I’m an alcoholic but I don’t drink every day. Sometimes I have two or three drinks to “maintain” (sometimes one) but I also have periods without wanting to drink. I self medicate, depending. But I’m an alcoholic because the first time I ever had a mixed drink I blacked out. I’ve gone years without drinking (AA) without a “slip”, but sometimes, when I do…I had a two year black out after caring for my younger brother who died.
Two years.
Go big or go home. I dabble in it now. Usually when I drink it doesn’t affect me too much (I think) but sometimes I let fly with things I’d never express while sober. So I choose Binge with Consequences. I cringe, and grin, and bear it.
I self medicated with alcohol, which made the underlying problem worse, which made me want to self medicate more, which made me want to self medicate more and more, which made things worse and worse.
It was not a pretty sight.
There are a lot of people who can handle getting drunk everyday, but I’m not one of them. I may be able to handle drinking again, but the last 6 zillion times I tried that, I got into that vicious cycle again.
Thanks, and yes, I do. I have a very supportive family and husband. I have two therapists - one for the addiction itself, and one for my husband and I to mend our marriage. So far, so good. I’m pretty confident the last time was really the last time. Gotta keep on top of it though.
I’m blessed with an intolerance for alcohol. My idea of a drinking binge is 3 mixed drinks over 3 hrs.
Anything more than that and I pay a heavy penalty and I appreciate that limitation. I like to take the edge off a bad day or relax to really good music ant that’s it.
I’ve wondered why bars don’t specialize in serving high-end coffee as a natural transition for those who want to socialize but not get drunk.
I guess I would fall under “the guy who can’t say no”. That is to say, if I’m at a party, and someone offers me a drink, I’ll accept it unless I know I have to drive home or I feel ill. Both my brother and I can go overboard at times which makes me wonder if its something genetic (though my dad doesn’t drink at all, and my mom has a super low tolerance).
Unlike my brother, I don’t go through a drastic personality change and I am just one of those generic happy drunks. Since I’ve been married, I’ve tried to be more careful about how much I drink, however this is challenging to me for a few reasons; my wife’s family will continue to offer alcohol to me even if I’m already heavily buzzed (making it difficult for me to say, “I’ve had enough”) because in their culture its the responsibility of the drinker, not the host, to decide to stop. Also, I find that times that I’m overal super happy in general its harder for me to hit the brakes since I’m riding on this happy feeling and I don’t want to get off the ride (A Thanksgiving a few years ago where both our families came to my house, and a birthday party that had both our extended families present which made me ecstatic).
Generally if I’m focused on avoiding being an embarrasment to my wife (who has a high tolerance but doesn’t drink much herself) I can ride a good buzz without getting myself sick but maybe once every other year I overdo it because I’m having such a good time I don’t drink enough water or totally lose track of how much alcohol I’ve consumed.
I don’t drink, unless it’s something like champagne for a wedding toast where it’s socially obligatory. I have yet to find an alcoholic beverage that I can stand the taste of. Probably a good thing, too, because I have an addictive personality and if I liked the taste of alcohol, I would probably be wasted all the time.
I do not drink hard liquor at all. I just don’t seem to have the taste for it. Some evenings I will drink a beer, or maybe two. I bought a case of beer a week ago, and I still have 19 in the refrigerator next to my desk.
Occasionally, maybe once a week or so, I will open a bottle of wine and enjoy it through the evening.
I chose option two:
Drink extremely moderately. Not an alcoholic by any stretch of the imagination
I never drank every day, but during my university years and a bit beyond, I would binge-drink. Too much. With friends, or even… alone. I’d drink when it wasn’t appropriate to drink. I guess I’d call myself a problem drinker or a part-time alcoholic, not a full-time one.
Yeah. I agree. Most months I don’t drink at all. Sometimes I am in drinking situations (like visiting Germany) and I might have a drink a day for a couple of days. When my father was alive, when I had dinner with him, if he was having wine, I would have a glass. And I have a glass or two on Passover (but fill out my quota with grape juice.) I doubt I average as much as 20 servings of alcohol a year.
So, I called myself a “moderate” drinker in the poll, but I would have characterized myself as a light drinker. And I think there are a lot of moderate drinkers who rarely or never binge, but who drink sort of regularly, just not very much.
Went to an AA meeting today for the first time in 5 years or so, and sitting drinking tonite. I do the George Thorogood thing of “I drink alone, with nobody else,my family has rejected me except for my Old Granddad.” But the amount I drink now is half what I drank 15 years ago. So, so what???
I was looking for an option between “Don’t drink at all” and “Drink extremely moderately. Not an alcoholic by any stretch of the imagination”. I might have a half dozen drinks a year. More than “Not at all”, less than “extremely moderately”, which I might use to describe someone who has perhaps one drink a week or so.
I drink so infrequently, sometimes years go by between drinks. My parents were the same way. I have a liquor cabinet full of unopened liquor that was given to my father on several occasions. If my brother doesn’t want it, I’m giving it away.
No drinking on work nights. But on my days off, I’m a total lush.
I also don’t see the problem with drinking alone. (Come to the dark side Dung Beetle!)
Once every couple of weeks I might toss a teaspoon of brandy into my coffee of an evening, and I might have a glass of champagne two or three times a year and perhaps 2 more glasses of wine over the course of a year. Back before I was on regular pain meds at a whopping 135 pounds at 5’7" I could drink 2 full on drinks of hard liquor an hour for 4 or 5 hours and not appear drunk at all, not feel buzzed though I would assume that if I was breathalyzed I would be legal limit or above. [There was a reason I didn’t drive when I went out. I never drove if I was having more than a single drink - I didn’t want to deal with police. I slept in a parking lot more than once.]
Gotta keep on top of it though.