HoboKiller

I made my first newcomer post just days ago.

Staying sober since i've made this choice (again just 2 days) hasn't been an uphill battle for me, nor did i expect to be.

The reason being is because my drinking style more involves binging and going nuts more than just drinking everyday. I honestly know very little about different types of alcoholism I just knew mine was a problem.

Are their nuances to my style that i should know about and be weary? I'm not crazing drinks, and i normally dont until the next time i crave a good binge (normally 1-3times a week, but generally just once during the weekend).

thanks

gerryP

Hmm,

probably the only advice I can give you is NOT to drink when you "crave a good binge" next.

Why do you think you crave 1-3 times a week? What's going on before you want to "binge and go nuts"?

Wishing you well and keep reading and posting. Have you read the stickies in the alcoholism forum also?

shaun00

Someone posted a very good list of the types of alcoholism recently..

I think it was carol..............ill see if i can find it if you think it will help..

But bottom line for me is..Once i commenced drinking i couldnt tell you when im gonna stop..

Thats our common dilema

My drinking pattern was different from yours....but i had the same dilema....i couldnt stop once i started.

imo...this should be your focus......

Different routes..same destination if you like.................trucker

Hevyn

Hi Hobo, pleased to meet you. Most of us start out much differently than we end up. I was like you - long ago. I didn't start drinking until my early 20's & I remember how a few beers would make me giddy. In my 20's I'd just drink on weekends. In my 30's I found plenty of excuses to drink during the week. In my 40's my weekend drinking found me shaky Monday morning, requiring lunchtime drinks to feel "normal". In the end, I drank all day, even had one on my nightstand to sip on during the night when I woke up shaking. I started out just like you, and would have laughed in someone's face if they'd ever told me how I'd end up. Just saying, please be careful and remember when they call it a "progressive disease" they are not kidding. It's great to have you here, so glad you found our community.

kurtrambis

Hi hobo welcome.
You will find that peoples drinking patterns vary greatly.
The common theme being they can't control it.
I was a binge (hopefully was) drinker. Often after a binge the last thing on my mind was another drink I was just glad to be alive and not suffering the affects of withdrawal. The time after the binge was like a honeymoon period but it never lasted.

sailorjohn

welcome!!!

I honestly don't think there are any different 'types' of alcoholism. There are differences in the stages of the disease we happened to be in when we got sober, which for me was a problem, I had a bad habit of comparing where I was to where they were, and managed to con myself into thinking that I wasn't alcoholic because I hadn't reached that stage-yet.

Zencat

From the pioneering alcohol researcher Elvin Morton Jellinek (1890-1963),...the guy that coined the term "the disease concept of alcoholism" comes the five types of alcoholism.



* Alpha alcoholism: the earliest stage of the disease, manifesting the purely psychological continual dependence on the effects of alcohol to relieve bodily or emotional pain. This is the "problem drinker", whose drinking creates social and personal problems. Whilst there are significant social and personal problems, these people can stop if they really want to; thus, argued Jellinek, they have not lost control, and as a consequence, do not have a "disease".

* Beta alcoholism: Polyneuropathy is a neurological disorder that occurs when many peripheral nerves throughout the body malfunction simultaneously...., or cirrhosis of the liver from alcohol without physical or psychological dependence. These are the heavy drinkers that drink a lot, almost very day. They do not have physical addiction Addiction. Addiction is a chronic disease proposed to be precipitated by a combination of genetics, biology/pharmacology and sociology factors....and do not suffer withdrawal. Withdrawal refers to the characteristic signs and symptoms that appear when a drug that causes an addiction is regularly used for a long time and then suddenly discontinued or decreased in dosage....symptoms. This group do not have a "disease".

* Gamma alcoholism: involving acquired tissue tolerance, physical dependence, and loss of control. This is the AA alcoholic, who is very much out of control, and does, by Jellinek's classification, have a "disease".

* Delta alcoholism: as in Gamma alcoholism, but with inability to abstain, instead of loss of control.

* Epsilon alcoholism: the most advanced stage of the disease, manifesting as dipsomania. A dipsomaniac is a person with an uncontrollable craving for alcohol, especially alcoholic liquors...., or periodic alcoholism.

mle-sober

Welcome, again. I'm glad you're still here.

My experience is that alcoholism is a progressive disease, getting worse, never better.

The times that I was able to convince myself that I was fine - maybe even better or cured - were only short times. I would have a glass of wine or two and leave the dinner table. But the next day I would say, "see? I could do that." and have 2 full bottles.

Don't let yourself think that you are in a different category just because at this stage you're a binge drinker and can go days without drinking. I've known people who went long miserable years without drinking, finally convinced themselves that they were fine and went out and stayed drunk for 14 years, ending up in the ICU.

This is a serious disease and it can kill you. Binge drinking in particular can be deadly. But we are all drunks, in the end. Just common drunks.

firestorm090

Another way to look at this question is, if alcohol causes you to have problems associated with your drinking, then you have a problem with alcohol.

The different types of alcoholics are really immaterial, for in the end, we're all just drunks, looking for that temporary escape from the unrest within us. That unrest is the real problem. Why is it that some people can go to a restaurant and eat dinner, while I go there to drink, and maybe eat a few bites? Why, when we hear the word "party" do we immediately associate the word with drinking, when others think of eating cake and having punch? How can some people go out on Friday night to the movies, then have a couple of beers and go home, when guys like me skip the movie, hit the bars and stay till our noses are scraping the pavement cause we can't keep our heads up any longer?

You've asked some important questions and those questions seem to only come to mind for real alcoholics. People who do not have problems with alcohol do not ask these questions, unless they are looking for answers for a loved one who drinks too damn much. That's the real difference, we drink too much, whether it be once or twice a week or once or twice a month, we still drink too much. To me, the only type of alcoholic is someone who drinks too much alcohol. Otherwise, he/she wouldn't be an alcoholic.

mikel60

For me, there came a time when there was no such thing as a "good binge". Hevyn said it best... watch out for the progression.

Mine was almost clinical. you could chart it year to year. The drinking went from one or two nights out a week with my college buddies, to two and three week mad whiskey benders with a few crack houses thrown in for good measure.

That was my experience. I hope yours will be different. The best way to ensure that is to stop now.

Best wishes.

Mike

yeahgr8

Read this book, Under the Influence by james R Milham and Katherine Ketcham, just finished it today...answers your thread question:-)

CarolD

I agree with yeahgr8,,,,
"Under The Influence" is the book that convinced me to quit drinking.
I recoomend it to anyone wanting to know about their drinking.

Glad to see you again Hobo...

flutter

Lots of good info already posted here, I wont repeat it. But.. I think that part ^^^ up there.. is all you need to know to start addressing your own issues. None of us fit in the same box..

ImagineMe

Welcome to the board. I think you received some really good advice here.
I agree with what was said regarding how your drinking changes during different years. For me, it was not until my 30's that it changed to wine every night. After a few months of that habit, I found I could not stop.

I also like what Sailor said about different degrees of the disease.
I think we all have it and not many of us get it the same way.

The only thing to do is not drink. A simple answer and solution.