alcoholic2013

I am a 20 year old alcoholic. i know this because it causes me many problems, many of which are getting me down. I spend every penny i get on drink an i mean every penny an i am not happy until i have it all spent. I often borrow a-lot of money to drink and i am in a spiral of debt which is hard to get out of at times. I have fell out with my family an friends because of my drinking and i have got into bother with the police before when drunk. When i drink i always have to get drunk and can never leave it at a few drinks . I usually always end up drinking for 2 full days in my local bars and everyone knows me well by my name as i am a regular. I am not like most young people that sip over a few beers i always drink spirits an i sink them into me likes there is no tomorrow. I have often been in the pub from 8 in the morning drinking with other alcoholics and sometimes i can be the youngest person in the bar. I don't care at the time about any of this because once the drink is in you dont really care about nothing. well i don't. But it is when im off drinking for a few days or so i start to thing deeply about all of this stuff. Im too young to be in a bad way with drink and i don't want it to take over my life completly. I know i have to get help because i really cant continue living like this. I have been told by many people that i have a drink problem an i never really give it much thought. I am ashamed of myself alot of the time because of my drinking an sometimes i dont want to be with people or friends because i am ashamed of myself. I be very paranoid and fustrated after my drinking and it has to stop because eventually this will get worse. thanks for taking the time out to read this. any reply would be gratful.

Dee74

Hi and welcome alcoholic2013

I was like you in my twenties - but didn't really want to do anything much about it...so I drank for another 20 years.

If you want to change things - think about what you're prepared to do - whether thats post here, or AA or see your DR or a counsellor, or whatever...

whatever you decide to do, really work it - make the changes you know you need to make in your life

You really can turn your life around - it would be awesome if you could decide to do that now rather than wait another 20, 30 years

D

Lorax1981

For a long time I never even considered getting sober. It didn't even cross my mind. Now that I am it is weird to think how long I went without having a totally sober day. Give sobriety a chance. You are young and the older you get, the harder it can be to quit. Please know that it can be dangerous to quit without help from a Doctor for heavy drinkers. So go talk to your doc. Get all checked up and tell him or her what's going on. I went to the doc on my day 1 and got tested for all kinds of stuff that I had been too scared to get tested for. It feels a lot better now that I'm sober and have a clean bill of health as they say. Take care.
-Ted

Ghostlight1

I was like you in my twenties. Well, thirties and forties, too.
I would be at the bar at 8am, too. Or the liquor store. I even carried booze around with me in a back pack so I could drink wherever I was.

It's great you realize you have a problem before you go through the misery I did for another twenty years. That's if you stop now. I wish I was wise enough to realize my problem at your age, it would have saved me twenty years of misery.

I'm glad you're here, it's a good start. Post as much as you like. Face-to-face help is great too. Have you considered AA, or some other recovery method?

I really feel for you. That's because you are just like I was. Believe me, if you don't stop now it'll only get worse. I can say this because I've been there.
Seeing a doctor is a good idea. Be brutaly honest about your drinking.

Welcome to SR and best to you.

GracieLou

Welcome to SR.

We had a bar in our town that opened at 6 am. I was there. I don't even think I thought of myself as an alcoholic then as there were plenty of others with me at 6 am.

The fact that you see this as a problem at you age is the first step to getting help.

least

to the family! I'm glad you decided to join us for support in quitting drinking. Do you have a plan to stay sober? As Dee mentioned, there are lots of resources available if you want to get sober. I wish you the best as you begin your journey to recovery.

sugarbear1

Young People in AA exists.....

I wish you well on your sober journey!

Nighthawk8820

They say it all the time, but you recognizing you have a problem and that you have a desire to make a change is the best and biggest step in recovery. Now you need to come up with a plan of action and dive into it head first. Only you can do this, and I believe you can be successful at it. Welcome to the forum as well.

alcoholic2013

thanks for reading folks.. but i have yet to pluck up the courage to join AA. i would be quite embarrassed to most likely be the youngest person at AA. It is hard to believe what a grip alcohol can have on a person and how it can turn you into a completely different. person and change your attitudes and thinking towards everything while under the influence. i really do want to stop and can see my life being alot better without drink but i just cant really stop, i am to easily lead and persuaded and just cant say no and its constantly on my mind 24/7

pinkgate

I don't see how taking steps to improve the rest of your life and your health could be embarassing. It's the grip alcohol has on you that's talking there.

You think you can't say no but you can. It feels awkward at first and a lot would have to change (like what you do with your time!) but I guarantee you the strangeness wears off and it gets better.

Lots of support here if you give yourself the chance.

Nuudawn

Although I'm not currently using AA, I have before. There were quite a few young people there when I went. Good for you for recognizing your issue so young. There are many different routes of recovery. Coming here is a spectacular start.

alcoholic2013

any young alcoholics out there that would like to chat or share stories with me please do, i would really like to chat to someone around my own age aswell (20) to see if it will help a bit an share what we have in common, in the line of alcoholism, thank you for all your comments i appreciate it so much its good to let it out sometimes.

Dee74

feel free to join one of the monthly groups alcoholic - there's a lot of sharing and camaraderie there

D

deeker

Just wanted to let you know that NA considers alcohol a drug. I do NA mostly. I love it. I am not that young. But for you there are so many young people in NA. Where I live we have gatherings every month like a dance, kareoke, beach party, cookouts. U may want to check it out besides here. You'll make a ton of friends.

Nattythreads

You have a level of self-knowledge that I wish I had had at your age. I was a full-blown addict and alcoholic in my 20s and confused that with having a good time. Like Dee, I too was still at it 20 years later.

The one thing I would urge is that you don't get too hung up on recovery programs right now. You've found us here and there is a wealth of knowledge on every aspect of abuse on this forum. Make the decision to stop and spend a couple of days digging around in here. Keep posting and try and get some sort of plan in your head so you can do whatever it takes to keep yourself clean.

I'm not sure where you're from exactly and I might be miles off but you write in a way that's reminiscent of a Brit? I first went to NA/AA over there and both had plenty of people your age and struggling through the same things as you are. Like Deeker, I still go to more NA meets than AA meets even now! But you'll be warmly welcomed at either.

I really wish you all the best mate. You should be proud that you've made this first step. It takes real courage.