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alcoholism thread [merged]

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n3o <3 imagine knowing in yourself that you went a week straight off it, just by wanting to stop. No naltrexone, no ultimatums. You did it.

You've done it before with other things, you know you can. I know you can, if you choose to.
 
Thank you so much MB *hugs* <3
I was about to pour myself a drink, then I had a lie down and slept instead. Now I'm not craving.
Another day of sobriety :)
 
Good luck with the naltrexone, i think it's great you're giving it a go. Anything to help!
I've stayed out of this thread so far coz while it isn't an issue for me yet, I can see where it's headed, and my brain tells me if I stay somewhat ignorant, then I'm not really lying and don't have to worry. I don't want something more still to worry about. Cross that bridge when I come to it 'ay?
 
MB, do you think it could become an issue?? If so, that's great that you're aware of it. That's a big help before the problem even arises.
 
Yeah, I do, depending on how life turns out. I just think so because most of the time I want to get really fucked up for the all the wrong reasons. And alcohol is very, very accessible! But like you said, I'm aware of my habits (or lack there of currently), I know how terrible alcoholism can be, and I'm not there right now. Got my eyes open I spose. So I'm ok for now :)
 
Good, very very sensible :)
Is alcoholism present in your family at all?

I always knew that alcoholism runs in my family, yet I still somehow managed to let it slip into my life?! Silllyyyy
 
How do u guys seriously get addicted to alcohol? I mean most of the time alcoholism takes like a lifetime to develop how do u guys get addicted so fast? or have u all been drinking for 20+ years until you realized u were addicted or what? I guess i just dont understand how u could be addicted to such an awful poison such as alcohol?


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I drink about 5-6 5.9% beers a day. some days more some less. But usually I stop at 5. I can get sick on as little as 8 beers if I dont eat. However If I ever wake up in the morning with a hangover and nausea I take an odesteron. and Im good to go an hour later(they gave them to my girl for nausea when she was pregnant) I like drinking everyday. only problem I have is if to worry about my liver. because I know anything over 7-8 beers makes me sick I rarely ever go over so mostly 5 a day
alcoholic or not?
 
JahRed24x said:
How do u guys seriously get addicted to alcohol? I mean most of the time alcoholism takes like a lifetime to develop how do u guys get addicted so fast? or have u all been drinking for 20+ years until you realized u were addicted or what? I guess i just dont understand how u could be addicted to such an awful poison such as alcohol?


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For me, it was simple. I woke up one morning with a regular hangover. Later in the afternoon, I started to get really bad anxiety, like I had never known before in my life. The only thing that I could think of which would help me feel better was a beer. And the anxiety was so unbearable, I believe anyone would have tried whatever they could to make it go away. So, I drank a beer, and I instantly start to feel a lot better. I have a bottle of wine with dinner, and I am cured. Voila.

(Before then, for your information, I used to drink the equivalent of 60-70 units- a unit here being equivalent in potency to a shot of 40% vodka- in a typical week. I would get drunk once per week...the other days I would either have a few drinks or nothing. I drank that way from the age of 18-22, four years. For the four years previous to that, 14-18, I got drunk, but only at weekends, and I did not drink the rest of the time.)

At the time it seemed there were no warning signs; I simply woke up one day with alcohol withdrawal instead of a hangover. Looking back my hangovers were getting increasingly worse and longer, with anxiety, depression and insomnia alongside the headache, nausea etc. So there were warning signs, but only very subtle ones.

Eventually I had to wean myself off with librium, because I simply could not stop drinking due to the anxiety. It made me feel like I was going crazy, losing my mind. So, I stopped drinking for six weeks, hoping that when I did get drunk again I would just have a hangover, not withdrawal. But ever since that one time, I get a mini-withdrawal every time I drink, the only solution to which is either benzos or more alcohol. I regard myself as having a problem with alcohol because I keep drinking, albeit much less often than before, despite getting withdrawal every time I drink. My tolerance has also increased a lot...last time I got drunk it took me 50 drinks! The end result is that most of the time I am recovering from alcohol, even though I have cut down a lot; I feel anxious, I can't sleep, my muscles are tense and they twitch etc.

Oh and it's not an awful poison for everyone. Some of us find it a wonderfully alluring drug, with an opiate-like euphoria; our brains are all different.
 
bpayne said:
I drink about 5-6 5.9% beers a day. some days more some less. But usually I stop at 5. I can get sick on as little as 8 beers if I dont eat. However If I ever wake up in the morning with a hangover and nausea I take an odesteron. and Im good to go an hour later(they gave them to my girl for nausea when she was pregnant) I like drinking everyday. only problem I have is if to worry about my liver. because I know anything over 7-8 beers makes me sick I rarely ever go over so mostly 5 a day
alcoholic or not?
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I'm not sure mate. Do you drink every day only because you like to, or because you need to? Can you go comfortably for one day without anything to drink? Do you find yourself prioritising drinking for other things like socialising or exercising etc? Do you drink in front of your child(ren)?
Just a few questions that pop in to my head :)
 
JahRed24x said:
How do u guys seriously get addicted to alcohol? I mean most of the time alcoholism takes like a lifetime to develop how do u guys get addicted so fast? or have u all been drinking for 20+ years until you realized u were addicted or what? I guess i just dont understand how u could be addicted to such an awful poison such as alcohol?


:\
Click to expand...
I guess you just need to understand that alcohol is a drug, like nicotine or heroin etc etc. It can (in certain brains) have the same capacity to cause addiction as the more notoriously-addictive drugs e.g. meth, cocaine, heroin etc.

Alcoholism is also hereditary, so that means some people will be more susceptible to developing a problem with alcohol, even from birth, before they've ever had a single drink. Then, if you have alcoholism in your family, chances are high that you'll grow up watching your parents/relatives frequently consuming alcohol, therefore giving you the ideal that it's okay to drink heavily/often.

Some of the problems with alcohol addiction are that not only is alcohol consumption VERY widely accepted in the general community, it is often even encouraged e.g. in TV shows and movies, peer-pressure etc. This is starting to turn around now that people are beginning to acknowledge that alcoholism is a serious problem in society. In Australia we're seeing all these new TV ads about stopping teenage binge-drinking, and parents not drinking in front of their children etc. So far they're not having much of an effect but things like this take time, particularly with something so heavily-ingrained into society as the culture of drinking.

Another problem is that it is so widely available, and relative to other addictive substances, it is extremely cheap. This makes it easy to obtain, and in large quantities.

As for the addiction part, in my personal experience, I grew up with a family that liked to drink a lot, with a few self-proclaimed alcoholics. There was never any violence or anti-social behaviour, but at every single family occasion there would be copious amounts of alcohol, and both of my parents drank wine every single night. I began drinking as a teenager (who didn't?!), and even though I was a year younger than everyone else I could always drink more than any one because I was tall and muscly, and had that hereditary high-tolerance to alcohol. When I moved out of home and turned 18, I pretty much started drinking every day just because I could! I had small breaks here or there but I very quickly noticed that I craved alcohol a bit on the days I didn't drink. It became quite common for me to be hungover on a Saturday morning, then start drinking again on the Saturday afternoon and well in to the night, and repeat on Sunday. Fast forward 6 years later and I am well and truly addicted to alcohol. Basically, long story short, if I don't have alcohol in my bloodstream, all I'm thinking about is getting some in there.

Does that shed some light for you??
 
^
exactly what she said.

there is a difference between alcoholism, and being physically addicted to alcohol.

i say, feel, believe, know i dont like to drink.

but then i do, and its one after another, after another, such as now. IPA!

thats alcoholism, not physical addiction, but a mental disposition to draaank.

maybe its just as some folks need certain psych meds, but very destructive.

i love to do huge shots of coke, or heroin, or a combination of the two. yes it feeels better then maybe anything, but why do we 'addicts' massive abuser of drugs feel the need?

for every need(A condition or situation in which something is required or wanted) there is an urgency for supplementation of relief.

some find the answer, but its usually drank away.
 
n3ophy7e said:
But that's some pretty intense withdrawals BlackOut. It's a bit of a wake-up call huh? Do you think you should just take a break from drinking altogether? Even for like a couple of months or something? How often do you drink now?
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Yeah, they were pretty bad, and yes I am certainly taking some months off completely. I drink twice a month - with 14 days in between. It's a rule for me, I broke it and paid through the nose.

I still don't get it, though; I think the problem may have been that my tolerance is low, and that weekend I may have been drinking like I did back when I had a huge tolerance.

Who knows, there's only one solution though, and that's staying the hell away from the shit.
 
Spurs_1882 said:
Blackout- you sound so much like me it's not funny. I think your rebound anxiety was so bad because you had drunk for two days in a row...the body gets more dependent the longer you drink for. You probably know this though, we've talked about it before.
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I think you're right.

I effed up and drank two days in a row - and I guess this is the definition of an exception that really proves the rule. 14 days between drinking, no exceptions.

Or, of course not drink at all, which means putting limitations on one's social life. Maybe I should consider joining a knitting club or start playing Mahjong.
 
im pissed cause now, when i do less amps and more alcohol, im way fatter than i used to. its not like im overweight, but i hate my facial features. you know i didnt like it when i looked like a speed addict with cheekbones showing but i really dont like these fat cheeks! shoot.

+hello from awhile a back. still drinking alco like its water.
 
BlackOut said:
I still don't get it, though; I think the problem may have been that my tolerance is low, and that weekend I may have been drinking like I did back when I had a huge tolerance.
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YES! I have made this same mistake a few times. Very very painful for the next couple of days.
 
The only way I am managing not to drink at the moment is...every time a good drinking opportunity comes up, like I am out with friends and everyone else is getting drunk, I think to myself, "ok, if you don't drink tonight I'll let you drink next Friday". Then next Friday comes around and I try and do the same thing again. It's going to fuck up eventually; I don't even intend to quit, just to keep this sobriety going as long as I can.
 
my first hangover in a long time!
But I was drinking with friends .. if I didnt limit that to 1% of my sessions, I wouldn't be so upset.
 
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