how much did you drink......

[PB&J]

I can drink 2 bottles of wine Friday and Saturday and vodka on top. If husband away I will drink then as well. Not liking myself which makes me think sod it may as well have another

[Elizabeth]

Regular/normal amount was 4 litres of 5% Cider a night but it was creeping up and I was starting to hit the occasional 6 litres. I really only had less than 4 if I was either ill or extremely tired. Oh and I drank every night. What stopped me and made me think about what I was doing were dreams about losing my house and ending up homeless or dreams about bailiffs coming and taking all my furniture away. I was also constantly worrying about my health and checking my eyes for first signs of Jaundice, then I'd pour myself another drink. How mad is that

[Topcat]

was also constantly worrying about my health and checking my eyes for first signs of Jaundice, then I'd pour myself another drink. How mad is that

Completely barking, but we still did it didn't we? I even saw yellow eyes looking back a few times and STILL drank some more.

[Jarvis]

This is less serious, but I always hated the way cheap wine made me sneeze and my eyes would run until I was incapable of doing anything else while drinking, like reading/watching television. But I'd carry on drinking, regardless

[Elizabeth]

Completely barking, but we still did it didn't we? I even saw yellow eyes looking back a few times and STILL drank some more.

This is less serious, but I always hated the way cheap wine made me sneeze and my eyes would run until I was incapable of doing anything else while drinking, like reading/watching television. But I'd carry on drinking, regardless

I was also constantly worrying about my health and checking my eyes for first signs of Jaundice, then I'd pour myself another drink. How mad is that

I don't know guys , you have to laugh sometimes, if we put the same sense of determination into daily life, we'd all be millionaires

[Jaxom]

Guys, I guess what we did was run away from the bogey/boogie man. Then we stopped, turned around and faced it.

Have you ever had those dreams where you are running away from something but can't seem to get anywhere? Apparently it is a common nightmare and often involves feet getting caught up in the bedding. I remember having such a dream but in it I stopped, turned around and started walking purposefully towards the unseen chaser. I heard a strident voice shout: ' Noooooo. He's coming this way.' I have no idea what that was all about. It was long before my drinking days and life was good. I woke up laughing out loud at that voice, but it has puzzled me ever since. Turn and face our demons and see how pathetic they are? I really do not know. What I do know is that I have bright eyes and I have Bright Eye. The mirror is a happier place. Well, apart from wrinkles and general non-hunk stuff but I live with that!

Dave

Edit: how much? bottle of vodka every night with the odd night off because, of course, I could control it.

[trish439]

how much do i drink? as much as is there....til it is all gone.....at home alone, while watching tv. if i have 6 beers then i drink 6 beers, if i have 16 beers then i drink 16, drink it til there is no more.

didn't use to be quite that bad, but in the last 18 months has gotten worse and i don't have ANY control once I get started.

I can't stop myself from asking why? why must I be an Addict to Alcohol? wish I was one of those people who never cared for the stuff . I hate the space it takes in my thoughts, always there except when I am working. Thank God for my job.

trish

[Topcat]

I can't stop myself from asking why? why must I be an Addict to Alcohol? wish I was one of those people who never cared for the stuff . I hate the space it takes in my thoughts, always there except when I am working.

Same here Trish. I used to spend hours asking "why me" and agonising over the fact that I couldn't drink like "normal" people. I then turned it around to "why not me"? Know what? Couldn't think of a single reason. Addiction is controllable (don't take the substance) and you can live a perfectly healthy/normal life without it. The time you spend thinking about drink and drinking will ease as sober time progresses Trish. In the early days it does seem to occupy every waking moment, but it does get easier.

Does "why me" still seem so daunting?

[weldmast]

i found i was drinkingo a day wit a bottle of wine a night and on weekends maybe even 2 bottles,,,ide go the odd day very odd day without and then celebrate the next with.....so my confession is ide have 2 much....

For me it was 4 bottles of scotch a week, 24 Tennents Super, 1 - 2 bottles port. Sometimes I went without drink for a day to try to convince myself that I wasn't alcoholic. it was when I found I was unable to stop at one drink that I realized I was out of control and I couldn't do anything about it. Three steps that other might recognize.
1. Man takes drink
2. Drink takes drink
3. Drink takes man.

[trish439]

thank you TopCat


that why me is not so much why can't i drink "normal", but wish i just never drank at all...i'm sure that is not an uncommon thought for many a problem drinker.

i do hope it all gets easier, 10 or so years ago i managed to quit for 4 years and i swear it drove me crazy the whole time

not trying to be negative, just venting

today i wanted to drink and i beat it back and i am enjoying myself with a little coffee and chocolate relaxing with the The Voice.....i feel really good and happy that i did not drink, i feel like i won today

I really like reading your posts by the way, great input.

Highest Regards,

trish

[Melanie961]

[trish439]

well hey good for both of us Melanie,,,good for us!

[Naughty little newt]

Good question! Well I drank daily and depending if it was after work or not it could be anywhere between six to 12 bottles of beer (33cl/5%) more on a day off work if I started early (opening time). For many years now it took me three bottles quickly in a row just to feel settled, I did try red wine for a while but found that two bottles a day was about right, but the hangover wasn't much fun.

[lancanster sam]

i didn't just have one drink of choice really so i would often drink 1 litre bottle of vodka every 2 days and often needing a top up with wine and such. I averaged between 70-100 units a week which is a rough calculation because half the time the day was just a blur despite attending lectures and doing coursework. I must have blew through 1500 quid at least inside 7-8 months which is why now i am broke until my student finance comes through in my second year and even then i will have to monitor the situation very carefully.

[ditzydee]

i was drinking 8 cans of larger 4 % vol every night at my usual time of 7.30pm id try to drink 15/20mins either side to get over my obsession with this time and while that worked i still drank anyway.but when i started to give up(over and over again)i did find that i wasnt as obsessed with that specific time .id just be concentrating on not giving in. my every night drinking has been going on for 3 years before that id drink 4/5 nights a week at my usual time i knew back then i was drinking to much but i never knew i had such a problem with it untill i started trying to stop and thats been going on for 2 years

[FinalStraw]

It scares me when i think about the volume i was drinking. I could quite easily be dead by now. On my worst binges it could be getting on for 200 units over a week.

I know that by having just that one drink it wouldn't be long before i was back to that level. One drink's never enough and one drink's too many!

[lima]

I think that my weekly intake used to average out around 150 units a week. Its only a guess as I used to lie to myself and replenish bottles that were not full. If the bottle was full I didnt feel bad about how much Id drunk the previous day. I had a large stash of booze out on display with which I could easily drink a few bottles without it noticing. I mostly drank spirits or made cocktails using spirits and diet coke. It didnt look seem so bad if I put 3 different spirits into a glass because when I looked at the bottles of spirits they were relatively untouched.
I would go to the supermarket on my own and spend around £200 on booze. Its about what I spend on a big food shop and I pay the credit card bills so it was never noticed. Even if it was it would look like a food shop. I would then buy loads more every time I went past a supermarket. I did this for years!!!!

[Gerard]

Yep, I'd say I topped out at about 150 to 200 units a week, but I also did the topping up bottles business so it was hard to gauge. I'm still amazed at how cheap a booze-free shop is, and the extra space on the shelves, because I've stopped buying random dry goods to cover booze purchases. Still have plenty of pasta and tinned yokes from last year

[FinalStraw]

That sounds familiar Gerard And i'd try to space out the bottles on the conveyor belt at the check out so it didn't look as much.

Shopping also takes a lot less time too as i don't agonise in the wines, spirits and beer aisle about whether i've got enough and is what i've got strong enough. Then go back there to get more 'just in case'

[tyrantspell]

Just wanted to add my tuppence worth to this thread because I've found it fascinating and maybe because its a cathartic exercise - sort of a confession.

I drank between 150-200 units a week. Nasty cheap White Cider - Tramps Juice. Like several of the other ladies have also remarked, I too did not start drinking until I was well into my 40's - hated the smell, the taste, the effect it had on people. I remember clearly the first drink of cider I took - pissed on two glasses, but oh! that feeling of silly girlyness - all the worries in the world taken away and did I sleep that night. I was hooked from the start. Slow and insidious, just creeping up by degrees.

It went through the ceiling when I was made redundant. I could drink 24/7 and did. If I woke up during the night, there it was on my bedside cabinet. Sitting on the sofa replenishing my glass, watching "normal" people going about their business and crying myself silly because I used to be one of them and now I was a thing beyond the pale. Did it bother me that I was parked outside the offie at 8 am looking like something from the Crypt? Not a bit towards the end - I had no pride - I no longer cared what people thought, just give me my comfort in a bottle.

Its been 9 days since I had a drink and I cannot go back. My last detox was a self administered one and I knew it could kill me. I no longer cared. I just didn't want to live any longer with the drink. Suicide was the preferred option. For the first time ever in a self detox, I had terrifying hallucinations - the DT's. Like I say - everything creeps up on you by degrees.

For anyone out there who knows they have a drink problem, but thinks its only mild or not as bad as some of the stories on here, please take heed. Even if it hasn't taken full hold yet (and yet is the all important word) trust me, it will certainly do so eventually.