blueberry2015

God so agree!!! I dont want to fall into that trap. I am so listening not so much to the personal stories but the stories of ADDICTION and they arent too dissimilar to my own addiction.

Fly N Buy

Welcome, glad you're here with us as we all figure out - soberly, what we are!!
I had to stack some time to let my brain clear to really find some things out. I was being told by others, and had some thought myself, but the truth of who we truly are takes time I think. Sober time.

I identify with section two in the big book under peoples stories. This section is entitled - They Stopped In Time. Maybe check it out.........helped me.

Patato, patatoe - if alcohol is a problem why drink>???

blueberry2015

Thanks will give that chapter a read x

blueberry2015

Hey years of therapy before alcholism hasnt been wasted eh?!

PurpleKnight

For me the label isn't important that we use.

If alcohol is causing problems in your life the solution is the same!!

LucindaVanPelt

Blueberry, I wish I could give you a hug. So much of what you've written is what I've thought myself. You are REALLY not alone. I can go for weeks or more without drinking, but the powerful ambivalence that any drink triggers deep inside me means I can't drink at all.

Labelling myself an alcoholic (or not) wouldn't change this fact. At All.

My best wishes to you for moving forward.

slowracer

I've always looked at alcohol dependency as just being the craving of the mind and body due to prolonged drinking.. Once detoxed and sober for a good bit of time, if you still are obsessing over the alcohol, you are likely alcoholic.

blueberry2015

That would be me then!

blueberry2015

Bless you x x x Its good to know we are so not alone. Im going to AA later I may raise this with them too for discussion x x

Nonsensical

I know what you mean. I first went to AA in 1990 and people there were talking about drinking in the morning, drinking at work, driving drunk, multi-day benders, going to jail, hiding alcohol, losing their jobs, losing their families, etc.

I drank a lot, but I hadn't done any of those things. I wasn't as bad as those guys. I must not have been an alcoholic in 1990.

Of course, by 2012 I had done nearly all of those things. I wonder when I became an alcoholic?

tursiops999

I can relate! I'm at 11 months, and a couple months ago I was wrestling a lot with the "definition" of my problem, comparing myself to others, focusing on the fact that many of the bad events I hear about in AA never happened to me (yet). I got really hung up on whether I had actually "crossed the invisible line" into alcoholism. It motivated me to make my first post here, because I was really stuck and confused, and I couldn't figure out how to talk about it in AA.

Looking back, I can see now it was just the AV trying to pull me off the path I'm on ... trying to separate me from other people in recovery. It wasn't telling me to drink -- it was sneakier than that, just started with telling me I'm not "really" an alcoholic.

To get through that, I focused on action -- going to meetings, trying to help others, reading books about recovery, reading and posting on SR, anything to stop my mind from obsessing on that question. Because really, since I love my new sober life and don't want to drink, what difference does it make how I label myself?

Those thoughts have quieted down (at least for now).

MelindaFlowers

I think "alcohol dependency" a more PC and probably just the medical terminology.

I believe they put "nicotine dependency" on your records too if you smoke.

KDBnSLC

Doctors will never write down "alcoholic" because of insurance reasons. (Insurance will pay for "alcohol dependent."). My view is that they are the same.
Just my opinion.

MelindaFlowers

Yes. They are absolutely the same thing.

And I don't know about you but I can't wrap my mind around somebody becoming alcohol dependent who is not an alcoholic. Could you imagine somebody becoming physically dependent who is not an alcoholic?

What's really nice is that after you are sober for a while you don't have to worry about these labels and questions anymore. Am I a binge drinker? Am I dependent? Am I psychologically dependent? Am I physically addicted? Why did the doctor write "alcohol dependent?" Is the liquor store still open? Am I an alcoholic? Can I cut back? Can I moderate? Can I make it to the liquor store before they close? Fifth or a pint? I'll take the handle please. Am I an alcoholic? Those were my questions all the time.

So much more simple to be sober.

The only label you have then is "non-drinker."

blueberry2015

You guys make so much sense! Thank you! Hey at my next AA meeting I will speak and say "im an alcoholic" It is what it is and the more I go to these meetings the more I can relate to the stories of addiction... AA is really working for me.... Im starting to "get it" what being an alcoholic is and yup.... I am one. Wow! Lol. Quite a statement to make. So im gonna put all that definiton behind me now wake up and smell the roses... and crack the f#&! on in maintaining my sobriety. Day 11 people 2 AA meetings under my belt .... bring it on.

Carver

What is an alcoholic if it's not somebody who is dependant upon alcohol?

They're two different terms for the same thing. Neither is desirable