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I'm an Alcoholic

Guill

Are you?

The otherday I said in casual conversation that I was an alcoholic, i can't remeber how we got there but all my friends looked at me as if I had just pulled a needle out of my arm. It was not an announcement just a sentance that came out.

To clarify:

I don't consider it a weekend if I don't have a drink.
I binge drink weekly.
I will drink anything if stuck. (although I do enjoy beers of the world).
I will have a bottle or two of an evening during the week.
I'm one of those people who doesn't feel comfortable at an event without a bottle in my hand, and a few aqlready in the system.
When the sun comes out I immediatly think BBQ! (So we can a have a few beers-and craic).

Out of the 6 people that were there that day I know 4 of them are the exact same as me, not worse for drink but certainly not better. No-one even made an attempt to agree with me or even say "Me too".

My drinking does not affect my family we have a very loving caring and fun home, my wife bearly drinks btw.
It does not affect my work, I never miss a minute.
It does not affect my social life, I have a very large circle of close friends.

One day It just dawned on me that by definition I am an alcoholic. Not completely dependant but an alcoholic all the same.

I DO NOT FEEL ANY SHAME IN THIS.

No one should.
To me it should be no more difficult to say this than to say you are addicted to ciggarettes, coffee, chocolate etc. But for some reason people begin to look at you differently for such an admition. When I smoked and told people I was hooked there could be open discussion between friends and family about it.

I've added a poll, If you look deep down and really think to yourself, are you in the same boat as me? If anything I hope that this thread will make people aware of something they may not have considered before. thanks.

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Comments

Chuck Stone

Alcoholic shmalcoholic.

Who wants an argument?

Joey the lips

According to roisin shortall we are all alchoholics and the easiest way to solve our problem is to raise the price of drink.

I though that a very clever solution :rolleyes:

cranks

Guill wrote: »

3.

oooh!
Talk to your GP.

Guill

Joey the lips wrote: »

According to roisin shortall we are all alchoholics and the easiest way to solve our problem is to raise the price of drink.

I though that a very clever solution :rolleyes:

Yea I heard that on the radio today. I immediatly thought 'go **** yourself'.

up for anything

TeddyTedson wrote: »

I think lots of people were thinking BBQ and booze today.

But yea, hard to define someone as an alcoholic.

What pisses me off is getting the sweats and the irregular heart beat trying to sleep after a weekend.

Last Saturday I had a fair few drinks, but didn't blackout (first time in ages) and even left early. Woke up the day after at 11 and felt quite fresh.
That's how to do it
Didn't feel like death in work on Monday either or get any depressed emotions.
Progress:D

But you only know yourself. If you start getting things like inflamed liver, miss work and start pissing people off with your drinking, it's probably a bad sign.

I'd personally like to be able to control my consumption while drinking but find it very hard to do so. The week before last I spent half my wages for the week on nights out:eek:

The key for me is starting earlier I think so I'm not just trying to get locked after starting. Start late afternoon, get some food and take it nice and slow. A lot better than rushing to the off license at 21:50 and knocking back 8 cans before heading out.

Not a really big fan of Guinness but it's great in the fact it sort of fills you and you don't tend to knock them back as quick, well that's what I find any way. I'd say in a night club I take 5 gulps of a pint of Heiniken when I'm fairly far gone. Then I start getting vodka redbulls or Whiskeys and that kind of finishes me off. Although I tend not to be seen to be drunk but the next day I'll have only remembered about 30 mins after getting to a club....

...Bah I'm rambling!

Why do you need to get so drunk?

ejmaztec

I see an ad on the bottom r/h side of the page offering to cure a drinking problem in 2 hours.:eek:

I gave up drinking years ago so that the problem would skip at least one generation after the old man's contribution. When I see the price of booze now, I think it was a wise decision.

gurramok

Guill wrote: »

What type of excercise? I hate running and the gym. I am thinking of buying a bike and cycling in and out to work, (approx. 10 miles) just to try and start myself into a new routene.

Cycling and walking. This week I did walk alottttt. As I live in the burbs and am new to the area, I walked around for miles(about 6 on Sun, repeated Tues) to discover the place, I was tired after it but a good tired.
Drink was not on my mind at all, this is perhaps where you need to think to yourself, do I need to drink this evening to have a 'good time'? It did not cross my mind as I had an alternative, it did before when I drank alot blackout style!

You said earlier..

Guill wrote:

I'm sure my waist line, liver, kidneys and god knows what else might disagree.

You will not notice the latter two immediately but you will notice the waistline visibly. Does it bother you? If so, let it be an incentive to exercise to divert your mind away from a drink. Breaking a sweat to obtain a goal(keep in shape) should help you concentrate on losing weight and best incentive is to do it in this warm weather.

Ruralyoke

gurramok wrote: »

On this part, I was a heavy drinker till a few months ago. I'm half and half now in that i drink a couple of bottles(5% beer) perhaps every 3 days and perhaps always on a Fri\Sat night have maybe 5 or 6. On Sundays its always zero as the thought always kicks in that I want to be in good shape for work. I was alot worse before, consumption was off the rails nearly every day of the week witn bad hangovers but personal mishaps contributed alot to that.

The personal stuff is well over and my consumption has gone down alot, it does not affect my family/work life now. Does that make me an alcoholic based on my present consumption? I do not know, i know i was previously!

On the sun\bbq thing, i'm torn between having a few bottles lets say midweek or exercise when the sun comes out. Last year, it was automatic beers in the good weather, not so now.
For example since the sun broke through on Monday, I had my first drink tonight(Wednesday). I did not drink Sunday, Monday or Tuesday as I had exercised each day in order to get out and enjoy the weather. Will I have a drink tomorrow, i know I won't, even Friday is in doubt., Saturday is definite.

Guess what i'm saying drink is not in control of me, i'm in control of it when I decide.

This sounds like me, now, in terms of consumption. I maybe drink a little more than you.

I've maintained this level for about maybe 15 years. Never any worse.

stovelid

My best friend and mt sister were alcoholics and kicked the booze in recent times. I'm not sure the hellish place they were in and the familial carnage they wrought sounds like your account to be fair.

Some people like to drink and I think if it doesn't affect your job and your ability to dispense your duties as a friend./parent/partner/solvent entity then you're not really an alcoholic.

flutterflye

Yeah, I don't know, it seems to me that you seem to have a problem with alcohol, but are not an alcoholic (yet anyway).
I have grown up with my father being an alcoholic, and now with my sister appearing to have the same problem, you're accounts as a whole are not even close to one night in either of their lives.
I would think to definitely chat to a doctor or even aa or someone like that, because there is a definite problem there.
I just don't think that it is alcoholism as such.

ebixa82

I'm 100% the same as the OP.

I too would consider myself an alcoholic.

I think the official line of "more than 5 units in one sitting" is bollix.

I am very hard working and a fitness freak (mid week), but ticked all the same boxes as the OP otherwise.

Guill

ebixa82 wrote: »

I'm 100% the same as the OP.

I too would consider myself an alcoholic.

I think the official line of "more than 5 units in one sitting" is bollix.

I am very hard working and a fitness freak (mid week), but ticked all the same boxes as the OP otherwise.

Pint? :pac:

Im very hard working but my fitness is extremely poor, used to be alot better, but given the choice of exercise or a nice beer and tv....

monkeysnapper

I to sometimes think i have a problem with alcohol, i wont drink for months sometimes, and it doesnt bother me, BUT i do the food shopping every week and i wont buy alcohol because i know if its in the house i will have to drink it, im talking about red wine and beer, we always have spirits in the house and that doesnt bother me.

Then if i do go out for a drink with mates i end up pushing everyone to keep up with me because im finished my pint well before everyone ells. I get drunk and forget things and suffer terrible hangover next day and it takes me at least 2 days to get back to normal. Yeh tricky one.

ebixa82

Guill wrote: »

Pint? :pac:

Im very hard working but my fitness is extremely poor, used to be alot better, but given the choice of exercise or a nice beer and tv....

I guess that's where we differ. Midweek I'm disciplined.

Functioning alcoholic.

Dudess

I guess maybe people have differing definitions of alcoholic? For me an alcoholic is an addict, and an addict is someone who engages in a behaviour that is causing problems for them and others, and which they know is causing these problems but which they can't stop engaging in, even if the problems are leading to utter devastation. Or someone who engages in something that may not be causing devastation there and then but which has a strong chance of doing so in the future (e.g. smoking).
My maternal grandfather was a violent alcoholic and would take out his rage on my nana. I get fairly drunk one or two nights a week (mostly one - and always at the weekend) and I couldn't really enjoy myself on a night out without drink, but I don't see that habit as any different to needing a coffee every morning at 8.30. I used to get trollied and couldn't remember most of the night but haven't done that in a few years. And I keep away from certain drinks like vodka and wine (not sparkly wine though) as these kill me.

I don't bother drinking at family events though (apart from weddings) or on Christmas Day as I know I'll want to be able to drive later in the day.

Smidge

So which do people reckon is better??

3 beers every night or

absolute lash on the weekends only but going nuts on the booze???

ebixa82

mishkalucy wrote: »

So which do people reckon is better??

3 beers every night or

absolute lash on the weekends only but going nuts on the booze???

3 beers every night. No question.

Smidge

ebixa82 wrote: »

3 beers every night. No question.

The reason I asked this was because on a recent anti booze campaign thing they said drinking every day was in fact worse than binge drinking

I would have reckoned the binging over 2 days was worse myself

TeddyTedson

My name is URL wrote: »

On the off chance that you're not bull****ting, that really isn't something that should be left ignored, and I wouldn't go on the tear again until after I had it seen to, if I were you.

Not bull****ting. I always think people get when I taking the piss but it's probably hard to tell in text.

I know it's the old line, but lots of people who go on a session at the weekend experience this.
If I say it to people in work, they just nod and say yea it's the worst.
You lie there on a Sunday night sweating like crazy, exhausted and tired but yet you can't sleep. Then you get the head down around 3am and your heart feels like it's skipping a beat and you wake up just as you're drifting off to sleep.

up for anything wrote: »

Why do you need to get so drunk?

I don't intend to, and I don't feel drunk at the time, I just drink fast while out and always want a pint in my hand and then get a few double vodkas ect that send me on my way. It's rare that people would tell me I was particularly drunk the day after either. Sometimes only parts of the night is missing sometimes it stops in a nightclub and then I wake up. The anxiety if you wake up not in your own house too is a nightmare.

I'm not a special case in this regard, lots of people do this every weekend. And I know the whole if everybody was putting their hand in the fire it doesn't make it right. But in Ireland drinking is a massive social thing and after a few pints/cans you start to feel great and don't think about tomorrow. I'm actually better off drinking on Sundays after a mad weekend, having about 6 cans to ease you to sleep.

I'd like to be able to drink socially like I did last weekend. Have a few beers with watching the match. Go out to dinner and have a few drinks before going to the bar.

I think I'll start just bring cash with me so I'm not taking out lots of money from the ATM in town and pissing it away.

I still wouldn't class myself as an alcoholic, I generally don't drink during weekdays. Just a binge drinker.

Wattle

There's no shame in being an alcoholic but admitting it to yourself and then carrying on regardless is just plain suicidal. Or maybe it's just a symptom of the condition?

[Deleted User]

No. Don't get the whole alcohol thing at all. I often go months without drinking. Could easily give up drink altogether if I had to.

mmm88

Alcoholism is such a sad sad horrible disease, people tend to forget that it is an actual disease, coming from a childhood in which both parents were non coping alcoholics, I would probably class myself as not being one. Only reason is because I witnessed first hand the damage it can cause, but in saying that I do drink socially, Maybe once every 3 weeks but thankfully I can go without

omgitsthelazor

With all due respect OP having a dependence on a mind altering substance that costs you hundreds every week cannot but have an effect on those around you.

This is why I'd treat someone telling me they were an alcoholic to say someone saying they were a chain smoker. Its their bodies let them affect themselves but Alcohol goes beyond just yourself. I'd treat an admittance to being an alcoholic in equal measures as an admittance to having a cannabis addiction.
The fact that you have this sort of stubborn pride in it, I find that a little sad. Hope those around you are as considerate and content in your habits as you believe they are.

Professional Griefer

Have a family member who is a alcoholic. Its a horrible horrible thing.

Musefan

My father would never admit he was an alcoholic. He still wont now, even though he has permanently brain damaged himself with alcohol induced dementia within the last month. He maintains that it wasn't the drink, just the want of a cup of tea.. watch yourself op. There was a time my father thought like you.

Wattle

Old friend of mine is sinking into the mire of alcoholism. I want to be his friend and support him but I find myself making excuses not to go to his gaff. Sitting there watching him get leathered night after night is just grim.

Guill

omgitsthelazor wrote: »

The fact that you have this sort of stubborn pride in it, I find that a little sad. Hope those around you are as considerate and content in your habits as you believe they are.

For the second time is this thread I will say it. Where am I coming accross as proud??? All i have doen is layed the facts out as I see them at the moment.

Conbhar

I wouldnt mind a bit of help on this issue myself, sort of a wee bit worried. I go out on a saturday nite and the very odd sunday and id drink a fair wee bit.(about 6 bottles of corona and a qaurter bottle before id go out and then maybe 6-10 shots while im in the pub/club)
Now this last few months iv been getting blackouts every sunday morning when i wake up. Sometimes i couldnt remember anything past 12 and sometimes i just couldnt remember certain parts of the night. Now i dont drink alone or ever in my life have i done so nor do i crave alcohol at any time of the week and i dont touch a drop except when i head out on a saturday.
So im just a little curious if my behaviour with drink would indicate any alcoholic tendances?

branbee

A while ago i would've questioned whether i was as i drank alot and felt like i needed it after a 'tough' day. I then went through an incredibly difficult time the past couple of months and not once did i touch a drink during a time that was actually genuinely tough-not just a little tiring or whatever i used to consider tough. I have absolutely no idea whether it was because i knew it would lead to more problems or if it was just because i had lost any want for anything-couldn't even eat some days- but thank god i didn't because it would've been my child that suffered. I am so thankful for whatever reason it was that i didn't succumb to using it as a crutch during a difficult time like so many people do. I have alot of respect for people who come out the other side as Im sure its a very difficult ongoing battle.

Pushtrak

TeddyTedson wrote: »

Not bull****ting. I always think people get when I taking the piss but it's probably hard to tell in text.

I know it's the old line, but lots of people who go on a session at the weekend experience this.
If I say it to people in work, they just nod and say yea it's the worst.
You lie there on a Sunday night sweating like crazy, exhausted and tired but yet you can't sleep. Then you get the head down around 3am and your heart feels like it's skipping a beat and you wake up just as you're drifting off to sleep.

I imagine this is a case of people taking anything from what you say, for instance the sweats and try to equivocate that to be the same as you have. Like, for instance a person who gets consistent headaches might get told "Yeah, on occastion I get headaches too" referring to headaches that may be months apart. In short, it is confirmation bias at work.

But even supposing so many people as it seems are having these symptoms... That isn't an argument for anything. There are lots of people who ought to go to get something treated. Because people don't do this as much as they ought isn't really a compelling thing to appeal to. People don't like doctors, or might be more in my case, being broke.

TL;DR: Get it checked.