Anyone here manage
Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 45
By the way, please don't feel I am saying that it is possible for all alcoholics to drink moderately - for many, that is simply not possible, as has been discussed many times on these forums. I am simply stating that even if you could go back to moderate drinking as many people wish they could, it still probably wouldn't be enjoyable. Which is why I recommend abstinence!
Member
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Texas
Posts: 224
I am trying it. I can't tell you how successful I will be. I know I became physically addicted to alcohol...there's absolutely no doubt about it. But, people become physically addicted to sugar and to caffeine too...that doesn't mean they can't break the addiction and cut down to normal levels. I drank every thursday, friday and saturday in college. We drank til we were pretty drunk. Then after college, I didn't really drink for about two years...getting drunk every now and then. Then after that and I started working, it became a pretty much every night kind of thing. I
f I didn't have a six pack of tallboys every night, it was weird. It became a cycle...drink six beers feel like **** in the morning and anxious all day and then drink to get rid of the anxiety...rinse repeat. I really was immature and didn't understand what was going on. But, I was young so I could take the hangovers much better. Fast forward about 10 years and I was still drinking about the same amount (no more than I was), but as Hank says, the hangovers hurt more than they used to. Plus, the anxiety became much, much, much worse to the point that I was a damned near nervous wreck.
I came on here looking for an answer after I discovered that it was the beer that was giving me the anxiety. I quit for like two months, but was so bored and lost my zest for life (which I had before despite the anxiety). I went back to drinking after that. Although, I tried to reign it in a bit. Maybe a full six pack on the weekend nights and less during the week. I was to the point where I couldn't sleep (this was the chemical dependence I was talking about) without having 5-6 brews. Then I saw some of my friends struggling with alcohol and making fools of themselves. I decided that there had to be a midway point between being a drunk loser and total abstinence.
So, I began tapering down. First, 5-6 beers per night for about two weeks. Once I got used to that, I moved to 4-5 with 6 on the weekend as a treat for about two weeks. Then to 3-4 with 5 or 6 on the weekend as a treat for two weeks. Then to 2-3 per night with 4 as a treat. Currently, I am drinking two beers per night, but I overindulged with 4 the other night that my dog got killed. Last night I drank one beer and cracked open another...I got pissed that I wasted that beer because I ended up throwing 90% of it out.
So...is it possible? I don't know. I'm trying because I really like the taste of beer and being able to chill out. Perhaps I am a full blown alcoholic in full blown denial...but I like to think that I was a moron who caused himself serious physical injury and developed a chemical addiction because he refused to grow up.
I don't know. I'll keep checking in though.
f I didn't have a six pack of tallboys every night, it was weird. It became a cycle...drink six beers feel like **** in the morning and anxious all day and then drink to get rid of the anxiety...rinse repeat. I really was immature and didn't understand what was going on. But, I was young so I could take the hangovers much better. Fast forward about 10 years and I was still drinking about the same amount (no more than I was), but as Hank says, the hangovers hurt more than they used to. Plus, the anxiety became much, much, much worse to the point that I was a damned near nervous wreck.
I came on here looking for an answer after I discovered that it was the beer that was giving me the anxiety. I quit for like two months, but was so bored and lost my zest for life (which I had before despite the anxiety). I went back to drinking after that. Although, I tried to reign it in a bit. Maybe a full six pack on the weekend nights and less during the week. I was to the point where I couldn't sleep (this was the chemical dependence I was talking about) without having 5-6 brews. Then I saw some of my friends struggling with alcohol and making fools of themselves. I decided that there had to be a midway point between being a drunk loser and total abstinence.
So, I began tapering down. First, 5-6 beers per night for about two weeks. Once I got used to that, I moved to 4-5 with 6 on the weekend as a treat for about two weeks. Then to 3-4 with 5 or 6 on the weekend as a treat for two weeks. Then to 2-3 per night with 4 as a treat. Currently, I am drinking two beers per night, but I overindulged with 4 the other night that my dog got killed. Last night I drank one beer and cracked open another...I got pissed that I wasted that beer because I ended up throwing 90% of it out.
So...is it possible? I don't know. I'm trying because I really like the taste of beer and being able to chill out. Perhaps I am a full blown alcoholic in full blown denial...but I like to think that I was a moron who caused himself serious physical injury and developed a chemical addiction because he refused to grow up.
I don't know. I'll keep checking in though.
Its a cold and its a broken hallelujah.
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 2,887
I tried to "moderate" for years. Decades really.
Almost always (save a few times) wound up drunk.
Eventually I had to suck it up and admit "YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH".
Which is no. An alcoholic, by definition, can not moderate. Otherwise we would just be social drinkers not raging drunks.
Sowwy....
Almost always (save a few times) wound up drunk.
Eventually I had to suck it up and admit "YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH".
Which is no. An alcoholic, by definition, can not moderate. Otherwise we would just be social drinkers not raging drunks.
Sowwy....
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Rural Colorado
Posts: 376
Crossfitdad, I'll be really interested to see how this turns out for you. I don't think it would work for me personally but I also think there are problem drinkers who are not alcoholics. Maybe it can work for such people?
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Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: East Coast USA
Posts: 120,877
Originally Posted by Taking5 
As I am fond of saying when this question comes up, if we as a group could moderate, we'd have a moderation forum, full of moderation success stories.
Chilledice - I think that the reason you see such passion in the responses to your post is because so very many of us have desperately tried to moderate and have overwhelmingly failed - drastically, abysmally, and totally.
No one wants to see you go down that road or give anything other than the impression that attempts at moderation are, for an alcoholic, futile.
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Midwest
Posts: 230
I honestly wanted to cry when I saw the response to this question that Chill had asked!! We are here to help people and not to judge!! We are on this site for one purpose only and that is to help those who need help! Lind
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Los Angeles, California
Posts: 8,326
I think that if most of us could have moderated, We would have. I know I could quit completely for months, even years. It pick up that first one and it was worse than ever.
something to think about...why is it so important to be "able" to drink? Nothng special about it for me. I drank to pass out, even before I consciously knew that's what I was doing.
love from Lenina
something to think about...why is it so important to be "able" to drink? Nothng special about it for me. I drank to pass out, even before I consciously knew that's what I was doing.
love from Lenina
01-14-2019
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Midwest
Posts: 1,217
Originally Posted by Lenina
I think that if most of us could have moderated, We would have. I know I could quit completely for months, even years. It pick up that first one and it was worse than ever.
something to think about...why is it so important to be "able" to drink? Nothng special about it for me. I drank to pass out, even before I consciously knew that's what I was doing.
love from Lenina
something to think about...why is it so important to be "able" to drink? Nothng special about it for me. I drank to pass out, even before I consciously knew that's what I was doing.
love from Lenina
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 1,949
Originally Posted by Lind
I honestly wanted to cry when I saw the response to this question that Chill had asked!! We are here to help people and not to judge!! We are on this site for one purpose only and that is to help those who need help! Lind
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,454
I think once you've crossed the line like I did there's no going back.
If you're at the stage where you 'need' to drink, for whatever reason, I don't think you can wind back the odometer/milometer to just 'taking or leaving it'.
D
If you're at the stage where you 'need' to drink, for whatever reason, I don't think you can wind back the odometer/milometer to just 'taking or leaving it'.
D
Member
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 226
Originally Posted by Crossfitdad
But, people become physically addicted to sugar and to caffeine too...that doesn't mean they can't break the addiction and cut down to normal levels.
With lollies if I have one I find it very hard to stop once I start. I notice other people arent usually like this but some are.
Alcohol is worse still because It intoxicates and makes control even more unlikely.
I guess this is an argugument for an addictive personality or whatever ironically I dont really buy into that. Or maybe its a sugar chemistry issue...
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Australia
Posts: 385
I courted the idea of moderating even just a week ago. That's even after decades of attempted/failed moderation.
After learning much more about alcohol and its effects and what it had done to my life over the years I realised it would be harder than I thought.
In effect I am "learning to hate" alcohol. By doing that moderation becomes a bit of a misnomer. I am realising it has no positive outcomes for me ever, either in the short or long term.
There are also physiological effects of drinking that take along time to recover from which would make moderation a bit of a waste of time if you want to recover:
"PAWS symptoms reach a peak from three to six months after we get clean. Any use of drugs or alcohol, even in small quantities or for a short time, will effectively eliminate any improvement gained over that time, as it will keep the brain from healing."
Why We Don’t Get Better Immediately: Post-acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS) | What…Me Sober?
Perhaps the reason is this: If one could moderate he would have already. One would not need here because he would have been happily putting drinks down or refusing them for all the years he was drinking. Instead he couldn't, he drank and drank and drank. He made a fool of himself, he spent countless dollars, he destroyed relationships, he lost jobs (the list goes on)....
After learning much more about alcohol and its effects and what it had done to my life over the years I realised it would be harder than I thought.
In effect I am "learning to hate" alcohol. By doing that moderation becomes a bit of a misnomer. I am realising it has no positive outcomes for me ever, either in the short or long term.
There are also physiological effects of drinking that take along time to recover from which would make moderation a bit of a waste of time if you want to recover:
"PAWS symptoms reach a peak from three to six months after we get clean. Any use of drugs or alcohol, even in small quantities or for a short time, will effectively eliminate any improvement gained over that time, as it will keep the brain from healing."
Why We Don’t Get Better Immediately: Post-acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS) | What…Me Sober?
Perhaps the reason is this: If one could moderate he would have already. One would not need here because he would have been happily putting drinks down or refusing them for all the years he was drinking. Instead he couldn't, he drank and drank and drank. He made a fool of himself, he spent countless dollars, he destroyed relationships, he lost jobs (the list goes on)....
Member
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Texas
Posts: 224
my posts weren't serious..don't worry. it just seems when this subject is brought up there isn't much room for open discussion. at least when i posted about it lol
voices ca**y
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: St. Paul Minnesota
Posts: 4,360
I wasn't physically addicted yet. It was getting real crazy real fast. At one point I was a moderate social drinker and I know what an off switch is. I could stop drinking once I started if I thought someone might figure me out. I had to quit because I just didn't care anymore. I wanted to be drunk 24/7. So even if I could moderate (not get caught) I really don't care to.
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