Coping with alcoholism.

lol, omg @ alcohol not being a 'real drug' or an addictive drug.

alcohol is THE most physically addicting substance that we really know of as human beings. while also psychologically addicting, alcohol in particular is noted for being so particularly dangerous to STOP drinking after enough time has passed with regular, heavy drinking, that it can kill you.
alcohol withdrawals make heroin withdrawals look like a joke. dead serious. axe me how i know.
alcohol withdrawal symptoms include hallucinations, seizures, and repeat-seizures that can be fatal which require hospitalization. some describe it like a terribly bad acid trip mixed with speed, while having the flu.

and addiction is a disease.
disease means how its spelled, DIS ... EASE.
something that causes discomfort to you within your own physiology, basically.
addiction in particular has been PROVEN to be genetically active within families,
and it will kill you.
it's a mental illness more than a 'classic' disease, but is still technically a disease.

theres a direct, physical link to repeated drinking. it acts on certain receptors in your brain that cause you to feel relaxed, that control your muscle movements and tone, makes you feel confident, and also control your ability to sleep. when you drink repeatedly, you saturate those receptors with alcohol, increasing their function, thus you get a buzz. when you cease drinking, these receptors effectively rebound into the other direction, decreasing their function. thats why you get symptoms when you do not drink, such as anxiety, feeling hot, sweaty, aggravated, inability to relax, inability to sleep, etcetera.

if you know nothing about this, count your blessings, its the some of the most terrible things i've yet to encounter in this world. but the ignorance to it is simply amazing, lol.

reply to post by llmacgregor


Hey, you know, acknowledging an issue is half of the battle. So you are way ahead of most. Good luck to you, you can do anything you set your mind to.

I hear you on this pal, I wish I could answer the question you've asked but, unfortunately I'm an addict to, not just the beer though, I smoke weed everyday and have now for 17 years, I'm only 29! Problem is I don't want help, I'm neither ready nor able too just yet, that's the problem with people like us, when's the right time to stop?

Alcoholism is a selfishess disease.Until you care about someone else more than you care about yourself ,You will always have an excuse to drink.Some how, for some reason you found a open door to a room were you don't drink. What do you care more about yourself or your family. Many of these post above and I'm sure below confuse higher power with religion .Read the big book its all bout you.Every room is not the same except for one thing you don't drink there. Or you can try Trader Joes for some herbal remedy.

I was drinking a lot of lager (light beer I think you call it over there) - I was drinking 6 days a week, or sometimes every day, and getting through 7 to 12 440ml cans per day.

I knew it was a problem when I couldn't fit any more cans in the can bin (it's huge).

While I was drinking I got the craving to have beer every day and would not be able to resist.

But I've decided to go through a lifestyle change, mainly to cut sugar from my diet after watching the Dr Lustig video on sugar on youtube.

I got really drunk on the Saturday, had been drinking all day, went to a presentation with a friend who wasn't drinking, and must have seemed like a total drunken bum to him.

Woke up on the Sunday and thought "this is it". Got the cans out the fridge, opened them and poured them down the sink.

And it has been really easy not to drink, I haven't had a craving or the desire to have one.

I think what probably helps is that I'm not trying to stop drinking beer, I'm cutting all excess sugar out of my diet so that I can get healthier and lose some weight.

Psychologically it's probably quite significant, but I am now definitely NOT a drinker, and I am in total control of it rather than the other way around.

Thought it would be tough but it's been easier than easy.

Good luck with stopping.

reply to post by Hopechest


Wow.

The words uninformed and ignorant and biased come to mind after your post.
Weird, huh?

Originally posted by Hopechest
reply to post by darkmistandtrees

 

Fabulous post backed up with research.

Great job and I hope that helps the OP.

With all your antagonism, it makes me wonder if your addicted to alcohol or something else and being beligerent and defensive because of it.
Hmm

Originally posted by DaTroof
Alcoholics are pansies. Try fighting a real addiction. Alcohol isn't even addictive.

Are you for real??

or just incredibly ignorant??

Originally posted by llmacgregor
reply to post by JeffreyCH

 

I was like that mannn....a sixxer would to me good for a night.....it somehow progressed. and I would like to make this clear because this isn't a conspiracy..... call it what you want, a disease, a mental illness, substance addiction or just the love of beer, whatever you want to name it, or your opinions on it might be , it is still alcoholism. There has to be some common ground (regardless) on not only a solution, but maybe a little advice shared...from what ive seen there is....and thats why I asked, man, sometimes words of encouragement and experience alike are a big time help, no matter how you dealt with an issue similar to this, or how you precieve it. Ideas are welcomed just as well.

The earth is my higher power.....cause everything that surrounds me comes from it....including myself...and alcohol...gahhhh.

I said I would never drink or smoke, to my parents, cause they did it. I failed

One thing I see here is that you feel you failed because you drink, that in itself can make it worse. A few others have touched on this, looking at the reason you drink, I don't mean the little surface things that trigger a binge. Like you at one point my drinking progressed, went from a 6pk and a couple shots to eventually a quart of vodka a night. That's when things started slipping for me, I woke up feeling like cr@p everyday, my job performance was going downhill, and the last straw was a DUI. I was court ordered to AA and counseling, I hated it, maybe because I have issues with authority and HAD to be there, I don't know, just couldn't handle it at all. I violated my probation on purpose after about 3 months, 30 days in jail was way better to me then 2 years of listening to everyone tell me how screwed up I was. It was like the more they would talk about it, the more I wanted to drink. While I was in jail, I had a very deep long talk with myself, once I came to the conclusion that quitting wasn't an option, I set some very hard rules for myself.

1. never start drinking at the beginning of the day
2. never ever under any circumstances get behind the wheel
3. if things are stressful don't drink, use a clear mind to work through the stress, if something is messed up in your life it doesn't matter how long you stay drunk it will still be there and probably be worse. This one is very important, because it can cause an endless loop that progresses your drinking. Let's say it's a bad day at work, you come home stressed out and start drinking. Sure it goes away for a few hours, but you didn't really deal with it, so it's still there the next day, but it's worse. It's like a snowball rolling downhill just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Instead, get home, and think through what it was that stressed you out, formulate a plan to avoid/alleviate that stress the next day.
4. don't get blackout drunk, I use alcohol to relax, not forget anything
5. Don't let it control you, you control how much, when, and where you drink.
6. Don't stockpile alcohol. It may be cheaper to grab a case and say it will last 4 days, but it won't. I drink till the booze is gone so I grab a 6pk and 2 airline sized bottles of bourbon every night on my way home from work.

I have those days when a 6 and a couple shots don't do it for me also. I'm one of those people that after a hard days work I have a hard time coming down from it. On those occasions I'll walk a mile to the store, get 1 beer and 1 shot, that walk plus the night cap always does me in. This is what's worked for me for the better part of 20 years, however it may not work for you.

Originally posted by Diabolical
reply to post by llmacgregor

 

I have tried drinking beer. Which I hate. I will tell you, I can't see how anybody who drinks that stuff even gets a buzz. Beer doesn't do anything for me. And, I have drank a 12 pack just to experiment on how it makes me feel. I won't drink that or wine.

But I do you hope you get things straightened out.

Try going to AA meeting.

Maybe that will help.

edit on 28-5-2013 by Diabolical because: (no reason given)

funny thing is if a guy brags about drinking a case of beer ,its cool but could u imagine bragging about drinking a case of coke everybody would think ur insane lol

my dad drank the holy water & smoked the unfiltered chesterfields till he had a stroke at 77 years old , & yes he was irish & a functioning alcoholic , he was from the ww2 neigborhood barroom generation ,& it seems all my friends had blue collar alcoholic fathers

llmac,

It is good to be concerned of the stage your at. For some folks it takes hitting bottom one or more times to get the message to quit drinking. I lost three careers and was on my way to losing a fourth before I sobered up.
Drinking ruined my Air Force career, FAA Air Traffic Control career and RN career. I still didn't feel the need to quit after I was asked to leave the nursing field! They told me I could come back after 6 months of sobriety, so I said screw them and went on my merry drunken way.

I went into the semiconductor industry which I am still in 20 years later, and sober for the last 19 of them! Thank God they had a EAP benefit which I took full advantage of and this time it worked. Or maybe I finally got off my a$$ and worked! I did the AA thing for three years or so, but fell away from it because I disagreed with some of their doctrines. My way of maintaining was to get more involved with my church and kids extracurricular activities.

At first I didn't want to be a part of festivities, be it holidays, family or friends. And definitely stayed away from bars & clubs. Now it has been so long that it doesn't bother me one bit to go to any of those things. But, I never hang in the pub or bar hop with the work crew of friends & family. If you have a peanut allergy, you don't go to walmart and buy a big bag of dry roasted peanuts and eat them!

I too inherited the proclivity for alcoholism being Irish, German and Native American heritage. My grandfather who was 100% German died from the DT's. He is in the Naismith Memorial basketball Hall of Fame, and being a "superman" still didn't save him from alcohol addiction. And let me tell you from my experience DT's are BAD. I've been through them twice and I am surprised I didn't have a stroke as high as my blood pressure got!
Only pansies make comments like datroof earlier. Alcohol withdrawal kills way more people than heroin withdrawal.

Also one thing I found out during my last "clean up" was that I had damaged my liver. You cannot tell when it is damaged unless you get blood work done. Unless it has given you some ailments from the damage of course. but the liver heals itself if you quit soon enough. But I was warned that if I start drinking again it will return to the damaged state it was in very very quickly. What took years before will take weeks the next time....

Anyway, I've drabbled on long enough, I just want to let you know to not be embarrassed with your concerns. They are real concerns and many people you see daily are recovered alcoholics, or in recovery. We are doctors, bosses, clergymen, pilots, firemen, construction workers etc. The average joes to your right and left, you just never know because we just don't go carrying signs that say I am an alcoholic, a drug addict, a gambling addict etc on our backs.

If there is anything I can help you with in this endeavor, let me know....

reply to post by llmacgregor


not preaching, but my family is filled with alchohoics, including my only brother. When AA speaks of a higher power, they are referencing the idea that we should all recognize a power greater than ourselves. You don't have to pray, but you may want to. You don't have to go to church, but you may want too, I don't care, even though I consider myself a Christian. You make your own decisions. However YOU envision your higher power, it can help.
AA gives you people with similar problems too talk to.
I have a problem myself.
Good luck buddy1

reply to post by llmacgregor


Hey OP. I know better than anyone what you're going through. I've been an alcoholic since I was 15. I consider myself a reasonably talented guy but booze destroyed a lot of potential. I'm finally at a point in my life where my job requires me to be around copious amounts of alcohol and you know what?: I don't even touch the stuff. I still get urges from time to time and quitting was not easy. It's a process man. Could take months, or it could take years. There is NO easy way out of it.

I found it was a collective of things that helped me quit. You're probably not going to like the first three. But I'm confident that they do work. These are things that ultimately helped me get clean.

1. Getting a DUI: Drinking's gotten me in trouble with the law before, but once I got my DUI and had to deal with all of the unnecessary bull the courts slammed on me, it was a big wake up call that this wasn't anyway to live my life.

2. Smoking weed: Controversial, I know. Still healthier than the bottle. If you ever start to get a strong urge to drink, there's nothing like a few puffs to assuage the longings. Get good stuff. At the very least it'll make you too lazy to go to the store and buy a bottle. If you're not careful though you'll just find yourself relying on it frequently. (and no I'm not a pot head.........anymore). Anyway, this is more of a short term solution you understand?

3. Avoid Friends: Unless of course they're non-drinker. This is the most difficult one and consequently the most important. The previous suggestions are more short term ways to deal with not drinking but this is going to be the one that keeps you on the wagon. If at all possible try to relocate. I know this sounds extreme but beating alcoholism usually requires extreme solutions unless you have a mighty strong will.

4. Exercise: Let's face it. When we don't drink we tend to be on edge. Going for a jog or hitting the gym is a good way to blow off steam and cool off.

5. Submerge yourself in a hobby: Music, sports, art, video games, fashion, movies, plants, kids, whatever. Just lose yourself in it. Become as obsessed with it as you were with booze. It'll help fill the hole the drinking left.

Anyway, these things helped me. Everyone is different though. One bad day can be enough to make anyone be like "f**k this. I'm getting wasted." Don't get fixated on going cold turkey forever. Take it one day at a time.

On a side note: Everyone, we all know alcohol is just the illuminati's tool in population reduction and control. Look around. EVERYONE drinks. Every other commercial is some miller perfect night bull#. THEY want you drunk. Alcohol IS addictive. Very addictive. Just as bad as cigarettes. Especially during these trying times. While all of our livers are failing, their pockets are getting fatter. Don't just give them the victory. Fight it for God's sake. I know life is hard but you're all intelligent strong people. You don't need alcohol, alcohol needs YOU. sorry for the rant.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


don't listen to the so-called experts when it comes to the God part of healing. I have been sober since march 8, 1992 because i learned about the disease, went to AA meetings and mostly LISTENED to those who WERE digging out of their downward spiral. i asked GOD for help. and he listened.

it is not easy. about the same time i became sober, i quit smoking too. it can be done. but you have to remember one thing: you are the one who has to answer the question: do i want to live? or do i want to fool myself and everybody around me and die miserable?

you know the answer. get to work. and i'm not saying good luck. luck has nothing to do with action.

reply to post by Hopechest


By far the worst most uninformed post I have read on ats in years and that is saying a lot. Obviously you do not know any real drinkers who suffer from the disease. Yes Disease. It is hereditary. It will kill you. It is not always as easy as your heavily biased post make it sound. I am at a loss of words considering your ignorance and moronic post. Boo. Hiss. Take your better than thou attitude and place it where the sun does not shine. Further more... I was told at one point it is better to keep your mouth shut if you don't know what your talking about. The are literally millions and millions of alcoholics who are in jail, have died, ruined their families or lost jobs etc. etc. etc. who would beg to differ with your narrow minded and ignorant views.

llmacgregor,

Time to stop screwing around! Put the cork back in the jug and leave it there for good.

Originally posted by the owlbear

Originally posted by llmacgregor
Hey guys, this isn't something I am particularly proud of, so hold back your insults and unconstructive criticisim please.


I believe I have become an alcoholic. It has effected my job, love life, social life, health, and mental health, among other things.

I have an alcoholism history in my family and I'm afraid I have inherited it..... unfortunately. in the past year it has gotten worse than ever, my cravings are getting stronger, and the amount I drink is increasing. I will go a week or so without drinking, but then I find a trigger and I binge for four or five days drinking no less than a 12 pack every day. then I catch myself and quit for another week or so, in that time I commonly attend AA meetings. but I always seem to find myself drinking again after being triggered by almost anything really, mostly stress I have to say. it has become an addiction I am sorry to say. I thought I was stronger than this but I guess I'm not.

So I have come here to ask any of you how you cope with this, because I know I'm not alone. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have the desire to quit, but I didn't think it would be this difficult.

Also...and this is the big one...ALCOHOLISM IS NOT A DISEASE. NO ONE SNEEZES AND YOU CATCH ALCOHOLISM FROM THEM. IT IS NOT AN STD OR OTHERWISE RELATED THING.

YOU HAVE A CHOICE. PLAIN AND SIMPLE...DO I PICK UP THAT BOTTLE OR TWELVE OR DO I BE RESPONSIBLE AND ACT LIKE AN ADULT.

Sorry...didnt mean to sound like an ass...but that is what it comes down to. YOU. Not some HIGHER POWER or holding hands with crackhead johnny and heroin tony every week.
You.

And you know what, I believe in you...

You don't know what the hell your typing, that's just judgmental crap.You have no idea....f'in jerk.

Originally posted by the owlbear

Originally posted by tinker9917
Valerian root (obtained at a health food store) relieves/reduces the cravings, and relaxes you. I know several people who got away from alcohol this way.

At least you recognize that it has become a problem and want to do something about. Good luck to you!

Valium...one of the only drugs I consider safe is merely concentrated valerian root. Some days I take none some days I take about 40-60mgs and I can still function. It is also recommended for those trying to hop on the wagon permanently...takes the withdrawl symptoms away.

Valium is not safe. It is is not 'concentrated' valarian root. It is Diazepam a bensodiazepine drug. Look up the side effects and withdrawal problems. Some people never come back from Bensos.

Where do people get these notions.

Originally posted by llmacgregor
. I will go a week or so without drinking, but then I find a trigger and I binge for four or five days drinking no less than a 12 pack every day..

This is not the place to be talking about this - you will get all sorts of bad advice. Talk to AA members, who have been there and back.