ericamay

Hi everyone!! I hope everyone is doing well!! I have a question for you. I now know there is a difference between alcoholics, and alcohol abusers. I was told this and didn't understand as I do now. I know now I am an alcohol abuser as I "abuse" it severely when I drink, yet do not need it to function daily nor would I suffer any withdrawls at any point. Now I also know alcohol abuse can lead to alcohol dependency. Now. My question to those dependent on alcohol is this: how do you do this?? When I used to binge drink on a friday until saturday morning, go to sleep, then wake up, I was so hungover I could hardly think, let along think about alcohol or especially a cigarette!!! Its was at least 4 days before I could even watch a beer comercial let alone pick one up after a gnarly hangover like that. So those of you who used to drink daily, how did you find alcohol appealing after drinking all the day before?? Kinda random I know, but I have always wondered how this worked!!

tellus

I didn't find it appealing. I was disgusted, nauseated by it. But I was more disgusted with myself than I was with alcohol, so I drank to get away from that.

I have to ask, upon reading your post... What are you looking for? A "trick" to avoid hangovers? Please don't be offended, but that's the vibe I'm getting.

Anna

This is just my opinion.

Being an alcoholic, has nothing to do with how often you drink, nothing at all. It's not about being able to function daily or even about withdrawls, though those can be signs of alcoholism.

It has to do with what happens to you when you drink.

Does your personality change?

Can you stop drinking, once you start?

In my opinion, an alcohol abuser, is someone who drinks too much, but that person could stop drinking.

shaun00

How did i do that?.....i guess thats alcoholism but it also surprises me sometimes the lengths i went too to get a drink.

I chose to live on the streets just so i could do and drink what i wanted..
I chose alcohol before food.......infact id prefer not to eat because alcohol had less effect....last time i was in hospital i was 8 stone.

I was told id be dead within a year and still got drunk.
I turned my back on all my relatives and daughter so i could carry on drinking.
When you abuse alcohol.....you wake up sick and stop for a few days right?

When i drink...i will drink till i pass out and when i wake i am overcome with a insane compulsion to drink more and more and more......regardless of the consequences.

If you have alcohol and ive got none i will get aggressive and take it from you...
It aint pretty........and my making amends list is lengthy but shrinking.
On a positive side at least i dont have the problem of deciding whether im an alcoholic or not!!!.....hope that helps answer your question......trucker

Omega Man

But after those 4 days of gnarly hangover, you did drink again. Why?

The answer is probably pretty close to why I chose to drink the next day.

ericamay

Very interesting answers all of you!! Thank you, this is just something I always wondered. The last answer made sense. Oh, and I'm not looking for a trick to avoid a hangover! That trick is not drinking!! I didn't think there were any other tricks to avoiding hangovers!! Thanks for your answers

StrongBird

I only rarely drank two days in a row. I'd drink 2 or 3 nights a week, but not usually back to back. I felt the same way and for a long time, I convinced myself that I was drinking too much or maybe even abusing alcohol, but I most certainly was not an alcoholic. And when I gave it up -- recently, and periodically before this -- I never suffered physical withdrawals. I could go as long as "necessary" but I rarely went more than a week between binge drinking episodes. Like Omega Man said, I'd always pick it back up a few days later, no matter how bad the hangovers got.

Do you think you could have just 1 or 2 drinks a day for a month, two months, six months? I know I couldn't -- I'd always end up in a binge. If I'm controlling my drinking (say, at a work function where I only have one drink), I don't enjoy it. I'm constantly thinking about more-more-more-more. And if I'm enjoying drinking, I'm not controlling myself. You probably wouldn't even know it if you saw me -- I never once got a DUI, never got in any trouble, etc. But I was mentally, physically, and spiritually out of control.

You can certainly be an alcoholic even if you only drink (drank) once a week. It's almost impossible to determine based just on how many days a week someone drinks. It's more about what happens to them and how they feel when they drink.

Taking5

News flash - a hangover IS alcohol withdrawal.

In terms of being physically dependent, as in needing it every day, in my case it EASED my hangover to drink more. This phenomenon, as well as the fact that a hangover is alcohol withdrawal and a whole bunch more good stuff is all covered in the book "Under The Influence". You should read this, it is very educational.

Dee74

Yeah I drank again the next day to ease my hangover...and my shame and my guilt and my hopelessness. Appealingness didn't really come up on the menu

D

gravity

I would drink the next day because I couldn't stop.

Drink into a blackout, pass out for a few hours, wake up still drunk, keep drinking...

Recently I read somewhere that once you have that first morning drink, the floodgates open. It's no longer so far-fetched and disgusting and you will keep doing it again & again. Happened to me.

ericamay

Very interesting. That makes sense that a hangover is a withdrawl. The book sounds great and I will definitely take a look!! Thank you all for your honesty happy new year!

Kellye C

To me what you are describing as "your" behavior would be considered binge drinking and I assure you that I sit in AA meetings with PLENTY of binge drinkers. As was explained above, it's not about what you drink or how much you drink. It is about what happens once you start to drink. If once you put alcohol into your body you can't predict the outcome, then you probably have a problem.

As for me I was alcohol dependant. And it wasn't from long-term abuse. I went from someone who rarely drank to someone so alcohol dependant that I couldn't go more than a few hours without a drink without going into withdrawals in just three and a half years. Having qualified that, to answer the second part of your question, it had nothing to do with being appealing. Hell, half the time I puked up the first drink before I could get enough in me to stop the shaking, trembling, headache, mind fog and misery that became my life. I didn't care what it was, if it had alcohol in it I would drink it at the end. I HATED beer and wine prior to this three and a half year hell of my own making but by the time it was said in done I had gotten to where I would gladly drink it because I could get my hands on it easier than the hard stuff that I preferred. I didn't drink to be social. I drank to pass out and blot out the miserable existence that had become my life at the time. I certainly didn't pursue it at the end because it was fun. I did it because being in full withdrawals terrified me. I would do anything I could to prevent that.

Hope this helps,
Kellye

Pelican

Here's a link to excerpts from Under the Influence:
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...influence.html

Zencat

The difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism have specific clinical definitions. For the most part its unnecessary to differentiate between the two on a practical level. As for daily drinking, my hangovers were tolerable and drinking/drugging became an addiction with plenty of cravings when I was out liquor and drugs.

flutter

That was me too, for a few months, at the very end. I don't know how many times I would be having such bad withdrawls and chug a few shots, PRAYING it wouldn't come back up, only to have it come up, then feel a touch better, and slam whole heartedly because I knew.. it'd make it all better.


YUCK I'm glad that isn't me anymore... horrifying. Prior to those last few months, I drank just like you did, Erica.

dreas83

ZenCat, you wrote: The difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism have specific clinical definitions. For the most part its unnecessary to differentiate between the two on a practical level.

I completely agree with that statement. I myself, only drank once or twice a week (for the most part), not all the time but when I drank, I did not know if I would turn into a monster or maintain some piece of the person I really am...it truly was a toss up. Also, as was mentioned earlier, I too could drink just a few drinks if I knew I had to be responsible or trying to test myself but...I would think and think and think about having more drinks and I had a sense of disapointment and jealousy over everyone who was completely hammered. Usually though, I was the one that was completely hammered because most of the time I could not stop once I started.

Again, what a well put statement, Thank you for your insight

CarolD

The difference from social drinker to abuser....1 drink.
From abuser to dependancey...1 drink
From dependancy to early stage alcoholism...1 drink
From early to middle stage ..when I quit..1 drink.

And I never noticed which drink or what day
I slid into the progresive disease of alcoholism.

Pinkcuda

The phenomonon of craving can not be reasoned with. Those rough feeling mornings and a resolve to do something were overcome by a powerful force before the day was half over.
How could I find alcohol appealing after this? It didn't matter. I had to drink and nothing could stop me.