Alcoholism Support Group
Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.
In simple terms my problem with alcohol can be defined in terms of powerlessness. I couldnt stop drinking entirely no matter how much I wanted to (no effective mental defense against the first drink) and when I drank I had little control over the amount I drank.
If I hadnt have been powerless and therefore had some control/choice in my drinking I wouldnt have had a drinking problem. I would either have controlled the amount I drank or chosen not to drink at all.
I understand from reading many peoples experience on DS that this is not the case for everyone and that some people have control/choice in regard to drinking.
I am not in much of a position to help those people as they do not have the same problem as me therefore my experience and the solution I have found are of little help to them.
However I would like to understand more about the nature of drinking problems where powerlessness is not the problem and people have a drinking problem despite the fact that they have control/choice.
Would anyone be able to share their experience on this so that I can understand a little better?
Many thanks.
If I hadnt have been powerless and therefore had some control/choice in my drinking I wouldnt have had a drinking problem. I would either have controlled the amount I drank or chosen not to drink at all.
I understand from reading many peoples experience on DS that this is not the case for everyone and that some people have control/choice in regard to drinking.
I am not in much of a position to help those people as they do not have the same problem as me therefore my experience and the solution I have found are of little help to them.
However I would like to understand more about the nature of drinking problems where powerlessness is not the problem and people have a drinking problem despite the fact that they have control/choice.
Would anyone be able to share their experience on this so that I can understand a little better?
Many thanks.
for me, there's nothing wrong with drinking 2 bottles of wine a month. i wouldn't look down on anyone for that - alcoholic or not.
part of the problem with your type of treatment, for you, obviously is that it forces you to feel like a failure if you so much as get the urge to drink. heaven forbid you actually drink every now and then. then it's back to the drawing board if you do.
i don't need your way to work for me. what i'm doing works. drinking twice a month doesn't hurt me. maybe it's that i don't get worked up over nearly "nothing" that works for me...and the distress you'd feel if you did the same thing that makes it not work for you.
you stick to your total abstinence and praise it all you want while i'll stick with being cool with what i do. and, if someone is freaking out because after two weeks sober, they drank again (providing it wasn't totally out of control), i'll tell them it's not a big deal as long as it doesn't happen often...because to me, it's not unless there's some serious medical condition that requires no consumption whatsoever.
no need to be jealous. seriously, there's no great effort that i'm putting into this. i don't really fight urges to drink, so it's no great control or strength of mine i'm putting to use. when i get the urge, i do drink, but that doesn't happen often..and when it does nowadays, i don't get drunk anymore. i think it's a physical thing that's happened to me. i just get so easily nauseous when i drink now..that even drinking 1 bottle is not easy. it takes 2 to get me drunk. i can't take that anymore. it's just too gross. i'm disgusted with the mere taste of it.
i used to drink 2 bottles in the morning and 2 in the evening...doing just what you'd do..eating like entire pizzas and loads of takeout food..and i'd blackout and pass out...wake up and do the same thing. i didn't know how i'd ever stop drinking that much.
it really just happened on its own. i gradually drank less and less. i used to try really hard not to drink, but i wasn't good at it. i was able to extend my sober periods for a week then 2 weeks, etc..until i was able to go for 4 weeks, but, i started drinking every week or twice. it just depended i guess on how much money i had. for a while i was getting 2 bottles worth for like $5.50 on sale..then it went up to regular price, and i refused to pay that...so i switched to some cheaper stuff, which tastes even worse...and...it's just so disgusting. imagine if every time you even had a sip of alcohol, you puked...well..eventually you'd never want to even take a sip. that's what it's like for me...only i don't puke..i just feel like puking. pretty strange because i used to drink a lot.
i used to drink to escape, but...that doesn't happen anymore. if i drink, i just get tired and want to sleep. so..it's not the same, so i don't want to do it anymore...at least nearly as much.
so i'm just forced to deal with things.
it boils down to your seeing that any drinking at all is a problem and my seeing that my frequency of drinking is not a problem.
given your reasoning, it's unacceptable for anyone to drink. i don't agree with that.
consider: if i made such a big deal about how often i drink as you do, then maybe i'd feel so bad that i'd want to drink even more, then i'd be worse off.
nothing is broken, so i'm not fixing anything.