return from problem drinking successfully?

newname

Hi

Has anyone successfully returned to some form of normal drinking after a few years off the drink because of problem drinking. I know they say there is no goin back - just interested if anyone has managed it??

helimachoptor

A friend of mine did it, we were in colelge together and for 3 years he drank himself into hospital. He didnt drink then for the next 3 years but he does now. Thought the max he would have would be 4 pints.

newname

Is he back drinking long?? - many people are told never to drink again after stopping because it became a problem, I have been off it for 2 years but I would be interested in giving it another go but more sensibly (it would probably end in disaster tho!!). I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who have managed to return to it again without problems.

Adam

I drink, I get drunk. What's the problem?

Fremen

Difficult to know, without knowing you. Nothing's impossible, but it might not be a great idea.
Never drinking alone would be a good starting point. That way, you'll have friends around you to keep you in check. Unless, of course, your friends are all massive booze-hounds. In which case, you're humped.

CountingCrows

Fremen wrote: »

Never drinking alone would be a good starting point

Does our Lord count?

Voodu Child

What do you mean by 'problem drinking'? Alcoholism?

I've known quite a few 'alcoholics', including some family members, and in my opinion, it's not a 'disease' the way some like to label it as. The whole 'never drink again' thing..

If you've been off the drink, and have sorted your life out, and whatever problems you may have had in the past, I don't see why you shouldn't drink again. imo

helimachoptor

newname wrote: »

Is he back drinking long?? - many people are told never to drink again after stopping because it became a problem, I have been off it for 2 years but I would be interested in giving it another go but more sensibly (it would probably end in disaster tho!!). I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who have managed to return to it again without problems.

About a year.

voodoo_child wrote: »

What do you mean by 'problem drinking'? Alcoholism?

I've known quite a few 'alcoholics', including some family members, and in my opinion, it's not a 'disease' the way some like to label it as. The whole 'never drink again' thing..

If you've been off the drink, and have sorted your life out, and whatever problems you may have had in the past, I don't see why you shouldn't drink again. imo

This is right... My friend realised he had a problem. He didnt do anything fancy like go the the priory. He went out and made a choice to stop drinking. some week nights he would have 10 pints every night. He piled on weight and generally was just f**ked. He copped on stopped drinking got his life back on track and most importantly realised he drank to excess and had a problem. Now he is drinking again but not going down the same path.

Don1

Alcolism like any addiction should be treated very seriously. Being a big drinker is fine, and would be fine going back on the sauce. Alcoholics though, should stay off it, as it is not ever fully "cured".
I'm off to Yore Ma's for a pint.

Adam

voodoo_child wrote: »

What do you mean by 'problem drinking'? Alcoholism?

I've known quite a few 'alcoholics', including some family members, and in my opinion, it's not a 'disease' the way some like to label it as. The whole 'never drink again' thing..

If you've been off the drink, and have sorted your life out, and whatever problems you may have had in the past, I don't see why you shouldn't drink again. imo

But similarly, why bother drinking again? If you've been off it three years, but are considering going back to it, that would imply some sort of underlying craving for it. Don't indulge that, it's probably just the alcoholic in you calling out for the bad shtuff.

seamus

voodoo_child wrote: »

I've known quite a few 'alcoholics', including some family members, and in my opinion, it's not a 'disease' the way some like to label it as. The whole 'never drink again' thing..

I'm totally agreed on the whole "disease" thing. There's a tendancy now to label these things as something which the "sufferer" can blame, "Oh that wasn't my fault, it was my alcoholism". However...

If you've been off the drink, and have sorted your life out, and whatever problems you may have had in the past, I don't see why you shouldn't drink again. imo

...this very much depends on the drinker. Being an alcoholic doesn't necessarily follow that you drink to forget your problems. Often people with little or no actual problems can become alcoholics. Of course, alcoholism ends up causing problems, but you don't have to have issues to be an alcoholic.

For many alcoholics, it's a dependency that they build up. Perhaps they'e just the kind of people who become easily hooked on stuff. While alcohol has no actual addictive components, it's very easy to see how someone could become "addicted" to the high that alcohol brings.

For people like this, they could obviously try to drink and control their intake, no doubt bouncing off and onto the wagon mutiple times while they try. Or they could just stop drinking altogether and save themselves the effort.

LaVidaLoca

that says, once you get off, if you get back on again, you start where you left off.

I would see it as being a bit like, if you were once in an abusive relationship with a man who hit you etc and dumped him. Once he's been gone a couple of years you might start thinking about all his positive qualities, "Ah he was great sometimes though..." Forgetting that he used to beat you to a pulp every couple of weeks.

Personally, now that I dont drink, alcohol doesnt really occupy my thoughts. Ive usually got something else more interesting going on, and I think of booze as a pretty cheap thrill by comparison.

If I went back to even having one or two, then it wouldnt seem too much of a stretch to have a few more, whereas now that I cant even remember what the effects of alchohol feel like, I dont desire it. Its just easier.

ModeSkeletor

God I remember a few years ago was out with the lads from college one night, we got sooo wasted. Unreal, was hung over for days after.

Adam

ModeSkeletor wrote: »

God I remember a few years ago was out with the lads from college one night, we got sooo wasted. Unreal, was hung over for days after.

You're cool. I wanna hang with you and play Twister.

Sherifu

Mirror wrote: »

You're cool. I wanna hang with you and play Twister.

That gave me a good laugh.

newname

Yeah i would have labeled my drinking a problem back then and have described myself as alcoholic. But since i've been off it it hasn't been in my mind much and for long periods of time I wouldn't feel like an alcoholic of the kind whose lives are a daily battle and constantly have to keep themslves in check. I would just be interested in finding out if others in a similar position have returned to drinking sensibly of is it just not possible.
When someone finds themselves drinking problematically the first rush from everyone is to encourtage you to go to 12 step program and then you are an 'alcoholic' from that moment forward??

menoscemo

I think there is a big difference between an alcoholic and a person with a drinking problem. Myself and most of my friends have a drinking problem, i.e. when we go out drinking we get wasted almost every time.
But an alcoholic is someone who needs drink every day to function, a person with a drinking problem can go off it for ages.

Conclusion: you sound like you have a drinking problem but are not an alcoholic so fire ahead but just keep it to the weekends

newname

My drinking was 4 or 5 day binges - every waking minute for the 4 or 5 days and then off for a few days (or weeks sometimes)and back at it again normally starting on a friday night and goin on till tuesday. Was it alcoholic or problem drinking i'm not sure?? I was a mess back then and wonder if it was circumstances at the time or the booze created the circumstances. But what i do know is when I started it was always 4 or 5 days drinking that followed I seemed to have no control over that. It caused problems with work and family mostly. Friends didn't mind bacause many of them were drinkers too. I just wonder if with the time elapsed and the fact that my life is back on track now and i have a more mature outlook would things be different now if i drank again??? or would I be back athe same or worse?? I would be interested to know if others have been in a similar position??

TequilaMockingBird

newname wrote: »

But since i've been off it it hasn't been in my mind much and for long periods of time I wouldn't feel like an alcoholic of the kind whose lives are a daily battle and constantly have to keep themslves in check.

Did you feel like that when you were drinking?

newname

Did you feel like that when you were drinking?[/QUOTE]

I felt terrible on the days after the drinking, depressed guilty and very hungover, yeah i prob did have to keep myself in check too

Terry

Circumstances create the problem and the problem creates the circumstances.
It's cyclical.

Damn.
Another 30 posts and this post would have had a palindromic number, which would have been quite apt.

menoscemo

newname wrote: »

My drinking was 4 or 5 day binges - every waking minute for the 4 or 5 days and then off for a few days (or weeks sometimes)and back at it again normally starting on a friday night and goin on till tuesday. Was it alcoholic or problem drinking i'm not sure?? I was a mess back then and wonder if it was circumstances at the time or the booze created the circumstances. But what i do know is when I started it was always 4 or 5 days drinking that followed I seemed to have no control over that. It caused problems with work and family mostly. Friends didn't mind bacause many of them were drinkers too. I just wonder if with the time elapsed and the fact that my life is back on track now and i have a more mature outlook would things be different now if i drank again??? or would I be back athe same or worse?? I would be interested to know if others have been in a similar position??

Tough one this, really depends on whether or not you were renaguing on your responsibilities or not? I mean if you were doing it on your free time that's ok, but were you missing important appointments/commitments? Were you missing work on a regular basis or worse, drunk in work?
I mean what you describe would be ok for a student maybe even skipping a few lectures or whatever, but if you have to work for your rent or family and you just don't care when you are drinking then that is where it becomes a serious problem and drfits into alcoholism IMO.

silvine

There are two types of alcoholics:

1 Drinks every day and needs to
2 Doesn't need a drink everyday but once he or she does take a sip they can't stop

Counsellors would also say achololism is a slow steady decline. In other words it can takes years of sustained drinking to develop true full blown alcoholism. While it may be a disease it can take time to manifest etc.

Kooli

I also question the belief that alcoholism is a 'disease' and I think that AA and the 12 step programme in general has a lot to answer for, but I don't know if this is the place for me to have my rant about it!

I suppose it depends on the reasons you were drinking so much. If those reasons or causes haven't changed (be they personal reasons or external social influences) then you might find it hard to go back to drinking with a regular pattern.

How hard was it for you to quit? Would you feel able to quit again if you started drinking again and found things to be the same?

Some methods of treating alcohol abuse don't aim for total abstinence - it is AA that has put that idea into the public consciousness, and yes it works for some, but it's not the 'fact' they claim it is. (i.e. once you touch that first drink you are RIGHT back to the beginning again as if you hadn't put in all that work - BS if you ask me)

newname

This is where I am a little confused about it - I never had much of a problem stopping drinking after each binge was over, apart from a miserable few days of sickness, guilt and feeling depressed, bit shakey, difficulty sleeping and quite jumpy. Its just that I could not seem to stop till I had the 4 or 5 days worth of drinking over. Maybe as the 2 years have past i am looking back through rose tinted glasses - things were probably worse than i am seeing them now?

boardinwork

Mirror wrote: »

You're cool. I wanna hang with you and play Twister.

HA HA HA Legend

LaVidaLoca

That is serious problem drinking. The fact that you could stop afterwards does not mean you had a handle on it, and you know it.

A curious thing about it is , a few years after giving up it become hard to remember the hangovers, the awful soul-crushing depression, the self hatred and the misery, but for some reason, you can remember the "craic" and the few laughs.

It's just the way it is. One things for sure, if you want to remember what those days of misery and self-destruction feel like, the best way is to go drinking again. You have simply forgotten how bad you used to feel. Which is a good thing!