Good morning! This is a good discussion topic because there are so many views. There are different degrees of problems with alcohol and even medical views and findings can clash, research goes on etc and we all self diagnose so it's no wonder it's confusing!

So this is my experience. I am an alcoholic still even though I haven't drank alcohol for some years. I don't call myself a drunk because I am not drunk now but I do believe I was born with this and will die with this. I can have permanent remission if I keep taking my medicine (for me that is a spiritual journey). My body processes alcohol differently to normal drinkers so that once I started I could not stop, this all got progressively worse.

Now the literature of my programme purposefully uses simple and vague terms calling it an illness or a malady and refers to an allergy (the uncontrollable drinking). I like these vague terms and use them as they are written when I try to help others through the programme, it keeps it simple.

I don't call alcoholism a disease, it might be and certainly a lot of medical professionals say that is so, I just personally don't subscribe to that idea.

I am a happy alkie or alcoholic and I don't mind that one bit because I have recovered from the drinking problem. I have not been cured though, one day I might drink again and will find the illness progressed and the delusional thinking worse than ever. I don't fear it because I have marvellous tools to use to get better day by day and a host of alcoholic friends and acquaintances to help me along the way.

That's my understanding of my alcoholism and being a recovered, not cured, alcoholic anyway!

Oh and I meant to say... the most dangerous thing for me in alcoholism has been my thinking, it was what was wrong with the way my mind worked that had me picking up that first drink for some irrational excuse anyway. My mind had to get well in addition to my body so my journey is largely concerned with that, my alcoholic thinking and learning to view life through a different lens.

Hi, Well for me I'll always be a alcoholic and a drunk... May be 40 years from now but it is still who I am..I am just in "recovery" as they say. Kind of like being a survivor of some disease.. cancer etc.. Never goes away it's still part of you. I guess that's the way I think of it...I try not to think of the labels of others that I don't let in..It's how I know I personally react to alcohol....T

I suspect you are going to get lots of different answers on this one!

I am no longer a drunk -- I am sober. I realized I was an alcoholic years before I stopped drinking, and that was how I thought of myself. At this point in my life I think of myself as a non drinker.

Personally, I do not care much for the labels and do not give much thought to them. The bottom line is that regardless of what terms are use to describe it, I have a condition that makes it impossible for me to drink safely.

When I failed to stop drinking on my own and went to meetings of a certain support group, I absolutely hated the way in which people introduced themselves: My name is XYZ and Im an alcoholic. That damn introduction kept repeating in my head all through the next day and it was driving me mental. But, you know what every time I felt like drinking, those words came to my mind once again and I didnt drink.

There is sometimes a heated debate over the terms recovered alcoholic and recovering alcoholic but does it really matter which words are used? I consider myself to be a recovered alcoholic because I no longer have that obsession for alcohol but others regard themselves as recovering, meaning that they will never get to the end of the journey. Either way, I am not cured of alcoholism because one drink would bring me right back to square one and I dont need to think much or have a deep debate with myself about that.

To me it is part of the process of making it stick in my head right now. I say it here and to those close to me but not to anyone else. I feel it's a need to know basis. When someone says to me, "Lets go have a drink." I tell them that I have been drinking too much lately and I am not drinking. I don't believe I started out an alcoholic because it took me years to even be able to tolerate alcohol. I didn't like the loss of control. I do believe that it is genetic though because my dad's brother and uncles were alcoholics. I understand what you mean though Loss. I have never liked the labels either. I have also heard it called an allergy as Antonia said.

I like the adage ..."If I am the problem then how can I ever get better" labeling is far more disruptive than us just getting a point across to ourselves about our problems at hand ...suffering from Alcoholism and underlying issues... but if one is willing to dig deep and get to the variables connected to why there seems to be a need to suffer as we(I) begin to understand ,was a good place for me to start....a field of flowers infested with weeds eventually loses all its beauty unless treated at length .... MaybE!!.:)
Billy

Sure I can only speak to myself. The moment I stop knowing I'm alcoholic is the minute I'm likely to be headed toward a drink. In the real world of business meetings, PTA and the like I don't run around saying "I'm an alcoholic" but I sure as shit do in AA and on these boards. I went to dinner with my son tonight in Toronto on a business trip. The waiter put a complimentary glass of champagne right into my face. I politely refused. I said "I don't drink." I don't say "I"m a drunk you boob!" but I'm sorta thinking it;-) So anyway I don't drink because I'm alcoholic. Not just cause I don't feel like it today.

Alcoholism is essentially loss of control over alcohol. Once you have that it does not get better

Just a drunk on the bus...

I am alcoholic and drink alcoholically. The day I stop reminding myself of this , I will start the insanity again.

I too had an issue with it at first but now I am accepting of it.

Climb up on the sober wagon... its a hellava ride!!!

1is2

I was born with the disease (it is absolutely a disease and there is a mountain of conclusive scientific data to support that) of alcoholism and I will die with it. The only thing that matters is that I stay sober on a daily basis.

My medical record reads "history of alcoholism" So medically I am an alcoholic. I only use the term here on this group so I can be identified as a person with the problem opposed to some in this group who does not have the problem but has relatives with the problem. The approach that I use for them is "take care of yourself."

I do not share this with co-workers or anyone in the outside world. It has a social stigma. I just say when offered a drink, "I don't drink alcohol."

Some interesting reading I think! and useful!
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/understanding-deviance-social-control-and-crime/the-symbolic-interactionalist-perspective/labeling-theory/

I am still an alcoholic because if I were to pick up a drink today, I would without doubt have no control over when I would stop. However, like others here I am a recovered alcoholic because the mental obsession has been removed.

I usually use this little story when I am working with someone gets confused about this.

I am an insulin dependent diabetic. In the early days after my diagnosis I made some mistakes and I developed a thing called Diabetic Keto-acidosis which is a serious and sometimes fatal condition. The first time I got it I almost died. Once I have been put on a potassium drip etc I recover and no longer have DKA. However, if I screw around with my insulin and food, I will develop it again. Now I know the warning signs, I know how to prevent it developing fully. So I have recovered and the problem of DKA does not exist unless I allow it to happen. Even though I no longer have DKA because I took the medicine and I recovered. I am still a diabetic though because as yet there is no cure for Diabetes.