re: Alcoholism: Why it sucks.

A space between "any" and "more" would have conveyed your intended meaning

drink a light beer

(no message)

Sometimes it's harder to get the point across typing it rather than saying it.

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This thread hits home.. i've got a little over a year sober from alcohol and almost 8 sober from painkillers...My grandfather was an alcoholic, i did not know until i went through it myself. What makes a person turn into the convenience store and grab a bottle of liquor on the way home? Justification... "got all my work done, i can relax tonight"..."I need to mow the grass, i usually have a few beers while i mow... i'll just grab a bottle of liquor so i don't have to pee as often"... It's kind of like seeing the hottest chick you can imagine and she wants to hop in bed with you... and every part of you says, damn this is going to be nice... Try telling yourself no to that... that's how the addicts mind works... it gets slowly rewired and when a normal person just says "nah, i'll go ride the bike tonight or workout" the addict's mind says "Let's turn on the pit and have a few" always making excuses... and I never knew what would set me off, could be anything.. something would just click in my mind and i'd instantly have a battle in my mind "do i stop and grab some liquor or not" knowing deep down once those thoughts came into my mind the battle had already been lost and before i knew it i'd be stopping in and getting a drink somewhere. I would justify it for almost any occasion... It's a fight that never stops and the best defense is avoid it at all costs... and the bonus... damn, does it feel good deep down when someone says "hey man, do you want a beer?" and i say "nah man, i'm good". Being addicted to painkillers was physically worse withdrawal wise, but alcohol is much harder recovery wise because it is everywhere... everywhere you go alcohol is within walking distance. Sadly, you don't know you're an addict until it's too late... I however would not change what i went through. I learned a lot about myself, and learned to value simple things in life.

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I can understand all of that. I can understand the coping, or the excuse making to enable one to drink as often as possible. It's exactly like an obese person driving past a fast food joint and having to fight the urge to pull in, then a mile down the road seeing another fast food joint and pulling in the drive-thru while thinking "I'll order something off the dollar menu. That won't hurt anything". That is pure gratification seeking along with justification like youre talking about. I consider that obese person to be mentally weak. They had the opportunity to keep driving, but their weak mind allowed them to give in. Do they have a disease? Of course not. Not having the will power to say "NO" is not a disease, and certainly not a mental or physiological defect. It's a mental weakness. Giving in and justifying cravings is not a result of a disease. Another argument I dont get is that for a person who abuses alcohol, they cant ever come into contact with it again because they cant control themselves. Why does 1 have to lead to 12? Why not say after no.3, "You know, Ive had enough. I know how I can get if I drink too much." Is it the alcohol's fault that the person cant control themselves and drink responsibly, or is it the person's inner psyche and troubled past that they are trying to bury or "numb" with alcohol consumption, thus the need to go to no.12. The point is, alcohol isnt the problem. It's the other stuff that's buried in a person's mind that needs to be talked about and worked on so that they dont feel the NEED to bury it with alcohol anymore.

I see various instances in this thread of people saying "I can have one drink in some situations, but in others I drink out of control." Or, "I don't crave alcohol all the time, but when I do drink I don't stop until I pass out." I know this will piss some folks off, but I see that as more maturity issues as opposed to physical or chemical dependency to alcohol. I knew someone who, IMO, was truly addicted to alcohol. For this person the urge to drink was so strong that they sometimes drank Listerine when there was absolutely zero booze available. They had to have alcohol at all times, and the form in which it came was irrelevant.

Conversely, I also lived with someone who everyone said was an "alcoholic". Like many others, when the guy drank it went to the extreme every time. This led to multiple DWIs. However, he didn't crave alcohol. When he had projects that had to get done he didn't need to drink. Likewise, if a group of people who weren't drinking were hanging out then he had no urge to drink. Ultimately, he went to an expensive rehab program to cure his alcoholism. He left basically realizing that he never had a chemical/physical dependency on alcohol. Instead he had an aversion to growing up and realizing that not every situation calls for drinking to the excess.

The first person truly needed alcohol all the time. The second person could control his "alcoholism" except when he didn't feel like being responsible enough to do so.

i tend to have the same problem as you. I rarely drink, shite for 7 years i drink every day, now i may go a couple of weeks without a sip, but when i drink, i dont stop. after a few, they just keep going down and i dont notice it until i wake up the next day and dont remember a thing.

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not a physical ailment.

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Oh yes it is....Your body craves it. Just like smoking...

Yeah, I don't subscribe to the "only alcoholics can help other alcoholics get sober" philosophy.