tay-lyn

You're the best person to answer this question....here's how you do that.....try to quit....tell yourself that you'll never drink again...you do that by not drinking one day at a time. If you find it is easy-breezy and you can completely obstain.....you may not have a problem...perhaps you were just 'overdoing it' previously. But if you find you cannot stay away from the wine....you may very well be an alcoholic....I guess time will tell.
Tay.

Horselover

Thank you everyone for your replies and I guess I shouldn't have prefaced this with "Am I an Alcoholic" because I know the answer to that one. I am. No one could drink every night from early afternoon until bedtime and not be, BUT I was curious about this part and now I know. Thank you everyone for your very interesting responses.

Hey Tay as far as going a certain amount of time to determine whether I'm an alcoholic I have a bit of an issue with that. My mom's husband was told that supposedly by a doctor and he went 30 days without a problem and so therefore he dances around and thinks he's not an alcoholic. He drinks EVERY night and becomes very different after he has those vodkas. I vote he is, but its my opinion. I went my entire pregnancy without drinking and didn't even crave it, but when I did start drinking again I had all the same problems. For me the time test doesn't work. I don't say this doesn't work for some though. I'm glad you posted and thanks for your opinion.

least

My favorite drink used to be gin and tonic. But in the last year or more I only drank wine. While I was trying to stop drinking wine, and failing, I could go to a bar I used to frequent and have a gin and tonic - only one, I never had more than one. But with my wine I always drank too much and couldn't stop drinking until I had run out or passed out.

But I know without a doubt I'm an alcoholic because of what happens when I start drinking.

I will gladly stay sober my whole life, as I don't want to go back to that hell. I know that alcohol is poison to me, any alcohol, so will stay away from all of it.

SelfSeeking

Oh my god... me too. I had a rule, while I was trying to moderate because my drinking was scaring me, that I would not buy hard liquor to keep in my house. It had come to my attention that when I had alcohol in the house I drank til it was gone or I was passed out, whatever kind of alcohol or how much there was. With beer it would be gone before I was blacked out, but after the liquor stores were closed. Perfect! Hard liquor though, I'd drink to blackout, passout, and violent illness the next couple of days. "Solution" was no hard stuff in the house. I had a recipe that called for creme de menthe though, and I decided to break the rule because I found sweet alcohols disgusting. Welllll the very next time I ran out of beer and the package stores were closed, down went the WHOLE BOTTLE of creme de menthe. Oh so nasty. But I needed to stay drunk.

Then I said 'screw it' and next time I bought vodka.

mac911

Alcoholism is a progressive disease. As the alcoholic continues to drink, their tolerance increases so either their consumption increases or their % of alcohol content increases...ie...the usual beer drinker moves on to vodka as their drink of choice.

You say that you drink everyday for longer periods and all the way to the end of the day. You say you have blackouts.

"Normal" drinkers do not have increased tolerances because they do not drink everyday. "Normal" drinkers do not have blackouts.

I will not pass judgment on you. I believe that your best interest would be to reconcile the answer for yourself and to move on.

Horselover

Reconciled Mac and thank you!

laurie6781

This is what explained it for me once and for all. From the First Edition of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, first paragraph of Chapter 4:

"If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if, when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic."

What that told me was it didn't matter what I drank, or how much I drank, it was what the alcohol DID TO ME.

I think you have it figured out! I do however, believe that it was a great idea to start this thread!

Some really great 'incite' has been posted and I hope it helps those that are 'still wondering.'

Love and hugs,

Philly

HL- great thread-

I started with wine and when that wasn't doing it fast enough (I really do believe it was calories I was trying to control while still getting high enough) I went on to vodka with a strong desire for martinis. While it is funny you wrote this thread now I went to a engagement party last night with a pitcher full of martinis among other beverages. I have been sober for 5 months and the craving was like I quit yesterday. On Sunday I was at another party where it was mostly beer and wine and I was fine. So I guess it is going to be our alcohol of choice that really is the hardest to avoid. I actually woke up nausea today and I didn't even get sick when I drank like a fish. Hopefully someday we will figure it all out until then I will try to stay sober.

Horselover

You all have helped so much and I think the answer is what Laurie said. It falls down to the lack of control with alcohol and I had no control over the amount of wine I would consume. I didn't stop at 1 or 2 and so there you have it! Alcoholic and ready to live with that definition. SR totally rocks and this is why I stick around here.

:ghug2

tay-lyn

Hi again Horselover....I meant...quit for good..not 30 days. Lots of us have had long bouts of sobriety and are still alcoholics...it is proven in the fact that we pick up again after having obstained. Basically...if you are trying to quit and you continue to drink....after 2 days, 30 days, 9 months of sobriety....if you're trying to quit and you pick up again, you proabably have a problem.....That's all I meant.
Tay.

NoelleR

I've noticed that some of the previous posters have said things such as....:

"...'Normal' drinkers do not have blackouts..." and "...Acording to 'Under The Influence" blackouts are a symptom of middle stage alcoholism..."

Yes, these used to be thought to be true, but more recent studies have shown that while blackouts can be a sign of alcoholism, they are way more prevalent than was once thought....even 'normal'/non-alcoholics get blackouts....Let's remember, Under the Influence was written in 1985, and a lot more is know about alcoholism today.....just do a search for alcoholic blackouts and see all the stuff. You may even want to check out Duke's study.....: Alcohol-induced blackouts

I'm one of those persons who, like the founders of AA, when I quit, although I can only live my life one day at a time, I quit for good and all....and not just my alcoholic preference at the time, but all alcoholic beverages..... (o:


NoelleR

Change4life

Normally I stick my drink of preference. I would never drink vodka instead, but I know Im an alkie.

The reason i say normally is caus eI guess it depends on how desperate i am. I havent had a drink in 24 hours and I just went crazy searching the apartment. The only thing here is vodka and I just poured a shot.

Anyway, just becauseyou havent gottent to that point doesnt mean your not an alcoholic. Alcohol is sneaky and likes to trick people into thinking there okay. Dont fall into that trap and keep working on your sobriety. I wish I was where you are at, dont lose it!

michigangirl

When I first started drinking heavy, i was only drinking beer and had no other cravings, so I thought, just beer, so not a problem, even though I would drink until it was gone or pass out - but as time went on, I would drink anything available and recently started buying vodak because it was easy to hide. I am on Day 4 right now. All I can say, is if you are even questioning that you have a problem, you probably do. Better to deal with it early on. best of luck.

jh1

wow this is a loaded topic. I would drink anything and everything throughout college-mixed shots, with keg stands, with wine, with whatever-except like brandeeno said like kaluha or wine spritzers or fruity stuff, blah. After college i realized , hey hard a and me dont really get along too well because i would get just ripped even beyong my normal blacking out on hard a. So i kind of weened that out besides some cocktails here and there-not many shots anymore though....So then it was to beer and i thought i wouldnt black out as much because it takes longer to get drunk-well that was dumb, i just shotgunned, pounded, and chugged beers. Then I thought you know beers are kind of bad for the calorie count-so i switched up to bottles of wine and a few beers instead of a lot. No matter what combination i was drinking it didn't matter I always ended up in the same state---though i do think Hard A is the most dangerous just because how much you can take in in a short amount of time. Miraculously im still here and sober almost 2 weeks now. Whats odd is ive had a few beers in my fridge, a bit of grey goose, and have had the chance to drink wine a few times since i went sober and none of them is calling to be over another. Pretty much I like them all but can deny them all it seems like. Point is for me i guess is they all leave you in the same place-wanting more and more and getting more and more dangerous/hazardous to your health

fulminouscherub

In my garage is a converted chest freezer with six delicious home-brewed beverages on tap--four ales, one cider, and one mead. The garage fridge is full of store-bought bottled beer. The kitchen fridge has premium gin and vodka in the freezer.

There are people drinking (and using) here almost every day. As long as everyone behaves (and they do), I have no problem with it. The only person with whose drinking I have a problem is mine. That's because I'm an alcoholic.

I can't say I never think about a drink. But I can say that there is no longer any place for alcohol or drugs in my life. When I got sober I began to realize just how much time and energy I've put into unprofitable pursuits my whole life. Alcohol is just the flagship and was the first to go. Tobacco was next. Then sedentarism. I'm still thinking about caffeine and meat. Who knows where it will end?

I'm an alcoholic of the sort that alcohol was never really my problem. It was my solution. For all my problems. Until it stopped working. Now I'm trying to find a new solution in sobriety. I'm rather optimistic.

IO Storm

Oh, me too..

Once, when I was trying to quit, I had stopped for about 24 hours...a beer drinker,

and gulped a whole bottle of cooking wine. You know it is full of sodium..I

swelled up like a blowfish.

Rusty Zipper

hey S, heres a take for ya...

you know your a alcoholic, so with that said...

you know you can get through things with out a drink...

have some happiness...

be clear in the head, well, somewhat clear... lol

so why drink?

we commit, or not...

choice

Happy Holidays S