[OT] Alcoholism. Willing to share your problem?

[OvertoneZero]

I DON'T LIKE YOU

Just what exactly are you trying to say?

[serge_a_storms]

Thanks to those who pm'd me yesterday. I'm not ignoring you. I was just too hammered yesterday so prolly not the best time for me to start discussing things.

Thanks for all the comments on here.

Now sober (really don't want to drink today!), feeling like death and looking to get advice from someone professional.

[funky shit]

I flat out drink from friday to sunday and maby the odd wednesday.
When summer comes and im off college, it wont just be friday to saturday.
To be honest, i dont care. Im Irish.
Im also on the younger side of 20 so i guess it aint lookin' good.

[mkelly]

A drunk driver totaled my wife's brand new car (2 months old) last night, parked in front of our home in the Hollywood Hills - then decided he would flee from the scene of the accident. Fortunately, someone got his license plate number, and the little bitch is now cooling his heels in the LA County Jail as I write this. Hopefully, he'll seek help with his drinking problem after this...

While that sucks for your wife, her car, and you as well, are you not making a bit of a leap in assuming that a drunk driver has a "drinking problem".

[ChiDJ]

Spent my 20's completely sober and attending AA. It saved my life. After 11 years of dealing with a bunch of cranky sober people who seemed to go nowhere in their lives and justified everything that went wrong by saying, "at least I didn't drink today", I re entered the world of chemical recreation and never looked back. I'll always be an addict. (so many drugs, so little time! )

Never been happier and enjoy getting high from everything I can find; Love, Music, Sex, art, adventure and, yes, chemicals of all shapes and sizes.

Live On!


YMMV.

T-

[funky shit]

Spent my 20's completely sober and attending AA. It saved my life. After 11 years of dealing with a bunch of cranky sober people who seemed to go nowhere in their lives and justified everything that went wrong by saying, "at least I didn't drink today", I re entered the world of chemical recreation and never looked back. I'll always be an addict. (so many drugs, so little time! )

Never been happier and enjoy getting high from everything I can find; Love, Music, Sex, art, adventure and, yes, chemicals of all shapes and sizes.

Live On!


YMMV.

T-

This man has the right idea.

[ewistrand]

A drunk driver totaled my wife's brand new car (2 months old) last night, parked in front of our home in the Hollywood Hills - then decided he would flee from the scene of the accident. Fortunately, someone got his license plate number, and the little bitch is now cooling his heels in the LA County Jail as I write this. Hopefully, he'll seek help with his drinking problem after this...

While that sucks for your wife, her car, and you as well, are you not making a bit of a leap in assuming that a drunk driver has a "drinking problem".

With the penalties and consequences for drunk driving nowdays? You bet. If someone gets behind the wheel and ignores what may happen legally (not to mention otherwise), then yes- he/she has a problem.

Here in Minnesota, a first DUI will run you somewhere about $1000 in fines, $3000 in legal fees and a year's suspension of your license (you can get a limited permit to drive back and forth to work after 30 to 60 days).

ew

[UKRuss]

Now sober (really don't want to drink today!),

This means, to me, you are probably not an alcoholic.

I asked a friend of mine what the difference was between me, a heavy drinker and her, an alcoholic.

Wisely she said, that for her, it costs her more than money.

Having said that, there is no harm in seeking advice regardless of whether you are an alcoholic or not.

For me alochol is never an issue, i can take it or leave it...i don't have the same luxury with tobacco.

[jake noise]

Speaking from experience you don't need to be an alcoholic to have a drinking problem. An alcoholic is someone who needs to drink daily, which is obviously a problem. However a binge drinker like the op also has a drinking problem.

I was a binge drinker for the best part of a decade and for a long time convinced myself that I didn't have a problem as I didn't need to drink every day. However when I did drink I'd get so drunk that I wouldn't remember what I'd done. For a while I had no issue with this, I was waking up next to attractive girls and appart from not knowing their names things were fine. Due however to a few incidents I realized finally that I had a problem and sought help. I went to a alcohol counsellor and they helped a lot. I wouldn't recommend aa in the op's situation as it's for alcoholics not binge drinkers, but a counsellor is definitely a good idea.

One caveat, although the councellor helped I still had relapses, the thing is not to give up if that happens. A councellor should help you assess why you binge drink and teach you strategies to help. It won't be an instant cure all, but give it time.

Good luck

[Minimal Justice System]

You're not an alchoholic until you need an eye opener in the morning to get you out of bed.... I used to have a small fridge in my bedroom which was always filled with beer and it was when I was cracking open a tin before getting ready to go for work in the morning that I decided I needed to lay off the booze for a while.... I'm not an alchoholic now and I don't believe I was before as if I was I wouldn't have stopped when I realised it was getting a bit out of hand. I am Scottish though so drinking was part of my life from a very early age!!

[Sphinx]

A drunk driver totaled my wife's brand new car (2 months old) last night, parked in front of our home in the Hollywood Hills - then decided he would flee from the scene of the accident. Fortunately, someone got his license plate number, and the little bitch is now cooling his heels in the LA County Jail as I write this. Hopefully, he'll seek help with his drinking problem after this...

While that sucks for your wife, her car, and you as well, are you not making a bit of a leap in assuming that a drunk driver has a "drinking problem".

With the penalties and consequences for drunk driving nowdays? You bet. If someone gets behind the wheel and ignores what may happen legally (not to mention otherwise), then yes- he/she has a problem.

Here in Minnesota, a first DUI will run you somewhere about $1000 in fines, $3000 in legal fees and a year's suspension of your license (you can get a limited permit to drive back and forth to work after 30 to 60 days).

ew

Thank you, ew. Yes, mkelly - if someone gets behind the wheel drunk - with the potential to damage property, injure or even kill people? There is NO leap of logic there...that person has a drinking problem. They are putting their drinking before the welfare of others, and that, my friend, is fucked up.

[rasputin]

Are you an "alcoholic"? It's a complicated condition.

IMO, the biggest problem is honesty. If a person can really be honest about his/her drinking, the effect it has on himself, his family, his job (his music, his art...) then he should know whether he should ge help or not. The disease is pernicious since it will tell you every imaginable lie, justification and rationalization that you should just keep pouring em down.

The quiz Sphinx posted is a good one.

Of course, if a person could really be honest about everything in their life, I guess they'd be divine.

If you're leery of AA, check out a book like Rational Recovery by Trimpey. He's completely dismissive of AA. But IMO, 95% of AA groups are full of supportive, non-judgmental, friendly people. And what other sort of people would you want to be around if you needed help?

The way Trimpey and others are against AA is similar to the way people are against the Catholic Church because of some evil priests and their enablers. Personally I have no great affection for that church (or any other for that matter) but I can discriminate between the well-meaning, good folks in it and the abusers.

My two cents FWIW

[rasputin]

I flat out drink from friday to sunday and maby the odd wednesday.
When summer comes and im off college, it wont just be friday to saturday.
To be honest, i dont care. Im Irish.
Im also on the younger side of 20 so i guess it aint lookin' good.

Yeah, currently you're on a road that don't lead to a good place.
But if you're that young, you can still change your behavior. It might just be the exuberance of youth.

You might want to consider backing off a bit. If you're on the Ableton forum, I guess you're a musician or DJ. Is it affecting your creativity or work?

[funky shit]

I flat out drink from friday to sunday and maby the odd wednesday.
When summer comes and im off college, it wont just be friday to saturday.
To be honest, i dont care. Im Irish.
Im also on the younger side of 20 so i guess it aint lookin' good.

Yeah, currently you're on a road that don't lead to a good place.
But if you're that young, you can still change your behavior. It might just be the exuberance of youth.

You might want to consider backing off a bit. If you're on the Ableton forum, I guess you're a musician or DJ. Is it affecting your creativity or work?

Nope not really. Its not a habbit either.
Its a social thing. Go out and get pissed.
Always ends up in a good night with a few laughs so i dont really see a problem.

[ewistrand]

Be careful what you say, you will get EW and Sphinx after you.

Say what? All we were doing was pointing out to you that what you said wasn't true...

As far as AA/NA goes, it's not for everybody; true. However, it's a big help for the first couple years or so, just because of the support you get.

I very rarely attend AA/NA anymore myself; I go whenever one of my friends is getting a medallion or if they're just starting and need the support to walk through the door without freaking out.

ew