TylerDurden

I only drink twice a week - a half pint of whiskey each night. That means that during a seven day period or so, I consume about a pint of liquor. this is the equivilant to about 10 shots or so.


Is this ok?

Dee74

I'll assume you're serious.
A half pint of whiskey is not one drink Tyler.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alcohol/SC00024
D

sugarbear1

See a doctor or even a psychiatrist. They have answers I can't answer. That's how I started actually, it was 3 12-ounce beers every Friday night. I worried 10 years later, but I didn't want to stop drinking. 25 years later, I drank 6 beers daily. Today, I have 104 days clean, I think more clearly, although not clear enough. I am more alert each day and actually care about other people. Only you can decide if you want to stop or continue. When it wasn't an issue for me, I didn't address it. Hope this helps. Always start with a doctor!

suki44883

What happens if you don't drink at all for a week? Does it bother you? Do you obsess over it? What is "okay" for one person isn't necessarily okay for another. If you have a drinking problem, a pint of liquor a week will soon turn into more, and you'll be drinking more often than just twice a week. Would you be on an alcoholism recovery board if you didn't have a suspicion that you may have a drinking problem?

I'm not expecting answers to these questions. They're just for you to think about.

ElvisInASkirt

I drank twice a week with approximately the same levels you stated there. But it always grew and I'd underreport what I was drinking.

I never enjoyed it either and my usage only seemed to increase as I became more and more isolated.

TylerDurden

So did you isolate yourself to drink or dud drinking make you more isolated/

Anna

Both.

I started turning down invitations to go out and made excuses to stay home so I could drink, because I could drink more easily at home alone, than out with others. And, when I was out with friends, I wasn't really 'there' because I was planning when I could have my next drink.

saphira

For awhile during my drinking days I would drink about a pint of whiskey two days a week. It grew to even more than that. Nobody can tell you what is "ok" or not or if you have a problem. However, most "normal drinkers" don't wonder if they're an alcoholic. Is there something inside of you telling you that you might have a problem?
Everybody's story is different: how they drank, the amounts they drank... it's the obsession that is so similar.

eJoshua

Hi Tyler -

I'm not sure what your question is. If you mean if this is physically healthy or not, I think the answer is that it could be bad for your body in the long run. If you're talking about your emotional, mental and spiritual health, that's an question that none of us can answer for you -- only you know how it's affecting you in those areas of your life.

I hope you find the answer you need! Best wishes

OceanSize

looking back, i think that every time i tried to figure out if i was an alcoholic it was merely my disease tricking me into drinking, while i tried harder than most people to figure out what it meant to moderate my drinking, that old 2 drink minimum..and eventually, after enough failed moderations, even if occasional (sometimes only 2x/year) came the binges,blackouts and shame. I am unable to moderate my drinking. I trick myself into moderation, and sometimes it works. but sometimes it doesn't, and after 25 years of thinking i can control my drinking....I finally finally finally finally realize: I just can't take a sip, at all - or my disease will justify everything that happens next until i am shaming myself into oblivion, and cleaning up the mess i made...

I'm an alcoholic who told myself moderation worked, but it didn't because it can't because i am an alcoholic. All the work i put into my two drink minimums was all for naught, because every once and a while that mental trick doesn't work - because i am an alcoholic. I am allergic to alcohol, i really am, and not everyone else is, and so they seem to be able to moderate with ease.

I am grateful today to be sober and know that i don't have to drink anymore - even when i want to.

I feel a little bit more free, even though i've only been sober for 12 days, it's not unreasonable in the past for me to go a month without alcohol - it's just that the tricks, they fail me. They are just little ways for me to keep drinking, rather than living sober, which is what i want.

i am so grateful to be sober right now.

I really really am.

welcome to SR.

Mark75

I don't know.... Are you an alcoholic?

UofI2008

When I finally decided it was time to quit drinking I was primarily a once a month weekend drinker. I had realized alcohol was a problem in my life about 3 years before this and thought I was normal enough that I could moderate. I took my drinking down from 4 to 5 times a week to only every weekend and finally had it down to only one weekend a month.

Eventually, I realized that even since I had managed to cut back my alcohol intake it was still a detriment to my life. I also realized that the urges I had to get drunk were not normal and that CRAVING getting drunk was the sign of a problem. The fact I could control my drinking to confined spaces of time was not normal. In fact, it was the opposite. Normal drinkers do not have to think about moderation they just naturally moderate.

ButterflyMan

I was drinking 'only' 3 times a week. Thursday, Friday Saturday and occasionally on a Sunday. First it was just a few can of beer and a bottle of wine. Then it was whisky (scotch). A few drams, then a half bottle, then a full bottle, then a full litre bottle each night. Then I started playing poker on Wednesday's at a local bar so had a few beers and a few whiskys that night aswell. Before I knew it I was drinking more nights than not at alarming amounts.

I've came to realise that it's not to do with the amount you're drinking or the frequency, but whether or not you are controlling the alcohol or it is controlling you. You might think you have a firm grasp on it drinking only twice a week but how would you feel if you didn't have that drink? Do you ever have that thrid night a week because 'what difference does the odd Thursday' make?

stugotz

I dont think that it is bad for a person to have a few drinks. Unless....

1. That person is asking for opinions on a recovery website.
2. That person may think he/she has a drinking problem.
3. All of the above.

DoubtfulDebs

i totally agree with this point. in the past year before stopping i came to realise how much of my conversation was punctuated with references to drinking, and to the stuff itself... it's not just a physical addiction, in the end it becomes like the compass point that everything else revolves around.

debs

stugotz

If I have to ask if something is wrong, it usually is....

TylerDurden

So what was it that made you realize drinking only once a month was still detrimental and a problem for you? Did you drive drunk a lot? Do stupid, crazy things while drunk? What about drinking once a month was the problem?