Zeepa

When people you know are told that you are an alcoholic, dont you hate it when they ask "tell me...how much did you drink?" with a gleam in their eyes as if it is some sort of great achievement. When I give a rough figure to people who arent in our situation it's just a ridiculous/barely believable figure to them that they dont really understand, its just a number. They seem morbidly impressed by how many bottles I could consume in a day, along with drug intake. I dont know why I feel strange about this, but I think telling "normal" people my journey and how I got to such a dark place is like giving something really valuable away for free.

It's as if people without a problem see drinking and drug use as a cool, edgy activity that they can leave or take, but to us the issue is one of the most serious, important things in our lives. I only talk about it to you guys on here because you have been through/are going through the same thing and understand it.

Sorry for the weird post but I needed to say that

Dee74

I stopped hanging with those people to be honest Zeepa

PurpleKnight

People don't get that "volume" is not in the definition of alcoholic, it's the addictive nature of a person that is the common denominator.

I personally don't share the in depth details of my story with anyone, unless I know they will understand, that usually revolves mostly around SR, those that aren't addicted will never be able to comprehend in practice the ins and outs of living with it, they may understand it in theory, but I have yet to meet one in all my Sober time.

Those that are flippant about addiction, don't see it as serious, or don't fully understand the damage 1 drink could do to an alcoholic, I increasingly stay away from, as conversation becomes such a chore!!

KateL

I have a couple of friends that drink a bit too much. They are close friends, so know about my past. They don't boast about how much they can take if they get slaughtered, but don't hide it from me either because they know I don't judge. One of them in particular has actually cut back considerably, since we met up after a few years. She said my revelations scared her to death and she didn't want to end up like that. I know a few that think it is cool to be able to knock back shots like there's no tomorrow and like Dee, I avoid them like the plague. xxx

Zeepa

I need to find friends like yours

justinJustQuit

I have stopped hanging out with people that I get "sloshed" with as well. I have three friends who are alcoholics and have asked me the amount. They are cutting back as well... :-).

MattyBoy

My friend recently asked me why I'd stopped drinking (he was three sheets to the wind when he asked me this) and I told him I'd had a problem with it. He asked me how much I drank and I replied with the truth: that I only drink for very short periods of time interspersed with long periods of sobriety but when I did drink, it was a minimum of a 700ml bottle of vodka a day. He of course accused me of lying as he's always been somewhat proud of the fact he has a high tolerance to alcohol and can't bear the fact that I can hold more liquor than him. When I told him the consequences of my drinking, he started to believe me but instead of saying "oh that sounds awful, really glad that you're sober now and hope you stay on track" he just said " well I'm sure you can handle it now. Let's get plastered together and I'll see if I can keep up".

Some people will never understand alcoholism . Sigh.

letustrythis123

I've only ever mentioned my amount here. I will never mention it to anyone, even my husband, even a friend of mine who is completely unjudgmental and an alcoholic too. he and I used to drink together in the morning so we both knew we were out of control. I would hint about how much I drank but I couldn't even admit it to myself to tell the truth. that was the reason for all the half pints and shot bottles. They were like bonuses that would get me more drunk but wouldn't cut into the official supply. Yuck.

IT scared me when I was going through the 1.5 liters every five days. That's when I switched to stuff I couldn't count as easily. My amount upped from there and when I started creeping above a pint a day with some small wines mixed in I decided I had a big problem. For a few months I kept setting quit dates and then I'd just blow it off and say 'tomorrow'. soon I realized tomorrow wasn't going to come. last friday I was just so sick of the cycle.

Brian316

I've never had anyone ask exactly how much I drank. I think people really did not want to know. My parents may have asked but I'm sure I lied to them.

littlefish

Anonymity is sacred to me: I've never been in the position that "people you know are told that you are an alcoholic". I was extremely cautious about who I told about my sobriety. Essentially nobody!
It sounds like it's too late for that, for you Zeepa. But, you can still preserve your right to privacy and the right to choose whether you want to discuss it or not. You can set your limits. You can say things like:
"I don't feel like talking about it right now."
"We'll have that discussion some other time when I am comfortable discussing it with you".
"I wasn't prepared to go public with that, I am not prepared to make it a casual topic of conversation".
You do not have to participate in a discussion that makes you upset or uncomfortable. You can say all of those things nicely and then bring the conversation into another area.