They tell me that you’ll find out eventually whether or not you are an alcoholic, just that when a lot of people find out is when they are in a jail, hospital, divorce, without a job etc etc etc.
Thanks! Krispy-Kreme was my inspiration…
Honestly, I can’t recall ever attempting to stick to a certain number of drinks. I never intend to have a couple. It just always seems like a good idea to have some more. I think I must be… “Alcoholically Challenged”… why else would other people be satisfied with such smaller amounts? I don’t even particularly like the effects of alcohol until my mind is totally blank, which only occurs after something like 6-8 drinks. By then I’m not capable of making the decision to stop drinking.
It’s too bad the only legal mind-numbing recreational drug is also the most damaging. Seems backwards.
You say that you only drink to make your mind totaly blank and you also admit that this is causing damage, but you keep on doing it. I think you have answered you own question of whether your an alcoholic or not. 
Why do you need to use a chemical to numb your mind to the point that you feel you need to? Yep, it sounds like you just might have a problem.
Heh heh. Well the consensus seems to be i’m an alcoholic. Maybe i should get down to the nearest AA meeting right now… Would it make a difference if i added that i never get drunk on my own, so although i drink almost every day its usually just a glass of wine or a beer?
MmmDonut - are these alcohol binges of yours done on your own? While do you feel the need to blank out your mind? Obviously i don’t really know anything about you, but if you’re using drinking to blank out your mind then maybe your drinking is just a symptom of another problem. I’d suggest you look at why you drink rather than concentrating on the drinking itself. If you stop the motivation to blank out your mind then you’d probably stop drinking altogether - it doesn’t sound like you actually enjoy the taste or effects of alcohol.
I suppose I am motivated by escapism, mostly. A desire to turn off my mind, to supress the endless cycle of negative thoughts. I’ve read a lot about the physical effects of alcohol, and I know that at my level of consumption it is acutely toxic. In that sense, it is damaging. However, I don’t allow it to interfere with what I perceive to be my responsibilities in life. It’s not something that prevents me from getting things done. So, it hasn’t been detrimental to me in any tangible way.
If I do have an alcohol problem, I blame other people. Not all of them, just the huge number that annoy the hell out of me. A blank mind makes it much easier to deal with them politely. They should be forced to read the SDMB until they become more interesting.
Occasionally by myself, mostly around other people. I’m fairly sure the excessive drinking is due to some underlying psychological issue. I hate the word “depression”, but that’s what it is. It’s a very bad and inexplicable feeling that only seems to go away when my thoughts are altered by certain chemicals. Just not the ones normally used by the psychiatrists. Which sucks, but that’s life. I can see how this could lead to alcoholism… no doubt it’s lead many people down that path.
Let’s see if I have this straight:
You drink at a level that you know to be “acutely toxic” and then follow it up by saying “If I do have an alcohol problem”. You’ve got to be kidding.
There are many “functional alcoholics” who feel their drinking doesn’t affect their day-to-day living and they are only “hurting themselves”, in your case physically, but there is usually more to it that that.
“Blaming other people” is another classic sign of alcoholism. Since this is GQ, not IMHO, I won’t go any further here. I think your original question has been answered.
If you want, you can email me at [email=nebco9@yahoo.com]this address.