Am I an Alcoholic?

stek · 14-02-2008 6:42pm #1

I think Im an alcoholic! I drink about 1 bottle of wine a night after work then at the weekend I drink probably twice that amount each evening. I dont drink on sundays(for no reason other than I feel sick from the previous night).
I lived in the USA for a few years and over there they consider you to be an alcho if you drink even less than I do! I dont have any cravings during the day, but after dinner at home I just enjoy it.Been doing this for about a year now. Im quite healthy besides this, I play soccer once a week and go for a 5 mile jog twice a week, I eat healthy enough and Im not over weight.
Anyone in the know out there?

ronbyrne2005 · 14-02-2008 6:46pm

You're not an alcoholic but over drinking. Take a break for a few weeks and see if you can enjoy life without drinking, if you can stop for a few weeks with no problems(cravings etc) then you aint an alcoholic

How Strange · 14-02-2008 6:50pm

OP, I'd say if you are asking yourself if you are an alcoholic then yes you have a problem. I don't know if you have alcoholism in its true addictive, can't stop sense but you are setting yourself up for some serious addiction issues in the near future.

A bottle of wine every day is too much and that's not including your intake at the weekend. You are increasing your likelihood of addiction not to mention what you are doing to your liver.

Have you considered stopping?

Just don't have wine in the house during the week. I bet you'd find it very hard to sit there and not give in and go out to buy a bottle.

I'd recommend you cut it out completely no matter how hard it is. You are relatively fit so why not increase your running to a few times a week. You will need to fill your evenings with something other than sitting around at home thinking about your glass of wine.

LaVidaLoca · 14-02-2008 6:55pm

you aren't. But alcoholism is a progressive disease. We tend to use the term 'alcoholic' to talk about that guy we see who smells of wee outside the Train station.

Its a scale:

From: "I Like a Glass of Wine With My Dinner!"

>"Passed out in a pool of your own piss."

If you're drinking as much as you say you are, you're well on the way towards the right side of the scale.

Now it doesnt mean you'll get there, if ever. But I would lay odds on that kind of drinking leading nowhere good. Remember you dont necessarily have to end up a pathetic wreck: You could easily just end up being that guy down the pub who always orders 2 pints 'just in case' before closing: Who bores everyone near him with tedious reminiscences, and never quite acheived his potential in life. God knows, there are thousands of such people in Ireland. The reason is precisely that in America, if you were drinking that much, a friend would pull you aside and say "Dude we need to talk...". Here he's probably pissed on the stool beside you.

Or to put it more succinctly. If you're drinking has reached the stage where you;re asking people on internet forums "Am I an alcoholic?", I think you're probably well aware of what the answer to that question is. You dont need us to tell you.

TwoShedsJackson · 14-02-2008 6:55pm

There's about 7-8 units of alcohol in a bottle of wine so if you're a woman drinking more than two bottles a week will put you over the recommended levels for alcohol intake, or three bottles a week if you're a man.

If you're drinking 8 or 9 bottles a week liek you state then you are drinking an unhealthy amount. You may not neccecsrily be an alcoholic but you're doing your liver no favours and even if you aren't overweight yet you are setting yourself up for future problems.

Cut back if you can. If you try and find yourself unable to do so then you may well have a problem. Good luck.

Beruthiel · 14-02-2008 7:02pm

A bottle every night is too much imo.
Are you able to stop drinking during the week and keep it to fri and sat?
If not, then yes, you have a problem.

Cois-na-Feile · 14-02-2008 7:04pm

stek wrote: »

I think Im an alcoholic! I drink about 1 bottle of wine a night after work then at the weekend I drink probably twice that amount each evening. I dont drink on sundays(for no reason other than I feel sick from the previous night).
I lived in the USA for a few years and over there they consider you to be an alcho if you drink even less than I do! I dont have any cravings during the day, but after dinner at home I just enjoy it.Been doing this for about a year now. Im quite healthy besides this, I play soccer once a week and go for a 5 mile jog twice a week, I eat healthy enough and Im not over weight.
Anyone in the know out there?

seek help if you can't guit on your own

jdivision · 14-02-2008 7:08pm

Can you drink half a bottle and leave it without worrying about the other half or do you always absolutely have to finish the bottle. If you have to finish the bottle it's a lot more serious than not getting cravings after a few weeks off it

Cois-na-Feile · 14-02-2008 7:10pm

you no doubt have serious problem seek help if you can't guit on your own and the best of luck to you

stek · 14-02-2008 7:24pm

Thanks for your advice, I like the 1/2 bottle idea. might try it tonight. But it seems clear that I have a problem. Hopefully the longer nights will afford an option to get some extra outdoor activities and keep me away from the bottle. Thanks again, appreciated.

americandude · 14-02-2008 7:29pm

Beruthiel wrote: »

A bottle every night is too much imo.
Are you able to stop drinking during the week and keep it to fri and sat?
If not, then yes, you have a problem.

Op I agree with this, When i first moved to the states due to boredom i was knocking back a 6 pack a night mon-thurs then about 10 bottles on a friday and saturday. Thankfully after a few friday nights out with work guys one of them said "dude you drink to much when we go out" He didnt know about my other drinking, It was then time to stop. In saying that I was out last night and I've got a raging hang over this morning!

syklops · 14-02-2008 9:49pm

OP, personally I dont think you have a problem. I used to drink the same vloume, but I am cutting it down now. My problem is/was I dont like sweet drinks, nor do I like sweet foods etc. and in the evening it was difficult to find something to drink. I dont like to drink anything with caffiene as I then find it hard going to sleep, and I found water too boring to drink, and unfortunately all that is left is wine, spirits and beer.

I eased my self in at first by drinking non-alcoholic beer in the evenings, and that helped alot. I, like you did not get cravings during the day, nor in the morning, and though I may have a pint at lunch time, it is just one. I dont need to keep drinking.

I personally think it is better to drink a steady amount of alcohol all the time, rather than going on a massive binge at the weekend. Like any discussion on this site, the degree to which you define this statement is quite important.

If I were you, I would first cut down to a half bottle a night. Also try to drink later if possible. Instead of pouring a glass when you get home from work, wait until dinner or just after dinner.

Also, make your self a drink before bedtime, such as hot chocolate or something.

Another thing I would suggest is throwing a few bottles of Non-alcoholic wine into your wine rack, and drinking them from time to time. They dont taste great, but its a good activity in abstinance.

davyjose · 14-02-2008 10:12pm

LaVidaLoca wrote: »

you aren't.

How do you know?
I would have thought one of the biggest indicators of whether someone has an alcohol problem is when they aren't sure.
Op, give it up for a month. If you can't do this then you have some sort of alcohol dependancy.

Overheal · 14-02-2008 10:26pm

A glass a day is good for you .... a glass-bottle a day....

Like anything else we do to unwind (TV, Games, smoke) see if you can go without it for a while: its good to find out what else is out there for taking a break.

MCMLXXXIII · 14-02-2008 10:29pm

I think your problem is that you spent too much time in the US, where people let whimsical beliefs about their religion (weather or not they are true) and (especially in the south) rule their political beliefs (even though the point of starting that counrty 300 years ago was exactly to get away from it), and they find that anyone that drinks more than twice per week is an alcoholic.

The only people I would say needed to stop drinking are those that "depend" on alcohol and are violent.

Do you depend on alcohol? (I don't think there's anything wrong with it)
Are you violent?
Do both of the above apply to you?

If you are not physically or emotionally hurting anyone, including youself, then I would say you are fine. I am not a doctor by any means, just my personal oppinion.

How Strange · 14-02-2008 10:33pm

syklops wrote: »

I personally think it is better to drink a steady amount of alcohol all the time, rather than going on a massive binge at the weekend. Like any discussion on this site, the degree to which you define this statement is quite important.

Hmm, I'd say according to what the OP says he is binge drinking 7 days a week but increases the binge amount on fri and sat.
I'd also say the degree to which to rationalise behaviour is important.

If I were you, I would first cut down to a half bottle a night. Also try to drink later if possible. Instead of pouring a glass when you get home from work, wait until dinner or just after dinner. Another thing I would suggest is throwing a few bottles of Non-alcoholic wine into your wine rack, and drinking them from time to time. They dont taste great, but its a good activity in abstinance.

I'd say cutting it out altogether and breaking the habit is more important than trying to hold out a few hours more for that first drink. That will only make you think about it all the more. What's next - cooking your dinner the night befor so its ready to be pinged in the microwave as soon as you get home because you never drink until dinner? Non alcoholic wine? It's the same thing as a smoker cutting down to five cigarettes a day from twenty rather than accept the fact that they have to give up completely. Sooner or later you'll be back to smoking twenty a day again. Again, that's putting a bandaid over a broken arm and expecting to heal in time.

As another poster said, if you have to ask people on boards if you are an alcoholic then you know that answer for yourself and you are hoping that one or two posters will come along and tell you 'ah not all, I drink 8 pints a night and I'm grand.'

craichoe · 15-02-2008 10:55am

If your using alcohol as a method to escape reality then yes your an alcoholic.

If you drink wine because you like/appreciate the taste then no, your not.

Saying that though, a bottle of wine a day is a bit much

I was doing the same for a while, a nice big glass of Rioja or Cabernet Sauvingnon settling down to watch a bit of telly. mmmmm ...

I guess its the same as eating too much chocolate in this case, it just so happens in your case that theres alcohol in wine .. doh !!

kmick · 15-02-2008 11:03am

My missus is an intensive care nurse and says its the guys who drink 5 pints in their local every night are every bit as hooked as the guys drinking cans at the side of the road. They are just functional alcoholics as opposed to disfunctional alcoholics. When they have to stop i.e. when their liver gives up or they fall over and get a brain injury they get very bad dt's or detox's. So you are in that position by the sounds of it. Do you just do it because you are bored?

LaVidaLoca · 15-02-2008 11:12am

Cutting out the booze is what you really need to do OP. Cutting down is a fools paradise.

From personal experience with both alcohol and cigarettes, I'd say that addiction to almost anything works like this: If you've been gotten to the point where you're smoking 20 cigarettes a day, and lighting one up soon after you get out of bed: Then even if you quit for a year, if you start to smoke again, you pick up where you left off: Within a matter of weeks you're up to twenty a day.

Booze is the same way: Except that booze has the added effects of clouding your judgement and reducing your inhibitions: So you have that half bottle of wine, and all your promises go to ****. You think: "Hey Im feeling good now, lets have another drink!"

Davyjose: Read what it says before "you arent" it says "not yet".

Is this OP a full-blown trembly-handed, down and out alcoholic? Not Yet. But he is in danger of it someday.

And the further point is. It is not only the full-blown, trembly handed, wife-beating, car-crashing drunks we need to worry about. I know plenty of guys in their 40s, unmarried, working a dead-end job, and drinking 6 pints down the pub every night. And you ask, does this guy drink like this cause of the situation he's in, or is he in the situation he's in cause he drinks like this?

How Strange · 15-02-2008 11:19am

kmick wrote: »

My missus is an intensive care nurse and says its the guys who drink 5 pints in their local every night are every bit as hooked as the guys drinking cans at the side of the road. They are just functional alcoholics as opposed to disfunctional alcoholics. When they have to stop i.e. when their liver gives up or they fall over and get a brain injury they get very bad dt's or detox's. So you are in that position by the sounds of it. Do you just do it because you are bored?

I know someone like this and I'd say its far more common now than we think especially among women drinking wine every evening. The functioning alcoholic I know is a woman. She can't be in a social situation without a full glass of wine in her hand. Even if it is a low key family dinner.

15-02-2008 11:38am

oldest person in the world does this. Not an alco .

LaVidaLoca · 15-02-2008 12:00pm

"Do you just do it because you are bored?"

Im sure you're well aware that this is the oldest (and lamest) excuse in the book.

When I drank a lot, I often said "Im going down the pub, cause this is ****ing Ireland, it's pissing rain and there's nothing to do. "

When in reality I could have been doing any one of a million things: Learning to play the piano, reading, watching an interesting new movie, talking to my friends, etc, etc, but I did'nt. These things seemed boring to me, cause really I just wanted to drink.

RuailleBuaille · 15-02-2008 3:45pm

OP I think if you aren't an alcoholic now, you soon will be. Your body will grow to expect drink and also build a tolerance to it so the one bottle won't hit you the way it used to. I'd tell you to give it a rest but I have a very addictive personality myself and understand how easy it is to say but not to do. All I can say is to keep busy, change your routine so that you're distracted. Good luck!

MementoMori · 15-02-2008 4:03pm

OP You clearly have a problem with alcohol and need to stop drinking now. If you can't stop drinking for a month then you are clearly an alcoholic

brokensoul · 15-02-2008 4:10pm

I dont know if you are an alcoholic or not. In all honesty, though there are tests you can do etc, the noly person who really knows if you are an alcoholic or not is you.

I do know though that for years i drank a bottle of wine every night. I never drank in the morning, i had a very responsible job and held it down etc etc but i often questioned my dependence on alcohol.

Then something bad happened to me ( personal issue, dont want to get into it) and i began to drink more, and more, and more. Then the shakes and the drinking in the morning and the blackouts and the suicidal thoughts all became part of my life. This happened over the course of a few months and it terrified me how quickly i lost control.

I sometimes wonder if i had addressed my drinking earlier could i now drink "normally" or if that bad thing hadnt happened could i drink "normally".

I will never know. I dont think i could ever trust myself to drink again and i hope to god i never do.

I would encourage you to try and quit drinking for awhile and see how you get on. I would also encourage you to attend an aa meeting and see if anything they say makes sense. It is completely private so you needent worry about people finding out.

If you want to talk to one of us big bad alcoholics ( we arent that scary i promise!) feel free to PM.

Good luck

pop40 · 15-02-2008 4:14pm

i have a friend who drinks the same amount i would definatly call them a developing alcoholic. the only difference is that they have a low tolerance and end up unconcious, waking up in bed with strangers with no memory of what happened or wetting themselves.
its a good thing that you are asking yourself this question, bring able to recognise you may be developing a problem means that you will be more capable of stopping or seeking help.
unfortunatly my friend doesent acknowledge that they have a problem.

a couple of glasses a night is enjoying, a bottle is abusing.

stek · 15-02-2008 4:35pm

There appears to be a general answer of 'Not quite yet but well on the way'.
Last night I drank 1/2 the bottle and after that I found it hard to be disiplined, so I drank the other 1/2! Good at the time, but I feel awful guilty/worried today!
The weekend is here and as you all know in this country it is very difficult to have a social life without going to the pub/ drinking. Im honestly not going to stop overnight so I will be looking very carefully at it over the next few weeks.
I think a distraction is called for, and I will be cutting down, Thanks to 'brokensoul' for scaring me. I really appreciate advice from someone whos been down a similar road. Have a safe weekend.

LegacyUser · 15-02-2008 7:26pm

LaVidaLoca wrote: »

Remember you dont necessarily have to end up a pathetic wreck: You could easily just end up being that guy down the pub who always orders 2 pints 'just in case' before closing: Who bores everyone near him with tedious reminiscences, and never quite acheived his potential in life.

............

And the further point is. It is not only the full-blown, trembly handed, wife-beating, car-crashing drunks we need to worry about. I know plenty of guys in their 40s, unmarried, working a dead-end job, and drinking 6 pints down the pub every night. And you ask, does this guy drink like this cause of the situation he's in, or is he in the situation he's in cause he drinks like this?

This should be gold plated and hung up behind every bar in the country.

estar · 16-02-2008 9:12pm

and how much alcohol you need to consume to put yourself at risk

and re-assess your consumption.

jdivision · 16-02-2008 9:38pm

I think the fact you had to drink the other half shows you have a problem. You should look at AA meetings

funloving · 16-02-2008 9:57pm

Ask yourself if you'll be able to stay off the drink for some time and if you're drinking to compensate something you feel it's missing in your life...
Maybe you're simply overdrinking, maybe not....
The thing is understanding WHY yoiu drink

Am I an Alcoholic?

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