Has Any Alcoholic relapsed and became a Normal Drinker Again?
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Canada
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Has Any Alcoholic relapsed and became a Normal Drinker Again?
This question has been on my mind all day. I feel like I want to try to drink again to see if I can control it. But I'm scared as to what would happen after that first drink.
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,416
I think everyone tries that Snakes.
I tried to make it happen for 20 solid years.
Not only did I not get 'better' at my drinking...but things got steadily worse.
If we could control our drinking we wouldn't need to try to control it...
D
I tried to make it happen for 20 solid years.
Not only did I not get 'better' at my drinking...but things got steadily worse.
If we could control our drinking we wouldn't need to try to control it...
D
Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 83
Alright, I'll bite on this.
The National Institute of Health in the U.S. says that a moderate amount of drinking in a sitting is 2 drinks. Spaced out by a few hours. A drink being, a beer, glass of wine, a short mixed drink, or a shot.
This is clinically defined as moderate drinking, but you have to ask yourself, are you capable of staying in these guidelines and never going beyond them, not even once?
If you do decide to drink again, and can't stay within these guidelines, then you're risking your drinking to worsen.
For the record I'm not advocating that you do drink, just providing a medical definition of what is considered moderate drinking.
The National Institute of Health in the U.S. says that a moderate amount of drinking in a sitting is 2 drinks. Spaced out by a few hours. A drink being, a beer, glass of wine, a short mixed drink, or a shot.
This is clinically defined as moderate drinking, but you have to ask yourself, are you capable of staying in these guidelines and never going beyond them, not even once?
If you do decide to drink again, and can't stay within these guidelines, then you're risking your drinking to worsen.
For the record I'm not advocating that you do drink, just providing a medical definition of what is considered moderate drinking.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Lowcountry
Posts: 2,762
Snakes,
After 7 years without relapse , that same kind of thinking led me to pick up again.
i thought about it for several months and (full of confidence) gave it a go.
Should've known that even drinking NA beer, I was STILL going for the buzz.
Jeeeez, ....the next 5 years were just frustrating. Stopping for a week, a month, a year, having a few, drinking one a night, sometimes 4; occasionlly 10 !?. Do I have a hangover; ....how bad is this hangover ?
Finally threw in the towel, and things got really, really bad the next 9 years.
I wouldn't wish that kind of "progressive" hell on anyone.
Grateful for sobriety everyday,
TS
sober since 4-4-10
After 7 years without relapse , that same kind of thinking led me to pick up again.
i thought about it for several months and (full of confidence) gave it a go.
Should've known that even drinking NA beer, I was STILL going for the buzz.
Jeeeez, ....the next 5 years were just frustrating. Stopping for a week, a month, a year, having a few, drinking one a night, sometimes 4; occasionlly 10 !?. Do I have a hangover; ....how bad is this hangover ?
Finally threw in the towel, and things got really, really bad the next 9 years.
I wouldn't wish that kind of "progressive" hell on anyone.
Grateful for sobriety everyday,
TS
sober since 4-4-10
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: « USA » Recovered with AVRT (Rational Recovery) ___________
Posts: 3,680
Originally Posted by Snakes37 
This question has been on my mind all day. I feel like I want to try to drink again to see if I can control it. But I'm scared as to what would happen after that first drink.
It is unlikely that there are many "harm reduction" advocates of controlled drinking on here, but I am on some other lists where they do congregate. I've gotten hammered on more than one occasion for my "fanatical" stance on lifetime abstinence for former problem drinkers and those who were once addicted, but I stand by it.
Can some people go back to drinking? Yes - I have seen it. However, the ones that do so successfully usually go back to *very* moderate, and only occasional, drinking. In other words, they might drink once a month, tops.
Again, I don't know your history, but the fact that you are asking if "an alcoholic" can do it, and that you are scared of trying, suggests that your idea of moderate drinking is vastly different from this.
The easiest and safest way to avoid any further problems is by not drinking again at all.
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: « USA » Recovered with AVRT (Rational Recovery) ___________
Posts: 3,680
Originally Posted by Anna
You're scared because you know you can't control it.
People who already control their drinking don't wish they could; only those that can't do.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Canada
Posts: 14
Thankyou everyone for your responses.
My History, been drinking since 17. Got progressively worse, it got to the point where pretty much every weekend used to be a binge weekend. Never drank everyday, rarely drank alone. Friday, Saturday was my nights. Toss in some thursdays so probably drank 2-3 times a week pretty heavily. Its been 164 days since my last drink. The first period of my life where Ive stopped drinking for longer than a week. I am 23 years old. Sometimes I feel "oh come on snakes, your young, why would you stop partying". It's strange because since I stopped drinking until may long weekend I had no problem being sober, everything was great, I was telling everyone how truly great it was to be sober. Lately my emotions have been very negative because of my sobereity. The temptations are back stronger than ever. WHY?!??!
My History, been drinking since 17. Got progressively worse, it got to the point where pretty much every weekend used to be a binge weekend. Never drank everyday, rarely drank alone. Friday, Saturday was my nights. Toss in some thursdays so probably drank 2-3 times a week pretty heavily. Its been 164 days since my last drink. The first period of my life where Ive stopped drinking for longer than a week. I am 23 years old. Sometimes I feel "oh come on snakes, your young, why would you stop partying". It's strange because since I stopped drinking until may long weekend I had no problem being sober, everything was great, I was telling everyone how truly great it was to be sober. Lately my emotions have been very negative because of my sobereity. The temptations are back stronger than ever. WHY?!??!
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Posts: 645
Okay Snakes, here's the deal. First round at Alcoholics Anonymous. I went to AA with questions about alcoholism and whether or not I was alcoholic. My pattern was episodic binges/loss of control mixed with moderate drinking and no loss of control.
The old timers told me that if I could drink two drinks every day, no more, no less, for six months and then stop entirely and abruptly, then I wasn't alcoholic. Any more than or less than two drinks a day meant the experiment was over, and I had failed.
At first I was too scared to try the challenge. I decided that if I weren't going to prove the AA folks wrong, then I would accept that they were right. I didn't drink for thirteen years. Then one Christmas eve, I had a glass of wine. Nothing happened. No binge.
I didn't drink again for an entire year. A couple of glasses of wine on New Year's eve. Then I began to drink a couple of times a month at a special occasion or event. Still, nothing happened. But in the back of my mind was my previous AA experience.
I had told myself when I originally declined the alcoholic test or challenge that if I ever wanted to drink again, then I needed to try the AA old timer's challenge and make sure I was really okay to drink. Off I went on a little controlled drinking experiment.
So, for six months every evening after work, I "religiously" measured out two drinks, no more, no less. Then I stopped completely and abruptly, no drinking at all, for three or four months. A part of me was thrilled. A part of me was surprised. I passed the test.
I thus concluded that I wasn't alcoholic. I had made too big of a deal of my graduate school binge drinking experiences. I attributed my past binges to youth and the stress of grad school. I gave up any and all attempts at trying to control my drinking.
It was only when I gave up trying to control my drinking that I came to understand that I had no control. Very quickly, I spiraled into daily drinking. Increasing quantities. Cravings. Obsession. Then daily drinking with weekend binges. Then withdrawal.
Second round at AA. I went back. This time I didn't have a problem saying that I was an alcoholic and I didn't need anyone to define the term "alcoholic" for me either. This time I stuck around for two years and four months. But I then tired of AA and meetings.
I decided that I really didn't need AA to stop drinking and stay stopped drinking. After all, who wants to work a recovery program and go to AA meetings? I would just not drink, problem solved. If I don't drink, I can't get drunk. It made perfect sense to me.
Nine months. One of the worst periods of my life. Plagued by mental obsessions around alcohol and drinking. Constantly on the edge of relapse. Increasing tension, anxiety, irratibility, unhappiness, depression. Absolute misery. Living with untreated alcoholism.
I knew with certainty that I would do one of two things: I would either kill myself or I would drink again. I knew I was headed towards a relapse and that there was nothing I could do to stop it from happening. Not "if" I would drink again, only a matter of "when".
Third round at AA. I went back. This time I was desperate and willing. Anything, I was willing to do anything to not drink, to gain relief from the unrelenting mental obsessions and to gain some semblence of sanity, peace and inner happiness.
My most recent experience: surrender (no reservations), accept powerlessness, fully concede to my innermost self that I am alcoholic, get a sponsor, follow directions, work the steps honestly and thoroughly directly from the Big Book, give myself to the process.
The difference in my life is night and day. This thing (AA's twelve steps) works, it really does. I am a new person inside. I am peaceful, calm, serene. The obsession around alcohol and drinking is gone, vanished. I no longer want to drink anymore. A miracle.
I hadn't intended to write out my lead. The point of it all is that it takes what it takes for us to come to the place where we finally embrace recovery (or continue to drink). I don't know if you can control your drinking, but I think your fear is giving you a message.
Susan
The old timers told me that if I could drink two drinks every day, no more, no less, for six months and then stop entirely and abruptly, then I wasn't alcoholic. Any more than or less than two drinks a day meant the experiment was over, and I had failed.
At first I was too scared to try the challenge. I decided that if I weren't going to prove the AA folks wrong, then I would accept that they were right. I didn't drink for thirteen years. Then one Christmas eve, I had a glass of wine. Nothing happened. No binge.
I didn't drink again for an entire year. A couple of glasses of wine on New Year's eve. Then I began to drink a couple of times a month at a special occasion or event. Still, nothing happened. But in the back of my mind was my previous AA experience.
I had told myself when I originally declined the alcoholic test or challenge that if I ever wanted to drink again, then I needed to try the AA old timer's challenge and make sure I was really okay to drink. Off I went on a little controlled drinking experiment.
So, for six months every evening after work, I "religiously" measured out two drinks, no more, no less. Then I stopped completely and abruptly, no drinking at all, for three or four months. A part of me was thrilled. A part of me was surprised. I passed the test.
I thus concluded that I wasn't alcoholic. I had made too big of a deal of my graduate school binge drinking experiences. I attributed my past binges to youth and the stress of grad school. I gave up any and all attempts at trying to control my drinking.
It was only when I gave up trying to control my drinking that I came to understand that I had no control. Very quickly, I spiraled into daily drinking. Increasing quantities. Cravings. Obsession. Then daily drinking with weekend binges. Then withdrawal.
Second round at AA. I went back. This time I didn't have a problem saying that I was an alcoholic and I didn't need anyone to define the term "alcoholic" for me either. This time I stuck around for two years and four months. But I then tired of AA and meetings.
I decided that I really didn't need AA to stop drinking and stay stopped drinking. After all, who wants to work a recovery program and go to AA meetings? I would just not drink, problem solved. If I don't drink, I can't get drunk. It made perfect sense to me.
Nine months. One of the worst periods of my life. Plagued by mental obsessions around alcohol and drinking. Constantly on the edge of relapse. Increasing tension, anxiety, irratibility, unhappiness, depression. Absolute misery. Living with untreated alcoholism.
I knew with certainty that I would do one of two things: I would either kill myself or I would drink again. I knew I was headed towards a relapse and that there was nothing I could do to stop it from happening. Not "if" I would drink again, only a matter of "when".
Third round at AA. I went back. This time I was desperate and willing. Anything, I was willing to do anything to not drink, to gain relief from the unrelenting mental obsessions and to gain some semblence of sanity, peace and inner happiness.
My most recent experience: surrender (no reservations), accept powerlessness, fully concede to my innermost self that I am alcoholic, get a sponsor, follow directions, work the steps honestly and thoroughly directly from the Big Book, give myself to the process.
The difference in my life is night and day. This thing (AA's twelve steps) works, it really does. I am a new person inside. I am peaceful, calm, serene. The obsession around alcohol and drinking is gone, vanished. I no longer want to drink anymore. A miracle.
I hadn't intended to write out my lead. The point of it all is that it takes what it takes for us to come to the place where we finally embrace recovery (or continue to drink). I don't know if you can control your drinking, but I think your fear is giving you a message.
Susan
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: the high desert
Posts: 887
Originally Posted by Snakes37
wow, why does alcoholism and being an alcoholic have to be so freakin complicated?!?!??!
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