Taking5

In AA meetings, I used to "brag" about how much I used to drink. Or even told a newcomer once "I spilled more than you drank" (I was a sick individual when I first got into AA).

An old timer called me out on this and said a guy with a 8 beer a day habit - which I considered a light weight - has as much unmanageability in his life as I do in mine, and flat out told me I was hurting the program with my drinking stories. The old timer was right. That 8 beer a day guy may hear me bragging on my intake and decide he doesn't have a problem. Since alcoholism is progressive, it is sure to become a bigger and bigger problem.

As a result of this old timer, I try hard not tell my drunkalog stories anymore (I sometimes fail and tell it anyway). I try to talk about how all the negative things in my life - relationships, finances, health, etc - were created or worsened by my active alcoholism and how much better things are now.

I don't think comparing how much we all drank is going to get or keep anyone sober. JMHO.

Hooped

For me it was progressive.

I've quit countless times but always ended up trying 2-3 pints a day and if I could just leave it at that I wouldn't be here.

Those 2-3 a day always progressed to 20-30 per day.

Without fail.

Might take a week or a month. or more, but it always progressed, the same pattern every time.

For me, one is too many.

IndaMiricale

Way to much , Way to often , for Way to Long


I would wake up and drink anywhere from 2-5 large shots of vodka. Then if I worked I went to work and drank thru the whole shift with vodka( I stopped cooking so I could bartend). Then leave work and go to the corner bar to drink around 6-12 shots of jager or blackhaus, and around 12 pints. It was a total process, if I was awake I was drinking.

Its not about comparing but relating.. The question was asked so I will answer. I am not bragging, I would never wish the life I had on anyone.

a little drunkalog is necessary to remind me exactly where I was... how it was, how I got to the rooms, and what do I do today..

Thank you AA for saving this life..

zimmy

Thanks everyone for sharing. I don't know if I'm an alcoholic or not but I certainly see the potential. I don't like how I feel in the morning, I look forward to drinking in the evening, it seems I'm happiest when I'm drinking and moody when I'm not. It hasn't progressed to morning or day drinking but I suppose if I keep going it might. Right now I don't really want to quit. I want to try management.

SoberForMySon

That may not work. I was and am a cutter. It's like saying I will only cut on Mondays. Not effective. Always had an excuse to do it again. If you could manage your drinking, you wouldn't be here. Don't think about forever. Think about not drinking TODAY. And then do that again tomorrow. And post. You are with friends.

soberbythesea

At least 4-5 drinks daily. 3 was a light day and I rarely managed that. More on the weekends. I never skipped a day, except occasionally if I was very ill (or very hung over.)

ETA:

I used to get on here and think this amount wasn't a problem, because I'd read about people who drank so much more. But it caused HUGE problems for me, most particularly on the weekends when I would drink heavily. If I "only" had 4 or 5 drinks I was usually okay, but at higher amounts I was obnoxious, belligerent, sometimes violent, sometimes blacked out. It was those heavier drinking incidents that have really led me to realize where my drinking was heading.

Not to mention, of course, that I'm sure my daily drinking was slowly but surely trashing my liver.

RevivingOphelia

Progressed....slowly but surely to about 2 (plus sometimes) bottles of wine approx. three times a week.

Sobersunshine

Zimmy, there are lots of alcoholics who don't drink in the morning or during the day. There are also alcoholics who dont drink every day. I was one of those alcoholics who did not drink in the am or during the day for a long time, then that changed. I used to not be able to drink during the day because it made me too tired, but as my tolerance increased, I was able to do that no problem. In fact, I was tired if I WASN'T drinking. I used to never drink in the morning, either, until I needed to to feel normal enough to start the day. I don't think many alcoholics start out at a liter a day or whatever, it is a progressive disease. I'm not saying you are an alcoholic, that is for you to decide if you are or are not. But if you are, the disease will progress.

Ragamuffin

Oh man, I was drinking 6 to 7 of those 24oz malt liquors that are 12 percent alcohol. I couldn't go a day without drinking from the moment I woke up to the time I fell asleep. I needed it to feel "normal" as well. Thank God, Im trying to fix this... my body can't take it anymore.

And I would also come on sites like these whilst drinking and compare myself to others to convince myself I didn't have a problem.. and to make it okay in my head to keep it up. It kept getting worse until I myself was one of those people that I thought were the worst of the bunch.

If I could go back to were I was when I asked myself "am I an alcholic" the first time I would have quit then. My thoughts are if you have to ask yourself if you are an alcholic chances are you have some sort of dependency.

Nip it in the bud if you're worried lol

Best wishes zimmy

mirrorman

I was averaging a six pack, more on the weekends. At one point in my early 20s I was going through almost a case a day. I had three different stores I would rotate around to buy all that much beer so the clerks would not recognize me every day. Unbelievable.

bjames

On my worst days, wine and vodka around the clock. Probably a total of 2 bottles of wine and 7-8 vodka drinks a day some days. Scary. But, it started with just the weekends. Then it was a glass of wine after work. Then two, then three, then a bottle, then two bottles, then vodka instead of wine, and then back to wine, then beer..... etc etc. The sh*t takes over your life before you know it. As someone on here said recently, if you think you have a problem with alcohol, you probably do.

Mizzuno

I was drinking a bottle of wine everytime that I drank. My kidneys started hurting. I was hungover most days. I was for certain that I could manage what I was doing. Everytime I drank I said to myself that I would only have a glass and before I knew it the bottle was empty and I was wasted. On my last adventure I had two bottles and 2 glasses at the bar. I don't remember much of that evening. I quit the following day.

clight

A pint and a half of cheap vodka a day mixed with cola. But sometimes, when I was drunk after the pint and a half I would find another empty half pint the next morning which I really could not tell you when I went to the store the night before to buy it.

Misguided

I never drank in the morning or daytime (unless there was a daytime event). I was somewhat of a functioning alcoholic. I went to work almost everyday, except for those that the hangover was unbearable. I never relieved my shakes with alcohol - I always blamed that on anxiety or hunger.

You don't have to drink all day to be an alcoholic and if that's what you are waiting for to figure out if you are or not, I think you will be in for a rude awakening.

sobertime1

4 shots of vodka and a bottle of vino daily

Southerner

I could go weeks without and really not think about (or maybe just know in the back of my mind not to...). Would start with a few (3- 6), next day a few more (6 - 10), third day a full on long haul throughout the day (now we are getting into higher math), then a day or two of a nip in the morning till lunch or after work (12 or more). Then a realization followed by a hard withdrawal. Rinse. Repeat.

Dejvice

On average about 6 or 7 half litres of beer aday. Sometimes a bottle of wine plus beer. Never hard liquor.......although June and July did have a few shots. Sometimes moody. Sometimes tired. But generally I feel the diff with out alcohol.

Sel

I am fairly new here and am trying to read as much as I can. In many posts fellows mentioned it is not how much you drink it is where you put alcohol in your life.

I am from Europe where we begin drinking, alcohol is more available to you at a younger age compared with the US. I think I was about 13 when I had my first beer on a New year's eve and that was maybe 1 cup, with family of course. Then very occassionally here and there, almost none until my senior prom. Then in college once a week or sometimes once a month a couple beers when out partying. Never smoked cigs or did drugs in my life. Those occasional beers and special cockatails continued. Then I got married became a mom, divorced and though this was all hard I still wasnt a drinker.
But in time with the responsibilities becoming harder, losing loved ones, being alone in a foreign country, failing at second love attempt I was drinking everyday. Those beers or fresh cocktails with inviting names turned into isolation, with always having to be home with a small child I was drinking gin and tonics, wine with steak, etc, every night until I
passed out. Then the economy got worse, lost job started drinking even more.

I would regret drinking so much and would and could stop for days with no problem but any sad thing I couldnt handle I would open a bottle. I didnot shake if I did not have alcohol, I did not get angry but if drinking is costing you your life and relationships I think you are in trouble and it is time to seek help.

Some people drink so much but for some reason their brains bodies work differently and they are not alcoholics. For the rest of us it does not work that way. But if you feel

aeo1313

I was mainly a weekend drinker. Sometimes one or two times during the week. Never daily. Doesn't matter how much or how often...it was ruining my life.

NoFireWater

I was drinking 3-4 nights a week (days off in between were probably due to how bad the hangover was). Captain Morgan rum and diet coke, rarely varied from that. I always drank to get drunk, what was the point to only have one or two? I tried to moderate, I tried switching to vodka, etc. but it always came back to I knew I had a problem managing it, and it was something that had the potential to wreck my life. I was taking chances driving, and putting career, health, and relationships at risk. I knew deep down this alcoholic persona was so "not me" and finally got to the point where I truly wanted to change back into the "real me".