~alcoholism~

[BabyRider]

Originally Posted by lady cop

BabyRider, you are very brave and honest. i admire and respect you. and you WILL succeed. each day.

LC, that means more than you know. Thanks.

[abbey]

From me too BRave Lady, an inspiration XX

[Peg]

Skittle--There is a wonderful program for families of alcoholics called Al-Anon.

As for "modifying your drinking habits", that means you still have control. An alcoholic cannot control their drinking habits.

A lot of times judges sentence people to attend AA meetings. If these people do not want to change, they are wasting not only their time, but the group's.

[Bullet]

Originally Posted by BabyRider

Kensloft, I'm not sure I understand where you're coming from. Are you saying that people need to "rethink" how much they drink, or how much they consume in a certain time period, or pace themselves, and if they can master that, then they should be able to drink? Is this for anyone who drinks? I'm not sure I can agree, if this is what you mean. If it's not what you mean, maybe you could elaborate for me?
Myself, I am one of those people who just can't drink alcohol. Of any kind. In any amount. Ever. I tried the "pacing myself" thing. I tried the "no hard stuff" thing. I tried the "beer only" thing. Didn't work. Alcohol changes me. It does something to me that I can't control and it almost cost me my life. Not that I almost died from it, but it really did come within a day or two of costing me everything that meant anything to me. I was faced with a choice: Have the person that you love and the life you could have together, or have booze.
There was no question for me which mattered more.
Now, I liked drinking. I liked it a LOT. Getting a buzz on and loosening up felt good. If only I could have stopped there. But I couldn't. And once I got past a certain point, I got stupid. And mean.
I thought I could control it. I really honestly believed that I could. But a true alcoholic can't. And we always think we can. There are rare days that I think how good a drink would taste. Just one. I can handle one. And then I think about the look on the face of the man I love that last time I drank. There isn't anything in the world that could intice me to drink again when I think of that.
I quit for myself. I quit because I don't want to be the person I am when I drink. Because I'm NOT the person I was when I drank. Nobody liked her, least of all me. I don't miss her. Good riddance.
So, LC...to answer your questions, yep, I know an alcoholic. I don't know if it's a disease or not. If my choices are disease or excuse, I'd have to go with excuse. Lots of people would disagree. That's just for myself, how I see me. I never went to AA, and don't know if I could. I quit January 15th this year, and I did it on my own, but with the support of the most wonderful man in the world.
And how does it affect my life? It doesn't. Anymore.

I love you Baby Girl,

[BabyRider]

Originally Posted by Bullet

I love you Baby Girl,

I love you too! I couldn't have done it without you.


Abbey, thanks. You guys and your support are fantastic.

Peg, I agree. "Modifying" drinking habits was what I failed so miserably at. I bought into that idea, and if I hadn't I might have been able to quit a long time ago.

My Mom's fiance is or was an alcoholic.. He is Irish so go figure.. He has been attending AA for like 7 years now! Must not work too good if he has been going for that long! I am not supposed to know that he was one..

My uncle is an alcoholic and a drug addict.. So is his wife.. They are mean drunks..

My grandpa ( My uncles father) drank himself to death..

[Peg]

Originally Posted by lady cop

hi Clint...i think the author of the original "big book" was simply called "bill"....my thought on the criteria for alcoholism is whether drinking has impacted a persons life, through family disruption, job problems, arrests, abuse of any kind, DUIs, "accidents", kids neglected; and if so, there is a problem having nothing to do with the number of drinks consumed, but rather their effect. ~~~~Clint, note, clear your PM box.

Back in 1979-1982, West Virginia had what was called a hygiene commissioner. This sounds a lot like the criteria he followed when deciding to "probable cause" someone into getting help. Although my husband was a very abusive alcoholic, he never missed work. He didn't show up on time, but he didn't miss. Unfortunately, his boss, also an alcoholic, understood this and let him keep his job. He never was arrested because his boss paid the cops well, from what I heard, so he had no arrests. Therefore, I was basically told to deal with it. He chose alcohol over paying the electric bill, etc. I hope laws have improved although I have my doubts.