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I was going down a bad road for a while. Then I had a TIA/stroke. I was forced to cut back. I still drink a few. Maybe 6 a week maximum. Im on blood pressure meds so I really can't get too carried away. I've lost a lot of weight and try to eat good. Someday, when I ween off the bp medication I may pick it up again. But never as crazy as before. No more shots. I'd like to drink a cocktail again though. I have not drank a mixed drink since last december.
This is what happens to my husband ...he fools himself into thinking he can start drinking again. He cannot and I clearly see that he is going to lose his life that is assuming he is still alive as I type this.
Personally I see it as a disease while others see it as not a problem. Has anyone else had experience with someone like this?
Yes, my father was a functional alcoholic. Definitely not a "drunk." He was a college-educated professional, very mannerly and handsome and funny, and a real charmer whom everyone liked. The negative effects of his alcoholism were mostly felt at home, where he was short-tempered, violent, erratic, malicious, disinterested, neglectful. He had his public persona and his private, at-home persona. In public, he was the "functional" half of "functional alcoholic." At home, though, we just got the drunk. I grew up hearing from everyone what a great guy my father was, how lucky I was to have him for a dad. Uh-huh. Gee...those were exactly my thoughts last night when he was bodyslamming me into the refrigerator and kicking his foot through the bathroom door. So glad you like him, though. That makes me feel all warm inside.
When I was 26, I decided I would be a happier, healthier person if he were not in my life, so I just...drifted away. I honestly do not know if he ever got a grip on his drinking or not.
my mum is like this, i think she is what you would call a functional alcoholic, she drinks ciders and beers every night until she falls asleep on the sofa, she gets very angry at me. Yet she manages to keep her job and husband.
I agree. It is not a disease according to my recovery method, Alcoholics Anonymous. They call it a fatal malady.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ren410
there is nothing different in an alcoholic's blood test than someone else's besides the presence of alcohol.
Easy there skippy. Prove it. Peer-backed studies and all. I'll wait.
But in the meantime, I will say this, I have my experience. There is most certainly a physical component going on with me when I ingest alcohol, something which enables me to drink insane amounts and a component which makes it virtually impossible for me to stop until I've blacked out, drank against my own will, broke the law, hurt myself, etc. There's also a mental component to it for me, a thing which makes it virtually impossible for me to stay away from that next drink based on recent evidence to motivate me to stop for good and all.
not every person who drinks heavily is an alcoholic
there are 20 questions put out by AA
Google them and take the test if you think you are one
I am sober 15 years in AA
but AA is not for everyone
it is for people who want it
I'm not big on the A.A. pamphlets. The book spend 7 pages in the Doctor's Opinion, and 43 pages of Bill's Story, There is a Solution, More about Alcoholism, and a paragraph on page 52 to say one thing,
"Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense- his defense must come from a Higher Power."
But it also breaks it down into a matter of control. Can you control the amount once you start and can you keep yourself away from the first drink once you're stopped?
In my opinion, those 20 questions are treatment center stuff.
But it also breaks it down into a matter of control. Can you control the amount once you start and can you keep yourself away from the first drink once you're stopped?
Thanks for stating this concisely - alcoholism has nothing to do with if you drink every day, only on the weekends, or once a year. You're an alcoholic if you can't stop once you start, if you try to cut down and fail, if you promise yourself that tonight you'll only have two or three or "just one more" and break that promise, if one drink is too many and a thousand are not enough.
There is an enormous difference between drinking every day and needing to drink every day - I know plenty of people who come home from work and have a beer or a glass of wine or two every evening as a matter of routine and drink socially on the weekends who are in no way alcoholics. If there's a disruption in that routine and they don't have that drink it's no big deal, they wouldn't give it a second thought, but they're having a drink 99 out of 100 days. There's nothing wrong with that, that amount of alcohol is indeed clinically proven to have health benefits.
If you need to drink every day, if you spend time planning how you'll get that drink or bring your own if you're afraid you're going somewhere dry or start to panic when you find yourself without, that is a different thing altogether. Conversely, being able to not drink for two days doesn't automatically mean you're not an alcoholic - plenty of active alcoholics aren't physically dependent on alcohol. They don't wake up in withdrawal and need a drink immediately to treat their physical symptoms, but they're going to get that next drink sometime soon, plus a few more to keep it company. There's nothing magic about 48 hours (though just 24 will get you a nifty chip!), the distinction is how you drink when you start again.
I haven't read the book you were referencing, but I am curious about the physiological differences between alcoholics and non - you replied to someone saying there's no difference between an alcoholic's blood test and anyone else's by archly asking for peer reviewed studies; I took that to mean you're familiar with studies showing just the opposite. Are they viewable or referenced anywhere on line? I'm curious as to what the differences may be.
BTW I also appreciate the topic but I would have to disagree with WestCobb complimenting the OP on his "tone" - he was awfully hostile in his reply to you (you know, five years ago. Probably you're over it). I appreciate yours, and your thoughtful replies. Easy does it.
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That makes me feel all warm inside.
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