9 Days in: but am I an Alcoholic or someone who was drinking too much?
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 847
Originally Posted by Unwound 
I want to know if I need to stop drinking forever (this is my current plan), or if it some point I may be able to resume normal "safe" drinking as I did manage for many years.
There is always a strong risk of rapid re-addiction from simply taking a break and starting up again. It is actually very similar to stopping smoking in that regard. Alcohol is a drug, just like nicotine.
bona fido dog-lover
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: SF Bay area, CA
Posts: 99,784
Any period of abstinence will not 'reset' your drinking patterns. Abstinence does not mean 'control'.
Labels don't mean much. What's important is that if something you're doing is causing problems, best to stop doing it.
I feel so much better living sober, I'll never go back to drinking again.
Labels don't mean much. What's important is that if something you're doing is causing problems, best to stop doing it.
I feel so much better living sober, I'll never go back to drinking again.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: California
Posts: 13,044
Hello and Welcome to SR!
You will find lots of support on this site, and also that there are many different paths to recovery. I found this site because alcohol was negatively impacting my life. Whatever the label might have been, if I found myself googling something that led me to SR that was a good enough sign.
I first started posting on SR in 2012, and like you still wondered if I really needed to stop for good, or if I could simply learn to moderate my drinking. I spent the next three years alternating between periods of sobriety, and failed attempts at moderation.
Last NYE as I was drinking champagne a little voice inside of my head said "Enough!" I woke up on January 1st with a hangover, and a new resolve. I read and posted on SR daily, I planned out the witching hours (the times at night I would normally drink) with alternate activities, I read, I exercised, and I began to practice mindfulness. I am now a few days away from my first year of sobriety, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
You can do this. Spend some time reading and posting. Join a monthly class (December of 2016), post each day in the 24 hour thread. I promise you will never regret waking up sober.
Looking forward to seeing you on SR!
You will find lots of support on this site, and also that there are many different paths to recovery. I found this site because alcohol was negatively impacting my life. Whatever the label might have been, if I found myself googling something that led me to SR that was a good enough sign.
I first started posting on SR in 2012, and like you still wondered if I really needed to stop for good, or if I could simply learn to moderate my drinking. I spent the next three years alternating between periods of sobriety, and failed attempts at moderation.
Last NYE as I was drinking champagne a little voice inside of my head said "Enough!" I woke up on January 1st with a hangover, and a new resolve. I read and posted on SR daily, I planned out the witching hours (the times at night I would normally drink) with alternate activities, I read, I exercised, and I began to practice mindfulness. I am now a few days away from my first year of sobriety, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
You can do this. Spend some time reading and posting. Join a monthly class (December of 2016), post each day in the 24 hour thread. I promise you will never regret waking up sober.
Looking forward to seeing you on SR!
Member
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: North East
Posts: 621
Originally Posted by MelindaFlowers
I used to roll my eyes and/or laugh at these guidelines but here they are:
Binge Drinking:
NIAAA defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL. This typically occurs after 4 drinks for women and 5 drinks for men—in about 2 hours.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which conducts the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), defines binge drinking as drinking 5 or more alcoholic drinks on the same occasion on at least 1 day in the past 30 days.
Heavy Drinking:
SAMHSA defines heavy drinking as drinking 5 or more drinks on the same occasion on each of 5 or more days in the past 30 days.
I have a lot of time between alcohol and myself and now these guidelines make total sense to me. Most people I know drink way less than these guidelines. I drank way more.
"Heavy drinking," even going those guidelines is not good for your health.
Honestly, anyone who drinks more than two drinks a day drinks too much.
I don't think there's a single person on this forum who didn't once dream of learning how to moderate their drinking. I sure did. I tried for years but I kept failing over and over by drinking more than I had planned and more often than I planned.
But looking back, I wasn't even fooling myself. When I tried to moderate I was just counting the days until I could let loose and drink how I wanted. I was never able to moderate my drinking.
I stopped when the negatives became so wildly apparent that I couldn't ignore them anymore. I drank to the point where my hands were shaky in the morning and I was hungover all the time, every day until I took my first drink at 5 pm to help with the headache.
Binge Drinking:
NIAAA defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL. This typically occurs after 4 drinks for women and 5 drinks for men—in about 2 hours.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which conducts the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), defines binge drinking as drinking 5 or more alcoholic drinks on the same occasion on at least 1 day in the past 30 days.
Heavy Drinking:
SAMHSA defines heavy drinking as drinking 5 or more drinks on the same occasion on each of 5 or more days in the past 30 days.
I have a lot of time between alcohol and myself and now these guidelines make total sense to me. Most people I know drink way less than these guidelines. I drank way more.
"Heavy drinking," even going those guidelines is not good for your health.
Honestly, anyone who drinks more than two drinks a day drinks too much.
I don't think there's a single person on this forum who didn't once dream of learning how to moderate their drinking. I sure did. I tried for years but I kept failing over and over by drinking more than I had planned and more often than I planned.
But looking back, I wasn't even fooling myself. When I tried to moderate I was just counting the days until I could let loose and drink how I wanted. I was never able to moderate my drinking.
I stopped when the negatives became so wildly apparent that I couldn't ignore them anymore. I drank to the point where my hands were shaky in the morning and I was hungover all the time, every day until I took my first drink at 5 pm to help with the headache.
You hit the nail on the head.......we cant moderate ourselves because we will always want to let loose and drink as much as we want to.
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