Fed up will it ever stop!
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 2
Fed up will it ever stop!
Ok so I’m a binge drinker! Once I start drinking I can’t stop but don’t drink every day! I don’t know why I am llike this and have never managed to fully quit although can go for days at a time without a drink!
Any advice?
This is ruining my life
Any advice?
This is ruining my life
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,439
Welcome Lily
you posted in our Troubleshooting forum so I moved your post here for more responses
It stops when we decide not to take the first drink, I think.
I was always about 'oh, if only I hadn't had that last drink...'
but it was actually the first drink that started the trouble.
Don't take the first drink, stay sober - no problems
It's not easy - but it is simple. And theres tons of support and good advice here to help you though
D
you posted in our Troubleshooting forum so I moved your post here for more responses
It stops when we decide not to take the first drink, I think.
I was always about 'oh, if only I hadn't had that last drink...'
but it was actually the first drink that started the trouble.
Don't take the first drink, stay sober - no problems
It's not easy - but it is simple. And theres tons of support and good advice here to help you though
D
Member
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Australia
Posts: 73
Hi Lilly
The hardest part is discovering and accepting that you are an alcoholic. Once you have processed that it becomes easier (not easy) to resist the urge to drink. I also was by no means an everyday drinker so I thought I could not possibly be an alcoholic. Turns out I was all be it at an early stage perhaps.
I suggest to you what has helped me. Decide to quit for just 1 year. If you find that you get cravings and struggle to not drink long term. Then Come here and admit you are an alcoholic.( For me about 6-7 weeks on was when it got really hard).
Then when the cravings start jump on here and post about it. It may sound silly but for me at least it worked.
The hardest part is discovering and accepting that you are an alcoholic. Once you have processed that it becomes easier (not easy) to resist the urge to drink. I also was by no means an everyday drinker so I thought I could not possibly be an alcoholic. Turns out I was all be it at an early stage perhaps.
I suggest to you what has helped me. Decide to quit for just 1 year. If you find that you get cravings and struggle to not drink long term. Then Come here and admit you are an alcoholic.( For me about 6-7 weeks on was when it got really hard).
Then when the cravings start jump on here and post about it. It may sound silly but for me at least it worked.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 543
Originally Posted by Dee74 
but it was actually the first drink that started the trouble.
Don't take the first drink, stay sober - no problems
Don't take the first drink, stay sober - no problems
I knew I had a problem, but this forum finally convinced me that the only reasonable solution is to not start the chain reaction.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 514
Hi Lily and welcome!
I'm so glad you found this site. I know exactly how you feel, as my drinking pattern was precisely what you described: chronic binge drinker. I didn't drink every day and believed for years that this meant I could not possibly be an alcoholic. The problem was, nearly every time I decided to drink, regardless of the circumstances, I would get completely trashed. Whether I was out for a casual drink with co-workers (sometimes including bosses), "rewarding" myself with a drink after a hard day's work, birthday party, allowing myself a drink to "drown" my sorrows for whatever reason; it didn't matter. I was incapable of stopping myself once I had that first taste. It took me a long time to recognize this and internalize the consequences.
It is fantastic that you've identified this destructive pattern in yourself - now do something about it!! What the others have said about taking the first drink is key. DO NOT under any circumstances take that first drink. In the brain of an alcoholic, it's very much like a switch that has been flipped; once it's turned on, something happens that disables our ability to control ourselves. I have felt it in myself in my many relapses... I take one drink and instantly regret it, but in spite of that regret I am unable to concentrate on anything other than securing my next drink. If for some reason I can't, a kind of despair/panic sets in... it's truly a very strange phenomenon.
I would suggest reading up on the facts of addiction and what you can do to design a plan for yourself. It takes time and a lot of humility, but you can do it. For me, it's all about keeping away from that first drink. I know that as long as I don't even take one, I am in control of myself. For this part of your life, begin day by day; by this I mean simply make a decision in the morning that today, you will not drink. Don't bother worrying about tomorrow or the next day, just focus on today.
There are many options for people like us, we just have to access them and commit fully to a new way of life. It truly is worth it!
I'm so glad you found this site. I know exactly how you feel, as my drinking pattern was precisely what you described: chronic binge drinker. I didn't drink every day and believed for years that this meant I could not possibly be an alcoholic. The problem was, nearly every time I decided to drink, regardless of the circumstances, I would get completely trashed. Whether I was out for a casual drink with co-workers (sometimes including bosses), "rewarding" myself with a drink after a hard day's work, birthday party, allowing myself a drink to "drown" my sorrows for whatever reason; it didn't matter. I was incapable of stopping myself once I had that first taste. It took me a long time to recognize this and internalize the consequences.
It is fantastic that you've identified this destructive pattern in yourself - now do something about it!! What the others have said about taking the first drink is key. DO NOT under any circumstances take that first drink. In the brain of an alcoholic, it's very much like a switch that has been flipped; once it's turned on, something happens that disables our ability to control ourselves. I have felt it in myself in my many relapses... I take one drink and instantly regret it, but in spite of that regret I am unable to concentrate on anything other than securing my next drink. If for some reason I can't, a kind of despair/panic sets in... it's truly a very strange phenomenon.
I would suggest reading up on the facts of addiction and what you can do to design a plan for yourself. It takes time and a lot of humility, but you can do it. For me, it's all about keeping away from that first drink. I know that as long as I don't even take one, I am in control of myself. For this part of your life, begin day by day; by this I mean simply make a decision in the morning that today, you will not drink. Don't bother worrying about tomorrow or the next day, just focus on today.
There are many options for people like us, we just have to access them and commit fully to a new way of life. It truly is worth it!
Member
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 2,966
I'm a non label type. All I know is; when I drink all bets are off and watch out! Sometimes I'd drink 'normal' and other times I became a 'mad man'. The latter started to become my new 'normal' more times than not,so the only way to keep that from happening was to cutout the problem...Drinking. Court ordered AA got me started and posting here has been a huge help as well. I'm about 19mo'ish..I don't count days.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 543
I am one of those people who can control drinking for short periods of time... but eventually resume my previous level of drinking after one to three weeks. That doesn't work either. Regardless of the angle of the slope, we are all in the same situation... If we don't have that first drink, things will be "peachy". :-)
Member
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 104
Originally Posted by TeeJayVerm
Yes! Very simply, every drink progressively decreases your inhibition to consume alcohol. The first one starts the process... the second one makes it harder to resist a third... etc.
I knew I had a problem, but this forum finally convinced me that the only reasonable solution is to not start the chain reaction.
I knew I had a problem, but this forum finally convinced me that the only reasonable solution is to not start the chain reaction.
I think refusing the first drink would be much easier than the second, third etc...
Member
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 524
Originally Posted by TeeJayVerm
Yes! Very simply, every drink progressively decreases your inhibition to consume alcohol. The first one starts the process... the second one makes it harder to resist a third... etc.
I knew I had a problem, but this forum finally convinced me that the only reasonable solution is to not start the chain reaction.
I knew I had a problem, but this forum finally convinced me that the only reasonable solution is to not start the chain reaction.
Not to mention, when you have then drunk enough the night before for the old withdrawal symptoms / hangover to kick in the next morning, you then have a sometimes impossible to resist urge to have another drink to settle yourself down again, and from there, the binge is born...again.
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