RE: Alchoholism

RE: Alchoholism (Full Version)

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LadyPact -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 6:39:04 AM)
Which also opens the door on another angle. The "social alcoholic".

Focus50 -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 6:45:04 AM)
It's difficult for some I know (in r/l) to appreciate the difference but I don't go out to have a drink, but I'll have a drink if I'm out. Focus.

LaTigresse -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 7:09:27 AM)
And the flip side of that is........if I go out, where many others are drinking, chances are I won't drink anything but water. Because of my life history and what I've seen, I don't trust people that are under the influence. I ONLY drink in environments where I feel it is safe to do so. Safety having a lot more depth than anything physical. If we go out to dinner, over the course of the evening, I may have a glass or two of wine. Never feeling any buzz at all, on purpose, because of the time frame and food intake involved. I simply enjoy the wine. The only place I ever feel comfortable allowing myself to get a bit of a buzz is at home. At home when I've very little responsibility to others. Even then I won't allow myself to get drunk. There is no reason for it and I like being able to get up early the next morning and have a productive day. I've seen functioning alcoholics, alcoholics in denial, alcoholics slowing killing themselves with booze and alcoholics put themselves in the hospital with booze. I've seen alcoholics that have also become drug addicts. I've seen abusive alcoholics, of more than just self. I've seen many children suffering the price of adult alcoholics and I've seen children grow up to be alcoholics. Oddly enough, it is often the enablers that make me the most angry. Not surprisingly, the enablers are in more denial than the addicts themselves.

zephyroftheNorth -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 7:38:04 AM)
FR I rarely drink or get drunk it means foregoing my pain meds which is not a good thing. However when I do it's at home and yes I'm alone. I do it that way for the convenience of not having to get home after I'm drunk, it's just easier to just fall into bed.

LinnaeaBorealis -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 7:49:07 AM)
When I checked into treatment for my alcoholism, they gave me a quiz with 25 questions on it. They said if I answered 5 of them "yes" that I was an alcoholic. I answered "yes" to 24 of them. The one I was able to answer "no" to was "Do you drink in the morning?" I answered it in the negative because I never got up before noon & chose to take it literally. Of course I did drink not long after awakening, but they specifically said "morning" & I chose to interpret it literally. [8D]

littlewonder -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 9:59:05 AM)
when you can't imagine going a day without even one of whatever it is....drink/cigs/caffeine and thus it becomes your priority and therefore an addiction and therefore a problem.

GreedyTop -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 10:05:18 AM)
hmm.. by THAT standard, LW, I am ONLY addicted to cigarettes. oh, and as I have said before on other threads, I do consider myself to be a functional alcoholic.

DesFIP -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 10:26:08 AM)
If you must have a drink, if you plan your day or week around your drinking, if it's affecting your social life or your career or your family life. All those are good indications that you're an alcoholic. Just because you're still functional doesn't mean you don't have a problem.

GreedyTop -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 10:27:38 AM)
I dont. as I indicated before, my schedule is a 180 from anyone I know. in order to interact with my friends, I must take time out of MY sleep schedule. My family is quite aware of this, as are my friends. I dont HAVE to have a drink. I can go quite a long time without drinking. (long time=as long as I must to do what I must, etc) Do NOT put your timetables on me, please.

GreedyTop -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 10:32:50 AM)
btw.. at Cali birthday, when I mentioned to several folks who had missed my posts before, the common reaction was"(you think youre an acloholic/? really? wtf for?"

DesFIP -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 10:33:21 AM)
GT, that was a fast reply, not meant for you. I don't know why you feel that you're a functional alcoholic. Since you work these weird shifts, and occasionally come home and have a drink at the end of your work day, that doesn't sound like an alcoholic to me. If you have to have a drink daily, then I would wonder.

GreedyTop -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 10:35:21 AM)
I do drink daily. but I get the FR thing. and the wondering thing? see my above posts... ETA: and on that note, I am taking my semi- buzzed ass to bed (now that the phne has been turned to silent, and the cat has apparently hidden the chirpy toy away from himself)

Sanity -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 11:09:49 AM)
Then there is the binge drinker who tips the bottle rarely but every time it ends in disaster In other words there are all kinds of alcoholics quote: ORIGINAL: TheHeretic I wouldn't go with either of those. To my way of thinking, it is when the booze (or other additive, for that matter) becomes a priority in your life. There is a saying I have heard; man takes a drink, drink takes a drink, drink takes a man. Whether once a month or year, or every damn day, the level of control is the defining characteristic, at least in my opinion.

Sanity -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 11:11:26 AM)
The void (or the issue) can be hidden deep inside, something someone is completely unaware of, as well. quote: ORIGINAL: Endivius Both of my parents are alchoholics. The answer to this riddle is the moment you start drinking to excess. People who are alcholics have a void, habitual, emotional, or psychological, that they fill with alchohol. How much is excess? For some a beer a day is rather paltry and small, for others it's a sign of alcholism. The truth is, it is a matter for a family to decide, as they know the person best, and are the most likely to spot it; although, not allways obviously.

Muttling -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 11:27:27 AM)
Reinforcing what several others have said and putting it into my own words.... Alcoholism isn't like the flu which is a disease with pretty clear cut symptoms. Instead, it's more like autism and senile dementia. It is a spectrum disease and there are a no clear cut answers for what the symptoms are unless you're talking about the more serious cases. You have binge alcoholics who rarely drink but go on a major binge when they do. You even have "dry alcoholics" who haven't drank in years but still have a lot of emotional issues that drove them to drink destroying their lives. The more common are like myself, daily drinkers. 1 drink a day doesn't make you an alcoholic, but if you're doing it to deal with the stress of a regular day what do you do to deal with the stress of a very bad day? This later suggests alcoholism or a person who is well on their way to becoming one. For me, the sign that I really am one was when I realized that I was drinking daily and was to the point that I really don't enjoy alcohol anymore. Putting an end to it has proven extremely difficult.

Andryanna -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 1:10:43 PM)
When the word "alcoholic" comes up, it brings forth negative connotations. I think that people immediately think of someone who has no control and cannot function without alcohol, distrupting everything in thier lives. I do think that there are varying degrees of being an alcoholic, but to me it's all about being dependent on having a drink. I drink almost every night, and sometimes more than one or two. And I have had drinks after a stressful day. I still can function well enough within society though. I go to work, I maintain a clean house, I play music, and many other things. I don't drink and drive, and I don't intentionally break commitments because I need to have a drink. I can also go without as well, I just choose not to. I've never really understood what the problem was in having a few drinks at night. Then again, I do recognize that I am probably doing myself a great disservice. I most likely am depleting good brain cells, my liver may not be very healthy. If I didn't drink daily I would undoubtably have better skin and lose wieght. That being said, I think it's hard to determine where you draw the line. I personally would have to say that you are an alcoholic when you "have" to have a drink, whether it be out of habit or necessity. Once you can't control it, then it is a problem. Even if it is just one or two a night.

TheHeretic -> RE: Alchoholism (8/28/2011 2:47:13 PM)
To get more into my personal view on what I said earlier about it being a matter of control. My stepfather is an alcoholic, and his body and mind have been destroyed by booze. He was still sharp enough to pick his own nursing home last year, but by 58 he needed a diaper, and at 63, he couldn't be relied on to change it himself. My maternal grandmother died when her organs failed from alcohol damage one time too many for the doctors to get things running again. The alcohol related dementia had been in full swing for 10 years before that. Two aunts, two uncles (three uncles, if we count the one who traded beer for the 12-step Jesus, and is now even more annoying) are the very definition of alcoholics, and that isn't counting the two painkiller junkies, or the "reformed" speed freak who fell off both the train and the family radar last spring. I was a heavy, daily, drinker in the service. Not too long after I got out, I gave it up entirely for a few years, before I started drinking again at much more moderate levels. I had my own battle with self destructive addiction elsewhere. So it has been with my generation. Some are fine, some have chosen to never take a drink or drug, some have come through the fire, and a few are still lost. I guage my current drinking by how well I meet the goals I had in mind when I first opened the fridge. If I'm thinking a cold cider or two will taste very good, and help relax the tension in my back after work, and wind up drinking a six-pack+ and falling asleep in front of the TV, that's a large red flag. On the other hand, when we go to a party where I've given myself permission to get nice and loose, advised the wife she's driving, and then wind up averaging 1 drink an hour, spaced with ice-water, all the markers are in the green.

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