Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: Prescott Valley, Az (unfortunately still here)
2,543 posts, read 4,886,160 times
Reputation: 1521
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by sandinmyshoes
I don't know if i am.I was certainly drinking too much though.So i'm not drinking at all now.Anybody care to discuss the issue? Went looking for a thread and didn't find one,so i figured i'd start one and see what happens.I do know i'm a nicotine addict and need to address that forever.I'd never be able to quit cigs while drinking beer.For me it would be like trying to eat pancakes without syrup.
So jump in while your drinking and smoking or not.
I, myself, had a drinking problem. If you drink alcohol beverages frequently, yes, you are an alcoholic. And if you can't stop at just 1-2 drinks, then you are a binge drinking alcoholic (yes, even 1 time a week of binge drinking is considered alcoholism). That's what I used to be, a binge drinker.
There's different types of alcoholics (ones who have to have a drink everyday, the 1-2 time a week binge drinker, and the secret drinker who only drinks alone at home). These are all types of alcoholics.
So, if you aren't drinking at all right now, that's great. I can't even have 1, because it will make me drink more (like eating a bag of chips. Once you start you just can't stop). It can be a really bad problem.
How is your behavior when you have a few drinks in you? Do you blackout (loss of memory)? Do you get mean and angry after a few? Do you stumble a lot after a few? Do friends and family members don't like you when you drink? Have people talked bad about you because of your drinking? If you said yes to these, yes, you are an alcoholic.
Location: Prescott Valley, Az (unfortunately still here)
2,543 posts, read 4,886,160 times
Reputation: 1521
Quote:
Originally Posted by sandinmyshoes
So far no beers.I had an urge though.Being that its friday and all.So i got some ale.
Any kind of drink, with alcohol in it, is considered booze. Even ale. You really need to try not to touch any kind of drink that contains alcohol in it. Yes! Wine, wine coolers, and spritzers count. They are all booze.
[quote=brubaker;11011987]Defining 'an alcoholic' is not a useful way to address problem drinking in my honest opinion.
People, esp AA people in my limited experience, love to mythologize being an alcoholic like it's some selective club you aren't allowed into.
People either have a bad habit of drinking when they don't want to or they don't...splitting hairs about whether someone IS or ISN'T 'X' is besides the point.
If you are doing something you don't want to do...then you have a problem and need to work on ways to stop.
I, myself, had a drinking problem. If you drink alcohol beverages frequently, yes, you are an alcoholic. And if you can't stop at just 1-2 drinks, then you are a binge drinking alcoholic (yes, even 1 time a week of binge drinking is considered alcoholism). That's what I used to be, a binge drinker.
There's different types of alcoholics (ones who have to have a drink everyday, the 1-2 time a week binge drinker, and the secret drinker who only drinks alone at home). These are all types of alcoholics.
So, if you aren't drinking at all right now, that's great. I can't even have 1, because it will make me drink more (like eating a bag of chips. Once you start you just can't stop). It can be a really bad problem.
How is your behavior when you have a few drinks in you? Do you blackout (loss of memory)? Do you get mean and angry after a few? Do you stumble a lot after a few? Do friends and family members don't like you when you drink? Have people talked bad about you because of your drinking? If you said yes to these, yes, you are an alcoholic.
I think it is a hard question because so many alcoholics are "functioning", i.e. they have jobs, higher degrees, kids, yet every night the have a few glasses of wine. They think as long as they are "functioning" they are not alcoholics.
I know that most alcoholics have relatives who started providing them with alcohol at a very young age, like 10 to 15. My grandmother started giving me wine w/7up when I was 10 and my whole life has been a struggle and a very painful one too. I swear if anyone gives either of my kids alcohol before they are 21 I will see them in jail. My husband's uncle started getting him drunk when he was 12, and so together we have struggled. Why the h would anybody do that to a kid?
I think people are too quick to label somebody an alcoholic. If it is not causing problems in your life, you probably are not an alcoholic.
I don't buy the drinking alone at home meaning one is an alcoholic. It is much safer to enjoy a drink at home than it is to go out. I am much less likely to drink when I go out because I have to drive myself home usually. I don't go out and drink coffee either, I drink that at home even when I am by myself.
I agree that binge drinking is definitely a bad thing. Drinking for the sake of getting smashed is not good, I am not sure that makes somebody a full blown alcoholic, but it is abuse of alcohol nonetheless and dangerous territory.
It's ok to drink booze because it tastes good, you like the effects, to wind down, even because it's a social ritual.
If you can drink two glasses of wine... EVERY NIGHT... in the safety of your own home, you're not an alcoholic. In fact, you're not even a hard drinker.
Hard drinkers like to binge and get drunk too. And yes, they can get just as dead and just as thrown in jail if they get killed/kill someone driving drunk. Hard drinkers can even die of complications related to or triggered by alcohol and not even be an alcoholic. If they really really really have to/want to/ are forced to put down the drink or moderate, they can. The alky cannot.
I'll say it again; can't control the stop once started and can't control the start once stopped. That's an alky.
Basically a doctor will tell you tha anyone who drinks more than two drinks a day has a problem with alcohol. That is why they will always ask if you smoke or drink more than two drinks a day.
I was forced to go to 15 AA meetings by the state for getting a DUI. They told me some interesting information. I know this sounds crazy, but here goes. They told me an 80 year old man could be an alcoholic, even know he has never had even one alcoholic drink in his life. It did not make sense to me until they explained it. Being an alcoholic has to do with how alcohol affects you. Alcohol affects an alcoholic differently than normal people. They are said I am most likely NOT an alcoholic. Regardless, I am a problem drinker nonetheless.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You need to keep trying then. Unless I am mistaken ale is drinking. Beer and wine count.
