Alcohol Problem?

AngryBollix

How do you determine at what point your drinking has become problematic?

I used to enjoy drinking and it was reasonably mild. However, it has become something of a problem in recent times for variety of reasons. When does social drinking become problem drinking or is each case different?

gud4u

Is it you or someone else, how much is drank at each time and how often.

Miss Fluff

AngryBollix wrote: »

How do you determine at what point your drinking has become problematic?

I think when you feel the need to question it to be honest.

It's a very personal thing for people too so there is no definitive "when A or B happens then you've a problem". Each person has their limits or sometimes a specific wake up call. For some it is as extreme as having their stomach pumped or losing their home and for others it may be as simple as realising they behave like an arse on drink or that it's simply no longer enhancing their lives in a general sense.

Why do you think it has become a problem for you?

Starokan

Drinking is problematic when it is clear it is having a serious negative effect on your personal or professional life.

peter barrins

This post has been deleted.

LegacyUser

Usually as said, when you ask is it a problem, it is, myself I've almost ruined my whole life from drink, lost a house, family, friends, made more enemies than I can remember.

Alcohol is a depressant and can make you suicidal quite easily, try give it up, seek help if it's harder than you expected, I've been on and off it for over 20 years and it was 20 years ago it start showing as a problem.

But only you can cure it if it is a problem, it's all in the mind.

Hope everything goes ok for you pal, take care.

Chinafoot

Like Miss Fluff said, there is no definitive answer to that question.

For me, I knew I had a problem because I was no longer enjoying drinking. I would drink too much and have absolutely no sense of control. It was always great fun, in my head, at the time but when you're waking up the next day with your bank balance being down €200 quid, your boyfriend barely speaking to you because you turned into an arsehole, your friends annoyed because your mouth gets rather big when drunk, and then having to deal with 'the fear' and extreme depression for the rest of the weekend....there's definitely a problem.

I stopped drinking completely last September and over Christmas I broke it twice. On those two occasions I reverted straight back to my extreme levels of drinking and all of those horrible repercussions came back to bite me on the arse. I haven't had a drink since then and I don't intend to.

I'm not saying that if you feel you have a problem that you need to completely remove alcohol from your life. I did because I find it impossible to go out and have 2 or 3 drinks. I get the goo on me and end up drinking a minimum of 6 pints and then start on shorts with shots (we're talking double figures here) in between. So for me, it had to be all or nothing.

If you feel that your drinking has become a problem, maybe look at cutting back on how often you drink. Maybe go out later in the evening or space out the alcohol with glasses of water/soft drink.

Nobody here can tell you that you have a problem but good on you for recognising that there may be an issue. Thats the first step in rectifying the problem, if there is one.

Scruffles

it depends what problem drinking means as it refers to various issues.
think may be drinking to much? full on binge drinking? alcoholism? self medicating with it for something else [such as a mental health problem,life issues etc]? they all can blur together to of course.

PTH2009

my relationship ended because i drank too much last nite and freaked out because she would not kiss me. (i drank on an empty stomach and it ****ed me up twice as fast).

Im going to try and do the impossible and give up alcohol. Im going to a doctor to try get my head sorted.

Rosy Posy

I think its different for every person but a couple of red flags that I would watch out for would be, if you can't stop drinking once you start, if you're putting going drinking ahead of keeping work or personal commitments, if you feel that you need to drink even though you don't want to be drinking, if you feel the need to drink to ease a hangover. Chances are if you have to ask... why not quietly knock it on the head for a few weeks and see how it goes for you?

Beruthiel

AngryBollix wrote: »

it has become something of a problem in recent times for variety of reasons.

You've answered your own question AB.