I think you should copy the very thing you just wrote here, and give it to her on Thursday. :)

That way, she will see not only how much you drink, but what you've been thinking.

Be brave, jellybean. This is a hard road, no matter what age you are.

But your specialist can probably show you other statements from people of all ages that read very much like yours, to let you know you're not alone.

*hugs*, and good luck -

Usually if you have to ask you might really have a problem. It doesn't sound like you have hit the bigtime bottom or addiction level yet, but the key word is yet. It is good you recognize it.

I knew I was an alcoholic when I was 17 I just never understood what being an alcoholic really meant.

My favorite definition of being an alcoholic is after you drink one drink. If you can't stop after that then you are an alcoholic. Normal people can drink a half of a drink and never finish it nor think about it ever again. This drives me crazy.

If I am in a roomful of naked people and one person is drinking one drink my eyes will keep drifting over to that one drink.

When I was 3 years clean and sober I met someone at an AA meeting who was 7 years clean and sober. He was 21 at that time. He had his whole life in front of him and he was going to law school at that time. That means he had already received his first degree, a bachelors I believe.

My envy emotions hit the Nth degree of envy hatred.

yes if you feel compelled to use even when you want to quit that is the criteria for addiction!

Um yeah if you started at 11 (first of all how the hell were you getting alcohol at 11?) and you haven't stopped since you ARE and alcoholic that is not normal drinking is. Normal people don't start at age 11 they usually start at 16 at the earliest. Still even when I was 16 I only drank at party's that is it. If you want to know the difference that look at normal drinking patterns and look at your drinking patterns. How do they compare?

I had to tell my brother this too because he is an alcoholic also. Your average joe who isn't an alcoholic doesn't drink bear or any thing else on a daily basis. that is like a week end thing at most and some people don't even drink that often.

Alcohol abuse is really drinking to get drunk as it's recommended use is actually only to drink what is necessary to be social and not to get intoxicated.

considering your age this IS a serious problem for you already. You even a beer a day at 16 that is a problem. If you do not get a handle on this now you will be and alcoholic and the longer you keep messing around with booze and the older you get the more the drinking will increase the more out of control you will get and the more this will effect your life and over all well being.

I'm expressing this all out of concern for you. But I do want to know what is it that makes you have a drink each day? Was there something that caused you to want to drink. Or is it just to get drunk?

I'm so sorry simon that is part of being an alcoholic. I am that way though and I admit I still drink occasionally even though NA claims that you can't if you are an addict. But I will say that it is true.

I can drink as little as half my drink walk away and never think about it. I only drink socially (and only beer or wine as I usually get instantly sick from anything much harder than that.) I also have not been drunk since I was 25 and I am 31 now. I don't miss it either. I hated being drunk. I also like having a clear head and fear behaving badly do to being drunk as I saw other drunks doing. So yeah it is true some people do put a drink down and walk away and never think about it again. I would throw tons of alcohol out after a party. LOL I know some alcoholics who think that, that is alcohol abuse! (throwing out alcohol) My dad gets mad over it.

Considering how many of my family members are alcoholics I wholeheartedly believe it IS genetic and it just skipped over me because it can skip generations. So it's not your fault! your genes doomed you! But some alcoholics drink as a coping skill for bad emotions like depression or other psychological problems (being abused molested or raped as a child) they are still alcoholics because they can not stop drinking once they keep abusing alcohol over long periods of time. Even a normal person who abuses it will cause a chemical change in the brain that permanently makes them unable to stop drinking once they have one drink. It's a proven fact.

Once that chemical change happens you are done you can not ever drink again. It is impossible for you to control it once that happens. But I think some people may be born with that change already before they even have a drink.

sorry for such a long post that is beating a dead bush I should edit it. but I'm too tired to.

I too was drinking by the age of 12/13 but the age of 14 I was in a drug rehab for two years. It is something to have your teen years taken away like that. I had to rebuild my schooling, my friendships, everything. It was a miserable time in my life. Yes I got sober but it was a horrible expereience. May I suggest an AA meeting. You can go and just listen for a few times. What does your parents think about this? Maybe you could go with your mom or your partner. Get people involved in your recovery. Not saying you are an alcholic just this is not the time in your life to be drinking it.

I feel by laying it out to us you are crying out that you need help. You are saying Help help me. DS is answering yes yes yes.
So let your mental health advisors know Gointrhu's ideas is a great one. Something similar is to write a one page aotubiography of yourself since you were 6 highlighting the drinking. Give dr that before you start a session covers a lot of ground.

Good luck

If you go to AA meetings maybe a regular one is just to get your feet wet and to get a feel for what you don't ever want to become. If it becomes a regular AA meeting you must find young peoples AA meetings or you will have a great difficulty relating to Senior Citizens.

AA Central Office can help you with that and a regular AA meeting can help you find the phone number for one in your area. Larger cities have plenty of young people meetings.

Also there are meetings that cater to different cultures including gay and lesbian cultures as well as hispanic or deaf culture.

I started drinking at age 15 and it was always to drunkeness. I never saw the point in drinking if I didn't get drunk. I believe now that I was self medicating. Anyway, I drank mostly on the weekends, but was starting to drink during the week sometimes too. I definately think you have a problem with alcohol. Talk to yout tdoc about this and see about going to a young peoples AA meeting like Simon suggested. You don't have to drink everyday to be an alcoholic. Good luck.

i started all that stuff in high school. pretty young.
it sounds like you do have a problem. it can turn into a monster really quickly so this is a great time to kick it's ass.

I agree with all the above sweetie.. you are self medicating with alcohol.. it is a good idea to print out what you've written and take it with you..and as Mojo has said it can turn into a monster very quickly.. it's great you realize it now..Bless you..x