I have a drinking problem.

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After seeing the bender I went on this past week, my friends pulled an intervention on me tonight. They're right, and I know it.

Over this past year or so, it's gotten BAD. I've gotten so fed up with my natural awkwardness and social anxiety issues that I latched onto the one thing I found that helps. By addressing one problem, I've created a worse one.

They pointed out things that I didn't want to think about. My work, amongst other things, has deteriorated, and it's apparently been turning people off. I can't keep doing this, but it's either go back to awkward "me" or continue on this downward spiral. It's a tough choice and I'm having a hard time trying to figure-out what to do. I hate being like this, but I despise the way I am naturally.

I can't trust myself to just "cut back". There's a REASON I don't keep beer in the apartment. I'd never leave. It's going to have to be all-or-nothing.

I figure I'll lay off it for a couple weeks at least. May as well see if I can handle being "me" again. Ugh.

If you feel like commenting, that's fine. If you've gone through this, let me know how it was dealing with it.

Yes indeed, I feel like commenting.

I would like to put my second comment in a question format, this being first and all that,
I would not want sound nosy.



Do you have a drinking problem - or - A problem not Drinking?

No trick questions here, and no pun intended nor implied.

This is something for You to think about, or consider.

This is a good chance for you start opening your mind, and inserting your heart.

An old saying is:

The man takes a drink,

The drink takes a drink,

The drink takes the man.

Sound familiar?

Truth is, at first we're all "cheap dates". Pretty soon we can handle any hangover situation, eventually, we can function shit-faced without a problem at all. - Then the coincidences set in,
(that's where you are) - Decisions get influenced, and this time "I know Better", soon it's a piece of cake again, fully functional on the outside, but what we can't tell anybody, including our favorite bartender, is that a couple of drinks sends blood/alcohol count thru the roof, but that's OK, look at the money I'm saving, I can afford to go to nicer places and hide my secret.

Well, to make a very long story shorter, the liver stops functioning, 80% of liver cases do not recover, the brain becomes pickled, 95% do not recover, then death 100% do not recover.

Welcome - hang around a while - consider alcohol related websites, most importantly, be honest to yourself.

If you have a history of severe shakes, sweats, rapid heartbeat, hyperventilation after not having a drink for a day or two - then go to a Detox Center, ask the local emergency room, or of all things believe it or not, call the police department, they know people and places that are not listed and are there for those interested in getting help.

Enjoy your new life, see things you didn't know, know things you couldn't see.

I spent years in denial of my alcoholism. If you've had an intervention, that is a clear signal that there is a problem. People take the time to arrange that when they are very worried about you. Even for myself, I didn't enter rehab until I had no other choice. My personal opinion is cutting back is just delaying the inevitable. Quitting drinking improved my life in a radical way. I was lucky that the non profit rehab I went to acknowledged that it was a disease and treated it as such and not as a moral failing.

I can attest that treating alcoholism as an allergy/disease has worked for me. By using the AA model I have been able to change my attitude and behaviour towards alcohol and find reasons deep inside me to continue positive reinforcement for over twenty years. I suggest the same for you, only because I can honestly say it works. And that is the bottom line for any help, isn't it?

Thanks for the responses, guys.

I was talking to my mom a bit ago, and found out that my family was planning an intervention later this week or next.

This is serious. I can't let myself go near the stuff anymore. I hate having to deal with the jumpy awkward pensive me with the sensory hypersensitivity issues and social anxiety problems... but I don't really have much of a choice in this matter. With the history on both sides of the family, just trying to "cut back" doesn't work. It's not just me.

There have been times the past several months where I've had to go a week without, and I know what's in-store. The shakes and sweats and irritability are going to suck for a bit, but they pass.

hypernoodle, the most important thing that rehab did for me was to give me real tools I could use to protect against a relapse. I learned how to identify and avoid my triggers and break the cycle that leads up to a binge. You can be blindsided by a desire to drink if you try to do it on your own. The only reason I'm sober now is because I was at the point where I had tried everything on my own and failed and I knew I had to ask for help or die. There are people out there who know exactly what you're going through and will help you.

Just for the record, I love being sober. I even love it when I feel bad (sick) and I know it's only a little virus and not a hangover. Once you get good and sober you realize that 75% of the problems you tried to fix with alcohol were actually caused by the alcohol.

go to AA meetings in a church near you. they help a lot but you have to go for a long time.

I want to congratulate you on one day sober!

Keep it up!

Only a couple days in, and now it's painfully obvious why I drank in the first place.

Got myself a quiet table in the back of the pool hall, had two cokes no ice (never ice!) and was enjoying the peace.

I didn't know it was league night. Two hours after I started, the place went from peaceful to jam-packed and noisy in the course of about 20 minutes. I could only handle it for about 30 minutes, and even then I was "pushing it". I "maxed out" plain and simple. With a couple of beers, it wouldn't have bugged me, but putting myself in that environment plain sober is a recipe for disaster.

I paid my table before the shaking could start (it was close) stepped out front, had a smoke, calmed myself down, and retreated back to my apt.


This is going to have to be about more than just stopping drinking. I'm going to have to start revising my list of "safe" environments again.

new playgrounds, new playthings, new playmates. don't stack the deck against yourself. Sober people play pool, too.

new playgrounds, new playthings, new playmates. don't stack the deck against yourself. Sober people play pool, too.