Alcoholism?

[Lusty]

Sometimes I might not have a drink for a couple of weeks

[Old Hippie]

There is such a thing as controlled alcoholism. Take me for example, no booze for over a year, but if I had one, I'd be right back to where I was when I quit, a stone drunk...

[buddha]

I don't know what to label myself as.....but I make some pretty bad decisions when lubricated. It has caused me to second guess drinking as a whole.

 

Last night I went for a run and I'm up at 7:30am...already working....much better than trying to shuffle a bar girl out without being seen at 9:45....or is it?

 

Trying to find the balance.....

[Old Hippie]

This was/is my problem, I could not find a balance at all. All I did in my off time was drink. Some days I didn't even have my coat off after walking in the door, and I was already downing my 2nd or 3rd shot...if delayed getting home, I got edgy...quitting, I was a total bitch for the first week or 2, miserable...took tranquilizerd (Oxazapham) to help cut the nerves...was o.k. after about a month or so...but yeah, it was running/dictating my life for sure.

[nkped]

I seem to remember someone who was addressing the issue in a fairly serious way saying that if you had problems due to drinking, you had a drinking problem but that was not necessarily the same thing as being an alcoholic.

[cavanami]

I don't know what to label myself as.....but I make some pretty bad decisions when lubricated. ....

 

Trying to find the balance.....

 

Sorry, but you don'e have the monopoly on "bad decision".

I wish I had 1 Baht for all my blunders!!!

[Fiery Jack]

I'm an alcoholic too. Like OH, I'm dealing with it. His story is remarkably similar to mine. Drink brought me years and years of ecstatic joy and sex and love and laughter, :hubba: then the merriment ended and it brought me work troubles, near-bankruptcy, messy divorce, health problems, near-suicidal depression and, one by one, my friends walking out of the door shaking their heads. It brought me loneliness and the consistent ability to upset people I love and be shockingly unreliable and, worst of all (for I am a good man ) highly unlikeable, certainly unlovable. I finally realised (at least 5 years too late) that this wasn't really a good thing.

 

I've said this loads of times on here, but here it is again, folks â?? It's not the amount you drink, it's the amount of damage you do when you've had a drink (to your life, to your job, to your relationships). If you can drink a bottle of scotch a day and lead a normal fulfilling happy stable life, then great, and I envy you soooo much. But I couldn't.

 

I've been dry with self-decreed (thus "controlled" to some extent) dramatic but brief lapses, for almost 3 years, but, as OH says, it never leaves you. That clown Robin Williams was totally dry for 10 years: he's currently back in rehab. Same same me. I can now have a couple of drinks, maximum 3 beeers, and then walk away and not drink the next day, but if I get totally pished then it's odds on I wake up the next morning and hit the sauce without passing go and then it's crash bang wallop and a week's gone by and it's murder getting off it again, even with medication.

 

I just accept that now, like I accept seasons and bargirls telling lies. If I know I have 10 days off work, I get drunk for he first week then suffer for the next week. It's shit, but I cannot face my life with the prospect of never drinking at all again. I simply enjoy it too much. Damage limitation has become my strategy.

 

Oh (and I'll PM you on this OH ) I went to my first AA meeting recently (not through immediate need, nor with any intention of becoming a regular, but because a mate of mine in the UK who's also an alkie invited me to join him). I take back almost all I've said about AA before (well, this particular group that I attended). It was a bunch of very likeable intelligent people simply doing their best to stay sober. There was no religious tub-thumping or smug righteousness at all. I felt humbled and in awe of the brave people there, some of whom had horror stories to tell about fucking up their lives with booze that made my history sound like an Enid Blyton yarn.

 

Anyway. Bottom line is, if booze is making your life hard work, then you should rethink your boozing. Possibly no need to give up, just drink differently. Try and enjoy yourself.

 

Good luck,

 

jack

[David99UK]

I think that the term "alcoholic" has changed since I was a lad.

 

As far as I am concerned it meant being addicted to Alcohol. Like drugs. The term WAS pretty much black and white.

 

Nowadays the term seems to have "grown" to also encompass those who drink more than is good for them and also more than somebody else thinks they should, whether it is f#cking up their life or not.

 

Denial! Denial! I hear cry Obviously (!!) I say not, just trying to say that when a term gets "stretched" it is no longer so Black and White.

 

Actually I would put myself in the category of NOT Alcholic, but do / did have a problem with drink, but all without ever becoming actually dependent on Alcohol (given the amount I have consumed, something of a surprise even to me ).

 

I have NEVER really been a "social" drinker, it has mainly always been as a means to getting off my box. Why?, cos it is fun (at least for me!). So what was the problem? Well, I was getting to old to handle the drinking AND manage to fit in work (in a meaningful way) and I was also picking my freinds to suit my drinking.

 

The solution? well, to the work part was to give up for up to 6 months a year and sit in Thailand drinking. A most excellent and civilised solution, even if I say so myself . And if I had to have "drinking buddies" it may as well be those who were "dual purpose". :smirk: Plus of course the fact that I AM an untidy looking drunk, after one beer I DO look like I have had 10. , after 10 I was running the risk of getting bounced back in Farangland. No worries about stuff like that in Nana etc

 

But of course all good things come to an end........I just got bored of both Thailand and shock horror...........drinking. AND I found other things to do with my life that meant I did not really have the time to "Fit in" drinking, I actually found myself PREFERRING my half of the year in Farangland, apart from having to work.

 

In many ways the "Missus" in Thailand is really a hangover (pun intended!) from Temps Passé and on some levels it would be more conveniant if she did not exist cos' I now have the aggro of trying to bring her back here which involves me going to a country I became bored of Drunk , and which sober I really lack the patience for nowadays (but that is all for another thread!)

 

I DO still go and out drink myself stupid (er??!!) now and again (I like to keep my hand in!), but to be honest, it ain't quite as much fun as it used to be - and maybe I am a bit out of practice / actually need to be drinking more than I can nowadays be bothered to in order to get the same "Out of the box experiance".

 

Of course next trip to Thailand I will no doubt be sitting in Nana, saying "at home I do not drink much", to BG's who will nod along despite only ever having met me when drunk.

 

Just realised that this Post may come as a reply to someone, not meant to be.

 

 

 

[SpiceMan]

I knew I had a problem when getting drunk at Nana Plaza was the objective rather than finding a sexy girl for the night. I would wake up with bar girls I didn't remember from the night before. We hadn't had sex and I was too hungover for a morning bout. They always expected payment and my wallet was usually empty.

 

Back in the UK I would drink heavily in the early evenings and crash out in the hope of sobering up enough to drive to work in the morning. Although I was not breathalyzed I would have been way over the limit most mornings. I knew I needed to quit drinking. I had several failed attempts but now I have been dry for 12 months. I still have to remind myself that I'm an alcoholic and I might relapse anytime. Its a matter of keeping my defences up.

[nkped]

I have NEVER really been a "social" drinker, it has mainly always been as a means to getting off my box. Why?, cos it is fun (at least for me!). So what was the problem? Well, I was getting to old to handle the drinking AND manage to fit in work (in a meaningful way) and I was also picking my freinds to suit my drinking.

 

AND I found other things to do with my life that meant I did not really have the time to "Fit in" drinking,

 

I DO still go and out drink myself stupid (er??!!) now and again (I like to keep my hand in!), but to be honest, it ain't quite as much fun as it used to be - and maybe I am a bit out of practice / actually need to be drinking more than I can nowadays be bothered to in order to get the same "Out of the box experiance".

 

I remember when I was in the U.S. military that those who were supposed to be the subject matter experts said that a second incident of driving while intoxicated was a pretty reliable indicator of someone being an alcoholic. The consequences of the first one were so dire that a second one was a strong indication that the person could not control it. In my early 30s (20+ years ago) I was a pretty consistent 4-6 beers (or more) a night kind of guy. Then at the age of 35, went back to school and knew that had to change. Now very rarely have any beer at home and avoid the stuff altogether most night. Age has also helped resolve the issue. It is pretty much a choice between drinking and doing something else and something else often has a nice smile. :hubba: "I have water, what's your name?" But then again, old demon rum may be just biding his time.