Mariposa18

I couldn't. I cannot control Alcohol once I start to drink, it controls *ME*.

coffeenut

Nope.

It's a pretty good thought if you're looking for an excuse to start drinking, though.

flutter

or an excuse to keep drinking...

Omega Man

I tried that plan repeatedly for the past year and it didn't work out so well for me. After each sober period, within a few days or wks I was drinking more than I was before. Making up for the lost drinking time, while I was sober I guess. Pure insanity.

I too have tried that one last hurrah, I did it three weeks ago and it wasn't all fun and games like I thought it would be. The only good that came out of it, was that I finally just surrendered to the fact that I have no power over alcohol.

shaun00

hi hippy chick and merry christmas.
imho..........you will never make a normal drinker out of an alcoholic.
And that said only you can answer the question of "am i" or "aint i"..
As someone has already said try some "controlled drinking" for a period.
Then stop abruptly for a time.
I and you know you have the answer.............its just a matter of being honest with yourself.
I have yet to meet an alcoholic (and ive met a few) that went back to drinking and succeeded in controlling their drinking.
Most that i have see try, come back in a worse state and some have died.
Like you i found it hard to imagine life without alcohol.........
BUT that frame of mind changes with time.........now i cant imagine life WITH alcohol.
I try to take the day as only that day.............no point in living in the future cos ive got no idea what that will bring......trucker

lostbutterfly

It was my attempts at cutting back that made me realise I was an alcoholic. I just got worse!

So give it a try. If you succeed, you probably aren't an alcoholic. Which is good news. If it's too hard, don't struggle on for three years like I did. Just accept facts.

PS: I didn't want to stop drinking either!!!

CarolD

Most alcoholics die from alcoholism.
26 of my friends have since I quit drinking.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...d-friends.html

I won't be one. Will you?

least

If you can stick to just one or two drinks and not have more, or don't think constantly about drinking, maybe you're one of the few who can control their drinking. The thing about that, tho, is that normal drinkers don't even think about controlling their drinking. Just the fact that you're asking if it can be done indicates a problem with drinking.

I tried many times to control my drinking, but I never could. I would always be thinking of when I could drink again or would be unable to stick to a small amount. When I tried to control my drinking I didn't enjoy it, and when I enjoyed it I wasn't controlling it.

THe best example I've heard is that once an alcoholic has 'crossed that line' there's no going back to normal drinking. It's like making pickles. Once a cucumber becomes a pickle it can never change back into a cucumber. I have been 'pickled' and can never change myself back into a cucumber.

Try moderating your drinking, or going without for a month. If you find yourself thinking a lot about drinking, or when you can have another drink, you've crossed that line and there's no going back. I'm glad I finally quit completely.

Another point, you say you want to have one more binge and then quit. Be careful with that, as your next binge could be your last - as in, the binge that gets you into trouble, the trouble that hasn't happened to you YET.

StrongBird

I am the EXACT same way. I've also been pretty lucky -- I haven't had any near-death experiences to scare me into recovery. But this elevator we're on only goes down. We can get off at any floor but no matter how long we try to stay on, it's not going back up.

One "test" I've heard is that a normal drinker can have 1-3 drinks a day for six months straight. A normal drinker won't find a way to pour an entire bottle of wine into a "cup" of some sort in order to count it as just one drink either. LOL! I know when I've tried that, I'm lucky to make it 6 DAYS before I end up with an entire case of beer in my system, which kicks off a binge the next day, and so on. It's not that hard for me to quit completely for a length of time, but it's been impossible for me to moderate for any length of time. I always end back up drinking wayyyyyy too much.

flutter

he he... see, 4-6 beers in an evening would get me pretty buzzed, I doubt I could drink more than that, much less more than a bottle of wine.

Really be careful about that "one last binge", scares me when I hear (or read) words like that :|

Check in with us and let us know how you are

Bamboozle

Hello, hippychicky.


I've said the same thing to myself many, many times...problem was that the "last one" was never enough, and the more I had the harder it was to stop.

If I could get plastered safely right now I probably would...but I don't think my heart can handle this anymore. Things have been going downhill in a hurry in the past year. One more evening of drinking could kill me. I've been experiencing some alarming problems with my heart for the past year. I still don't know if what I have is dangerous or harmless (the doctors I've been seeing are morons), but I had something really scary happen to me a couple of Saturdays ago (it could have been due to withdrawal--at that point I had been sober for two days). My heart felt like it was having trouble beating and it could not get into a normal rhythm for about 20 seconds until it (thankfully!) reset itself. I don't feel so invincible anymore.

Rob B

I would get a Big Book and read the Dr's opinion, several times, is this you? Do you develop a craving? Along with this you could try some controlled drinking as has been suggested.Two drinks a day for 30 days no more no less. If you are alcoholic, you will find out very quickly. If you are not alcoholic, no worries.

tellus

I could never do it. Isn't the classic definition of an alcoholic someone who can't stop at just one or two?

shaun00

One last thing i forgot..
I did try once to only drink at weekends and it drove me completely insane.
Every waking moment was full of when the weekends here.
Then id get smashed till monday morning.
Worse than stopping all together.......bit like giving a chocolate addict (my wife) a lick of a candy bar...lol....................trucker

hippychicky

A great big THANK YOU to all of you who wrote with most valuable info. I haven't had a drink in 2 days and not sure at this moment if I will stay sober or if I will try the "cut back" theory. I'm leaning towards the cut back just to see what my thought patterns towards alcohol will be.

flutter

Good luck with that..that would be absolute torture for me. I hope it's easy for you!

Pinkcuda

Pg 22 of the Big Book says, "We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men. We are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop. The experience of any alcoholic will confirm this".
In a nutshell, if you can control it with regularity, you may not be an alcoholic.

FLwife

[QUOTE=Ago;2037696]Try drinking 2 drinks a day for 10 days, if you are an alcoholic you may learn something surprising about yourself.

that's 3 oz of hard liquor, 2 beers (not 40's) or two glasses (6oz) of wine.

I got 5 bucks that says you can't do it

***********
this is more than I have been drinking (2 glasses of wine, take 2 days off per week) but I am accused of being an Alcoholic by my husband. (He can't drink, gets headaches etc...)
I made another thread asking about this problem. Do I have addiction (as he says?) or do I not??? Help!

stone

Yes, even if you don't like/want to do AA, the first few chapters will ring true to you if you are an alcoholic.

By definition, an alcoholic cannot "cut back".

stone

It doesn't sound like it, only you can answer it.