Am I an alchoholic?

Discussion
22

It is alcoholism once you’ve reached the point where you both don’t enjoy drinking and no longer get any relief of tension from it, yet are compelled to continue drinking anyway. If you enjoy the experience more while drinking, but still enjoy the same activities without it that is pretty normal human behavior. Likewise if it helps you through a tough time but when appropriate or necessary you can still push through any trials without a drop then you’re fine for the time being.

In my own case I never really liked alcohol in the traditional sense but found it… I guess amusing and good for fast forwarding through time that would otherwise be unremarkable. During high school I very much preferred every other drug I could get my hands on. It wasn’t until I turned 21 and the immediate availability of it presented a problem. That very first day I started drinking heavily to suppress my constant situational anxiety and to help myself off of the harder drugs I preferred. {Obviously there are much better routes to go about this but when in a situation of such desperation the first few steps tend to be poorly thought out and do more harm than they do good.} After a few years I had depleted my brain so badly of B vitamins I started experiencing panic attacks and heart problems (palpitations, dizzy spells, tachycardia) completely unrelated to any outside or conscious internal stimulus. I could be doing something simple and every day like walking down the aisle at the grocery store or sitting at a traffic light waiting for it to turn green when I noticed everything seemed darker than normal. A few minutes later my vision would suddenly blur and my heart started pounding like I was sprinting in fear of my life. During the worst episodes I also experienced uncomfortable facial twitches with one side or the other twisting into a lopsided grin. The point of this story is that any sensible person without an addiction thrust into the same situation would have immediately stopped drinking and seen a doctor, whereas I did neither. I was fully conscious of the crux I put myself in yet chemical compulsion still won out to reason more times than not.

I very much agree that the reasons why you use in the first place are the most crucial for determining if you already have a problem or if you’re on the road to one. I don’t personally think you have a problem because most people can do the same as you and still break even. Of course everyone should be wary of drugs for stress relief as there is usually something else that offers a better benefit/risk ratio.

I’m way too drunk to read all of that!
J/k. harrowing story dude! I had enough shit that sucked around me and with me without addding more to it! I woulda quit, done, at the first panic attack. Well, ok, maybe the 2nd cause who knew if the first one was caused by the drinking, but once I knew for sure, DONE!
Late,
grmpysmrf

23

I’m single and drinking for the second night in a row…

Just throwing it out there.

Where are you?

24

Giving up the piss was the best thing I did.

Cost me a lot. I’m one of those people that just shouldn’t do that, or drugs.

25

Giving up the piss was the best thing I did.

Cost me a lot. I’m one of those people that just shouldn’t do that, or drugs.

Me too.

26

Been drinking heaps over the last two to three months. Really need to watch myself. Too many hours spent surfin’ the net with a scotch and coke and bowl of spicy peanuts to dip into.

I can’t even remember my weekend - and I’m drinking alone constantly which is bad.

27

[reply]
It is alcoholism once you’ve reached the point where you both don’t enjoy drinking and no longer get any relief of tension from it, yet are compelled to continue drinking anyway. If you enjoy the experience more while drinking, but still enjoy the same activities without it that is pretty normal human behavior. Likewise if it helps you through a tough time but when appropriate or necessary you can still push through any trials without a drop then you’re fine for the time being.

In my own case I never really liked alcohol in the traditional sense but found it… I guess amusing and good for fast forwarding through time that would otherwise be unremarkable. During high school I very much preferred every other drug I could get my hands on. It wasn’t until I turned 21 and the immediate availability of it presented a problem. That very first day I started drinking heavily to suppress my constant situational anxiety and to help myself off of the harder drugs I preferred. {Obviously there are much better routes to go about this but when in a situation of such desperation the first few steps tend to be poorly thought out and do more harm than they do good.} After a few years I had depleted my brain so badly of B vitamins I started experiencing panic attacks and heart problems (palpitations, dizzy spells, tachycardia) completely unrelated to any outside or conscious internal stimulus. I could be doing something simple and every day like walking down the aisle at the grocery store or sitting at a traffic light waiting for it to turn green when I noticed everything seemed darker than normal. A few minutes later my vision would suddenly blur and my heart started pounding like I was sprinting in fear of my life. During the worst episodes I also experienced uncomfortable facial twitches with one side or the other twisting into a lopsided grin. The point of this story is that any sensible person without an addiction thrust into the same situation would have immediately stopped drinking and seen a doctor, whereas I did neither. I was fully conscious of the crux I put myself in yet chemical compulsion still won out to reason more times than not.

I very much agree that the reasons why you use in the first place are the most crucial for determining if you already have a problem or if you’re on the road to one. I don’t personally think you have a problem because most people can do the same as you and still break even. Of course everyone should be wary of drugs for stress relief as there is usually something else that offers a better benefit/risk ratio.

When I start using drugs, heavy drugs like heroin, I was 20. Now I’m 41 and I’m totally clean from 1 year and a half. And I assure to you that, till I was 28, I had great times with drugs. It means that for 8 years I could handle any kind of drugs, heroin , cocaine, pot, ecstasy, lsd etc… without to be addicted. Then it starts the hell, and it require to me more that 10 years to be really drug free. One thing has helped me, I never had problems with alcohol, because many friends of mine replace drugs with alcohol and all of them became alcoholics, the worst kind of alcoholics which are never satisfied to drink, they do it because they can’t take drugs so they drink till death.
About you; you can really take it easy, obviously you are not an alcoholic, your girl stress you just because she got problems of his own. You can live, drink and amuse yourself this way, don’t listen other people bullshit, which pretend to rule your life, use your own head, you have done the right thing to post here your story. After you have read all the answers you have more informations, informations are the most important thing to live in the right way, and you can use them to make the right decision. Now, you can answer this girl to think about his problems, because you aren’t an alcoholic, you are a normal good guy who lives his life, a smart kid who hasn’t problems to drink with his friends and joy life in the right way.[laugh]

28

I live with Peligro, he only lets me out on weekends.

29

What everyone else is sayin’, Mr. Deeds. Just because you like to get faded a little more than once in a blue moon doesn’t mean you’ve a problem.

I myself drink a great deal, but it’s not a compulsion or a sole reason for existence, nor does it particularly interfere with the rest of my life. To me, alcohol is a tool used to make good times better and the bad times a touch more manageable. “If it ain’t broke,” and whatnot.