FallingStars

I have read that once you are an alcoholic, you are always an alcoholic, even if you haven't touched alcohol for years. Why is that? Does alcohol transform you into a label?

SnazzyDresser

It's a great relief for me to know that as long as I don't drink, I don't have to worry about labels like this, or quibble about the finer points of recovery theory. The poison of alcohol is gone from my life forever, that's what counts.

doggonecarl

It means you can't turn a pickle back into a cucumber. If a sober alcoholic drinks again, it's back to the races...right where they left off.

I don't consider "alcoholic" a label. It is the word for the affliction I have. My brain is wired differently for alcohol. As long as I don't drink, stay focused on living a life of recovery, I'm fine. I'm an alcoholic. I don't feel stigmatized by the word. My biggest danger lies in forgetting I am one.

tomsteve

no. it transforms me into a useless,worthless,hopeless,helpless, POS that doesnt care about anyone but me.
i dont mind being called an alcoholic because im not a practicing alcoholic any more.


Why is that?
because thats how alcoholism is. we are never fully cured of it.

least

I don't consider it a 'label', rather a term for my allergy to alcohol. I know I can't drink - ever, so it reminds me not to drink. As Carl said, you can't turn a pickle back into a cucumber.

snitch

Your brain has learnt a behaviour and what has been learnt can never be unlearnt. The alcoholic knows on a conscious and subconscious level that a drink will remove the ill effects of the previous drinks, either the hangover or the anxiety that is caused by the alcohol of a single drink leaving their system. This won't ever be forgotten so even if the alcoholic stops drinking for many years, any drink will automatically cause the desire for the next and this applies for the rest of the alcoholics life.

JustTony

Unless everyone would pretty much recognise your behaviour as that of an alcoholic (in other words if they could watch you - not just hear what you said about you) and come to the conclusion that you are an alcoholic - then "alcoholic" is a label that is self prescribed.

I see some people that call themselves an alcoholic and I do not recognise their behaviour as such. I think these people are neither pickles, nor cucumbers (to use the metaphors provided above). For those people some form of redress/moderation is in the long term is possible in my opinion. In fact the odd person on here has testified as such (if to believe their word above someone that says this is impossible for everyone is up to the reader).

I think that most people who describe themselves as an alcoholic rightly believe that if they drink again they will enter back into a world of madness and maybe even death. And for about 95% (I pick that statistic out of my backside) I think this is probably true.

Andante

No, nothing to do with labels. In some people, prolonged excessive drinking causes neurological changes to the brain which manifest as tolerance and dependence to alcohol. These changes are permanent and irreversible. Whether you call yourself an "alcoholic" is irrelevant, but if your brain has developed these changes, any attempt to resume "normal" drinking behavior is destined to fail. That's why I don't mind using the term "alcoholic in remission" to describe my situation with fair accuracy.

Bird615

I am affected by alcoholism and so I have no problem calling myself an alcoholic.

I did test that out, thinking maybe it wasn't true and tried drinking after 30 years sober. As much as I tried to control it, I was very soon drinking way more than I intended and way more often than I really wanted to. The only thing that kept it from escalating faster than it did was that I physically could not handle the hangovers as well anymore. Many times I was sure I was dying.

That was an experiment I'm fortunate to have survived.

Anna

I don't think it's about labels.

But, once you cross the invisible line, you can never go back.

Delilah1

I know that having just one drink will put me right back where I was two years ago, I might be able to struggle through moderating for a few days, but I would quickly end up drinking way too much, and would be sucked right back into the spiral.

How are you doing today?

MindfulMan

Depends on the person. I think we would describe the binge drinking habits of a lot of young people alcoholic.

Yet if all of them kept drinking like that, we would have far more alcoholism than we currently have.

I do think a switch flips where drinking becomes out of control. In these people, i do think recovery and total abstinence is required for a healthy life.

I was able to switch the switch to off in rehab. I also took drinking 100% off the table.

FallingStars

So far so good Delilah...thank you for asking. I am gearing up for tomorrow... Have some movies I will watch. One is Wonder Woman. I thought that would be inspirational.

blueberry2015

Yes, i would say that is true. Im still an alcoholic, albeit a recovering alcoholic! If I pick up a drink, i’d still be an alcoholic. When I think back to all the times I really really tried to get a handle on my drinking, I may of done for a little while but ultimately I was always straight back to getting wasted everyday. If I play the tape forward, I know that if I pick up, that is exactly where I would be again..... so you know Im happy to be a recover-ing alkie. Not recovered, but recover-ing. Never ever could I call myself recovered, for me personally, that would be dangerous, and could lead to a pretty serious relapse which I may not ever come back from. No thanks, I like being where I am today,

Just my two pence worth! Wishing you all a very sober christmas x

PurpleKnight

I view it is you're either someone who can be a moderate drinker or you can't, there's no way I can change or learn the "skill" of moderate drinking, for me I will always have the viewpoint 1 drink is never enough, it will never happen, and so I can never be a moderate drinker.

But as for the labels we use for ourselves, well that's our choice, I am simply a "non drinker" like all those other millions of "non drinkers" out there for various reasons, not only just because they had a problem with alcohol, no one else other than me needs to know the reasons!!

FreeOwl

alcohol doesn't transform you into a label....

but if you've struggled with alcohol in your life at one point - it's quite likely you always will if you choose to drink it.

turns out, as a SOBER human - I don't need to concern myself with what-if's or labels.

Though, I don't mind wearing the SOBER label....

Dee74

I've done enough research to know what happens when I drink alcohol.

To be honest, it was always this way. I always drank to get wasted, The only difference over the years is frequency.

I believe my relationship with alcohol will never change - it will always be toxic - but I can live a great life without alcohol,

If the label worries you don't use it - but do acknowledge your problem with alcohol, and IMO you're best to try to accept it's forever.

D

Forward12

Yes. Alcoholism is a progressive disorder that never gets better. It doesn't matter if you're sober for a week, a month, a year, a decade,... Just a sip takes you right back to where you were and likely even worse.

silentrun

I don't identify as an alcoholic anymore. There is no trace of it left in my life. I think of myself as a regular person who has a really good reason to stay a non drinker.

andyh

I'm an alcoholic, for quite a lot of definitions of 'alcoholic'. I'm lots of other things too, so I don't find it helpful to use the label - it's an emotive term & means different things to different people. I'm with Kierkegaard on this one - "to label me is to negate me".

as for whether I could ever go back to being a moderate drinker - if I ever was one - well, that ship has sailed for me.