View Poll Results: Are you an alcoholic/addict?
Alcoholic
102
54.55%
Addict
14
7.49%
Neither
54
28.88%
Other (explain)
17
9.09%
Voters: 187. You may not vote on this poll

Are you an alcoholic/addict?

Old 05-14-2014, 07:06 AM
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Are you an alcoholic/addict?

I find it interesting that many ACA's also grow up to become addicts or alcoholics. I grew up with an alcoholic father, and I became an addict. I like to joke, "I always said I would never become an alcoholic like my Dad, so instead I became a drug addict". Sometimes I'm the only one laughing haha!

I'll make the poll anonymous, but feel free to comment if you wish.

EDIT: I didn't include "in recovery", but feel free to include that in the comments if you wish.

I'll be 6 months clean on June 4th!!
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Old 05-14-2014, 10:55 AM
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Hi there. My mom was an alcoholic and addict, but primarily an alcoholic. Her father was an alcoholic and he got sober in his late 30s/early 40s and stayed sober. He is now in his early 80s. His own father was an alcoholic who managed to get sober and lived into his 90s. My Dad's father was alcoholic who lived to be 80ish. My grandmother's mom and dad were both alcoholics.

I'm an alcoholic. I've attempted to get sober a few times. I got sober last year at age 36. I'm now sober for more than 400 days
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Old 05-14-2014, 01:25 PM
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I am a recovered alcoholic with over four years sobriety.
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Old 05-14-2014, 03:52 PM
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I am a recovering alcoholic. My father is active. My mother is narcissistic. Both of my grandfathers were alcoholics. Misery loves company
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Old 05-15-2014, 04:24 AM
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My Mother is an alcoholic, abstinent by 'force' (I use that words with many qualifiers)... to explain; her mental health is so bad she is kept away from a drink (not by me) - She has Korsakoffs/alcoholic dementia and pancreatitis (in remission).

She therefore wants a drink often and forgets why she isn't drinking. Sometimes she forgets she wants to drink too!!

My Dad, now deceased, certainly drank alcoholically and displayed all the symptoms.

I am an alcoholic, my Grandfather and Grandmother (hypercritical and perfectionist too) were alcoholic, I have two cousins who are alcoholic (in recovery), at least one aunty (both crazy, narcissists, emotional and mentally ill). One sister who is obsessive compulsive and suffers greatly, another who is so codependent its painful (although so is the OCD sister) and a younger sister once an addict, now just driven by anxiety, hyperchondria and codependent!!

We're like a family of munsters in a really bad disguise; Christmas at my place anyone ? :-)

Mako

BTW: I made the pledge (I will not be like my parents) too. It didn't work.

Last edited by makomago; 05-15-2014 at 04:25 AM. Reason: typo
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Old 05-19-2014, 06:23 PM
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Alcoholic father, pill addict mother. I am an alcoholic in recovery.
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Old 05-19-2014, 08:58 PM
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I'm a recovering alcoholic and an A.C.A. God willing I'll be sober 23 years in July. Life is good!
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Old 05-20-2014, 07:37 PM
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Im an addict and an alcoholic, and i really don't know what my parent is.

All addicts are liars, and I don't live there anymore, so who knows?
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Old 05-21-2014, 09:23 AM
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I just call myself an addict, alcohol is just another chemical substance that is powerfully addicting, rootin for everyone.
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Old 05-21-2014, 09:59 AM
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I didn't notice the edited section of the original post, and maybe I posted before the edit. I should add that I consider myself a recovering alcoholic. And I also consider myself an "addict" because I have an addiction to alcohol. Alcohol is a drug.

Sent from my iPhone using SoberRecovery
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Old 05-23-2014, 09:04 PM
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I'm a recovering addict as well. I can honestly say that working the steps in ACA has been one of the most important things I've done in my life. I'm an analytical type, so understanding what was driving me to mood alter and why I was approaching adult problems with survival tactics I learned as a child was key. I still fight the urge to use from time to time but I'm on to something bigger than me now. Sobriety works for me.
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Old 05-25-2014, 03:35 PM
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My father is a diagnosed alcoholic, a functioning one, and my mother is simply a miserable person who stays with him and is up to her eyebrows in the family dysfunction. My three siblings and I fall neatly right into the family roles described in all the literature.

I have never been an alcoholic or tried any drugs. I'm beginning to think it hardly matters, given our family is a wreck, anyway, thanks to my foolish decision to move back home (I thought AF had changed...ha.)
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Old 05-26-2014, 11:34 PM
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I said "Neither," but I don't think that's completely true. I know it doesn't really count, but I will fight my nicotine addiction until the day I die. I haven't smoked regularly in three years, but damn if I don't want one every single day.

Now, speaking in terms of alcohol or drug addiction, I am not an alcoholic, but I did have a period from 21-22 where I was on a months-long binge. I'll say it was a situational alcohol addiction, for lack of a better word. I was trying to drown out the pain of so many things at one time. I quit the day I found out I was pregnant with my son. I don't know much of the deep science of addiction, but I'd say that had God not intervened and given me that baby, I would have kept drinking myself into oblivion. It's been 9 years and I rarely ever drink. I've gotten to the point where I don't like the way ONE drink makes me feel, so I'm definitely not jumping in for more. Call it what you will, but I definitely have been to a place where I felt like drinking to excess and making absolutely horrible choices was better than dealing with real life. I am Bipolar II and possibly have Aspergers. Later-life diagnosis is harder than in children.

Mother and maternal grandfather are/were alcoholics. Mother IS also NPD. Sister is batsh*t crazy and possibly an alcoholic (I quit caring about her around the same time I went NC with mom). Grandmother is a raging codie, one half-brother on my dad's side died of hypothermia on the streets due to drug and alcohol use. Dad's brother committed suicide in the 80s. I've got it on all sides.
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Old 05-27-2014, 04:47 AM
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Thanks everyone for your comments! I really enjoyed reading them; this is a subject I never tire of expanding my mind on.

I forgot to mention that my father's an alcoholic, and my mother is highly co-dependent. My sister's an addict, who fell in love with another addict. Both of my parents have alcoholism on their side of the family; my dad's though I think stems a lot further back.
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Old 05-27-2014, 05:40 AM
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My Father was an alcoholic (killed him)

I am an alcoholic in recovery.
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Old 05-27-2014, 01:37 PM
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My father was an alcoholic so am I. A lot of people in my family deal with substance abuse.
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Old 05-27-2014, 01:56 PM
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Alcoholic in recovery since 2008.

Both parents are alcoholics in recovery or otherwise sober. Dad sober since 1970, mom for 12 years.

My dad told me a long time ago that children of alcoholics (or addicts) either become alcoholics themselves or completely stay away from it. Made sense to me even though it's probably not 100% true.
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Old 05-30-2014, 07:10 AM
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Originally Posted by PaperDolls View Post
My dad told me a long time ago that children of alcoholics (or addicts) either become alcoholics themselves or completely stay away from it. Made sense to me even though it's probably not 100% true.
Your father is an intelligent man.

The only exception to that rule that I know of is my mom and one one her brothers and her sisters. They'll have 2 drinks at the most and be done. I don't even know if my mom has ever been blacked-out drunk, because I've never seen it. Her brother though, that I've never met, lives in Vancouver and from what we know is an addict on the streets.
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Old 06-12-2014, 08:31 AM
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My father was an alcholic and pain killer addict, my mother painkillers, crack, coke, speed, and anything else she could get her hands on, my sister- alcoholic, painkillers, crack, and heroin addict, other sister- alcoholic, heroin, and crack. My brother- Crack, Heroin, Painkillers, Alcoholic, Other Brother- Alcoholic, Heroin, LSD, Meth, Crack, Painkillers. Our Mother started us on it all. Me- Painkillers. 5 days sober today.
We have all learned that we are all self medicating from our childhood horrible horrible things happened
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Old 06-12-2014, 08:42 AM
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I'll say neither, though i've been exposed to both drugs and alcohol in my twenties. I learned there were combinations of life circumstances that could make certain drugs habit forming -

1. working night shifts on a data entry style job where speed and accuracy was required to be maintained... i needed amphetamines to perform. Quit that job, and quit the drugs..

2. working a stressful 9-5 call centre job while sharing a house with pot smokers, i got into smoking pot every evening for a few years. Come bedtime, i was stressing about work the next day. If i didn't get decent sleep, i'd be groggy at work and would make gaffe's/fail to come up with good excuses/counterarguments and get ripped apart by angry customers, then bollocked by my boss. Pot helped me get that sleep and turn up alert for a while , until it didn't. Quit the weed eventually and it wasn't fun. Quit the job after, that was a lot more satisfying.

3. The dreaded booze. I was doing a repair/manual style job, 2pm to 10pm shift. Had a very tough target of 8 repairs to make in that time. Come 10pm you get kicked out the building and have to report your scores. Something would mess up, receive a DOA or incorrect part, or i'd try to rush and break something or make an error. Leave very fustrated and worried for not having hit target. Pass an shop selling alcohol just after leaving work. It closes in 15 minutes. Drive home is half an hour but this is last time to buy booze. Right now, i want it and i buy it. I've calmed down a little by the time i get home, but hell, i've got the beer in front of me now, so i drink it. This scared me. Eventually, working practices changed. The site became 24 hours. If i hadn't hit my target by 10pm, i could stay on and do unpaid overtime till i hit it, or stay on until i was so tired i didn't give a damn anymore and no longer felt stresed. This removed the temptation to booze.


Is there a gender correlation I wonder?

If the child is same gender as the Alcoholic parent, they are more likely to abuse alcohol themselves , due to flawed role model. If opposite, they are more at risk of seeking other addicts as their life partner?
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