am i an alcoholic?

You gotta be kidding

I have a cocktail every day after work
More if dinner is still not ready
Saturday a shot or two with polka music and I can clean the entire house in no time
Sunday, after church, 1 shot toasting, blessing and in thanksgiving

And I'm not speaking of beer

You are an alcoholic if you can't go without it. Dependent on it.

Official bullshit states something along the lines of a person being an alcoholic if a person has a drink or two after and a couple more on the weeking, which is bullshit. You can either define alcoholism as problem drinking or physical dependence on the substance. I would consider an alcoholic because I'm a problem drinker. Once I had a glass I genuinely can't get myself to stop until I'm dysfunctionally drunk. I'm incapable of having a beer or two. I do however not drink that often, maybe once a week at best. But it ultimately really depends on your definition of 'alcoholism'.

When you're not drinking do you think you need a beer? If so yes you're an alcoholic.

I drink a lot. But never have had a craving. I also smoke greens and that's something I crave when I don't have it. That's the difference in my opinion

3 times a week.


FFS, you really dont have anything to worry about


Try 3 times a day


Then you have a problem

Some people can handle alcohol and some cant.

When you drink (on those 3 days) how much do you drink each evening?

That's true
Being Ukrainian my dad taught us how to drink
When I turned 21 and people took me out to celebrate, it was no big deal

It's 11:30, I had 4 shots and wiping out my chores before my pRty

If you are wondering that question you either very near to be one or are one.

I drink everyday.... sadly

It started every weekend
then 3 times a week
then after every dinner
then drink till it puts me to sleep.

If you are on here asking if you are, then ya need to slow down. Or dont keep anything in the house.

I have got it knocked back to about 3 times a week myself ! I usually have a few beers after a busy day because I am strung out from my job!

I think I really am just going to quit completely ! It really is the tptb saying ? Here you go take your medicine " everything is fine"

5 stars!

I also failed to mention that I fell into severe alcoholism after the 07 collapse and have worked all the way back to about a 6 pack three times a week ? But from where I was " 50 beers a day" it's an improvement!

Hi OP, I often refer people to criteria counselors would use. I learned this in school when I got my degree in mental health counseling (I'm not a practicing counselor).




[link to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]

ALCOHOL ABUSE

(A) A maladaptive pattern of drinking, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, as manifested by at least one of the following occurring within a 12-month period:

Recurrent use of alcohol resulting in a failure to fulfill major role obligations at work, school, or home (e.g., repeated absences or poor work performance related to alcohol use; alcohol-related absences, suspensions, or expulsions from school; neglect of children or household)
Recurrent alcohol use in situations in which it is physically hazardous (e.g., driving an automobile or operating a machine when impaired by alcohol use)
Recurrent alcohol-related legal problems (e.g., arrests for alcohol-related disorderly conduct)
Continued alcohol use despite having persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by the effects of alcohol (e.g., arguments with spouse about consequences of intoxication).
(B) Never met criteria for alcohol dependence.

- more at link

That's a good point
See if you NEED it or not

I drink, but I shop only once every 2 weeks
If that's the first thing on my shopping list....
If I feel I have to ration it to last....
If I need to go to the store for more before paydAy

Then I would start to reconsider

if you drink at all you are an alcoholic.

Using that logic, if you make stupid statements you're an idiot?

You fill in the blank.....

A real alcoholic automatically determines/assumes that he or she is not an alcoholic.

If you don't wake up to cold sweats or get the shakes because you haven't had a drink.....

Trust me, you're not an alcoholic.

12 years sober here. Active in AA.

"yes I'm brainwashed in the 'cult' so fuck off"

:)

Anyway, if you suffer from the phenomenon of craving you are an alcoholic. Non alcoholics do not suffer from this phenomenon.

The phenomenon is like making love to a gorilla. You aren't done until the gorilla says you are done.



There is a test in AA to see if you are an alcoholic.
Go to the bar and have 2 drinks, then stop. Try this several times. You'll have your answer.

I quit drinking about ten minutes ago. Damn kids were on my ass. So ingave them all a hot toddy and now the house is peaceful. We,re all watching ghetto mows stupid videos and there peace in the house.

Now if I find my skittles it be a good fourth.

I got to hand it to you? At least you know you are in a cult? Most have no clue!

I was married to an alcoholic and both my parents and maternal grandparents are/ were alcoholics

Alcoholism isn't simply drinking on a schedule. It is you putting alcohol ahead of everything else.

My ex-husband has been in AA for 19 years. He still goes to meetings. He hasn't had a drink in all of that time but he still considers himself as an alcoholic.

His reasoning is this:

His only control is not drinking. If he went back to drinking he would drink all of whatever he had until it was gone.

He can't understand how someone can have a bottle of liquor or a case of beer and not just drink it all.

My mother died of alcohol related illnesses. By 1991 she had calcified her pancreas and liver. She was directly told by her doctors you cannot drink alcohol, ever again.

My mother was an honors graduate of an ivy league university, she was not a dumb woman; she was however an alcoholic. Within months of her diagnosis she and my father concluded that no alcohol meant no liquor (80 proof) but that beer and wine were okay.

When she first received her diagnosis I begged her to not have beer in the house when my husband and I visited telling her he couldn't control his drinking. Her reply was it would be rude not to offer him beer. My response to this was to limit visits.

In 1996 my mother got a DUI for driving 80 mph in a 35 zone, at 10 a.m. She had drunk a 750ml bottle of vodka that morning and was heading out to get another. But she didn't want the local liquor store to know, so she she decided to drive to one 20 miles away.

1 1/2 years later she nearly died from internal bleeding. It took a while for the doctors to determine the cause it was varicose veins in her esophagus.

My mother was 5'8" tall and weighed 109 pounds because she drank all of her calories. In 1998 she began to exhibit signs of being wet brained [The term “wet brain” is not scientifically valid, but refers to a very real condition known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome - See more at: [link to www.bettyfordcenter.org] Long Term Alcoholism Can Cause Wet Brain]

She died in 2002.

She always lied to health care professionals about her drinking. She had repeated bouts of Pancreatitis. When questioned she would say she drank socially or occasionally. There is a very old episode of the Simpsons where Homer is talking a quiz about alcoholism and his excuses remind me of my mother. Q: Do you drink alone? A: does God count?

AS a childhood friend of mine noted once when I was asking about stress and drinking, "Your mother crawled in a bottle when the mail was late"

That, ladies & gentleman, is an alcoholic.

AA has saved many a life. Idiots who label it a cult are clueless and would crumble at a hangnail and have little idea what alcoholism entails.

All authorities without a clue.

Rookies, sheeese...

Sorry to read of your mother,ac. She did not drink because it gave her pleasure. Compulsion. Your friend with the late mail comment was and is an insensitive asshole and I hope you pushed that prick far from your life.

Drunk uncle you neither funny or original. Simple minded dull boy.

yes

Oh, you wanna hear others' stories to make you feel better?

My ex never drank around our children.

When she did drink, though, she couldn't stop until the fifth she had opened that night was gone and there was a fight started with me, shirt torn off me as I'm trying to get away from her, holes punched in the door I'm using to separate her from me, and me trying to figure out a way to forget all of the hateful things she said that she won't remember come morning.

Feel better?

No 3 times a week is not alcholism, it's great you give your liver a rest 4 days a week, alcoholics don't do that.

Only you can decide if you're an alcoholic...

My friend wasn't an ass he was honest. She did create her own dramas so she could drink. And it didn't give her pleasure it dulled everything so she could escape reality.

Yeah right you aren't fooling anyone, by reading your post I already know you drink much more as you'd like us to believe. You ask if your an alcoholic, but state you know when to or not to drink. Just grab a beer okay!

There is some evidence that alcohol "cravings" mean you could have a nutritional deficiency.

I had a friend who started taking mega doses of vitamin D, and within a couple fo weeks, they completely kicked their daily vodka habit. No more craving

[link to www.detox-guide.com]


There is also "kudzu" that is supposed curb alcohol craving . I noticed this supplement (its a plant), when at the natural food store, the item is consistently out of stock. I assume it means people keep buying it because it works.



[link to altmedicine.about.com]


Give it a try. You might just find its more of a nutritional need, not a dependence one.