I wonder about some of your consumption totals.
 

Just a thought as I read all these posts, or threads. A lot of you say you are in trouble with the booze. We all are, or are concerned for somebody that is. However when I read some posts I continually read that certain people get blacked out, S H I T faced, what ever at 5 to 8 beers. I am 42. I have an 18 year old young man, in military shape. He's active duty. He does 8 standing on his head. I can do 16 standing on mine. Any body I know can drink more than 5 beer and be fine. I can keep going. However I feel y'all might be getting my point. My mother in law can go 2 bottles in cooking xmas dinner.
I really hope this site isn't being used by people who are waking up after a party, feeling guilty and want to talk about their hangover. Or had a couple drinks after work and got busted by the cops driving home, etc, etc, etc.
Me? I have a problem with alcohol. I am an alcoholic. I can drink sunrise to sunset on any day of the week and get up and go to work. That is not normal.
I hope, pray that the way society is going that Alcoholism, substance abuse, Sex addiction, anything isn't being looked at as the new "thing" . the new "cool" thing. Like the little 10 yr olds that are smoking cigarettes outside 7-11 cuz they think they are cool.
My alcoholism is serious, I come here for advice, to search for solutions to my disease. I get very angry when some little chick whines about her terrible night out when she had 3 drinks. Or the construction worker that got his dumb ass busted because he was too cheap for a cab. Grow up. Alcoholism is very serious, and the majority of people here are great. However there are a few hat need to toss their phone, computer, whatever in the trash.
This site is serious, I get it that the we can't control who post stuff. But I am tired of the stupidity of some people when all I'm here to do is seek to get better before I die.

You know Canuckle - I suspect your post won't go down well with many people but I identify with your sentiments.

I drank 2.5 to 3 bottles of wine EVERY night for 7 days a week. Sometimes I drank more. I was constantly drunk or hungover. I shook in the morning to the point where my staff noticed. I was in serious trouble.

I also read those threads/posts where I find it hard to identify that a low level of alcohol consumption (by comparison to mine) is of a similar issue to the one I experienced. The only thing I can suggest though is simply move over their posts or ignore those threads? I look to read and engage with alcoholics that were as greedy and dysfunctional as me. Or even those that consumed more. I leave other posts and threads that I find it hard to identify with or when I feel I have nothing to learn or offer.

Just my $0.02

JT

Thanks Tony. I thought of that. Im sober right now (4 days) LOL. so I got time to think. Its just frustrating. I read looking for people that have similar, or serious problems like us. The BS ones are just from people that are deceiving about their consuming and haven't accepted it, or are the ones that need to smarten up. Advice taken, I'm flipping past the junk ones

tbh I'd just focus on my own problem canuckleman.

I used to think it was about volume too - but it's really not - it's about how alcohol makes you feel when you use it.

For some people that means whatever it took to get wasted from sunup to bedtime...for others a 12 pack, others a 6 pack,others a fifth and for others its a half bottle of wine a night...

People are here because they've destroyed their lives.
They need support not judgement man.

Our AV's are deadly cunning. You wouldn't be the first person to start to think you were too bad (or too lightweight or too damaged) to find real help here.

I really recommend you follow these thoughts a little and try and see where they're coming from.

You're not required to support everyone if you feel it's unwarranted - if someone else's posts are annoying you, use the ignore function.

It's in the drop down menu when you click the user name beside someones posts,

Much better than calling people out.
I think you're going to be picking buckshot out of your butt a while for this one.

Keep your own side of the street tidy and stay focused on the job at hand - you .

D

Thanks Dee. I didn't know these options were available. Thanks. for the advice, well received. Just had a moment where I vented.

It's hard Canuckle to sometimes be calm with others when we are so p****ed off with ourselves and with what we are suffering.

I know someone that died when he was 50 of alcoholism. He had been dead in his house for 2 months before anyone noticed. That's how much of a recluse through booze he had become.

I will die if I don't give up drinking. It is impossible to drink an average of 3 bottles of wine every night (casual observer - please read again - EVERY night) and live a long life. I don't think it is improbable even. It's simply impossible to live through that for long. I was facing death like my friend did - no doubt.

Let's hope some of the 'lighter' drinkers on SR never face that issue even if they are still unhappy about drinking what they do?

Have a great day. Four days is really good as it's the first days that are the hardest, angriest, crappiest, toughest etc....

JT

I know where you are coming from. As a female that can outdrink everyone I have ever met I feel like some people don't understand the "real drinkers". It's hard to compare someone that can drink all night to the ones that drink 3. I guess you don't have to understand everyone and just get that there are people like you out there. Me for one. Best of luck

Tony, and ryry77. thanks. like I told dee. I just vented. I forget who it was and I called bs.

Gotta be honest - it depresses me when I see people making us and them statements,

Alcoholism is an equal opportunity killer.

I know guys who drank way less than I did who are dead now.

I know some housewives and stay at home mums here with liver damage.

There's other factors too. Car accidents, mixing with questionable people, getting into harder drugs, choking on vomit, esophageal varices and other internal bleeding, heart attacks depression & suicide...and making just plain bad decisions when drunk.

One of my best friends right here at SR was not a heavy drinker by my standards but she's still dead too.

D

I get it dee.

I figure if someone is drinking one glass of wine, once a month but they feel it is a problem for them, then it is. Who am I or we to say what is or is not a problem for someone? There are many factors beyond just amount. Does someone feel compulsion, out of control, like they can't say no? That is not normal either, no matter the amount. Does someone get hangovers regularly, even after drinking small amounts? Do those hangovers affect how they deal with day to day life? Does someone have a low tolerance but still drink to their limit (whether that be 20 beers or 2 beers) and do things they regret? A problem can only be defined by the person living it.

To put it a different way we suffer frequently from "first world problems" living on a train line which frequently breaks down. Having a drafty house where we have to keep the heat up high to combat the cold air. A medication we take not being covered by insurance and having to switch to generic. These may be real, annoying, troubling problems for some of us. But would they be real, annoying, troubling problems for someone living in absolute poverty? Wouldn't they look at us and think we were silly for getting so worked up over them?

I'm sorry Dee but I mean this sincerely. Aren't there any spectrums for those who drink? If I drink 20 beers plus shots I am pretty sure I am in a way different place than those who drink 2 glasses of wine. I guess what I mean is I wish I was the person in recovery that was drinking 2 glasses of wine!!! Seems so different to me.

Bit harsh canuck.
You can't possibly know everyone else's psychological and physical issues with their demons
I wish you all the best with your sobriety
Good luck

Hi ryry

my point is that everone's welcome at SR - there's no drink volume requirement....

there's not even a requirement that you drink at all, or be an addict of any kind - we have family and friends forums too.

I've been here over ten years and been through just about every position an alcoholic in recovery can.

The more years I get, the differences between us all seem to give way to similarities.

I know the world is very tribal these days...but I love how SR pulls together as a community.

I don't want that to change :)
D

I didn't drink 2-3 bottles every night nor did I black out and get s h i t faced every night. I have been drinking since I was 14 and every day for the last 20 years.. sometimes my consumption was large and other times only a few drinks.. when I have given up this time I was only drinking half a bottle to a bottle on a normal night, more on excessive nights, other times in my life 1-2 bottles on a normal night. I can tell you is this - alcohol has stopped me from being the person I want to be, I could never say no, I spent most of my time thinking about drinking. I have spent a lot of my life intoxicated and hungover but maybe not drinking as much as you but I am still addicted and without all the awesome support on SR I wouldn't be 29 days in for only the 2nd time in my adult life.. I know people that can hardly walk after 1 bottle of wine and others that have ended up in hospital after 2 drinks. There are varying degrees of alcoholism/alcohol addiction and consumption and if I remember correctly my daily.consumption didn't start at 1-2 bottles a day, it started at maybe 3 drinks and progressed, maybe some people are at the start of the downward spiral.
Everyone's battle is there own and no one can tell another whether they are addicted or not..
Congratulations on 4 days by the way, that's really awesome..

By bottles I mean wine bottles..

I think this thread is turning into a "them" and "us" and it doesn't have to be viewed that way unless you label it as such.

We are ALL drinkers that consider ourselves to have a problem. Some of us drank lots and lots and every night and some of us drank very little and infrequently by comparison. BUT this is an interesting conversation that surrounds the very essence of our issues:

Quantity
Regularity
Self Perception
Anger
Guilt
Projection
Addiction
Perception
Recovery

The list is endless.

Those that might want to shut it down because it could ruffle a few feathers have it wrong I think. We're adults with issues that surround drinking. It's an interesting topic.

PS - Don't tell me that we ALL haven't read (with interest - to one extent or another) what other people say they drank and how often. I am pretty sure we all have. It is the easiest barometer to judge our addiction against. Sure people will come on here and say "I only care what I drank and have no interest in others" - and maybe that is true once you are recovering. But when we were all assessing our drinking and THINKING of quitting, we partly did it by comparison to the recycling bins in our neighbourhood, or by watching guys in the bar or by talking at work? (Well I did).

Come on - let's be honest? As along as it is civil and constructive it is something most of us have discussed or thought about anyway.

I agree everyone that needs help should come here. But is there no difference in support with those who drink 30 drinks a night with those who drink 2. I agree.... if you need support you should get it. Just seems like a huge difference to me.

I only have one story - I share it and hope it resonates with at least some of the people reading.

what difference do you think there should be though ryry?

D

Throughout my issues with alcohol, and especially during the MANY times I'd say enough is enough, I would regularly look to other's drinking habits as a way of referencing my own intake. Usually this would come with the vain hope that I wasnt AS bad as others, so I could carry on knowing that my problem wasnt as bad as I thought.

The OP seems to be doing just that, and there's nothing wrong with that. There are many realisations we must uncover when battling with alcoholism, judging intake (for me too) is just one of those.