer and I am craving it! The summer heat doesn't help--when chilled beer is very refreshing.

I want to just go to a pub and have a pint. I know I could stop after that. I'm wondering though if I do that, I'll just go back down the same path, ie I'll then start to drink beer again everytime I go out and have lunch, that'll then increase, and before I know it I'm buying beer at home again and drinking in excess.

Any advice on what I should do is appreciated. I have tried many times to stop drinking, but I want to enjoy life too! Should I give myself one more chance at controlling it?

flutter

Never worked for me!

You're here for a reason...

Read, post.. stick around.

Fubarcdn

What Flutter says. We all think we can drink socially and just have a couple but the fact is we probably can't, at least I know I can't. If you came here and posted you probably already know this though. If you decide to stop it you will get a lot of support here and if not there will be support here when you are ready to make the move. Good kuck.

sarahj5678

I'm exactly the same but with wine!! Can't drink anything else but it's still a psychological dependency! I want to stop because I can't just have a couple of glasses, I end up drinking 2 bottles even though I keep kidding myself that next time I will stop when I've had enough!

least

If you want to see if you can control your drinking, set limits. ONly two beers a night for two weeks. If you can do that without problems and without thinking about drinking a lot, then maybe you don't have a problems.

But if you feel alcohol is a problem in your life then maybe it is. Normal 'social' drinkers don't think twice about alcohol and don't wonder if they have a problem.

I tried to control my wine drinking but never could, I always ended up drinking the whole bottle. Better for me to just quit completely.

Good luck to you, whatever you decide.

Anna

I wasted a lot of time determined to control my drinking.

Of course, it got worse during that time.

shaun00

You love beer............youve tried to stop and cant or struggle......you like being drunk.......Ask yourself this "am i addicted to alcohol?"...

Try to stop splitting up the different forms of alchohol.........There is one vital element in all these drinks and that is highly addictive ALCOHOL.

At one point in my life i hated spirits........and only drank beer or lager.
I can remember lighting a barbequeue with gin because no one drank it and it had been in the cabinet for years..........but id always get wasted on beer.

At the end of my drinking id drink anything......i wouldnt care if it was mickey mouse pee as long as it had alcohol in it.......why.........because fundamentally i was addict to ALCOHOL.and do anthing to get it.

In the beginning it would make me feel like superman.........in the end it wanted me in the ground....and tried very hard to put me there.

Is your beer intake on the rise?....do you suffer blackouts?.....nervous and unsettled in the morning?.....be honest with yourself.

If you can control it...my hat is off to you sir...if you cant then the chances are your gonna need support to stop...............trucker.

bodychek

My alcoholism is characterized by 2 things (1) an obsession of my mind where I think about drinking, booze, and everything connected to it, and (2) once I start drinking I cannot stop (I can seldom have 1 or 2 beers and stop). I have been able to control my drinking and I did not drink all day, every day. But I had tried many, many times to control and/or stop drinking and I could not control it. Once I finally surrendered to the fact that I was an alcoholic, I began to recover and I have never felt better.

Good luck.

SoberforME

The only time I ever had 2 of anything is when I was hungover from the day before. That's the only time I would stop at 2 because my body felt so bad.

I would HIGHLY suggest "Beyond the Influence" . Someone suggested it to me on SR and I read it and it opened my eyes!! I know that 100% for sure I am an alcoholic and I know why now too.

If you are asking yourself if you are an alcoholic, then you probably are. But really, try to moderate your alcohol. My Dad was a beeroholic and didn't stop until he got cirrhosis, because "he couldn't be an alcoholic, it's just beer"

Isaiah

If nothing else you might ask yourself if you have a problem. I am pretty sure that no matter your size or physical chemistry, 12 a day is going to eventually lead to dependence--which is addiction. If it's only beer that doesn't matter.

No way I could be sure whether you can or can't bring it under control, but I can tell you that with even half that amount of beer consumption a day you will one day lose your ability to control it.

CarolD

Welcome...

Hope you can find a way to not drink...it's such a
unhealthy ... and non productive thing to do.

Dee74

Good to see another Aussie here

I was like you - I only drank beer, hated wine, didn't like most spirits - so I could 'control' those...so I wasn't an alcoholic.

But I was always thinking about how much I drank, always making periodic attempts to control my intake, and failing....always thoughts like 'tonight I won't make a mess of myself', and 'is it 10am yet so I can go get some?...I'll just chill it for this afternoon....'

I ended up drinking all day every day - beer when I could afford it, cheap cask wine when I couldn't (I still hated wine but that wasn't the point by that stage).

I dunno whether you're an alcoholic or not, but finding a recovery site and posting on it is usually a pretty good red flag.

I hope you think about stuff a lot more honestly than I did anyway

good luck
D

Rusty Zipper

i believe the real problem is "Control"

we cant control are drinking or drugging, and more importantly... Life!

learning new ideas is what helps, and what was once, what we thought was fun, can become our worst nightmare, and others...

we learn that life is ok sober...

just as it comes...

good wishes LT

rz

KenL

It is most likely true that you are an alcoholic. You have tried to stop many times like most of us here. Also, you have the desire to control it which implies a loss of control.

I know that one drink for me leads to another. I cannot just stop at one drink because of this funky thing in my body that won't let me. When we alcoholics drink it alters our brain chemistry in such a way that makes us want to drink more. That is a fact.

When people say "I don't know why I can't stop drinking" it is because alcoholism is a progressive neurological disease. It would sound stupid for someone with Parkinson's to say "I don't know why I can't stop shaking". The answer lies in knowledge of the disease. Once people know the disease they will stop asking themselves why they can't stop drinking.

So my friend, educate yourself about alcoholism and stop drinking now before the disease progresses to a more advanced stage. SR has a section about alcoholism, check it out sometime.

Peace.