Misc The development of alcoholism

[It's a baby!]

So has anybody else noticed that alcohol becomes better the longer you use it?

I started drinking when I was 14 and it was a shit-show. I would drink myself into oblivion etc. I could never imagine how people drank all day every day.

But slowly over the course of six years I've become more used to alcohol and now it's completely different. I can drink at any time of the day and generally act fairly sober. It just gets better and better. Alcohol has gone from a way to get profoundly intoxicated to a way to feel cheerful and relaxed. I've had more than 20 shots over the past two hours and I feel perfectly coherent.

I used to not be able to understand how people could become DT-style alcoholics but now I do, as your tolerance goes up alcohol becomes a much more manageable drug. And I've started drinking at odd hours and not telling people about it because I really feel like it's improving my life. It gets rid of my anxiety to get work done and I end up doing a lot. I've finally realized how people become physically addicted to alcohol because I'm there myself and every night I wake up at 5 am because the alcohol in my blood's been metabolized and then drink more, and maybe I'll die when I'm fifty or sixty instead of seventy or eighty but my life will be the better for it.

I guess I'm just asking how other alcoholics have developed and why they choose to continue. I'm happier than I've been as long as I've been able to remember and it's purely thanks to this toxic dirty drug.

 

[Beccalicious]

I think it's different for everyone. Having a few drinks every day doesn't even sound like much of a problem. It doesn't even sound like addiction to me. Drinking to get completely hammered is what most alcoholics do, but you don't do that.

I don't know, I'm not an expert on the subject. My mom's boyfriend is a recovering alcoholic, but he said he would only drink on the weekends. Does that even constitute as alcoholism? If that's the case then I've been an alcoholic since I was 15.

I guess everyone just needs to find a good balance and cut back when it starts getting in the way of your life and causes more problems than it solves.

 

[It's a baby!]

I think it's different for everyone. Having a few drinks every day doesn't even sound like much of a problem. It doesn't even sound like addiction to me. Drinking to get completely hammered is what most alcoholics do, but you don't do that.

I don't know, I'm not an expert on the subject. My mom's boyfriend is a recovering alcoholic, but he said he would only drink on the weekends. Does that even constitute as alcoholism? If that's the case then I've been an alcoholic since I was 15.

I guess everyone just needs to find a good balance and cut back when it starts getting in the way of your life and causes more problems than it solves.

IMO alcoholism is a physical addiction to alcohol. There are people with drinking problems, i.e. drinking too much, which is a little different. If you drink too much you have a drinking problem, if you drink with such regularity that if you abstain you have muscle tremors and extreme anxiety and auditory/even visual hallucinations then you're an alcoholic. And I'm getting to that point and it doesn't bother me because liquor is cheap and my life's better than it's ever been.

 

[Tommyboy]

IMO alcoholism is a physical addiction to alcohol. There are people with drinking problems, i.e. drinking too much, which is a little different. If you drink too much you have a drinking problem, if you drink with such regularity that if you abstain you have muscle tremors and extreme anxiety and auditory/even visual hallucinations then you're an alcoholic. And I'm getting to that point and it doesn't bother me because liquor is cheap and my life's better than it's ever been.

There are some binge drinkers that I would consider alcoholics, or "functional alcoholics." I don't think that you need to be physically dependent on a substance to be addicted to it. If you constantly think about using this drug, and you go through your work week to secure enough money to be completely wasted all weekend, I would consider that alcoholism.

 

[burn out]

IMO alcoholism is a physical addiction to alcohol. There are people with drinking problems, i.e. drinking too much, which is a little different. If you drink too much you have a drinking problem, if you drink with such regularity that if you abstain you have muscle tremors and extreme anxiety and auditory/even visual hallucinations then you're an alcoholic. And I'm getting to that point and it doesn't bother me because liquor is cheap and my life's better than it's ever been.

Wait 10 years and see if you still feel that way. Basically it sounds like you're still in the "honeymoon" with you addiction. I've gone through that phase wuth four different drugs already. Feeling like it's improving your life is the hallmark of that phase. It doesn't last though.

 

[attempt4]

I have been in your shoes my friend. It only leads down horrifically dark paths. Please, please re-consider the extent to which you will take your relationship with Alcohol to.

Of course it keeps getting better and better in the infancy of the addiction and then the drinking to feel "cheerful" and "relaxed" quickly becomes drinking for depressing necessity and to stop the indescribably horrifying withdrawals/DT's.

I've dabbled with all sorts of drugs from Heroin to Crack and can safely say that none are as addictive as Alcohol, to me. It's so difficult to kick for so many reasons, but of course you're not concerned with that just now, which is a real shame and here's why:

You have mislead yourself by romanticising the idea of depending on Alcohol, especially with comments like "maybe I'll die when I'm fifty or sixty instead of seventy or eighty but my life will be the better for it.". If you make it that long, you will certainly not die after having lead a better life. It will undoubtedly be a disgraceful and inexplicably painful debilitating illness that takes your life, from which you will probably suffer from many years. There's nothing logical in deciding to develop an addiction to Alcohol when really you just enjoy the feeling of being drunk. Get out of this now, whilst you still can.

You will get to a point where you don't even feel happy, content, cheerful, relaxed or even drunk when you drink. You will feel INSANE without it and only somewhat "normal" when you drink, to stop the horrific shakes and tremors. You will most likely feel depressed whilst "drunk" and depressed when "sober". Even if you were consuming adequate minerals, nutrients and vitamins in your diet, alcohol does a good job of interfering with the metabolism of and greatly reducing the absorption of said vitamins etc. You will ensure a significantly higher risk of developing various forms of cancer. I won't go further into the effects on the body as that's not what this discussion is about, but trust me, it really isn't pretty.

First-hand, I have a long history of alcoholics in my family, having seen several family members die from it and several others entirely ruin their lives both physically and mentally. I also had a problematic relationship with it, drinking daily for a long time, waking up at 3am to drink for an hour then K.O for a couple hours then up again for a few hours shaking and needing to drink etc etc. I even experienced DT's, and as bad as it was, it was only mild compared to how bad it can get. I was shaking violently, SWEATING BUCKETS yet freezing cold, hallucinating like mad and feeling extremely anxious and paranoid that everyone was trying to kill me (clichéd I know but true). It was not pretty.

The best decision I ever made was to stop drinking and it's now been 8 months or so, and i've never looked back. I was forced to give up after having only 2 beers gave me a massive seizure (which is another horribly frightful and potentially lethal experience you can look forward to if you continue on this road) and I can happily say that it was the best blessing in disguise ever. I hope you make the correct decision and I wish you all the best.

If you need to PM me at any time, don't hesitate.

Take care

 

[BIGsherm7272]

The best decision I ever made was to stop drinking and it's now been 8 months or so, and i've never looked back. I was forced to give up after having only 2 beers gave me a massive seizure (which is another horribly frightful and potentially lethal experience you can look forward to if you continue on this road) and I can happily say that it was the best blessing in disguise ever. I hope you make the correct decision and I wish you all the best.

What do you mean you had a seizure after 2 beers? Do you mean that only 2 beers were enough to send you back into massive withdrawal or something?

 

[cj]

Man im not gonna lecture you on addiction or anything because attempt14 said it way better then I ever could. Im just gonna say if I had a choice of gaba drugs to be addicted too I would choose valium it has a long halflife its cheap and its long term safety profile is alot better than alcohal. Im not encouraging that but as a opiate maintenance patient I think it would be awsome if alchys had a similar option and valium would do the job. Anyway goodluck dude

 

[Thomas29]

What the guy above me said.... If you really want to live like that it would probably be a lot smarter to get Benzos and use them instead..... not even that is a good idea either though.

 

[attempt4]

What do you mean you had a seizure after 2 beers? Do you mean that only 2 beers were enough to send you back into massive withdrawal or something?

Sorry, I should have been more clear.

I was an absolute wreck-head on various drugs for a while and one night had a massive seizure whilst fucked on all sorts (Alcohol being the main culprit) which permanently lowered my seizure threshold to the point where having just 2 beers a few months later put me on life-support after having a near-fatal seizure.

Seizures are very common in alcoholics. I won't bother going into the mechanism of how it happens but I will say that it's terrifying, can be fatal and can damage your life in many more ways than you can imagine. I know it seems like I am scaremongering, but there is nothing good that can possibly come from this and by choosing to continue this relationship with Alcohol you are giving up everything when there's really no need to.

Quit whilst your ahead.

 

[xxsicknessxx]

Once I got hooked I found I had to drink just to walk, to talk, to function. I mean I drank heavy for 8 years and did fine but 1 year of very heavy every day drinking was enough to push me into addiction. Soon I was shaking when I had no vodka in my system I would hear and see things when I was coming off it, my heart would be out of control and I could not walk or do anything at all. I had to drink. I had no choice. So I drank every day even though I destroyed my friends, family, and my self. im 27 with a bad liver. Its a powerfull addiction its a horrible WD and it lasts awhile. Don't start die at 50 if your lucky drown to death in your own lung fluid if your not lucky or be hooked up to a machine at 40 if your not lucky.

 

[Beccalicious]

^^^ whatt?? "die at 50 if your lucky drown to death in your own lung fluid if your not lucky or be hooked up to a machine at 40 if your not lucky."

 

[It's a baby!]

This thread is fucking nuts. I WAS very alcoholic at that time, I was drinking constantly, and I had been through serious delirium tremens once already and was "drinking through it".

Basically take a look at these posts and know that just because your friend seems to have his shit together doesn't mean he's not drinking like an absolute fool.

I literally can look through my posts on this forum and I'm unable to tell when I was physically addicted to alcohol and when I wasn't because I handle alcohol that well/like it enough to get to the point of handling it that well.

 

[PeacePipeChief]

i really like this , i havent seen many threads related to this specifically , alcohol was my first addiction , i drank for the first time at 10 , started drinking on weekends at 13 , got kicked out at 15 and drank every day until 16 when i got addicted to ice .

at first i found it extremely intoxicating which is why i loved it , i loved the care free ... drunkness . but as i drank more and more it just became normal for me to be drunk at all hours of the day , id wake up to phone calls most mornings to drink , 5 minute walk and i was drinking (i was homeless and still managed to drink with 0 money every day) then other people would call throughout the day to go for choofs or drinks , and then wed party at night .

after ages , and building quite a tolerance , i was 16 and needed about half a case - 3/4 of a bottle to get decent effects , alcohol was the shit , i fucking loved it and was able to be coherent basically always , at this point most people never knew i was drunk , so it kinda improved my life in a way there too . then i got into hard drugs and stopped drinking as much but still 2-4 times a week , now ive moved to get away from drugs and im drinking pretty heavily again , and enjoying it . but its in much better moderation than it was .

i plan to stop drinking in the near future , its just too toxic on the body and mind , and will cause major problems , most certainly for me because its already been going on for years and i cant even legally drink in australia -.-

i really think u should try something less harmful for ur anxiety .

So has anybody else noticed that alcohol becomes better the longer you use it?

I started drinking when I was 14 and it was a shit-show. I would drink myself into oblivion etc. I could never imagine how people drank all day every day.

But slowly over the course of six years I've become more used to alcohol and now it's completely different. I can drink at any time of the day and generally act fairly sober. It just gets better and better. Alcohol has gone from a way to get profoundly intoxicated to a way to feel cheerful and relaxed. I've had more than 20 shots over the past two hours and I feel perfectly coherent.

I used to not be able to understand how people could become DT-style alcoholics but now I do, as your tolerance goes up alcohol becomes a much more manageable drug. And I've started drinking at odd hours and not telling people about it because I really feel like it's improving my life. It gets rid of my anxiety to get work done and I end up doing a lot. I've finally realized how people become physically addicted to alcohol because I'm there myself and every night I wake up at 5 am because the alcohol in my blood's been metabolized and then drink more, and maybe I'll die when I'm fifty or sixty instead of seventy or eighty but my life will be the better for it.

I guess I'm just asking how other alcoholics have developed and why they choose to continue. I'm happier than I've been as long as I've been able to remember and it's purely thanks to this toxic dirty drug.

 

[Haoma]

I have found phenibut to be an absolute necessity for scaling back my drinking. I find myself drinking all hours of the day without interrupting the cycle with phenibut every few days.