GordonG

With me quantity wasn't the issue.I just used to drink until I passed out.Usually after 7 to 8 litres of cider.I do know of people who are able to live each day with an average daily consumption of 30 to 40 pints of guinness.So my question is do non alcoholics people rate an alcoholic by their intake?

jaynie04

I don't believe quantity is a way to define who is or isn't an alcoholic...I don't think social drinkers drink to get drunk, I don't think social drinkers think about drinking all day, I think social drinkers can have one or two drinks and go on with their lives. I know the way I think about alcohol is obsessive, and has started to chip away at things that were important to me.

resolute50

Well Gordon,

It is a fact that the tolerance level does rise the more you drink.
I hear of folks getting blitzed on 2 bottles of wine a night. At my tops during my drinking days,I would have needed another trip to the packie after that for a pint of vodka to reach my "end" point for the night.

I think it mostly has to do with being addicted to it. And using it to escape life.

doggonecarl

Good question for a non-alcoholic. Maybe on the Friends and Family of Alcoholics forum.

I knew plenty of alcoholics that used the quantity of their alcohol intake as proof that they weren't alcoholics. As long as there was someone who drank more, they couldn't possibly be an alcoholic.

ReadyAtLast

They may be able to live with 30-40 pints a day but what quality of life?

Everyone is different. I believe only the individual can and should decide if theyhave a drink problem/are alcoholic

Are you lookingto quitdrinking Gordon?

GordonG

5 months clean and sober today thanks to my higher power and the fellowship.

james872

I don't know the exact criteria for alcoholism, but the more useful question is: do you have a problem? Drinking too much is a problem that really needs to be solved.

Amanda1

In addition, the questions should be asked "do you need alcohol to function?" and "do you use alcohol for a reason?" if you need alcohol to function, you would almost certainly be classified as an alcoholic - not that there is such a classification! Do you use alcohol for a reason? ie for confidence, to become sociable, to forget, to numb etc etc you needn't necessarily be an alcoholic but you would certainly be in danger of it. It has nothing to do with quantity.

MattyBoy

In answer to your question, yes most non alcoholics do measure the gravitas of someone's problem based on quantity but as we alcoholics no that's only one art of the jigsaw. It is true of course though that someone drinking half a bottle of wine a night isn't going to go through the same hell as someone who's sinking a half gallon of vodka a day but if the person on half a bottle of wine a night is being negatively affected by it then its a problem.

alphaomega

I'll tell ya what, I was an alcoholic long before my tolerance allowed me to drink 2 bottles of wine and a couple of shots a night. The quantity doesn't really have anything to do with it. I drank to black. In the beginning it only took a few drinks, by the end, there wasn't enough in the universe.

And at the real end, all it took was one.

Mentium

Two bottles of wine a night was my poison too - more if it was a 'special occasion'. The killer (well I hope not!) was that I never, ever took a break, so the toxicity just built up and up until I felt like death would almost be preferable.

However to put it in perspective - and most heavy drinkers simply scoff at this (I know I did) the UK National health service recommends no more than three units of alcohol a day for an adult male - that is about a pint and a half of average strength cider.

Drink more and we risk our health..apparently.

For the record I'm abstaining. I have no desire to control my drinking. If I don't drink I don't have to worry about controlling it, right?