Alcohol thread

Mister Vain

Any event that involves continuous drinking gets boring too. like if you're at a wedding and everyone starts drinking at 3pm and it could go on till the early hours of the morning. I just can't drink that long.

Hammer89

I think alcohol is fantastic but, like a lot of things, moderation wouldn't go amiss and you also need to know your own limitations.

When it comes to vodka, I'm a loose cannon. I could start a fight with somebody or I could break down in tears in front of a complete stranger. Consequently, I stay well clear of that bollox and stick to cider and whatnot. As a result, I haven't cried, caused a fight or gotten sick since I knocked vodka on the head.

Okay I'm far from a monk - you'll still find me trying to shuffle on a dancefloor and making off-colour jokes - but overall I'm a better drunk since becoming self aware as to what I can handle and what I can't. Everybody needs this.

Drumpot

the evasion_kid wrote: »

alcoholism is the strengthening of the reward pathways in the brain,the more you drink the more the pathways get strenghtened,every sip endorphins get released,id say its more a compulsion than anything else,AA has worked for a lot of people but id rather but my faith in science,i was a pretty severe alcoholic two years ago,went on the dry after it nearly killed me,but was still left with the mental obsesssion and lifetime worth of cravings ahead of me and the relapses every so often.im in thailand at the minute were you can buy a drug naltrexone(opiod antagonist)over the counter which basically blocks the euphoric high or release of endorphins in the brain from alcohol,take it an hour before you drink and youll be lucky to finish 3 bottles of beer because the high the brain is seeking just isnt there,do it enough times and the same reward pathways youve strenghtened through years of drinking begin to become extinct,basically de-addicting yourself or rewiring the brain to pre-alcoholic days,im four weeks in and drinking like a moderate drinker,infact im walking away leaving full bottles of beer,which was unheard of back in the bad old days of drinking bottles of vodka raw and puking it back up all over my shoes.....but still going back for more

I hope that remains good for you, I really do and maybe you are different to me.

For me personally, I feel I've learned far more important life lessons having to take a good look at myself then I would have if I could just pop a pill to control my drinking. For me, taking a pill was my way of avoiding hard work in changing who I was and how I was reacting to life as it happened.

Maybe it's different for you, but for me I tried many different pills over the years and none of them helped me. In my case Taking a pill for the addiction would doing nothing to address the heart of my problem. Incidentally, I've never met an alcoholic with just one addictive personality traits but that's another story.

By going to the AA rooms, I no longer need anti depressants, Xanax , sleeping tablets. I have no desire to drink alcohol nor do I fear it. I have better relationships with family, friends and life in general. I have made new friends and am part of a community of like minded individuals who support each other. I react better and more balanced to good/bad situations. I don't feel suicidal, don't have panic attacks, sleep paralysis and don't suffer with as deep depression I used to get. I no longer feel lonely or cut off from the world and don't suffer chronic anxiety that used to be a constant partner.

Decades of therapy and scientific methods failed in my case. I'm not convinced a tablet to control my drinking would of been anymore effective for me then my own controlled experimental drinking over the years.

I enjoy life now in a way I thought I could never of imagined, I really do. I mentioned your tablet solution to my wife and she instantly said "that wouldn't of fixed you!". We were just going through a list of the things I would of missed out on if I just took a tablet to regulate my drinking.

The way I see it, either the tablet solves your problem or it stops you confronting/addressing a longer term problem. I don't know which one it is for you but for me I wouldn't swap what I have now just so I could take a pill to facilitate me continuing to drink alcohol.

Mister Vain

Mister Vain wrote: »

Any event that involves continuous drinking gets boring too. like if you're at a wedding and everyone starts drinking at 3pm and it could go on till the early hours of the morning. I just can't drink that long.

I'd be the polar opposite, the earlier the drinking starts and the longer the session goes on for the better.

Flint Fredstone

Yara Poor Monument wrote: »

I have to say that without drink I'd have missed out on most of the best times I've had in my life so far.

I don't drink or take drugs anymore but I don't regret doing both to excess. I wouldn't swap my memories for anybody's. The people I've met and the places I've ended up over the years, I'd never have encountered sober. I'd never have met my wife or have the same circle of friends either.
It's all good once you know when to stop.

the evasion_kid

Drumpot wrote: »

I hope that remains good for you, I really do and maybe you are different to me.

For me personally, I feel I've learned far more important life lessons having to take a good look at myself then I would have if I could just pop a pill to control my drinking. For me, taking a pill was my way of avoiding hard work in changing who I was and how I was reacting to life as it happened.

Maybe it's different for you, but for me I tried many different pills over the years and none of them helped me. In my case Taking a pill for the addiction would doing nothing to address the heart of my problem. Incidentally, I've never met an alcoholic with just one addictive personality traits but that's another story.

By going to the AA rooms, I no longer need anti depressants, Xanax , sleeping tablets. I have no desire to drink alcohol nor do I fear it. I have better relationships with family, friends and life in general. I have made new friends and am part of a community of like minded individuals who support each other. I react better and more balanced to good/bad situations. I don't feel suicidal, don't have panic attacks, sleep paralysis and don't suffer with as deep depression I used to get. I no longer feel lonely or cut off from the world and don't suffer chronic anxiety that used to be a constant partner.

Decades of therapy and scientific methods failed in my case. I'm not convinced a tablet to control my drinking would of been anymore effective for me then my own controlled experimental drinking over the years.

I enjoy life now in a way I thought I could never of imagined, I really do. I mentioned your tablet solution to my wife and she instantly said "that wouldn't of fixed you!". We were just going through a list of the things I would of missed out on if I just took a tablet to regulate my drinking.

The way I see it, either the tablet solves your problem or it stops you confronting/addressing a longer term problem. I don't know which one it is for you but for me I wouldn't swap what I have now just so I could take a pill to facilitate me continuing to drink alcohol.

good for you man,if the garden knome at the end of the garden helps you achieve long term sobriety then its all good,ive done my home work on alcoholism and a lot of soul searching on my own drinking,i can safely say after this i wont be touching another drop again,alcohol in my mind even with taking the tablet is becoming more and more like liquified dog excrement,i noticed when i stopped drinking all the other stuff anxiety,depression etc dissapeared,all the best going forward.its a hard battle to fight.

Flint Fredstone

Flint Fredstone wrote: »

The people I've met and the places I've ended up over the years, I'd never have encountered sober. I'd never have met my wife or have the same circle of friends either.

Agreed, even career wise the amount of networking I've done through nights on the beer has been very beneficial.

valoren

The thing with booze is how it's framed.

It is not a 'drug', you're not taking' drugs', you're not a junkie looking for a fix, you're having a drink, a beverage, you're socialising etc.

In that sense to me, alcohol is a wolf in sheep's clothing i.e. an addicitive psychoactive drug delivered in the most innocuous manner possible, by drinking, quenching your thirst. This coupled with the idea of socialising with this drug through the process of consuming it with friends and family shows that alcohol occupies a place in society that has normalised it's intake. You're taking drugs, but let's not verbalise it like that, you're taking it in a socially acceptable way. Alcohol is therefore an addictive drug that has achieved near universal social acceptance.

It's a drug but we don't call it that as drug is a negative word. It's a Drink which is a positive word, it refreshes, it quenches a thirst. If someone wants to drink, so long as they cause no harm to anyone then who cares? (the health implications are another matter). If someone isn't particularly bothered about drinking alcohol then again who cares? This is where it's wolf in sheeps clothing aspect comes full circle. It's a 'social' drug. If you don't take it, you're being anti-social. If someone told you they used to take heroin (a psychoactive drug) and stopped taking it successfully, then they would be applauded and lauded. Heroin after all is a drug and drugs are bad mmmkay. The same person says they've stopped taking a (psychoactive) drink and all hell breaks loose! You'll be boring! A social pariah! etc etc.

On the question of those who become questioning of someone's decision to not drink, i think that they are of the mindset that if everyone is doing it then no-one has a problem. It's normal. On the contrary, anyone who doesn't drink and moralises about it's evils to all and sundry is just a pain. The middle ground is really having experience with alcohol and understanding it for yourself through trial and error.

thattequilagirl

I suppose the problem with a tablet for me is that it wouldn't have solved any of the underlying issues my drinking caused. It wouldn't have helped me to mend friendships, and relationships with my family that had been damaged by my drinking and other behaviour. It wouldn't have given me any increases self-awareness and sense of responsibility for my actions. It wouldn't have taught me that I am a person of integrity, and that I am worth being treated well, both by myself and others.

There's a saying in recovery "If you sober up a horse thief, you've got yourself a sober horse thief" - for me, like many others, getting off the booze was just the beginning of the journey.

I'd by lying if I said I didn't have a few regrets, but I don't wish I'd never drank or drugged. I had some incredible experiences in those circumstances too. But I hope I never go back to it.

strawdog

It can be easy to attack alcohol because its downsides, eg addiction, violence, ill-health etc, for the minority who have to deal with it, can be so terrible and so visible. The amount of upsides, eg enjoyment, social lubrication, relief from worries etc is less noticeable but on such a large scale that it tends to get taken for granted. I do think a slightly more responsible drink culture could be cultivated and there needs to be education and support to protect those damaged by alcohol, but getting overly puritan about it isnt going to resolve the problems that go with it.

Personally, I see alcohol as a beast. Its powerful and potent and if it agrees with you, it can enhance life when properly harnessed. But it's also dangerous and I accept it may have to be put down if it got out of control and turned on me. So my strategy is to try stay watchful of my drinking, keep it tamed through discipline and also respect, before it becomes unruly. I admire the people who live full and happy lives sober, whether by choice or necessity, but I do think my life (if not my wallet) would be a little less rich without the use and occasional abuse of alcohol.

beach_walker

Yara Poor Monument wrote: »

Last heavy session was a few weeks ago, Session Thursday night after work, session Friday night after work, pub Saturday from 2pm for the day and night and Sunday morning till evening for the cure. Some craic of a weekend.

Ha! Good man. It seems like forever since I had a good Sunday day session. Happy out if you caught a few decent matches during. Then top it off by picking up a big takeaway on the way home.

I think we tend to be way too hard on ourselves in regard to drink. Other countries like to hit the booze too in ways that would never be acceptable here. Listening to some people you'd swear the rest of the world are a rung above the Pioneers!

I'd usually go drinking twice a week at least but not at the moment due to Lent.

Ice Maiden

I agree there can be talk of Ireland's unhealthy relationship with alcohol as if it is the only country to have such a thing, but that doesn't mean there isn't an unhealthy relationship at societal level in Ireland!