Yikes...anyone develop a drinking problem in short period of time?
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 134
Yikes...anyone develop a drinking problem in short period of time?
The basic story is I started drinking more heavily in August 2013. By December I was drinking 4-5 week. In January pretty much every day. I was diagnosed with PTSD in December. The traumatic events really took place in May/June of 2013 and I started drinking to help cope. I was asked by a counselor in January to slow down drinking or stop. I of course said I don't have a problem--which you know the response-if you don't have a problem then it won't be difficult. 
I'll be damned I couldn't do it. I am mortified that I fell so quickly. I am on Day 8 of sobriety and am craving a drink but am on Antabuse so I won't. Anyone have a similar story or fell pretty quickly? I physically want to drink and have cravings but also don't want to deal with the PTSD feelings either. The alcohol helped that so I know I am emotionally craving as well.
I'll be damned I couldn't do it. I am mortified that I fell so quickly. I am on Day 8 of sobriety and am craving a drink but am on Antabuse so I won't. Anyone have a similar story or fell pretty quickly? I physically want to drink and have cravings but also don't want to deal with the PTSD feelings either. The alcohol helped that so I know I am emotionally craving as well.
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,432
Hi Jenny
My descent was both long and quick - long in that it took many years for the problem to build up, but very little time for me to lose control Qof my life and the things dear to me.
I haven't had PTSD but I think alcohol promises a lot...but very soon fails to deliver - rather than making us calm and collected, not drinking makes us anxious and over time we need more and more alcohol to maintain some kind of emotional equilibrium.
It may be a little rocky now but you really are headed in the right direction - stay strong. Use the support you have here
D
My descent was both long and quick - long in that it took many years for the problem to build up, but very little time for me to lose control Qof my life and the things dear to me.
I haven't had PTSD but I think alcohol promises a lot...but very soon fails to deliver - rather than making us calm and collected, not drinking makes us anxious and over time we need more and more alcohol to maintain some kind of emotional equilibrium.
It may be a little rocky now but you really are headed in the right direction - stay strong. Use the support you have here
D
Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 2
Long and quick- I think I can relate there. I think my major slide also came about the same time, Aug/Sept 2013. But having sat and thought about it a while the other day, I realized that the groundwork for the fall was laid a while before that, January or so maybe. And I bet there was more before then too, I just haven't bothered to sit and think about how it all connects together.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Ireland
Posts: 25,826
Only took me 2 years to get from 2 pints of beer a night to a half bottle of whiskey a night, I even started only drinking on weekends, but that quickly progressed to weeknights, and then every night of the week.
Great job on 8 Days!!
Great job on 8 Days!!
Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Bklyn. NY
Posts: 1,859
I started drinking at age 17, and had my last drink at 23. About 2 weeks after my first drink (drunk actually) I knew I was in trouble as I embraced it as my solution to everything that ever ailed me. I sat in the balcony of a club, Lamour, in Bklyn. NY, with drink in hand realizing completely I was going to be an alcoholic. And strangely enough, I was fine with that. I embraced it, as I felt I finally found what I had been looking for all the 17 years of my life. I drank at that time about 4 days a week, if I remember correctly... and by the time I was 19 I drank every single day until the day I stopped. I tried countless times to just give my body a rest (never even thought of quitting), and couldn't do it except for one 4 day period where I was violently ill. All the other times I tried, I'd last until the evening, and then reward myself for lasting the entire day. My quitting wasn't a choice. It was the only option I was given after tying an extension cord around my neck, and not having the guts to hang myself with it. Landed in a hospital, and was told if I put the bottle down, my life would get better. I wanted more than that, but that's all they gave me... I embraced sobriety like a lifeboat on the Titanic.
Not sure if that fits the long and quick definition, but that's what it was for me. Maybe not so long, and quick?
Congratulations on realizing there's a problem long before most do. No need to stay out there doing any more research. Enough people have already done that for you.
Not sure if that fits the long and quick definition
, but that's what it was for me. Maybe not so long, and quick?Congratulations on realizing there's a problem long before most do. No need to stay out there doing any more research. Enough people have already done that for you.
Randummy
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: London, UK
Posts: 131
Oh my gosh, the "long and quick" comments have really hit home for me. That's exactly what Ive experienced too.
I have a few mental health issues including an anxiety disorder and I drank to suppress the anxiety too. A lot of the time I thought alcohol didn't even affect my mental health so it wasn't an issue but each time I've stopped drinking, I realise that it isn't the case.
I think, for me, it gets better. I've got sober before and stayed that way for a year and my problems were much easier to deal with thanks to therapy as well. But as soon as I got back on that slippery slope, it all went to hell.
I have a few mental health issues including an anxiety disorder and I drank to suppress the anxiety too. A lot of the time I thought alcohol didn't even affect my mental health so it wasn't an issue but each time I've stopped drinking, I realise that it isn't the case.
I think, for me, it gets better. I've got sober before and stayed that way for a year and my problems were much easier to deal with thanks to therapy as well. But as soon as I got back on that slippery slope, it all went to hell.
Mini Novel Post Writer
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Maine
Posts: 3,649
Hi Jenny, welcome to the board!
The progression definitely speeds up the further in that you get. I can't even pinpoint where the threshold of wanting vs needing occurred and really, I didn't care. My whole universe existed because I got to drink. The last 8 months of drinking were the worst. It wasn't even what I considered, in my haze, to be fun anymore. Like you, I had a traumatic event occur. Mine was in September of 2012 and for the next 8 months I poured that alcohol into me to cope. I drank on weekends but the amounts that I drank were greatly increased and it was anyone's guess who I became once I started for an evening. It was never good.
Don't be mortified, be very happy that you are where you are and doing something about it. This gets so much better, I promise. I'm glad that you're here
The progression definitely speeds up the further in that you get. I can't even pinpoint where the threshold of wanting vs needing occurred and really, I didn't care. My whole universe existed because I got to drink. The last 8 months of drinking were the worst. It wasn't even what I considered, in my haze, to be fun anymore. Like you, I had a traumatic event occur. Mine was in September of 2012 and for the next 8 months I poured that alcohol into me to cope. I drank on weekends but the amounts that I drank were greatly increased and it was anyone's guess who I became once I started for an evening. It was never good.
Don't be mortified, be very happy that you are where you are and doing something about it. This gets so much better, I promise. I'm glad that you're here
bona fido dog-lover
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: SF Bay area, CA
Posts: 99,776
I was twenty years sober when I started back up in '07. It started out as having one glass of wine in the afternoon but quickly progressed. By six months I was drinking all day every day. 
It took me nearly two years to finally quit drinking but I am now living a sober life and loving it.
It took me nearly two years to finally quit drinking but I am now living a sober life and loving it. Member
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 3,359
I am an addict and alcohol was one of my addictions. I found that as I became complacent in my career, which was an addiction for many years, I shifted my emphasis on booze and eventually drugs.
For me my drinking was what many would consider normal for decades with glimpses of unhealthy alcoholic bouts. The end for me was a roughly 2 plus years where I was drinking with a real purpose.
For me my drinking was what many would consider normal for decades with glimpses of unhealthy alcoholic bouts. The end for me was a roughly 2 plus years where I was drinking with a real purpose.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 341
My descent into hell was pretty rapid. I picked up a drink about 10 years ago and knew within days that I was in trouble. I tried to quit within 6 months of that first drink.
Strange thing, however, I drank all day, every day (I had a drinking buddy), for a year then moved to another state (drinking buddy gone) and no longer had an interest in daily drinking..
However, I'm still a binge drinker when I do drink, whenever I touch it, it never ends well.
Strange thing, however, I drank all day, every day (I had a drinking buddy), for a year then moved to another state (drinking buddy gone) and no longer had an interest in daily drinking..
However, I'm still a binge drinker when I do drink, whenever I touch it, it never ends well.
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Dancing in the Light
Posts: 61,499
My descent happened in a month or so. I was oblivious to the fact that I was primed for addiction the moment I started drinking. I am hypoglycemic, so my body loved the sugar in alcohol, I loved routine and once I started drinking at bedtime to sleep, it became a nightly routine right away. I was a control-freak who was losing control at home because my children were in their early teens. Insomnia had plagued me for years, and the first few weeks, alcohol helped so much with that. So...I was off and running very quickly. It was shocking to me.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 9
I've been a problem drinker since college, but after a bad concussion I started drinking in the mornings and every day. That started last September and it's out of control now. It's made it possible to deny that I have a problem. Trigger events, I think, are a very real thing.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 91
Jenny-
I haven't read all the responses, but can understand where you are coming from. My husband suffers from PTSD and about4-5 years ago used alcohol as a coping mechanism. He would drink until he passed out every night. The nightmares would only stop that way. and his was almost immediate, very little "build up". I think alcohol is a dirty like liar, that makes you think it can take the "hurt" away. but then you wake up... you wake up sober, hungover, hurting emotionally, hurting physically, and not remembering what you said, who you said it to, and what relationships need fixing... so instead of dealing with that additional pain, you drink again. It's not a fix. It doesn't take the pain, fear, flashbacks, and nightmares away... it takes YOU away. I didn't know my husband when he was in the throws of alcoholism.. but what I have been told is that he used it to escape... and what he ended up escaping to was a blacked old, sloppy mess who was an angry drunk. The nightmares WERE still with him, and he was angry about it.
Congratulations on the 8 days! I still struggle with my drinking and KNOW that sobriety is the best solution
I haven't read all the responses, but can understand where you are coming from. My husband suffers from PTSD and about4-5 years ago used alcohol as a coping mechanism. He would drink until he passed out every night. The nightmares would only stop that way. and his was almost immediate, very little "build up". I think alcohol is a dirty like liar, that makes you think it can take the "hurt" away. but then you wake up... you wake up sober, hungover, hurting emotionally, hurting physically, and not remembering what you said, who you said it to, and what relationships need fixing... so instead of dealing with that additional pain, you drink again. It's not a fix. It doesn't take the pain, fear, flashbacks, and nightmares away... it takes YOU away. I didn't know my husband when he was in the throws of alcoholism.. but what I have been told is that he used it to escape... and what he ended up escaping to was a blacked old, sloppy mess who was an angry drunk. The nightmares WERE still with him, and he was angry about it.
Congratulations on the 8 days! I still struggle with my drinking and KNOW that sobriety is the best solution
Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Here, EH!!!
Posts: 1,337
The drinking problem is a symptom of a greater issue at hand here. Its not how much we drank, what we drank or where we drank that is the issue. Its what booze does to us once we take that drink. People who have been sober a loooooong time that go back out, end up in bad shape very quickly. This proves the point that its not only a chronic and deadly issue, but also progressive, no matter if we are drinking or not. Our disease progresses even when sober. It gets worse over time never better. So if you want help, there are many programs out there to help. I have tried many of them. I know of only one that trully works and has helped millions of people with great success. Every other program I have worked was a dismal failure. The program I have worked to achieve not only just being sober, but achieving sobriety, is the 12 steps of AA. Many meetings to attend, one program to work which is out of our text book called The Big Book. A text book is meant to be studied and if you go out and buy this book you will see that it says right on the cover sheet that this is a text book. So study it and follow it. If you want to, it is up to you. You can always try SMART, or this AV thing I read about on here, or church seems to work for a few, perhaps yoga or studying the various religions of the world might help. The 12 steps offers up some great odds of recovery. More then 75% chance to be recovered from this disease.
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