cut down or cut it out?

mistaG

hi all, just joined here as ive reading some of the threads here as im looking for some advice.
basically im a mid twenties bloke, over the years iv had my fair share of booze, used to be able to drink 12 pints roughly every 2-3 times a week. i have started back in college and basically cut down big time due to having no money really! its not overly bothering me as i kind of feel done with clubbing anyways, but this weekend iv had a bit of a scare thats really left me questioning why the hell am i doing this to myself.
right in the last 3 weekends, id say ive had 9 pints over the course of the 3 weekends, usually try keeping it to 3 pints a night. there saturday night just gone, i was meeting up with a friend at the house, so i bought a 6pack, and drank them. we then decided to go to a pub and had 3more pints, then headed home. i went straight to bed as i knew i was drunk at that stage, and was tired anyways. got up the next morning, really hungover, midway during the day i puked up the beer.(i dont normally puke)..once i puked i got really dizzy and nearly fainted, hit my head off the sink and collapsed to the floor. all my energy was just drained from me, id never experienced it before.
that evening, i puked again, this time a greeny substance (im worried it could have been stomach lining as it certainly wasnt anything i ate) and through out the whole day i was drifting in and out of sleep. to be honest i felt pretty ashamed of myself and the cliche "im never drinking again" ran through my head once or twice. so i guess im asking two questions here, has anybody else expericened anything similar to what i went through and if so, was that the tipping point to not drinking again, or am i on the tip of becoming an alcoholic? the whole expericence has left me feeling really worried about what damage im doing to myself in the long term.
thanks for reading

Karen_*

Well the greeny stuff sounds like bile which is to do with your liver so I wouldn't say it was the healthiest things you've ever done.

You just over did it that night. 3 pints a night over the weekend doesn't sound excessive so just maybe stick to that. I don't think you're anywhere near becoming an alcoholic. But if you were binge drinking like that all the time you could seriously damage your health.

mistaG

hi karen, thanks for the reply. well iv never studied science so i have no idea what bile is but i know its certainly something i want to see again anytime soon!
maybe my reaction was a little bit hasty but i could also use the whole expericence to serve as an excuse to give up drink properly anyways, seems as iv cut it down big time and not missing it so far. ive been thinking of getting on the get fit bandwagon to a degree, buy a bike and start getting some exercise, maybe even join some clubs which dont revolve around pubs etc. theres so much more to be doing than waiting for the 1st pint every weekend

LaVidaLoca

Giving up is a lot easier than cutting down.

Cutting down almost never lasts, and you almost always end up drinking at the same level you did before hand, unless you have a major life change in the interim.

An example might be if you were drinking heavily because you didnt have a girlfriend and were lonely, and then you met someone and fell in love, you might wind up being able to go back to a moderate level of drinking then, as your circumstances have changed.

But just attempting to cut down rarely works, in fact you're just torturing yourself: Its far easier to say "Nah I wont drink tonight" than it is to stop at 3 pints. One of alcohol's major effects is to liberate you from your conscience, so any rules you've made for yourself will be thrown out the window once you've had 3 pints.

Alcohol is a bit like dating a girl who's really sexy and good in bed, but crazy: with whom you have blazing rows every second day, sometimes you come home and she's burned all your stuff, sometimes you get a call at 5 in the morning and she's slit her wrists in the bathtub and you have to call an ambulance.

You can't say "Well Ill break up with her, but Ill only shag her at weekends" , it doesnt work that way.

mistaG

hah! excellent comparison there!
well i didnt go ouut at all this weekend and wont be venturing out till xmas due to exams so my beveraging will be cut out till da 24th ish id say. not overly bothered, getting sick of clubbing and mainly enjoy chatting away to friends over a beverage, but if i cant do that i just pick up the phone anyways so guess ill see how ill go