spiriteyes1350

Hi all -

I am so happy to have stumbled across this website. I have been reading threads for the last few hours and felt compelled to post something. I think I may be an alcoholic. My question is, can you be an alcoholic if you are only a binge drinker? I feel like sometimes I am making a bigger deal out of it than it needs to be. However, over the past two years or so I've been feeling so helpless when I drink. I wake up the next day and cry because I don't want to live like that anymore, but then I do it again the next weekend. I'm almost 30 years old and think maybe it is time to grow up. I only drink on Friday or Saturday night, but will drink about six beers or mixed drinks and then about 10 shots on top of that. I don't drink during the week at all and have no problem abstaining during the week, I hardly even think about it. But once I get a few drinks in me, I feel like I just want to drink everything in sight. Any thoughts on this are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Supercrew

It sounds like you have a problem once you start drinking, being that your body continues to want more. That is basically what binge drinking is, but if you can't stop once you start it is a sign that you have a problem with alcohol. I was also a binge drinker for many years, and it progressed for me to binging a couple of times a week, then progressed to each binge getting closer and closer together over the years. It got to the point that to cure the hangover from the binge I would have a couple early the next day, and then binge the next night. Next thing you know I was a daily drinker/binger. Basically I progressed to the point where I considered myself an alcoholic.

If you feel you have a problem with moderating your intake when you start drinking, and your drinking is causing problems in your life you should probably stick on this forum for a while to get a better understanding of whether you think you have a problem or not. I found that I couldn't moderate consistantly, and although when i was in your shoes I didn't consider myself an alcoholic, I did have a problem with alcohol, and I found that sobriety was the only way for me to fix it.

Welcome to the board, you will get alot of good insight here.

sailorjohn

Welcome!!!

peace28

I know how you feel. I'm kind of a weekend warrior myself. The problem is the weekends are when I need to be getting things done and spending qt with my family. Instead, around Thursday or Friday I'm totally consumed about the weekend party. Another thing that really bothers me is I'm usually a little hungover in church. It makes me feel like a complete loser. Gotta stop

nandm

NEOMARXIST

I was an out and out binge drinker.

I am an alcoholic. I am 19 months sober today, so it's possible. I was sick and tired of it and didn't want to feel that terrible hopelessness anymore.

All the best, Peace

Mark75

That's a red flag for sure. Stick around a while, read some threads, post, get comfortable here.

Welcome

Dee74

Hi spiriteyes

I believe it's not so much how much you drink, or even how often you do/don't - it's what happens to you when you do.

Does your drinking cause you emotional, financial, relationship, work, legal problems?
do you have that inner *need* to drink?
can you stop?
do you obsess about it? anticipate it?

I recognise this for sure
I started as a binge drinker...gradually, over years, the intervals between the binges became shorter and shorter until I was drinking all day everyday...

so, in my experience at least, the two things were just different points on the same continuum.

Welcome aboard. You'll find a lot of support here

D

Danae

Hi Spiriteyes,

As others have noted only you can determine if you are an alcoholic. But given the quote above, I think you might want to try getting sober and see how great that feels.

I felt the same compulsion to drink at times and it was sucking the life out of me, bit by bit. As others have noted this behavior often progresses, so the binges may get closer together and you could have even less control.

Welcome, and keep posting and reading!

D

justjo

Hi Spiriteyes
I find that if I cry about anything, it is because it is hurting me. Maybe think about that awhile.
Hugs JJ

artsoul

Welcome! You'll find lots of people here who know exactly what you're talking about. I could moderate if I had to (like wine with dinner at a restaurant) but secretly I always wanted more. I was never satisfied unless I could keep drinking......

Some people just stop binging on there own (get married, have kids, or whatever), but for many like myself, the "just one more" mentality only gets worse as time goes on.

I think it's great that you're asking these questions - if you find that you can't stop drinking even when you intend to, you probably have a problem.

Hope you can find some answers here!

CarolD

Welcome...

Some drinkers quit for various reasons who are not alcoholics.
Drinking a liquid toxin..alcohol...is very unhealthy.

Yes some alcoholics are binge drinkers but the disease of
alcoholism is progressive too.
You really are drinking way over the "social aspect"
even if it is not daily.

All my best

Zebra1275

Welcome. You have gotten a lot of good advice already.

ReadyAndAble

I don't think normal people obsess about drinking like I did. Like artsoul, I could stop at one or two if I had too, but I'd be totally battling the urge to have more. I was only comfortable when I knew I had more drinks coming. Yet I'd wake up regretting all those drinks. Then do it again. And regret it. On and on and on for years. So grateful to finally be off that hamster wheel now...

Welcome to SR!

Veritas1

It was explained to me that what makes me an alcoholic is the effect it has on me.

Whenever I take a drink, my body wants more.

When I don't want to drink, or have been free of drinking for awhile, my mind will still think it is a good idea to take a drink even when my experience with drinking shows that would not be a good idea.

The Doctor's Opinion, and many other chapters in the book Alcoholics Anonymous explains it really well.

Here is a link to read it online

http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/

spiriteyes1350

Thank you all so much for the great advice, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond.

least

Welcome to SR. It sounds like drinking is causing you problems. In that case it's better to just stop drinking altogether. If you find you can't stop on your own, look into recovery programs, like AA or SMART or Women for Sobriety. I see an addiction counselor once a week which helps a lot. There's a lot of help out there for those who want to quit drinking, and SR is a valuable resource for me and lots of others.

Bribr

Good for you for at least attempting to consider what you might be dealing with. That's a brave first step.