Drinking for effect
Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: USA
Posts: 642
Drinking despite negative consequences or the inability to quit drinking when one aspires to do so is "alcoholic." But regardless of labels, if you are worried about yours or a loved one's drinking, it would be smart to post here or at least lurk. Lots of good advice.
bona fido dog-lover
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: SF Bay area, CA
Posts: 99,784
I was a wine drinker. I started out with very good wines but quickly regressed to getting whatever was cheapest.
And I wasn't drinking for the taste, I was drinking to get drunk.
Yes, I was drinking alcoholicly.
And I wasn't drinking for the taste, I was drinking to get drunk.Yes, I was drinking alcoholicly.
Better when never is never
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Wisconsin near Twin Cities
Posts: 1,745
I obsess about drinking day and night. No matter what problems drinking causes in my life or how aware of the connection I am, I find it near impossible to leave alcohol alone.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: granite state, usa
Posts: 31
Originally Posted by ExWinoMom 
I'm feeling really down today, I just want someone to diagnose me as an alcoholic so I can get on with aa. Yeah I sound nuts
if you lurk here and have constant obsessive thoughts about alcohol, and a compulsion to drink in the face of a rational need to not want to.....then there's your answer.
best of luck
Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: granite state, usa
Posts: 31
don't mean to sound like a dink but there comes a point when a decisdion needs to be made and the effort needs to be placed in the solution and not the problem
I wallowed in that grey area of self pity every day for 2 years..I get it
take action
I wallowed in that grey area of self pity every day for 2 years..I get it
take action
Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 345
you've come to the right place, dr. happyhour is now seeing clients, i must do a complicated assessment to determine the esteemed title of "alcoholic", we (those in my area of expertise) don't assign this classification without proper due diligence, and thorough life patterning diagnostics, ok, are you ready? this should not take too long, and will not hurt (accept for your ego, that still tells you that you are different than everyone else), shall we begin then?
-do you drink when you do not want to?
that concludes my assessment, my services are $1,200 and i accept all major credit and debit cards, good day to you maa'm.
now, about that aa meeting?
-do you drink when you do not want to?
that concludes my assessment, my services are $1,200 and i accept all major credit and debit cards, good day to you maa'm.
now, about that aa meeting?
Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: North of England
Posts: 1,442
I drank to get pissed. (as in the Brit meaning..). End of.
Of course quite a lot of people do - and they aren't all alcoholics. They do take a risk though. I fear for what is being stored up these days..
Of course quite a lot of people do - and they aren't all alcoholics. They do take a risk though. I fear for what is being stored up these days..
~sb
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: MD
Posts: 15,967
I drank to feel comfortable in my own skin, to feel comfortable in life. Without alcohol, I had a hard time dealing with every day life events. It was my solution. Thank goodness alcohol exists!
Unfortunately, once I had a sip, I could not predict how much I drank. It was some kind of pull.....I had to keep drinking until I got to that "place." Then I was really drunk. That effect was my salvation.
Today I can use those steps to help me live life without drinking alcohol. Today, I have a new solution. Today I am comfortable in my own skin and with the world around me. Today, I can talk with anyone anywhere. I am not full of anxiety, irritability, or restlessness. I have no desire to drink to obliteration. I could not stay stopped.
I have conceded to my innermost self that I can not drink. I was hopeless (I couldn't see living without drinking, but I knew I had to stop and stay stopped or I would die an alcoholic death---slow and painful) and desperate and willing to do anything to stay stopped.
Unfortunately, once I had a sip, I could not predict how much I drank. It was some kind of pull.....I had to keep drinking until I got to that "place." Then I was really drunk. That effect was my salvation.
Today I can use those steps to help me live life without drinking alcohol. Today, I have a new solution. Today I am comfortable in my own skin and with the world around me. Today, I can talk with anyone anywhere. I am not full of anxiety, irritability, or restlessness. I have no desire to drink to obliteration. I could not stay stopped.
I have conceded to my innermost self that I can not drink. I was hopeless (I couldn't see living without drinking, but I knew I had to stop and stay stopped or I would die an alcoholic death---slow and painful) and desperate and willing to do anything to stay stopped.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 2,805
ExWino, I am like you, I am not sure what I am and I am not excited to label myself an alcoholic. However, reading a lot of these posts and watching my mother going downhill fast in alcohol abuse, I actually feel blessed that I have "caught" my drinking problem at a point in my life where I haven't lost the things and people that are important to me. There really is no upside to keep drinking. The positives of staying sober far, far, outweigh the "positives" of continuing to drink. The idea that I am controlled in my mind by a poisonous, liquid, drug, scares me to death. So, while I have any semblance of normalcy and control, I am getting out of the drinking game, before it is too late.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 526
brilliant response DoubleDragons.
i personally don't subscribe to labels. call me an alcoholic, an addict, a binge drinker... it's all the same.
drinking would ruin my life. i could probably survive and function, but i would also achieve nothing and would continue a slow suicidal spiral to the very bottom. that's what drinking feel like to me.
imo, the number of drinks doesn't matter, the reason for drinking doesn't matter. you are consuming a dangerous and lethal, albeit legal, drug. why put yourself through physical and mental torture?
i personally don't subscribe to labels. call me an alcoholic, an addict, a binge drinker... it's all the same.
drinking would ruin my life. i could probably survive and function, but i would also achieve nothing and would continue a slow suicidal spiral to the very bottom. that's what drinking feel like to me.
imo, the number of drinks doesn't matter, the reason for drinking doesn't matter. you are consuming a dangerous and lethal, albeit legal, drug. why put yourself through physical and mental torture?
Guest
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 4,580
Originally Posted by ExWinoMom
Drinking for effect- whether it's one or 11 drinks, that's alcoholic right?
When I want to have a drink it is typically to "change my mood" or relieve anxiety, stress or tension.
In this train of thought, I have a hard time coming up with why I would drink if I didn't need to.
It is easier for me to realize what I am dealing with is straight up "addiction" in that alcohol is my escapist coping mechanism. That is powerful enough for me to realize that it must be addressed. I do not need to concern myself with the alcoholic label.
I drank addictively no matter what pretty bow or scarlet letter I want to put on it.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,997
Just me. I had to quit thinking about all the things I was or wasn't and just start doing the things I wanted to be. I wasn't very good at it at first. It took some practice doing. I even had to test drive a few things to find out what the heck I should be doing. Not everything felt just right.
Only thing I did really know was I was pretty sure I didn't want to be drunk. That wasn't working out very well.
I can call myself whatever I want or think myself into believing whatever I want. All I really have is what I do. My life happens outside my head. I can either be just someone who plays the reel over and over in my head of what I should or shouldn't be doing or I can actually be doing it.
Check out that jellybean video that's probably floating around on YouTube. This guy has a pile of jellybeans where one jellybean represents a day in the average lifespan. Then he starts pulling out all the jellybeans that represent sleeping, working, doing stuff that we all have to do just because we have to do it. Wait till you see how many jellybeans we really left to do things that are really important. Not that many really. And that's if we are lucky and get the average life expectancy jellybean pile to begin with.
I've always been curious as to how many jellybeans I wasted thinking about something that got me nowhere. I'm sure those come out of the pile of very rare here's who I am what's left of the jellybean pile. And who I am is what I do.
Just me. Thinking too much gets me into trouble sometimes. I have to balance the thinking and doing and I definitely have to make some really good choices on what I want to think about or do. I don't want to waste anymore jellybeans. I wasted far too many soaking them in a wine bottle.
Ex wino here too.
Only thing I did really know was I was pretty sure I didn't want to be drunk. That wasn't working out very well.
I can call myself whatever I want or think myself into believing whatever I want. All I really have is what I do. My life happens outside my head. I can either be just someone who plays the reel over and over in my head of what I should or shouldn't be doing or I can actually be doing it.
Check out that jellybean video that's probably floating around on YouTube. This guy has a pile of jellybeans where one jellybean represents a day in the average lifespan. Then he starts pulling out all the jellybeans that represent sleeping, working, doing stuff that we all have to do just because we have to do it. Wait till you see how many jellybeans we really left to do things that are really important. Not that many really. And that's if we are lucky and get the average life expectancy jellybean pile to begin with.
I've always been curious as to how many jellybeans I wasted thinking about something that got me nowhere. I'm sure those come out of the pile of very rare here's who I am what's left of the jellybean pile. And who I am is what I do.
Just me. Thinking too much gets me into trouble sometimes. I have to balance the thinking and doing and I definitely have to make some really good choices on what I want to think about or do. I don't want to waste anymore jellybeans. I wasted far too many soaking them in a wine bottle.
Ex wino here too.
Member
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Sweden
Posts: 1,649
I think we all know if we are alcoholics. You know yourself better than anyone.
Hope you are feeling better today...I can't promise that you won't feel down when you are sober. But what you do about feeling down, that will change with sobriety.
I still feel down sometimes, but the mood is not accompanied by a feeling of intense panic and the belief that the only thing that will restore me to sanity and happiness is a drink. I've learned that the sad mood is short lived and will pass. It truly does!
I still have problems, but I don't react to them with fear and a sense of doom.
I now believe that I have 1/10th of the problems (I used to think) I had...because a lot of my problems weren't problems in the first place, and a lot of them certainly weren't mine.
I can forget about problems completely now when I decide they are beyond my power to solve. When they are something I can solve, I go about it with a new sense of calmness.
It was a tough journey for me, I didn't get sober quickly or easily. I don't miss my drinking days one bit!
Hope you are feeling better today...I can't promise that you won't feel down when you are sober. But what you do about feeling down, that will change with sobriety.
I still feel down sometimes, but the mood is not accompanied by a feeling of intense panic and the belief that the only thing that will restore me to sanity and happiness is a drink. I've learned that the sad mood is short lived and will pass. It truly does!
I still have problems, but I don't react to them with fear and a sense of doom.
I now believe that I have 1/10th of the problems (I used to think) I had...because a lot of my problems weren't problems in the first place, and a lot of them certainly weren't mine.
I can forget about problems completely now when I decide they are beyond my power to solve. When they are something I can solve, I go about it with a new sense of calmness.
It was a tough journey for me, I didn't get sober quickly or easily. I don't miss my drinking days one bit!
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