tufty13

I was drinking a single bottle of wine on two (or occasionally three) nights a week when I decided to quit. I'd have a few beers at a weekend too.

No great shakes.

All I was doing though was kidding myself that I was in control of my drinking.......a bit like keeping the fire stoked until I had an excuse to chuck a couple of tyres on and get her roaring again.

You see, it doesn't factor in my blow outs which would either be frequent or infrequent depending where I was in my "drinking cycle".

Peak, trough, peak, abstain........rinse and repeat ad nauseam for thirty six years.

I could go days and days without a drink but for me that is meaningless as I've realised thanks to the wisdom of the people on SR, I am indeed an alcoholic. Fully fledged.

It wasn't the volume that did for me, it was the realisation I wasn't in control.

tufty13

Jinx!

I thought I might have a problem four years ago. I was so worried I went to an AA meeting. My friends couldn't believe it.

I left the meeting telling myself "well I'm not like that lot", some of the stories were horrific. So I carried on drinking.

Stupid me that's all I can say.

It's only now that I have a few weeks sober that I can reflect with clarity that my binging was only going to get worse and more frequent.

badger257

As much as I my body allowed... :/

relena

You're so lucky you realized that early Tufty.

tufty13

Yes, very lucky and very grateful.

On the back of a weekend of heavy drinking I found myself in a pub having had a single "post Sunday walk" pint.

I couldn't have another because I was driving but the feelings of "needing" another scared the hell out of me. I hadn't experienced that before but it was very intense and very real.

That was my last drink. Ever.

I then found this site and started my journey to sobriety. The difference I'm already feeling is remarkable.

dcg

I didn't say or think op was being insincere. I just gave my advice (message board and all) and he or she told me to keep it to myself, so I clarified and wished op luck like I did in my first post.

Charlie117926

Im past thinking about it or reminiscing. But it was way too much. Nearly destroyed me. Glad I finally did something (permanently) about it. Thanks for the reminder though it's to never forget!

Venecia

Too much, too often.

Austin4Wyo

The misinterpretation of aggressive tone in the earlier comment was how I read it as well, so it wasn't limited to our OP. I appreciate wholeheartedly the fact that much gets lost when we take complex communications and reduce them to words on a screen, but it struck me as chastising someone unnecessarily. "That doesn't concern you, youngster," and the like. I'm glad you explained it, because that misunderstanding is just as dangerous to the newcomer, possibly moreso, than saying how much we drank in our active addiction.

I see no harm in mentioning quantities. If a person isn't ready to be done, then the quantity likely will not change their mind one way or the other. I was putting away a liter or better of bottom shelf vodka per day during the worst of it. I am always quick to qualify that this isn't a good thing and provide you as many gory details of that existence as you like, even if I wasn't convinced of just how horrible it was while I lived it. The hell of me recounting those horror stories? How someone else's alcoholic mind, alcoholic voice, denial, etc interpret the material present is none of my business. I put the truth out there for me, and hope the other alcoholic party is in a place to hear it in a constructive way.

In my own drinking, no matter what horrible fact was presented, I would concoct an excuse or rationalization to continue. Someone drinking more than I did was such an excuse at times. When the pain of engaging in change toward a healthyblife outweighed the pain of drinking and continuing a despicable life, no excuse was enough to return to it. So far, so good, even with the knowledge that I was far worse than some, but still "not as bad" as others Everyone's mileage will vary, but for this reformed cowpuncher, quantity really had nothing to do with it.

FormerWineGirl

As my screen name indicates, wine was my poison of choice as well, along with vodka just to switch it up. 7 days a week. Usually a minimum of one bottle of wine, often more (plus the vodka)during the evenings after work, more on the weekends. Sometimes I would have vodka and wine both next to me and alternate. SMH. I don't know how much I averaged between the two, but it was waaayyy too much, for way too long. I finally decided - stick a fork in me, I'm done! Sober since 9/22/14.

ubntubnt

Definitely this thread comes with a health warning. Funny enough, that same thing happened with me in AA. I loved the support and the individuals with the group but I found myself thinking that I was not too bad after the daily diet I was being fed about how now much worse it had been for others. I honestly think that it gave me an out for my AV to exploit. I had to at least test the bottom or prove that I could get worse. All nonsense of course, but that is what happened.
For whatever reason, I look at it differently this thread. I am looking at the posts of how LITTLE some people drank yet it destroyed or almost destroyed their lives. Its a useful reminder that this is very personal and that what I may consider drinking within normal boundaries is terribly destructive to others.

What I, and I hope others have recognised in this thread, is that there is no magic number where normal becomes a problem. If you think your drinking is a problem then it probably is a problem. It also shows that I can't restart and drink at a safe level.....some people destructive threshold is below what I would have considered safe. Its just playing with fire. Better to just never drink again.

bigsombrero

I drank too much. Then I stopped, and things got interesting again.

I ended up at a basic inpatient treatment program at my local health center. Stayed there for 22 days, slept on a cot and had a roommate. Even did some AA meetings. I didn't want to do any of it. But I guess deep down, I knew it was time to get serious about getting healthy. Good luck on Day 1!

wehav2day

I wasn't going to post on this thread, there's a lot of good inspiration on here. But every time I saw the title, my brain would come back with some quick comment. "A lot" "how many drinks in a **** ton?," "about 400 times more than I should have..."

The quantity really doesn't matter in the end, the powerlessness does. I was powerless. If I drank, I would drink more. If by some miracle I had the "will power" no to drink more, I would obsess about it. I had to break that cycle.

There's a common saying out there, but I dig it: one drink is too many, 1000 drinks aren't enough. Yep.

dcg

I'm going to clarify everything and then I'm done here.

OP says he or she drank 1-3 bottles of wine daily and wants to know how much everyone else was putting away. If the average response is 1-3 bottles of vodka, then a 'day one' person might feel he or she isn't really all that bad; in fact, it pretty much stands to reason this would be the conclusion.

Being that this person has had an account for almost a year, (which presumably means there's been more day ones than this day one), it sounded like a question written by OP's AV, so I told him or her it's probably best to focus on other things than the drinking habits of others when they were at their worst (note that this would be a different response had the poster been months sober, as I wouldn't be suspicious that it was possibly a question written by one's AV).

That's it. I had nothing but the best intentions and did not intend to sound condescending, aggressive, or whatever y'all inferred from my posts.

Now to the point of the topic at hand (drinking quantities), it's just really irrelevant and serves no purpose because we are not taking in all the relevant data.

For example, I know a guy that can put away a 750ml bottle of Jack Daniels in short order and still walk 30 minutes later. I think it's pretty critical to consider that he's about 6'7" & 400 pounds.

What information am I to glean from people saying they drank a fifth of vodka a day with absolutely no other information (sex, weight, age, drinking history, etc.) at all? I already know most posters are here because their drinking was out of control; the quantity is just a number that serves no purpose for other people, IMO.

lilgolden73

Ohhh, some days just alot of wine, some days alot of beer....somedays margaritas and then those days were I combined all 3 from about 2pm on....not proud of it at all.....

gettingsmarter

I drank enought at night that the shakes were so bad I couldn't eat soup or use chopsticks anymore. Looking back I see the problem was bad way before I started getting the shakes.

Austin4Wyo

EDIT: Upon further reflection, comments redacted.

Delfin

^This!^
I drank 8-10 drinks about 3 times a week. Sometimes more and sometimes less. At the end, what really scared me was that I was losing control more and more each day. I could feel myself getting swept away. I was caught in a riptide and drowning.

I hadn't even thought about my quantity in a while. When I look back, I just remember the feeling of being scared. I don't feel that anymore and it is amazing.

Delfin

MelindaFlowers

Years 1-3 375 ml vodka, most nights
Years 4-6 500 ml vodka every night.
Years 7-9 600-650 ml vodka every night.
Year 10: 8-10 beers a night.

I switched to beer in an attempt to moderate and vodka hangovers every day were nearly paralyzing me. Then tge beef hangovers became just as bad as vodka hangovers.

I was very sick every day all day in the end. Only 32 years old!

I haven't had a drink in almost 18 months. I've never felt better.

relena

This x1000