roflcopter

Hi all, I’ve been lurking around here abit, testing the waters. I’m a 29 year old male and have been drinking for 3-4 years, started out for fun and ended up being a daily thing. Got married and divorced with in a few months to someone I dearly loved, and no it wasn’t directly related to alcohol, she had been cheating on me with her girlfriend, we both drank so there were some issues related there, but it was not the root cause. I went on a year bender drinking 6-8 drinks a night, never have had problems getting to work or drinking during the day etc, but its still a problem. This is going to sound stupied and I know I’m going to get flamed for this but I realized I had a problem when I was doing MDMA with a friend, for those of you who have done it, I don’t need to explain why or how that happened, but MDMA puts you in a place where you are really open and truthful and can analyze yourself like you normally cant, shields down. At any rate, here I am….i went to get blood work done to see how much damage I had done, my alt was 90….i’m wondering if anyone here has had any health concerning and how that panned out, if my drinking levels would be considered insane or normal for someone with a problem, and what people here do that are non religious? I cant see my self in AA due to the religious constraints….if anyone has a similar back ground I’d like to chit chat. I will also add I’ve managed to cut down about 50% over the last month, although im not sure I should go around bragging im only drinking 2-3 a night.

Thanks

Bamboozle

Hello, roflcopter. Welcome to SR!

I'm not religious, either. I mostly hang out in the Secular Connections section: Secular Connections - SoberRecovery : Alcoholism Drug Addiction Help and Information

Desiree827

Hey there welcome to SR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It seems to me that u may be in a bit of denial things are only going to get worse if u don't nip it in the but now........I am 27 and I have a history of 14 yrs of drug and alchohol abuse it started with the first drink and over the yrs it lead me to bigger and better things I just got out of rehab about a month ago and I have been clean for 56 days I feel great..............but 56 days ago when I went into detox I wanted to die I have tried to stop my way many times ande it got me nowhere the only way things are working out for me are working the program I did'nt believe it could work but I am very happy right where i am at.............cutting down is not the answer either.....I tried that too and it just made things worse and than I admitted and accepted that my life was unmanagable, and that I was powerless over alchohol and my addiction..........I don't mean to preach but you really need to here stuff like this, but noone can change you, you can only change yourself if you want it.................that's all I have......

Dee74

Hi roflcopter

I don't think it matter how much you drink - it's how you use, or abuse, alcohol that matters.

In most cases, in my experience, if you think you have a problem, you do - and the only way to deal with that for me, and a lot of others here, was total abstinence. The earlier you quit, the better chance you have of no lasting health issues

Theres a whole variety of programmes out there. Here's a link to some

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

Some are not 12 step, some are secular (and I know several people from this site alone who are in AA who do not believe in 'God')...so an issue with God can be no problem.

Posting regularly here too seems to help many people - me included - so I hope to see you around more.

Welcome!
D

hopeful999

I'm not religious, either.

smacked

Ok one thing at a time.

First off, welcome.. this is a great place, as I'm sure you've already found.

I don't know what if any health concerns I technically had, but I know I was drinking much more than was healthy for me to live very long, or stay very healthy. I had aches in the area of my liver.. I was always too scared to see a doc.. and I never did, to be honest.

To be blunt, your drinking levels compared to someone else's drinking levels don't mean SQUAT in relationship to whether or not it's a problem. This is not a pissing contest, many folks are here because they drank a few glasses of wine a night, and a few of us are here for bottle or two of hard liquor a night. Doesn't matter, was ruining our lives in an important enough way to come here and get some support, so lets just all start there. I get freaked out when folks come here and say things like "but I haven't..(insert stereotypical myth about alcoholics here) had a dui, been to jail, lost my family, lived in a gutter, died, ....................etc. Neither have most of us here. That is not the guage I want to use to define a problem I can kick out of my life BEFORE all of that inevitability.

I do not participate in AA, I have not used it in my recovery, and my recovery has been fabulously fulfilling. There's lots of other ways to get support, lots of programs, books, therapists, groups of folks, websites, etc etc.. to help you along. I'd say don't rule anything out you havent tried. I'm an athiest. I went to tons of AA meetings.. the reason I decided it wasn't for me had absolutely nothing to do with religion..and for the times I went it was a hell of a lot better place to be than at home staring at a wall wanting a drink. I try not to make any decisions about things until I have experienced them. I wasn't able to get sober and STAY sober until I was willing to do anything to get that way. Think about how much energy you've put into being drunk all the time. Money, time, energy, etc on and on. Imagine how great you could be if all that went towards something great for you and your life?

Anna

Hi and Welcome,

I hope you have talked to your dr about your blood tests. And, I am glad that you are seeking information. I don't think cutting down works for alcoholics, at least not for very long. For me, it ended up with me obsessing about when I would next drink and how much, etc.

I am not religious either, but I am very spiritual and I thank my recovery for gently guiding me back to my spiritual life.

keithj

I absolutely agree. I'm a textbook alcoholic as described by AA's Big Book. I owe my life to working the steps of that program, and I came to it as a devout atheist after trying the usual progression of doctors, drugs, counselling, and rehab.

My life today is indescribably OK.