Am I an Alcoholic ?
Most people who are drinking too much, in whatever way, will occasionally ask themselves the question – am I an alcoholic?
It’s a scary question to ask yourself, but as with most things the answer will not be a black or white,
“yes you’re an alcoholic” or
“no you’re not”,
but a shade of grey somewhere in between.
What sort of alcoholic are you?
Binge Drinker
- Irregular over-drinking,
- Monster hangovers,
- Doing embarrassing things you regret,
- Alienating your friends,
- Accidents,
- Days off work,
- Mood swings…
If this sounds like you, then get some help here.
Heavy Drinker
- Very difficult to have a day without alcohol,
- Can’t sleep without drink,
- Drinking alone,
- Guilt,
- Cravings,
- Can’t concentrate,
- Low energy,
- Depression…
Or if this sounds more like you, then contact us here.
Dependent Drinker
- Physical withdrawal,
- Drinking from early in the day, every day,
- Isolation,
- Poor health,
- Unstable work,
- Relationships failing,
- Feeling hopeless & ashamed…
If however, this is who you are, then to start with you’re going to need some medical help to detox your liver – go and see your Doctor, then get in touch with us.
You might be wondering, more simply, how can I stop drinking alcohol? But of course it’s never as simple as that. You’ll need plenty of support, and some clear goals, plus some in-depth understanding of how your own particular addiction works. That’s what online counselling will do for you. Try one session at least, and you’ll see how it can help.
If you do nothing about your problems, then nothing will change.
I never realised until I met my very special American girlfriend (the American view of alcohol is so much more unforgiving than ours) that I really did have a problem.
The prospect of life without alcohol was in itself harrowing. Could drinking be any worse than not drinking? You bet it could. I remember my last drink at 10.00 p.m. on 6th January 2005 like it was yesterday; I put down the empty glass in the pub that night and I have not picked up since. What a step and now, what a joy!! 3 years on, life sober is so good and so much better than it was, and so much better that I could ever have envisaged when I was drinking.
Alcoholism is a disease and it will kill you – if you let it.
I really need some quick answers, please. I am almost 29 years old and have been drinking pretty regularly since about 21 years old. I mainly drink wine. Usually for me, its not a getting drunk thing, but rather trying to cope with day to day stress of things in life. In many ways I have had a difficult life and I am assuming thats why I drink. I also feel like I could pretty easily stop, but then again, I have not yet. Usually when I drink I drink 2-3 glasses of wine and thats it. For me, that gets me somewhat relaxed but defiantly not drink. Last night although I had about two bottles of wine and yes that got me drunk, but I never had a blackout or did anything stupid. I have never had a blackout but with the few times I have gotten drunk I have done some stupid things to my wife. These were a long time ago and I don’t feel like those will ever happen again. I choose not to go to get fast-food because you cant get wine there. I choose to go to regular restaurants mainly to get wine. I drink nearly everyday mainly at night, but recently have started to drink in the afternoons as i own my own business and work from home and no one knows except my wife. I don’t really feel that my drinking now affects my family much at all or that my job is in jeopardy. I just want to know if I am considered an alcoholic. I really need someone’s honest opinion. I do feel like it would be hard for me to stop as it is something that I do enjoy alot and its something I can fall back on to relax and actually enjoy life. I feel like if I could find something else to take its place than I could very easily quit drinking, but then I would be dependant on that. Which would not accomplish much unless it is something positive. If I could get some advice I would greatly appreciate it. Do I need to seek help?
Thank you.
Well John, your here so I guess you know you have a problem. Certainly drinking in the afternoon highlights to me that you are treading a particularly dangerous path. I suggest stopping for a few days, it may be a wake up call, it has been for me.
I stopped 4 days ago:
Over the years I have progressed from a binge drinker (weekends only) to a heavy drinker (about 10-14 units per night). 4 days ago I decided enough is enough.
What has struck me has been the cravings and the withdrawal symptoms. I was not expecting any but I have sweats, headaches, mood swings and trouble sleeping. The cravings have been crazy, I never knew that there was so many TV adverts/posters etc (funny how you never notice them when drinking). Of course the only time I have trouble is at night when I used to drink.
Surprisingly my wife is not bothered with my drinking and she has offered little support (I have always drunk a similar amount in 7 years we have been together). In fact, she says she prefers it when I drink because we talk and I am far more relaxed. She thinks that I was uptight because of work, when secretly it was because I was counting down for the time for a drink, lol.
Of course, I could have carried on. I know that I was in relative control of my addiction. However, I have decided that I want to live without that feeling of wanting a drink. I know a lot of other people in my family walk a similar line, and that they are in control to a point.
Well, here comes the weekend. Time to grit my teeth between those hours of 8.00 – 10.00 pm!
John, only you will know but the fact that you are here tells me that you suspect something. In the case of alcohol abuse, forewarned is most definitely forearmed.
Alcoholism is a creeping illness and when we start our drinking career we are blissfully unaware that we harbour the defective gene that leads to the nightmare.
You are young and appear wise enough to arrest the condition now. Try a few days without the wine and see how you feel. Normal people can do this with ease, alcoholics struggle because of the defective gene and the strength of their addiction.
Either way, not picking up, one day at a time, is achieveable by all – it’s just a little harder for alcoholics like me.
I wish you well.
I worked as a volunteer addiction counsellor for a couple of years and it never ceased to amaze me how people could be so clear about the extent of their problem and so ignorant as to what to do about it, but of course this is the insidious nature of the disease.
If cirrosis doesn’t get us denial will.
The social pressures are of course huge, in large part down to the 30billion a year turnover that the alcohol industry flourishes under, and the encouragement given to it by the government, who take a percentage much larger than the amount given back.
Denial is encouraged, and when people are down, depressed and frightened this leads to disastrous consequences.
There is so much hypocrisy and deciet in this modern material world, and the spiritual vacuum we’ve created has led to abuse on almost every level.
In keeping with almost everyone else on this site I applaud anyone and everyone who’s facing their problems and trying to do something about it and wish them unmitigated success and pray that one day the selfish atavistic money-grabbers will one day come to their senses and realise that harming others to profit themselves is short sighted and ultimately comes back to bite you.
Carl Rogers, any and/or all of his works/books, and M.Scott Peck ‘The road less travelled’ can help.
I have decided to give up alcohol and have a lot in common
with everyone. I am an alcoholic and it is an addictive drug.
I have taken one day at a time. I intend to beat the addiction
Best off luck to everyone
teatotal Paul (i hope)
i too am just starting to think about giving up drink as its destroying everyone around me as i get really aggressive.i blame everyone but myself.really hate being dependant on alcohol.lost loads of people in my life because of this and i dont want to lose anymore.must go to library for allen carr book
Why is it that people can be so hurtful when it comes to somebody with an alcohol problem. I have been sober for eight months now and that for me feels really good. Each day my life has been getting better and even rosier, until Tuesday 22nd July. Went to work as normal and was asked by my manager if he could have a chat. Apparently two members of staff had made a statement to say that I smelt of alcohol on my shift (I am on Antabuse so if I had of been drinking I would have been really ill and not be able to stand up) I have now been suspended pending further investigation. I know that I am telling the truth but for some reason my manager thinks different. He stated to me that he understands alcoholism, what a load of rubbish. I am going to put a grievance in about my manager as I feel that he has handled this all wrong.
Any further advice would be really useful.
Firstly Jane, congratulations on 8 months sobriety!
These things are set to try us and these comments can only harm you if you let them. You didn’t drink and you sare proud of that. Maintain the moral high ground and go ahead with your grievance procedure if you believe that is the right course of action.
Good Luck!
Jane,
Join a union NOW!
Then tackle your manager with a rep in tow.
This allegation can be slanderous and libellous and very damaging to your efforts to correct your life.
Make these pernicious trouble makers stand up and be counted the way that you’re doing.
Don’t let nasty prejudice deflect you from your purpose.
Get advice from the union and respond in a level headed informed view, but whatever you do don’t let these weasels de motivate you.
You’ve done brilliantly and are to be applauded, well done!
It could well be that there are people in the organisation that you work for who are terribly threatened by what you’ve managed to achieve. So threatened, in fact, that they need to sabotage your efforts to protect them from some unpalatable truths.
If you go back on the booze it’ll negate any efforts they have to make to do the same. This feels very like a defensive panic measure from someone who’s afraid of the subject, very possibly because they’re in deep themselves but can’t face up to it.
It’s a difficult place to be, as many people know.
I would suggest the union route and consideration of the possibility that this may be a cry for help from someone else with a problem. If not, it’s meddlesome and harmful gameplaying and with your track history almost certainly constitutes bullying and/or victimisation.
Whatever happens, let your manager know the lengths you’ve gone to to confront the problem areas in your life, and the unhelpful nature of these unprovable allegations. The uion will dispel them in an instant. there is no way of proving these allegations and as such they need to be dropped or proven, which they can’t.
I wish you continuing success in your efforts. Keep it up, as someone once said ‘ don’t let the bastards get you down!’
Sammy, thanks for the message and advice given. I have now joined a union and are going to take it from there. As regards to going back on the drink, I have thought about it thinking what is the point of being sober either way it gets me into trouble. I’ve got this far and there is no going back, that I am determined of. I have had to up my counselling sessions to make sure I stay on track. There is no way in this world he is going to win, I am going to fight this all the way. He just regards me as ‘once a drinker always a drinker’ looking for a way to get rid of me. I’m staying focused.
My boyfriend is a binge drinker.He goes days, even months without drinking. He has lost his lisenses, and went to jail for 90 days. He is depressed, and spends days in bed. His mother tries to hide him out on the farm, with his problem. I have tried to help him, but I can’t. He is a wonderful person with a awful disease, and it is going to kill him. He blacks a lot now, he spend one night a couple weeks ago, on the river bank, drinking all night. He looses control of his body functions, kidneys and bowels. He tells me, he wants to die. I love him, and can’t leave him. I tell people when they way are you with him? I reply, would you leave you spouse if he had cancer? My life is a nightmare. But what can I do? He ask me not to give up on him. But he won’t get the help he needs. He his been drinking for over 35 years. What can I do??
Hi Everyone,
I quit 18 months ago not of my own choice but because a Judge told me he thought it was a good idea. I just completed 1 year of Drug Court and it was that option or 4 months in jail. I lost my license and because of that I lost my home, career, self respect, friends, and basically everything I worked for 20 years since College. I had a great home on a Golf Course and all the nice things in life. I had a great career as a Network Designer based on Cisco technology. Now I live on my Moms couch and ride my bike to work as a meat clerk in a grocery store. I had a horrible childhood with my alcoholic father and a mother who worried and felt constant shame. My dad didn’t stay around long though but when he was there it was hell to pay and the neighborhood kids made fun of me all of the time because of all of the insanity at my house. I got beat up a lot because I couldn’t stand the constant name calling and I would try to stand up for myself. Alcohol killed my father when he was 46 and as a good son I went to bring his body home for the funeral. I remember going to his apartment and finding all of the bloody underware and sheets and just crying my eyes out. I was 26 at the time. I started drinking a lot after that experience . About 4 years after my Dad died I started to worry that I had a problem. I needed alcohol to sleep better and it worked. I got engaged to a wonderful girl and she had a great son and that is why I built my home. I never had a stable home growing up and we moved a lot. I put myself through College because I wanted a better life and didn’t want to struggle like my Mom did and I wanted to take care of her financially and I was able to. I girlfriend left me after 5 years and I tried to get sober after that but AA just didn’t seem like it made much sense to me. Nothing did at that point anyway.
I can tell you after all of that I actually for the first time in my life actually like myself. I have nothing of material value but I will get that back. I have myself and that is priceless. I workout again riding my bike about 40 miles a day to work and for exercise. I also eat well and watch my blood sugar. When I crave alcohol and it’s not very ofter it’s because I am usually hungry and my body is telling me that my blood sugar is low. That is the case for 95 % of all people with drinking problems trust me on that. I think of Alcohol now as a handicap that I can put myself through or just not do it. I had to attend AA meetings at part of Drug Court and for the first time I started to speak my mind. I don’t work the steps and I don’t have a sponsor because I choose not to. I use SMART Recovery as a tool and it’s a better choice for me. Here AA is full of Right Wing Christian freaks who think if I don’t but into their way of thinking I will die…LOL.
I went through the physical withdraw in a hospital and everyone who is physically addicted should consider doing that. After 5 months my sleep returned and I feel sane again. I can put my material life back together because I am not stressed out from all of the Alcohol and the resulting crap that comes with it. Quitting drinking will make it so you can get through the tough times because you will have your best weapon to do so. You will have the real you back.
Hi Everyone
I think my husband is an alcoholic although he does not agree with me. It started about 14 years ago before then he used to drink a weak beer 4 pint cans would last him 2 weeks.
His a motor mechanic [sorry if spelt wrong] he started to phone up & say he was working late, i obviously believed him. When this started to happen nearly every evening i wondered if he was actually working.
To find out that he was going in the pub after work every night was a shock, this caused several arguements to say the least.
Then i found out he was drinking 4-5 pints of stella a night & driving home i was disgusted, angry & upset.
I moved out of the bedroom i refused to share a bed with someone who chose beer over our marriage & i will not allow him to bring beer into the house, as i was not going to stand by & let him ruin his life, my life & his childrens life.
He cut himself off from all of us, he lies constantly about where he has been, he gets nasty & angry when i confront him about drinking.
He does nothing to help in the home, he comes home falls asleep then goes to bed.
We have no social life & do nothing together only food shopping.
He has put on 3 stone in weight, 4 years ago ago he was told to stop drinking due to health problems & to lose 2 stone in weight, but he ignored that advice & put on another stone instead.
It’s like living with a zombie he has no feelings he does not care what he says or to who or how hurt that other person is due to what he has said or done.
He has cut down the drinking,to 1-2 pints of stella 3-4 times a week, he said it’s hard he likes the taste but wont admit he has a problem.
He told me he will not drink for 1 month to see how he feels after 2 weeks he said his feeling a bit better, then it all goes to pot & his back in the pub & lieing about it.
I caught him in the pub the other night so i walked in & stayed there with him he had 1 pint of stella, then someone offered him another drink i said no his driving he thought about it for a few seconds then said yes i will have a half i was not happy about that.
I can tell when his been drinking he comes home & his face is bright red, & we end up in a row because he lies to me & tries to tell me his not had a drink then admits he did but says only one which i don’t believe.
His attitude towards his own family & outsiders is appauling his had rows at work with people, his rude, selfish, nasty, makes threats mostly to me, if looks could kill people would drop dead on the spot.
I have tried everything i can think off to make him see what he is doing to himself & his family. I’ve tried to explain he will end up with a stroke or heart attack or even worse could die. I’ve told him he could lose his licience which means he will lose his job. I’ve told him his daughter wants him around to walk her down the aisle when that day comes & not have to have her brother do it. I threatened him with divorce & also told him to move out if this is the road he chooses to be on as we are not watching it any more, but he wont go he just says that over the top.
I’ve been left in tears it hurts so much to see what he is doing to us all, & he just goes to bed.
He just cannot see there’s a problem as he has cut down the drinking in his opinion is he is not that bad his fine, although he admits his health is not good & his not happy with the way we are living, but for me & the family it’s a nightmare.
We never know what mood his going to be in, one day his polite & nice & another day we dare not speak to him.
When working if things don’t go as planned he gets very bad tempered & he throws things, if helping to repair our childrens cars he gets the hump with them for asking for help so now they try to avoid asking him for help. He loses tools ect & blames it on to someone else taking them without permision.
He cannot remember anything from when he was drinking every night.
I tell him something then a while later his asking me the same question.
This is not the person i married his changed so much he was funny, loveing, careing, thoughtful, we used to talk about everything share everything, spend time together, go out as a family & he was a very nice person.
I don’t know this person i’m married to now & i must admit i don’t like him.
You need help from outside. The two of you clearly can’t work things out, and it would seem that your good intentions are falling on deaf ears.
It sounds like there’s something bothering your husband that he either can’t identify, or won’t.
Maybe a third party would see things the two of you are incapable of seeing, due to your close involvement with one another over the years, and the way that has of making us think the other person should be how we expect them to be.
It’s perfectly possible of course that you’ve just grown apart over the years, but that may be due to a lack of care in checking out how each other is on a daily basis.
Something’s wrong. Something’s not working. I know your husband is drinking more than he used to, ut there must be a reason, or reasons, for this.
Your local GP can put him in touch with a counselling service in the area that should be free, if he would agree to give it a try. He may be suprised at the difference that talking about how we feel, can make.
Whatever happens try to avoid writing him off and try to find out what it is that’s changed him from the person you knew to the person he is today.
I wish you every success, and hope that he’s a big enough man to accept you’re genuinely concerned and has enough decency left in him to respond by trying to let you into his world so you can understand what’s going on in his head these days. It really does sound like you need to pull together again, like you no doubt used to in the days when you were young and in love!
Sometimes we just grow disillussioned with life, and don’t know how to deal with it. A fresh perspective can sometimes put the hope back into our rather deflated lives and give us the lift we need to carry on, without the artificial drugs the goverment is happy for us to tap into to enrich the coffers of the treasury and the booze industry.
We all need to talk to each other far more than we do.
It can be a very cold impersonal ordeal to have to scratch out a living every day of the week, doing our best to provide for our family and ourselves and agaisnt that backdrop the chance to escape through the glass surrounded by others hellbent on feeling better about their little lot, is very often, too seductive to resist.
Talk it through with a third party present, maybe your local Doctor would be willing to have a word if you feel you’re not getting through? And as I said earlier, he will be able to give you details of groups in the area who can help if you’re willing to take it.
It sounds, from your husbands withdrawal from you all, as if he’s depressed about something. Maybe that would come out in a counselling session with the two of you and a counsellor present.
It could be he’s embarrassed to admit that something’s bothering him and he’s using booze to block it out, but it is amazing how facing our fears can often prove to be enough to start us on the path to recovery from the fear of them.
I wish you luck.
Refind the love.
I drink at least 3 units every night. Approximately a litre of vodka and a few of glasses of wine every week (at least). I feel guilty everyday and say to myself on a morning ‘I am not going to have a drink tonight’ but I always do. I have a mother who has a drink dependancy, an alcoholic uncle and brothers who are heavy drinkers. Is alcoholism genetic? I am 35 and have been drinking since teenage years. First got legless at the age of 13! Am I an alcoholic! And has anyone got any suggestions about how to stop? Last night I drank a large vodka, large Bailelys and a bottle of wine (out for meal) therefore I have told myself I will not drink tonight but then I tell myself it’s Saturday…
hi
can u help me determin if i need help?
i am 26 female and i don’t drink or want a drink at all during the week or weekends. But when ever i go out to a party or night club i drink then and most of the time when i am out i drink a lot for a 5 foot girl who is 8 stone. i have had several large loss of memory. I have harmed my partener one and i have got so drunk that i cheated on my partener right in front of her. but on the other had i have gone out had a fab time and only had 2 manybe 3 drinks. so i can just be normal. i just go off the rails from time to time.
This is not good i know. but i don’t crave drink and i know i am stupid cause when i do go out i most of the time haven’t eaten which is a bad start to the night anyways.
so if you can tell me weather i am or arn’t a drunk I WOULD BE GREATFULL.
Hazel and anyone else…Please get over to the forum and have a good read and look around. When you feel ready, please paste your details into the ‘new members’ thread. Take care, Anna.x
I wish that all young people could read this page before their casual binge drinking becomes a problem in later life. That’s what has happened to me. I started drinking a few beers once a week with friends when I was 16 and I am now at the stage where it is a major struggle to prevent drinking at least seven pints a night either alone or with friends. I have tried to give up more times than I can remember, usually with my friends telling me I don’t have a problem. The irony is that I am secretely severly depressed, suicidal, self harming and havn’t done a decent days work in two years. All due to the drink. I have stomach bleeding and I fear that there is some other damage there too. I’m too frightened to go to the doc over it. I know what a doctor would say anyway. So tonight, I’ll run, eat lots of sugary foods and basically do anything to take my mind off it. It works, I just hope it works for more than the usual day or so. Great site
To all out there who have concerns about their drinking.
Drinking to excess is a symptom of a greater malaise.
Alcohol is an inanimate object. It only has the power we give it.
We only give it power in order obscure something else, either because we are so afraid of dealing with the ‘other’ thing, or because we don’t even realise there is anything else in the background causing us such distress that we need our drug of choice to deaden the pain.
Giving up alcohol can leave us defenseless agaisnt the initial cause of our drinking, and that is often too painful and alarming to put up with, so we fall back on the booze again, mistakenly thinking it’s too powerful for us to resist.
It isn’t.
It’s the unconscious drive to escape pain that pushes us into it’s embrace.
Deal with the cause of the pain and we deal with the reason behind our drinking.
Self realisation can release us from the shackles but that’s often too much for us to accomplish on our own.
If anyone out there wants to know why they drink go to a counsellor and talk about it.
With their help you almost certainly will uncover the root cause behind your abusive relationship with alcohol, and once that’s been unearthed there will be ways of dealing with those causes.
In a lot of cases the mere realisation as to why something happens is enough to dispel the fear and superstition that grows up around it when it’s not understood, and that quite often is enough to take the danger away, and re-establish a healthy non-harmful relationship with it.
People have been doing this for ever, and will continue to do so.
It’s been done before and it’ll be done again.
The question is, which side of the equation do you want to find yourself on?
Good luck everybody, choose wisely.
Hi everyone
I had my first non drinking day yesterday, and feel rotten beleive it or not I am an OAP and have a love affair with the vodka bottle, I am hoping I can go through today please pray for me
Thanks
Well Here I Sit At 8:10pm not having had a drink yet, I normally start around 7pm and continue until bedtime usually about 11-11:30pm.Something is telling me after drinking to a similar pattern for the last 15 years(i am now 31)that I ought to knock this drinking down or stop.I cant pinpoint or blame anything I just got into this habit and have not really considered it a problem,but the fact I now don’t feel I can go a day without Alcohol (always to excess) means I certainly do.I am confused as to whether I should stop altogether or gradually cut down,as I am worried about the dangers of just stopping.I know if I don’t drink I cant sleep,and my heart pounds too.I feel I need too replace my Drinking with something else but not sure what.I succeeded in giving up my 14 year 20-a-day smoking habit,so why am I finding Alcohol so much harder? Tonight I am thinking I will finish up the 6 Beers and half bottle of martini I have left and not buy no more,but I always keep buying more.I feel the Alcohol is starting to scramble my memory as I am so forgetful lately,and don’t feel much motivation or direction right now,and I feel stopping would give me clarity…but I am finding the first step tough going…I hope I can somehow find a way to change,and succeed like others have here on the site.
Hi everyone
Me again 2nd day without getting drunk first time in about eight years, cannot beleive I am doing it, Jay give it a go keep well
Thanks everyone.
Hi all.
Not sure if I have a problem but I am concerned if I carry on the way I am that I may soon enough. My girlfriend thinks I drink too much and I would have to agree if I am being honest. I am only 24 and have my own business and don’t have to work a great deal and enjoy a very active social life. I don’t ever crave a drink or feel I need to drink but whenever I end up going out with my friends from the golf or snooker club I always end up getting rotten. I will do stupid things totally out of character and forget large portions of the evening. The thing is though at the time it is so much fun and I really enjoy going out and socialising. I couldn’t think of not having that part of my life and want to get control over the states I get in as it can not be good for my helath and I don’t want to ever end up with a drink problem.
I did it again. Got totaly wasted and made a fool out of myself.
Saturday night we stayed up all night to watch the boxing then most people went home around 6.30. Instead I decided to drink right through and went to the pub at 11am. I managed to stay out till about 5pm but by then I had made a complete fool of myself and had a massive argument with my girlfriend and business partner. I also nearly had a fight with some idiot and sobbed my heart out…..how embarrasing. I really don’t remember much but just have vague memories and that horrible feeling, still have it now from not knowing what or who you have said what to. I feel so derpressed and embarrased right now!
Hi Guys,
It is with great respect I address you, you who go through hell, and still shoulder the courage to fight this terrible nightmare.
I am a musician by trade, and have been drinking too much for too many years. Vodka, by the bottle every night. I only drink when I get home in the evening, a time when I close the door, draw the curtains, and drink. It used to be nice, enjoyable, a time when I listened to music and pondered life. That has gradually changed into despair.
I am afraid, unable to control my life. Too many bottles have been consumed, and now I need to escape. My journey begins here. My first admission is here.
Stephen
I have a husband who is an alcoholic, but we are separated now. I have found it very difficult to live with nearly for 6 years now. At first it seem all ok at the time.. but over the years it got worst.. but worst in behavior wise. he is mainly angry most time, drinks alot if we had no money, he would borrow or get it of his mates up the road. he usually in a rage at times, when he is in a rage he hits hard with his fist or hand and slapping it across his head (if anyone seen the movie rainman.. in the bit when he become fearful of to fly and started hitting himself, this is exactly what my husband is like, he made a few committal suicidal attempt.. written a letter but i have kept it for any problems in future for reference. also he can not got without alcohol but can go without for half day if he has too. but he gets the withdrawal symptoms and it is terrible.. he then get drunk quick because to avoid his symptoms. threats kids, yells and scream and quite abusive and offensive,… outsider very nice and compassionate person!!!!
i drink too, but only 2 at the limits from time to time, i hate the drunkenness and i hate the smell when i get up in the morning when my husband is in bed!!! he would not get help and reckons he could do it on his own.
our relationship sours and now it is over he has a choice of his own!!, i felt a lot better and more free from this problem, though with his son who is 4 see;s him, but supervision.
he blames my eldest son who is 13 for our relationship problems and it hurts like hell.
so showing that not only an alcoholic can suffer, the kids, wife/husband can too and of course the whole family too.
I have been drinking for 8 years now moderately, then it gradually increased. Used to buy 4 cans of lager, drink 2 and my husband would have 2. Started increasing by saying to my husband that he could have 1 can and I’ll have 3. Increased to buying 8 cans because 4 wasn’t enough. This gradually increased and I started drinking all 8 cans. This week I drank 8 cans on Tuesday, 8 cans on Wednesday and 9 cans last night. Every morning I say “That’s it, I’m giving up”. Managed to go without drink for 3 days last week, 3 days the week before but the cravings are soooooo bad. I even convince myself I can have just a can a day (never). I am so unhappy with the drinking but I’m even worse when I’m not. I have now started to drink continuously and can’t wait to get home to open a can. I am also a gulper not a sipper. I carry the pint round and have started to notice I don’t even put the glass down in between gulps. That must sound awful, I know. I have two lovely children and a husband who tells me he loves me every day. He comments on my drinking often and now I’ve started to take the empty cans to work because I’m ashamed what he’ll say when he sees how much I’ve drunk. I’ve told him that I’m not drinking tomorrow as I’ve some cans indoors but am worried about the withdrawal symptoms. I will probably make an appointment with the doctor to see if there is any medication I can take to help me through.
By the way, it’s great reading this site and everybody’s comments. I have finally admitted I have an addiction and this is the first step forward. I shouldn’t be ashamed, I’m no different to a smoker, a gambler etc.
Hi, im hoping someone can give me some advice. My step sister and I are trying to get help at the moment for my Dad and her Mum. Her mum has admitted to having an addiction and has now been admitted to rehab. My dad on the other hand fails to see that he has a problem. He truely believes that he is not dependent on alcohol. How can I get him to see sense? Is there anything i can say or do? What helped all of you? Well done by the way! x
Why not pop over to the main alcohol forum – There are more people there all supporting each other, giving over personal experience, encouragment and a few laughs along theway.
You will find the link right oposite the paragraph on ‘heavy drinker’ at the top of this thread.
You have already met Anna – she posted earlier and she is a big daffodil (avatar) and a lovely one at that.
It would be lovely to see you there – we are all in the same boat. The main forum addresses every imaginable offshoot of drinking from how to say no at a party to depression and anxiety.
Good luck to all and your goals and hope to see you there.
Julie
x