thiskidknows

Is Binge drinking less harmful then alcoholism and does it always lead to trouble with alcohol?

Is an alcoholic someone who binge drinks?
Isn't an alcoholic someone who drinks 24/7?
Is an alcoholic someone who uses drink during difficult times and to help them through life and also feels out of control with drink?

Sorry for the stupid questions, truth is I think I've been hit with the stigma that only people who drink 24/7 are alcoholics, whilst I don't believe this to be true..I don't know how someone would class someone as someone who is an alcoholic...

Lost

xXBacktoBlackXx

Hi, lost child. =)

I'm an alcoholic and I never drank 24/7. I probably drank, at most, 3-4 times a week. But, when I drank...let's just say, it was a really, really ugly thing. Even when I only drank twice a week, it always got out of hand and ended up controlling my life, in some ways.

I think there are different "types" of alcoholics, if that makes sense. Some alcoholics drink/drank more than others. Some alcoholics only drank during the difficult times, but this was their method of coping and their crutch, therefore making it an addiction for them. Some alcoholics binge drink, which is extremely dangerous for anyone to do. Just like anything, there are all different kinds of alcoholics. For me, I knew I was an alcoholic because I could never have just one and it ended up destroying my life bit by bit.

Alive

....it can take different shapes, but it is still destruction. I remember seeing kids in the club, 15 or 14 and the ambulances taking them in an alcoholic coma. ....they had a problem in my opinion....it is still alcoholism...i did the destruction alone but some of my friends didn't....it is still destruction

BWMD

When I was younger I was a binge drinker. That was my beginning.

I do not drink 24/7. I was drinking 3 hours a day, sometimes 1 hour a day depending on how much was in each cup.

My thrapist asked me.........When you have had a few drinks do you stop because you are tired, or do you feel empowered the more you drink?

I always felt like I could keep drinking. He told me I do not metabolize alcohol the same as non alcoholics.

Astro

If you've got a Big Book, try reading the chapter More About Alcoholism, or read it online. It explains pretty well the methods most of us have used in drinking and also trying to quit, and it's very enlightening how unclear our thinking really is.

thiskidknows

Hi B2B,

Thank you for ur reply, I will respond properly..just takes a while to work its way to the brain...

Would u say a person who drinks every night, starting anytime between midday and 7/8..gets drunk but not everynite some nites it might only be 5 or 6 pints but other nites but can easily drink 15+ pints, and then head for the vodka..and then coke to sober up and so can drink more is an alcoholic or someone whose in trouble with alcohol but could become an alcoholic?

Sorry for all the questions.

lost

Astro

lost- Try taking this test: http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/....cfm?PageID=71

Dee74

hey LC
I don't actually find the term 'alcoholic' all that useful...it means too many different things to different people...I figure either someone has an alcohol problem, or they don't.

just my 2 cents
D

BWMD

I cannot remember who said it yesterday.........The problem is not drinking......I do that very, very well. The problem is that I don't stop drinking.

hope3

Hi Lost, there are allot of answers to your questions on this site.

The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and alcoholism.

http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/

Hope3

TenPacks

I blelieve that was my post, but not me - Paul Touttle of American Chopper fame - on Jay Leno. (Although I DID say drinking was something I am very very good at... Whoop-de-doo.)

Anna

Lost,

If you are questioning whether or not you are an alcoholic, try stopping drinking for a period of time, say three months, and see how it goes. That should give you your answer.

1_day@_a_time

Is Binge drinking less harmful then alcoholism...........NO

Is an alcoholic someone who binge drinks? PROBABLY

How did you do with the 20 questions?

leviathon

An alcoholic is anyone that has realized that he/she has a problem with drinking. Plain and simple.

Alcoholism takes many forms... some are day to day alcoholics, some are "heavy drinkers", some are binge drinkers... no matter how you characterize it, the bottom line is that if you believe you have a problem, you are likely an alcoholic.

Binge drinking and day to day drinking are all bad. Binge drinking may be even harder on your system as your body doesn't have time to adjust to the levels of alcohol. Not sure on this one though.

levi

thiskidknows

*How did you do with the 20 questions*- I answered 17 yes and 3 no's.
Just need to think..sorry

Tazman53

Studies show that binge drinking does far more brain damage then drinking every day. If you are not an alcohlic it does not lead to "more" trouble with alcohol, if you are an alcholic the binges will happen more frequently as you continue to drink and eventually a binge drinker if they continue to drink will become an every day drinker.

No, but a binge drinker can be an alcoholic.
No.
Yes.

best

A person who has one drink per night and has been doing so for 30 years...only one drink... their body can become dependant upon that one drink and to stop they would see a problem if dependant. If a life style and dependant but they could stop, they control alcohol. If such a person couldn't stop, alcohol would be controling them.
A person who drinks once a year but once they have their first drink they can't stop the intake till the night is over or they run out of money... alcohol is a problem for them for that one night.

Alcoholism isn't a life style, it is how alcohol affects the individual.
Can I control my intake or does alcohol control me?
For me... add alcohol and I find it controls me...even if it is just one night a year. What started as one night progressed into many nights. Alcohol is progressive in it's nature.
One beer leads to two, two leads to a night full of intake.
One is to many and 100 is not enough.

Tazman53

Lost the first thing I had to do in order to stop drinking was admit to myself I was powerless over alcohol once I put it into me and that my life was unmanagable.

Until I admitted I was an alcoholic the disease controled me.

livefree

Is drinking making your life unmanageable? If so, then you've got a problem. Whether or not you choose to describe yourself as an alcoholic is your own choice, but in the hypothetical situation you gave, I'd say that is symptomatic of problem drinking. I didn't drink all the time when I first started. I'd only drink on the weekends, but I'd get really drunk. By the end, I was drinking a liter and a half of vodka a day.