bstt03

Are there any of you who maybe did/do not drink everyday but like maybe once or twice a week, even if that sometimes. But when you do its to the point of too much - blackouts, etc. It is so hard to think that I have a drinking problem when its not everyday, but I know I must just from reading up on it and the problems I have when I do drink. Anyone else out there with a binge drinking issue?

I posted similar to this as part of another thread put I wanted to ask just this alone.

HeavyJ

That's where I ended up. I never drank every day, but when I did drink, boy was I the life of the party, not really obnoxious, but everyone knew I was there, and I kept drinking all night. I had my first black-out two weeks ago and decided this is enough! It scared the crap out of me, I have two little one's and too much to risk being drunk every weekend.

Heavy

bstt03

That is how I feel heavyJ. And it was quite a few blackouts lately and still i don't seem to learn my lesson. But I am trying.

four812

i guess i can say i've had a CRACK binging problem for the last 5 years. it sure beats the heavy addiction that I was engaged in the 3 years before that.

the binging segment of this part of my addictive history has brought me and others plenty of hurt and abandonment and rejection. I had not thought of it as 'binging', but now as i look at it that way it's interesting for me.

during this time i've done such things as
not show up for a christmas party
driven my kids around while coming down from a hit
arrested for posession
totaled my car
missed a lot of work
wasted money, time, and quality of my life


yes I have a problem as "just a binge CRACK smoker". of course that's no suprise. I'm working and practicing tools more diligently than ever and I feel I am making progress and may never make the choice to smoke crack (or drink) again.

but I'm focusing on just today of course. this my 4th day clean/sober.

thanks for the post

Toomutch

Even if you have only had one blackout- it IS a problem!

iwantadonkey

I wasnt a daily drinker i was a binge drinker i knew deep down it was a problem since i was 15.the blackouts,waking up not knowing whos talking to you etc.but everyone who i was around seemed the same,made half assed attempts to stop but i wasnt really ready to admit it fully to myself. took 5 more years to really see where i was headed and get help.i drank to get drunk and when i tried not too it didnt work.i was miserable and knew it couldnt go on.

tommyk

I was a binge drinker.

Didn't crave the first one but once I started there was no stopping.

PrimalScream

Another binge drinker/smoker/toker checking in. Been a binger since I was 15...41 now. Haven't had anything, (not even a smoke, and I totally never want anything during the week), since last sunday...but now that it is friday afternoon again I am jumping out of my skin here at work waiting to get the heck out of here and get on with the weekend...well, like I said I am a binger...

353

Hi bstt03, Welcome to the SR forum

I was a binge drinker as well. For thirty years.

All I ever wanted to do was be able to stop after work and have a couple, the more I practiced the worse I got.

How many times did I need to tell myself, "this time it will be different, I will control it, have a couple and go home, just get that little buzz and be just fine"...only when I hit that decision point, which I thought was about three drinks, there was no way I was stopping. What I've learned is that when it comes to alcohol their is no decision time after I put the first one in me, I believe that with all my being today, it took along time but I'm convinced.

I heard this definition of an alcoholic...."If you think about drinking or think about not drinking, you may want to consider the possibility that you're an alcoholic"...that made sense to me, that was me. To a certain extent that is me today only I think about not drinking and rarely entertain the thought that alcohol will offer me anything but misery.

The good news, life without alcohol and drugs is better then I ever imagined!!

Hang in there, you are on a journey and if you want to be happy, joyous and free through sobriety, you will be.

Peace

ruch

I am a combination of both. I spent years binging every day. There was a two year stretch where I went through a half 5th of vodka per night. I no longer drink everyday but when I do it's almost always a binge.

tennis71

I started out binge drinking on weekends, but it progressed to every day over a period of time. I also went from blacking out every so often to blacking out all the time.

A good rule of thumb is if you are experiencing blackouts when you drink, then you should not be drinking.

Have you done anything to cut down your use or stop drinking all together?

Jules62

I started off drinking 'normally' when I was 18. By the time I was in my late 30's I'd binge drink on the weekends.Two years ago(I'm now 46) I started drinking every day as well-first just in the evenings but it slowly became earlier and earlier in the day till last year, where I found myself pouring a glass of wine at 10am-to 'take the edge off'.I'd promise myself I'd just have one, but I wouldn't stop till I passed out each night around 9pm.I lost a year of my life this way and couldn't believe it had happened to me.

Alcoholism really IS a progressive disease.It took me ages to accept I had a problem too.I thought it was normal to binge and get wasted on the weekends-didnt everyone?But that was just the start and it all went downhill from there.Scarily quickly too.

I can't tell you if you're an alcoholic.But experiencing blackouts is not a good sign.I'm glad you're here.Keep reading and asking questions.We're here to support each other.

Welcome,

Jules

CarolD

....Welcome to SR!

I just replied on your other thread

:

bstt03

Thank you all so much for your responses and support. I am seeing now that the whole blackout thing is really a big sign for me. You all seem genuine. Sorry so late on the response, i am been cleaning, etc around the house (at least not drinking!)

iwantadonkey

What hit me aswell is that the first blackout was so terrifying you'd think you'd stop right then but you dont.it happens again and again.and id swear each one was the last time id get that drunk.good luck with what ever you decide to do!

AmeliaA

I was a HUGE binge drinker up until 8 years ago.

Could never have just one or two drinks. If I was gonna drink, I was going to make it worth it. Started in my late teens until my late 20s.

I was able to just stop. I woke up one day and said, "Okay,
I can't do this anymore." Actually it was after going on my 3rd day of the most hellacious hangover one can imagine. Not sure how I did it cold turkey, but I did.

Welcome...you will find some wonderful support and caring people here.

Bamboozle

A comment about blackouts...

... I used to have blackouts a few years ago, but as an "experienced drinker" I learned how to avoid that based upon my mood, what I had to eat beforehand, how tired I was, and what I was drinking for the night. If I knew I was going to be dehydrated, for example, I would drink some water. I haven't had a blackout for a while, but I still have an addiction problem! My point is that not having blackouts does not mean that you don't have a serious problem (sorry if I'm implying that's what some of you are saying, but that's not what I mean. I'm just worried that anyone reading this will think, "OK! Great! I don't have blackouts! That means I'm normal!"). The really sick thing about intentionally avoiding blackouts while drinking leads the abuser (me) to believe that he/she has this thing under control.

greg1183

I have blackout every single time I drink. They are not scary or anything like that for me to me blacking out is normal. And in my messed up mind everyone blacks out everytime they drink. Atleast that is my hope when I wake up in the morning.

I never really know what happened the night before but I always wake up with that feeling that I did something stupid. So I lay in my bed all day trying to sleep off my hangover and I pray that no one remembers what I did anymore than me.

But they always do and when i find out what I did I feel 100x worse than I did when I just had the hangover. It really is a miserable way to go through life

NoelleR

Yes, I was a binge drinker....went on to drinking every day, then went back to binge drinking.....to quit....it didn't matter how much I drank, or how often, but that I could never predict what would happen once I started --- alcoholic.

I just wanted to say a brief word about blackouts (from alcohol). Obviously, lots of blackouts, or every time one drinks, that's a problem, and more than likely an element of one's alcoholism.....BUT, with that exception, blackouts are far more common than folks have thought....not only with problem drinkers and/or alcoholics....I believe it was Harvard who's done some studies...I used to have the links, but I don't have them at hand right now; just search under alcohol blackouts and some of the studies should pop up.... (o:


NoelleR

Kristina

Bstt,

Binge drinking is my issue, too. It has been for a long time, but in the last couple of years and especially this last year, it has really accelerated. My last binge was Tuesday night, and Wednesday is when I chose sobriety. I'm still really new at this, in fact I haven't even gone to a meeting yet. Hopefully tomorrow.