Amen to that lolo. Gosh, I wish I could have some of your self control. I may be going WAY WAY out on a limb with this, but I have in the past been able to just have a beer or two and I'm fine. I don't overindulge and I don't go on a binge. I think alot of it for me, is I have to be careful when and where I drink if I do.
I can't be in a bad mood, I can't be upset about something or the mixture is toxic.
I dunno maybe someday I'll find a happy medium. I can keep my fingers crossed right? LOL

I tried moderate drinking before I quit and it always ended w/ me driving home plastered and not remembering most of it. I tried the "one beer an hour" thing to make sure I was sober for the drive. After the first hour, I lost track! And then there's the barfolk buying me shots, etc., that kind of messed up my arithmetic. I agree with everyone else that it depends on the person, but I think it is a big warning sign if a person tries and tries again and ends up drunk each time. That is why I quit almost five years ago; "moderation" wasn't working. In fact, it didn;t even exist. Now I have other problems w/ my lack of moderation, overeating, etc., but I am grateful that I don't drink.

AFgal,
It is crazy but sometimes for me I swear it is hormonal.. cravings, I allow myself to let my haird down now and then.(in a safe environment) and then I also really practice self-control.. I have been known to stop at one or drink 2 bottles of wine and a sixpack.. crazy.. I am the opposite of you... I want it and crave it when I am in a good mood ... party time!!! Fascinating huh? I have trouble stopping when I am in a social situation having a good time.. "just one more" motto comes in to play... One step at a time.. and of course, once again, the HONESTY!!!

I think that if you're asking yourself the question you already know the answer. But there is nothing wrong with testing yourself. Go ahead and try to "moderate". It might work....It might not....
Kate

My understanding is that if you can sometimes have a couple of drinks, you are probably not an alcoholic.

My understanding is also that if you are an alcoholic who is having a couple of drinks you are not recovering.

See, here's my problem sometimes: There is a real mix of people here with the common problem of alcohol abuse. Some people drink till they blackout; they drink non stop, morning, noon, and night until they crash.

There are others who simply drink too much, too often. They may only drink at night, and it may not effect their job right now, but it's still an addiction and a problem in their lives (with their health, marriages, etc).

I'm sure there are also people in between. Either way, both groups need to get a handle on it. When in doubt, stop drinking completely! It sure ain't gonna hurt ya, right? That's the only way to break the habit.

Continued moderate drinking is a personal choice (if you can handle it), but I'm not going to preach the virtues of moderate drinking here, because it causes too many potential problems. If you can do it, that's great - but you probably shouldn't discuss it with other problem drinkers, because many of them (me, us) cannot handle it. Am I making sense with this ramble?

Jacker~You made a lot of sense. :)

And the question.....moderate drinking?
What is that and is it any fun??

Yeah, I am an alcoholic alright cause I never DID know what moderate drinking was.

4mytasha - in answer to your question - I think i tried moderate drinking once in about 1988, I dont know if it was fun or not cos after I had done it for an hour or so I got competely wasted, blacked out and cant remember a thing! lol!!

Thats how moderate drining works for me anyway!

In dreams I have a couple of drinks, "'real"' alcoholics can never safely take the first drink. believe it , and what good is a couple of drinks going to do anyway, better just to think about a couple of drinks, because it seldom stops with that . we don't usually stop tell we pass out.If you are a recovering alcoholic still having a drink or two, all I can say if beware of the Jabberwocky.

i have tried so many times to just drink at weekends, or socially, it doent happen i drink everynight, not always til i pass out but to a large extent, im a brandy drinker too so i know what the damage is but even thou my moms ashes are near me and i know what and how she died i cant stop, ts ALL or NOTHING i dot think a true drinker has an inbetween. drinkin for 4 yrs

Yea ...I know what everybody saying....Alcoholic person means zero alcohol...:-)
Yea have to work on my self harder....

I am successful at moderate drinking and by moderate I mean 1-2 glasses of wine, only at dinner if at all. i really have to keep myself on a leash though and the second I feel my self control beginning to fail I have to be smart enough to walk away. I am a failure at hard liquor and know better then to keep gettting into that boat. Maybe I'm not going the convention road but it works for me and doesn't wreck my life or the life of my husband or family.

Jacker I agree. Completely. I have never been a blackout non stop drinker. When I drank, I usually drank too much. I always drank more regularly than I thought I should. I drank only at night, it didnt effect my career at least not in an outward way. In fact when I went into AA I was earning more than I'd ever earned and was (am) in a big career role.
I didnt have a DUI, didnt scream and yell when I drank, no consequences till I looked more deeply. I could have continued to be a "functioning" drunk for years. I think sometimes those of us who are perceived as high "functioning" drink for years longer than we would if we hit a perceptable bottom.
Someone else posted that alcoholics can't just have a few drinks. I disagree. I could and did. And I often stopped for days, weeks, months.
But what was going on inside was ugly. What I felt like was a big black hole and not worth a shit. What I did when I drank was killing me slowly.
I'm so grateful to be sober. I don't want to drink like a "normie" I don't want to DRINK. Period.
I can't. Drinking for me would mean jumping back into that hell hole.

uhhhh, this post is over 4 years old.

Geesh this is great. Now I think Jacker is livinglifebetter, I was GNR, I still stay in contact with lolo36, Nicky still hangs, & europaqrl lived 30 minutes from me.
Thanx for the resurrection!!!!!LMFAO