ProblemDrinker

Hi, I'm 6 or 7 weeks in without a drink and I feel great. I went three months earlier this year, thought I could handle a few innocent beers then had too much one night after a couple of months and decided to quit again.

This is the thing with me now...I have no desire to drink at all. I've read Allen Carr's Easyway to Control drinking 3 times through and it has sunk in how much of a con the whole alcohol thing is. I won't go into detail but if you haven't read the book I strongly recommend you to do so.

The problem is I have developed this hatred for the stuff..which is probably normal, but for me now I don't want to be near people who are drinking, not because I want to join them, but because I am finding the whole thing of people poisoning themselves to 'have a good time' nauseating and quite frankly it p***** me off.

I have no problem going to functions like boat trips, birthdays etc where there is a POINT to the gathering, but to just go to the bar because so and so's sister is visiting would just make me irritable. And don't get me started on the idiot's who constantly ask what I'm drinking, or even when they don't say anything their body language changes for any number of reason thinking I have had a drinking problem...THEY ARE THE ONES WITH THE PROBLEM POISONING THEMSELVES!!!

Does anyone have this strong hatred for the stuff? I sometimes think (hope) that in 10 or 20 years humanity will wake up and understand that there is no benefit to alcohol whatsoever and phase it out completely...kind of like whats happening with cigarettes..I hope the day comes soon that people look at the ones drinking with pity who are in the minority instead of the other way around.

Sapling

I only hate it when I drink it. If I don't have a drink...I won't need a drink. I guess the normies don't have any problem with it...That counts me out.

Anna

No, I don't hate alcohol. Most people have no problem with it, but I can't drink it anymore.

Dee74

I think a lot of us go through a little growing pains period where we despise drinkers and the alcohol industry and the media for glamourizing alcohol use...

I settled down eventually.

I'm really glad I made the life choice I did - it was far and away the right choice for me - but I realise now that a lot of people can deal with alcohol quite well...and even those who can't are free to make their own choices too

D

hypochondriac

I hate to say it but I don't think that's gonna happen anytime soon. Too many people drink and don't see it as a problem at all. Alcohol is definitely a con, but it's a damn clever one. Same with smoking. I wouldn't bother trying to convert people though, I bet there was a time when you wouldn't have been convinced that drinking is bad...? I love Allen Carr's book, but I remember reading it years ago and I think I was miffed because it didn't tell me how to control my drinking! I think I missed the point, oh, and I was an active alcoholic. I'm sure it would have sunk in better if I was sober

Oh, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with not being around drinkers now you're sober. There are lots of other things you can be doing x

Xune

Can't say I hate alcohol or being around those who enjoy it responsibly.

The fact of the matter is, I simply can't drink alcohol.

So I don't.

Alcohol is as old as society itself, so it's here to stay.

Lastly, if used responsibly, one could demonstrably argue there are many health benefits and at the very least, the effects are benign.

Unfortunately, I can't experience any positive benefits, as I am simply incapable of consuming alcohol responsibly over the long term.

So no, I hold no ill will towards booze.

ProblemDrinker

Dee - I don't despise drinkers at all, I'd be pretty miserable if I did as supposedly 90% of adults drink! No, its the alcohol - or more specifically - societies attitude towards it that I resent. I don't think it's growing pains as such either, it is becoming a strong resentment for everything alcohol.

I disagree with peoples idea that it is lack of willpower or some genetic flaw, it is purely the nature of the drug and societies current attitude towards it.

I used to be the worst for questioning why people haven't got an alcoholic drink in their hands and it makes me feel pretty guilty now and want to apologise to those people I've annoyed.

ProblemDrinker

Health benefits? Surely not!

2granddaughters

We go from one extreme to the other in the beginning..

When I first got sober I passionately supported MADD. It had only been a few months before when I was the DD that the MA were against.

You'll work it out.

All the best.

Bob R

DarkDays

Beginning to disagree about this, In the uk most that drink regular drink WAY too much, very few drink within the gudelines, mass denial and mass possession here in the uk.

hypochondriac

I have to add that I am with you on this ProblemDrinker. I have been sober for over 9 months now, and even though my bitter hatred towards alcohol has died down I still see it as the problem. I find it kind of sad that sometimes when recovering alcoholics talk about drinking they do it almost wistfully like they'd still be doing it if they could but they can't. I think lot's of people's lives would be better without alcohol, not just alcoholics and problem drinkers. There is a societal problem regarding alcohol. The amount of times I hear someone say something about the health benefits of alcohol (Guinness for that anemia anyone?), or hear someone say 'You need a drink'... makes me wanna bang my head against walls. Those little bits of misinformation or misguidance can be pretty damaging. I'm not saying that is why I'm an alcoholic, because y'know, I'm not that stupid, but societies fervent belief in alcohol does make quitting a bit harder or at least less socially acceptable.

DarkDays

I have just fininished working in London Tonight, it was horrid, dangerously drunk people everywhere, very hard to not notice the MASSIVE problem alcoHELL is having on our society now. I am nearly a year sober and the further i get away from it the more I notice the absurdness of it.

Why should people question why I am not drinking ?

All this week the Uk media have been discussing the drug problem and if ever drugs should be made legal, yet the biggest and most damaging of them all hardly gets a mention...alcohell.

Feel like I am living in a strange alien world at times .

Pondlady

I don't hate alcohol, but find myself scratching my head these days over it's allure to so many.

pattyj

I have to agree with probelmdrinker as well. Although I don't see alcohol going away anytime soon, why is a 'drink' the answer to everything? I wish I could see the world without alcohol. There would still be stupid people and fighting but I believe that alot more would get accomplished without our heads being foggy. I also always hear about people trying to do something about drugs. What do you think alcohol is? Younger and younger people are getting their hands on this stuff and the government is making it easier for them to get ahold of it; in the grocery stores now? Come on.

Xune

Yes.


'Moderate drinking can offer some health benefits. But it's easy to drink too heavily, leading to serious health consequences.'

'When it comes to drinking alcohol, the key is doing so only in moderation. Certainly, you don't have to drink any alcohol, and if you currently don't drink, don't start drinking for the possible health benefits.'

Alcohol use: If you drink, keep it moderate - MayoClinic.com

I abused alcohol, so none of that applied to me.

hypochondriac

'Certainly, you don't have to drink any alcohol, and if you currently don't drink, don't start drinking for the possible health benefits. In some cases, it's safest to avoid alcohol entirely — the possible benefits don't outweigh the risks.'

I think that's worth highlighting again. There has been discussion recently in the UK that the supposed health benefits are very misleading. Like the quote above, no one is actually suggesting we drink for health reasons.

ProblemDrinker

Moderate alcohol consumption may provide some health benefits. It may:

Reduce your risk of developing heart disease
Reduce your risk of dying of a heart attack
Possibly reduce your risk of strokes, particularly ischemic strokes
Lower your risk of gallstones
Possibly reduce your risk of diabetes

Even so, the evidence about the possible health benefits of alcohol isn't certain, and alcohol may not benefit everyone who drinks.

A dangerous message indeed from the well respected people at the Mayo Clinic. Apart from anything the key word before each of those five ambitious claims is 'may' along with an additional 'possibly' to further dilute the theory of reducing risk of stroke and diabetes.

Lets make it clear here alcohol is a killer and a drug which ruins more lives than all other drugs illegal and legal combined. The fact that people think they can't enjoy an evening because they won't be drinking is proof that the brainwashing that society has endured is further preventing more people from avoiding the stuff.

pattyj

Alcohol 'may' do somethings good for your health, but it also 'may' f*** up your life. Which side would you rather go with? Everyone is going to die from something, I would rather remember my life on earth as the one I wanted then regret many moments because I may be reducing my risk of diabetes or gallstones.

nigey1

I know what you are saying, I work everyday and have spent years dealing with the death, destruction and hopelessness caused by alcohol. Irony is for years I used it to justify my own drinking. Now I use it to give me perspective, motivation and focus.

Remember the problems are always gonna be there it is our reactions to them that count.

FreeFall

I hate it when I see what it's doing to close friends. I think everyone knows drinking too much is a problem, but I honestly didn't know until I came to SR and did a lot of reading just how much it messes with your brain and body. I don't think my friends realize this either and are probably going to learn the hard way.

I went to the eye doctor today and found the sight in one of my eyes had actually improved for the first time in decades. The only thing that's changed is the lack of alcohol.