I just know I have to do something
 

Like most people, I really hoped I'd never have to tell myself that I'm an alcoholic, but there's no way for me to avoid it anymore. The majority of people who know me would have no idea that I am. But when there's weeks that I have had multiple nights where I lost track of the number of drinks I've had, blacked out, and/or made a complete fool of myself. It is affecting my health and I look in the mirror and see myself aging quicker. The amount of money I have spent is appalling.

Most of the time I can just kick back a beer or two at home with no problem. The issue is when I'm in a social setting and start on the liquor. I just can't stop drinking when I'm around people and especially when I hit the liquor. I've nearly gotten alcohol poisoning more times than I can count and have spent far too many days with brutal hangovers.

I don't know if I'll be very successful with trying to completely abstain from alcohol, though. I don't think I would miss liquor much (and I don't really like wine) but I'm one of those people who enjoys beer for the flavour. And I seem to handle beer far better and actually have an ability to stop drinking when I'm drinking it, something I can't say for liquor. Although I haven't tried non-alcoholic beer, I don't object to it on principle. Kind of like coffee, which for me is a comfort beverage even if I drink decaffeinated coffee since the flavour and aroma are what I seek. Consuming a good, quality beer is an experience I enjoy very much. Liquor beverages, on the other hand, are only drunk when I seek their intoxicating effects and with the exception of a good margarita, not generally an experience I otherwise enjoy.

Has anyone had success if they try to stop drinking a certain type of alcohol (as in beer, wine, or liquor)? Did whatever type(s) of alcohol you kept drinking end up taking over the roles that the alcohols you were abstaining from had? Did you just have to abstain from all types of alcohol? I just want to know if it's worthwhile for me to just say no to certain types of alcohol or if I just need to say no to alcohol period.

Welcome realmcenter. I have spent a lot of time viewing and posting on this site. It has helped and encouraged me beyond my expectations and I know it will do the same for you.
I think you'll find that most of us must abstain from all alcohol, I know that's true for me. I too will be interested in what others will post. Continue to read and post often.

Hi realmcenter, I have heard that a lot of alcoholics try to switch drinks unsuccessfully. I was drinking a lot of vodka and switched to only beer. My tolerance was pretty high and I would drink at least 15 beers. I have not had a drink in 13 days and after 30 days I might try moderation. I have to admit that the more days that go by, the less I want to drink.

Welcome to SR.....Im glad youre here. For me personally, I was a beer drinker, sober 7 weeks today. I think though I am not positive that I will try moderation at some point. I knew I had to stop drinking entirely to break the cycle I was in. I had in fact while drinking switched to wine and low and behold I was drinking a bottle and a half a night. If you are having questions as to whether or not you should quit entirely, I would give it a try. If you are able to do so with no second thoughts about it then great, problem solved, however...it seems like you are concerned already so I would take a good long honest look at your patterns with alcohol and get help if you need it. There is alot of support here and I recommend checkin in with your doctor if you have been doing anything besides moderation. I wish you the best...take care of you.....
Peace
Jaclyn :ghug3

welcome!!!

Well, alcohol is alcohol, 1 glass of beer=1 glass of wine=1 shot of liquor. These aren't my thoughts, you can google this information.

We had a thread here recently, the consensus seems to be-almost 100%-that if you are alcoholic, attempting to control your alcohol intake is fruitless, you will never succeed. And controlling would include something like changing alcoholic beverages, switching from liquor to beer or wine.

BTW, I am one of those people that enjoyed beer for the alcohol. I don't drink na beer these days, when I was drinking almost 100% of my alcohol consumption was beer.

I wouldn't waste too much energy and thought about this IMO. Why not write yourself a schedule for 6 months, see if you can stick to it and if you can't stop completely. It's hard to give any other advice than to stop completely to someone posting on a sober recovery forum, but keep posting with more info and how you doing:-)

Long before I started drinking wine (2 yrs ago) I used to drink gin and tonic. But for whatever reason I never had more than two. Now that I've quit drinking wine I don't drink gin and tonic either because I don't want to drink at all. If you are an alcoholic you won't be able to moderate or stick to a 'schedule', and if you do manage to moderate and stick to a drinking schedule, you may find yourself thinking about drinking a lot. That would indicate you have a problem also, the constant thinking about it.

Give it up entirely for 30 days. See how that goes.

Welcome to a great place for support!:ghug3

Welcome to SR. :c009:
I mostly drank beer but unlike you I couldn't stop at 2 or 3.
I say give moderating a try.
If you can go into those social occasions and only have a few brews without getting drunk and acting stupid you may not have a drinking problem.
If on the other hand beer just repkaces liquor in these situations and you drink to excess in them on a regular basis you will have to come up with a different strategy.
If you end up deciding that you should quit there is plenty of support for you here.
Good luck.

welcome to the fam rc

for me, ut-ugh!

its that first drink that gets me drunk old cliche'

and that drunk over time, took me to the abys!

Alcohol ...all alcohol or mind altering
drugs is poison to me. When i see
liquor, any shape form, i see the
skulls and cross bones on the
bottle.....because that is exactly
what it is.

Poison kills and that is what alcohol
was trying to do to me. My last
episoide with drinking almost cost
me my life....

Family intervention saved my life

I spent 28 days in rehab recieving
the tools and knowledge of my
disease and set me on the path
of recovery learning to live one
day at a time without alcohol.

For that and my family Im truely
grateful.

Do people with Diabeties or cancer
go around saying they r. No....they
have a disease and it can be treated
and lived with by following simple
steps each day to keep it at bay,,,

Alcohlics or drug addiicts dont broad
cast that they r one, because others
dont understand it being a disease
and can be treatable.

We use the AA or NA ...anonymous.

Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcatics
anonymous .

Some people think that just because
we r alcoholics or drug addicts that
we lost everything or in the gutter....

Not everyone has lost it all...there
are just too many people , different
races, religion, etc with an addiction.
And help is available to us all.

I dont wear a label across my
forehead advertising I am an
alcoholic.

So no one know my situation
ecept people in the program
and those outside that i wish
them to know.

Im in recovery because i have
a drinking problem and this program
of 12steps allows me to learn to
live one day at a time without
drinking. And to help the next
person in just entering recovery
by sharing my own ESH with them.

Welcome Realm,
Yes most of alcoholics tried everything imaginable to control our drinking without success. Liquor to beer, beer to wine you name it we tried. I sure did. I also tried only drinking on weekends, no more than X drinks etc. It is all described very well in the alcoholics anonymous Big Book. There are specific parts that you can use to determine if you are truly alcoholic or not. The bad news is that if your alcoholic total abstinence is the only thing that works. Reducing and controlling drinking for an alcoholic is not a pleasant experience.

The only way for me to stop the insanity was to go to AA, get a Sponsor and work the steps. It's so nice to not have to drink now to feel OK.

I have to laugh at myself when I think about this. I like wine, so wine was what I tried to moderate. I don't ever recall having a blackout with beer or any other type of alcohol, so I would switch to these types of drinks when I was trying to control my drinking.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), drinking other types of liquor just weakened my will power to switch back to wine, which is what I wanted in the first place. It is like I would use beer to "sneak" back up to my wine drinking.

I have spent years of my life wrestling with moderation, an exhausting and fruitless effort for me.

Yours are good questions. The best of luck to you.

LOL!![:e136:]

I don't know how I forgot that one. I used beer to sneak up on liquor.

Your body doesn't distinguish between wine, beer, rum, etc. Alcohol is alcohol.

I hope you keep reading and posting.

In equal equivalent amounts of pure alcohol the intoxication is the same. When going from beer to liquor I was able to much more effectively give my body more alcohol easily. Toward the end beer frustrated me because I could not get the desired amount of alcohol in my system. There is also the differences in things like the amount of simple sugars contained, carbonation and the theory of quickness to the bloodstream, etc. That being said an alcoholic craves alcoholic.

Having been told I must not drink alcohol for medical reasons, I told myself I could just drink in moderation and it would be okay. My attempts to moderate were absolutely the worst time of my life. I've been through a lot in my life. Stuff that no one should have to endure. And still, trying to moderate my drinking was the worst time in my life.

That said, I'm not sure that I would have accepted that I was an alcoholic if I hadn't tried and failed so miserably and repeatedly. I think it would be pretty terrible to go through life saying you're an alcoholic and you can't drink without being certain of that fact. The completely and utterly undeniable character of that fact for me is what makes my surrender to recovery bearable. Does that make sense? I guess what I'm saying is that if I didn't really, really know without a shadow of a doubt, that I was an alcoholic - I wouldn't be able to fully participate in my recovery program. I would always have those tiny seeds of doubt.

Another thought comes to my mind: I heard someone's story the other day. He told of drinking gallons of vanilla extract because he'd sworn off liquor. I have known another person who drank NyQuil, convinced he was abstaining.

Our alcoholic minds are tricky.

I wish you well. I hope you find that you can be in social settings and drink a beer or two and leave it at that. I hope you find that during the days and when you are at home alone, you do not obsess about alcohol and you go about your life with alcohol in its proper place - a liquid that provides for conviviality and a bit of gentle, harmless fun occassionally with a friend or two. Keep us posted, if you think of it.

About moderation and your health concerns

I hope you will read this link...it's in our Alcoholism Forum

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...influence.html

Blackouts are discussed along with more information


Welcome....hope you will find your answers
:yup:

Thanks all for your responses and welcomes.

What I am going to do for now is avoid alcohol for a little bit. Maybe a week, maybe more. It's one of those things I'll have to take day by day. My body needs a break no matter what.

This has bothered me a lot the past few days but I do think I've narrowed down the biggest issue I'm having recently: compulsive social binge drinking. All I know is that being out with friends or acquaintances at a bar or club with easy access to liquor has been a combination that has nearly killed me too many times recently. If I'm at a friend's house or by myself I don't behave in the same dangerous manner. I can barely even get tipsy at home by myself since it's not enjoyable and it is very rare that I have just passed out drinking at a friend's house (and it hasn't happened recently at all). I don't drink when upset or angry, I just can't. I can even skip on going out to a bar or a club and be just fine. I go out to be with friends and acquaintances yet keep ending up doing something very dangerous instead more and more.