nonameuser

I read it takes about 10 years for alcoholism to develop and I've been drinking for about 7 years. I have watched myself go from 0-1 beer a day up to 8-10 drinks a day. For the last week I cut down to 4 a day. I even promised myself I would never be a morning drinker and, yet, here I am. I don't want things to go any further.

I have absolutely no idea how to stop, I drink compulsively. I'm not taking time off work to go to a clinic and I'm not spending the money to do so. Do you have any advice? Is it all willpower to quit? Is there anything I can do to make quitting easier?

Thank you.

dfw

Try going to an AA meeting, they're all over the place. Or find an addiction counselor, I've found my counselor to be the most helpful to me personally.

Stay on here, and read through other people's posts. JohnBarleyCorn's post about the morality of drinking might be interesting and get you thinking differently.

EDIT: And regardless of whether you haven't hit the 10 year mark according to that article, you have a problem, whether you're willing to admit it or not. We're all different physiologically, so why measure yourself against one particular article.

Runner63

I just stopped about a week ago after ending up in ER that my wife thought was a stroke. I was prescribed Ativan which you take for 10 to 12 days. It has helped as I had the shakes. Still can't sleep and a little depressed but this is my last chance. What are you doing?

Anna

I'm glad you stopped drinking and that you're seeking support.

For me, I became an alcoholic in about 3 months, that's it. None of us know for sure when we cross the invisible line, but we do know that you can never go back.

Here is a list of recovery programs:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...formation.html

nandm

I have to agree with Anna, no one can say for sure when someone will cross that invisible line into alcoholism. There are many theories on the subject but I have found from talking with other alcoholics and reading posts here that it is an individual thing. I personally crossed the line within about 4 years. I drank for another 15 years before I found a solution to my disease of alcoholism. The solution that worked for me is Alcoholics Anonymous but there are many different recovery programs that have worked for others. If you feel you have a problem with alcohol I encourage you to check out the link in Anna's post.

Charmie

my alcoholism has nothing to do with how much or for how long i drank...i am bodily and mentally different from normal folk but also when i look back and honestly appraise my life then i can say from a very young age i was irritable,restless and discontent.when i found booze is was like i had found the answer to life.
i felt like i had never fit in,was either bullied or was the bully at school,felt like my mum loved my sister more...the list goes on.
this is called a spiritual malady and its what i have to watch for.it is also what the 12 steps of alcoholics anonymous addresses.
welcome.

Humbled77

Welcome Nonameuser,

Your story sound familiar. It took me about 4 years to become an alcoholic, then I continued drinking another 6. I tried quitting using willpower, crashed and burned. I tried telling myself I am quitting on my terms, not doing this not doing that, crashed and burned.

This time around I realized I need to have all weapons ready. I have set a plan incorporating the tools and support that I think will work for me, complete honesty with my closest friends and family, involving my doctor and a therapist (I rarely went the doc and had never been to a therapist), and making it the NUMBER ONE priority in my life. If my plan is not working, I am 100% prepared to immediately take action. Enroll in a clinic and/or drive the 1.5 hours to AA. Hell I'll buy a ticket to Nepal and live in a monastery before I will go back to what I was doing.

Why? Because I would rather spend the rest of my money and life doing anything but slowly killing myself, destroying my life, and hurting all those people who love me. I have wised up enough to know that if I can't control my drinking, I can't control my quitting.

Humbled77

Didn't mean to sound too harsh there. My point was that if you are going to war and have all these great weapons, why not keep them all available in case you need them. You sure aren't going to win fighting at 50%, especially against a formidable opponent like alcoholism. And of course this place is a great tool for knowledge and support. Best of luck and keep us posted.

EmeraldRose

You didn't mention where you read that article? Just curious. I have never heard that before...not that it can't be true but I think most alcoholics know before 10 years that they have an uncontrollable drinking problem. I could see that "admitting" to the problem could take that long. LOL
As far as quitting goes, your heart and mind have to agree that it's time to stop. Then stop! You don't have to be sober or anylength into your sobriety to go to AA but that would be a great place to start. I have a meeting tonight (only one a week in a small town) and am looking forward to it. I'm 90 days in and it took losing my job to realize it was time. I took action -quit and fought my demons...still fighting sometimes, always will for the rest of my life. But I think I'm on track in my head where I need to be to be successful. You can do this if you literally put your mind to it. Good Luck and post often.

Reset

I don't know if it's all about willpower necessarily but I found (and I read the same from others here) that the biggest step I took was putting it firmly in my mind that I *really wanted* to quit.

Before, I'd tell myself that I should quit, or that it would be a good idea to quit (notice the difference in terminology?) but once I decided I really wanted to quit, deep down, most everything else fell into place.

It still wasn't easy but that mental step helped me follow through.

Dee74

Hi nonameuser

It wasn't willpower for me - fighting a battle is no good because, to me, you're fighting yourself -either way you lose.

For me, it was acceptance of my problem, accepting I couldn't drink anymore, and finding a willingness to do whatever it took to stay sober that helped me get through to the other side

The support I found here helped me immeasurably. You'll find a lot of support here too

Welcome
D

artsoul

Welcome!

We all know what it's like to drink compulsively. I felt like I was on auto-pilot half the time when it came to getting more alcohol. Willpower didn't help much (maybe an few times) and it wasn't until I admitted the problem and reached out like you're doing now that things started to change.

Read lots of posts and you'll see how others have gotten sober..... you're not alone.

CarolD

Welcome to our recovery community....

Joining here can give you a lot of soupport and information
This can be the veginnning of your sober life.. life...