BS: Quitting drinking

Subject: BS: Quitting drinking
From: GUEST,I don't care to sign my name to this
Date: 03 Jul 12 - 07:25 PM

Soooo, what helped you quit?

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 03 Jul 12 - 07:55 PM

I haven't had a drink problem, but I know someone who did. They were greatly helped by Alcoholics Anonymous, and followed the Twelve Step Programme. I don't believe you can tackle alcoholism on your own, you need support and encouragement. Also, having a serious liver condition can frighten someone into finally quitting. I believe one also needs to detach from boozing pals and keep away from pubs etc where temptation lurks. As you decline from signing your name, are you personally addicted, or was your question merely a more lighthearted posting? If the former, I wish you well. Any addiction is a frightening and depressing condition.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Elmore
Date: 03 Jul 12 - 08:09 PM

Quit?

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Ebbie
Date: 03 Jul 12 - 08:22 PM

As the manager of this apartment house I've had a number of tenants sit and talk. One man told me of how he handled the quitting. He's been dry now for more than two years. He goes to AA regularly, plus he goes to a local church for reinforcement.

As it happens, his roommate is still drinking; he tells me that he doesn't hassle her about it. He says that as long as she doesn't bring it home he can live with it. He said that he told her that when he sees a bottle he thinks of it as being poison, as clearly as if it had a skull and crossbones on it. Which, he said, is what it is to him.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Jul 12 - 08:27 PM

I go through periods of being greatly depressed, and drinking has always been my recreational drug of choice.

And basically theres no situation that drink can't make worse. Once I start drinking, I drink too much.

My longest period without a drink was about three years. When i get in that zone, I can recognise that I don't have a good relationship with booze and I'm better off without it - the booze part of the supermarket looks like a dangerous bog that I can fall into and i avoid it.

At the moment (tonight) - I haven't drunk for two weeks. I haven't yet got the point where I can keep whisky (my favourite drink) in the house, because I know I will drink it. There is vodka , cider wine, beer in the house for our guests - nut it doesn't tempt me - not in the way that whisky would. I don't know if that makes me an alcoholic. The AA webpage scares me shitless - so I know it won't be for me.

I was in a pub last night, and I think I got through the eveming pretty well. At one stage the wine the guys were drinking at my table beckoned to me. The whisky bottles on the shelf winked flirtatiously - but I primly removed their hand from my knee - and said I'm a good girl, you don't get round me that easily!

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: michaelr
Date: 03 Jul 12 - 08:36 PM

I'm no quitter.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 Jul 12 - 08:45 PM

If you recognize drinking as a serious problem, it's time to stop.

It's not easy but I've seen at least one good friend manage to do it and emerge as human. And he's still fun to be with. I'm not at all sure if he'd still be around if he had continued drinking. He also stopped smoking...

Good luck in taking the next step.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: DebC
Date: 03 Jul 12 - 09:05 PM

I have a number of friends and relatives who are recovering. Some had a crisis (or hit bottom as they say in AA), one decided to quit drinking to lose weight and discovered how unhappy he was after a month of sobriety. Another had a DWI (OUI) and quit that night and hasn't taken a drink since. My cousin was at death's door 30 years ago and he has been going to AA ever since.

I applaud anyone who decides to stop drinking for whatever reasons.

It is recognising that there is a problem and that's the first step.

Debra

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Wesley S
Date: 03 Jul 12 - 09:45 PM

I was sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Send me a PM anytime if you want to discuss it.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: gnu
Date: 03 Jul 12 - 10:21 PM

I know who started this thread and it's no lark, Eliza. This person is very serious about asking this question. This person asked me if they should even bother starting such a thread and I replied that it couldn't hurt. Reading the posts so far, I think it may have already helped and I hope any future posts help. Helps not just this person, but anyone who reads this thread.

BTW... it's a matter of life and death according to the doctors.

Good luck buddy. I am pulling for ya. You can do it.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 03 Jul 12 - 10:55 PM

AA, is the best advice I can think of. Time tested, tried and true.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Nigel Paterson
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 02:59 AM

I went to AA for about six months...didn't say a single word the whole time, but I DID listen. I knew I had a problem before I went, but just being there helped me put my drinking into perspective. Essentially, I drank less than some & more than others...I'd "Found my place in the queue". That was more than thirty years ago...thirty-plus years sober...wouldn't swap it for anything, not even a bottle of ten year old single malt!!
                                                          Nigel.

PM for more info.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 03:59 AM

Giving up drinking is easy, I do it every day, actually I don't have a drink problem, I drink, get drunk, fall over, no problem.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 04:01 AM

If there's no beer in heaven,
I think I'm gonna stay right here.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Megan L
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 04:18 AM

My grand father great grandfather and great great grandfather all had alcoholism written on their death certificate as one of the causes of death. For generations the males of my fathers family were alcoholics who beat their wives and allowed their children to go hungry. I will always be grateful that my father was a man, man enough to say this has to stop and it stops with me.

I cannot give advice but I can give encouragement YOU can do this. Look around your area at what help may be available different things help different people. One thing to remember you don't have to do this forever "Today I will not drink" the longest of life's is not made of years but of many todays.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Will Fly
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 04:24 AM

I've never had any problem with drinking or smoking. I gave up smoking in 1970 and have never had a cigarette since. I like a glass of wine or beer and have a cupboard filled with bottles of this and that - I have a tot occasionally.

What I do know is that, if I had to stop drinking alcohol for any reason, I wouldn't have a problem with it. I wouldn't miss it. I'm convinced (and I've said this before on Mudcat) that a predeliction for addiction to drugs of any kind - tobacco, alcohol, hard drugs - is genetic. Some of us don't have the gene - others do. That being the case, the addiction is not curable - it can only be alleviated - which is why attending groups run by AA (for example) is incredibly important, and why those who've kicked the addiction still regularly attend AA meetings. Essentially, they're battling the gene.

My theory may, of course, be completely wrong, but I also have good friends - musicians - who can't handle drink. To see them get drunk and blow their talent to hell is very sad. AA and other good support groups are essential for an illness which, though it can be brought down to almost nothing, is ever-present as far as I can see.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: alanabit
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 04:36 AM

What Will said. My father was an alcoholic who drank himself to death. Too many of my busking/musician friends have destroyed their lives and talent that way.
When my brother, who is gay, came out to me many years ago, he said, "The first thing is you have to admit it to yourself." That was a pretty profound statement. I reckon it is equally true for any form of predisposition or behaviour. Having the guts to recognise a problem is a good start. There are plenty of wiser heads than mine here. Please take their advice and move into a better part of your life. If you are an alcoholic, drinking has nothing good to offer you at all. Good luck.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Leadfingers
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 04:38 AM

I am happy to say I dont drink any more














Sadly , I have to admit I dont drink any less .

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Leadfingers
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 04:41 AM

But I do sympathise with any one who DOES have a drink problem , as I have several friends who do , and some who wont admit it .

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 07:36 AM

Whatever path you decide to pursue, I wish you success.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 07:48 AM

Acute Pancreatitis with complications is a good mind-focusser.

I'm never going through that three-year hell of almost constant body-wracking pain, weight-loss (over 90 lbs) and major surgery (twice) again. Way back at the beginning the medics said "No more alcohol, it's a pancreas-killer", so I haven't touched alcohol (my former drug of choice, though only in a 'moderate' way) since 21st December, 2005.

It's been easy - I don't miss it, except when preparing Christmas lunch (miss the three or four Croft Original sherries), and on holiday (WTF do you drink in Greece if alcohol's out of the question? Diet Coke or iced coffee (no fruit juice because I'm diabetic). What a pile of crap!).

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: ranger1
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 07:50 AM

There are programs out there other than AA that work. So if the whole AA thing doesn't do it for you, keep looking until you find works for YOU. AA is not a one size fits all program.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: jacqui.c
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 08:00 AM

Good luck to you, wherever you are. Good thoughts coming anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: freda underhill
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 09:45 AM

I had lunch with a friend today who has been sober for about 12 years. She, an athiest, went to AA and found it a supportive process. I asked her at the time how she could surrender to a higher power, as an athiest.

She said she had to think a lot about her atheism. While it was a "rational" philosophy that she grew up with, and had been good in many ways (especially dealing with issues of social justice etc) it hadn't helped with her alcoholism. So she tried thinking of a greater "Good" instead of God - and that helped. She has found goodness in the AA groups that help her understand and live with her illness.

Good luck, I hope you get support to help you understand it all, and I hope your health improves.

freda

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: SINSULL
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 10:02 AM

My mother's drinking killed her. Her brother died from a rare blood disease one year after giving up drinking - he was officially the town drunk. Go figure. Many alcoholics young and old in my family.
If your drinking is hurting you or anyone else, get some help.
I like wine in the evening but often as not have none. I have been known to be "over served" as Kendall so eloquently puts it. I could easily be a falling down drunk but images of my mother get in the way.
SINS

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: The Sandman
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 10:11 AM

i have to stop drinking periodically because of gout, my body telling me something, and I have had gout since 1985

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 10:14 AM

Having worked for and with a couple of publishers of "AA Books," and having a couple of family members in the program (and a few others who should have been but died before they found it) we are quite familiar with the program and its effects.

It works for many, and if you have, or believe you have, a problem it is a good place to start. If you find that it works for you, then you have your answer.

For a few people, it is impossible to be "in the program" without "evangelising" about it, and I've known a few who have seemed to become "unpersons" from their participation - but if it saves your life (or your friendships that really matter) it's worth it. (This effect doesn't happen to everyone who benefits from AA, but you shouldn't be surprised when you meet them at AA.)

To be successful, AA is a religion; but it doesn't prevent you from participating in another one (or several).

Few people are able to use the AA program to quit, without changing their entire lifestyle, and in particular, without getting away from acquaintances and "social situations" where they've been accustomed to drinking. This is especially true if you've been drinking with other people who have more of a problem than they recognize.

If it means moving to a new town, and finding new friends in non-drinking contexts it may be worth the change. Being already committed to being "in AA" or another good program when you make such a change probably will help you to find a place in a new community where "just getting drunk" is less a goal. Just finding a significantly different "social group" where you are may be sufficient, but can be more difficult if "those you used to drink with" find you too easily.

A dominant theme in AA (and other) programs is the recognition of "co-enablers," and you may benefit just from identifying who in your current groups of associates "encourage" (enable) your drinking. That identification will be necessary eventually, and the only solution is to break your addiction to them before - or as part of your breaking away from drinking.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 10:46 AM

My brother drank excessively for years.... and did drugs... and smoked.

I never smoked and never drank excessively. Why the difference? *shrug* It just may BE we got a slightly different set of genes.

He went to AA and took up religion semi-seriously. (My opinion is that he needed to 'believe' in order to justify abstaining... but I can't read minds.)
He is 70 now, and has been relatively clean of all that stuff for 10 years.

Me? I drink Scotch, (good) beer, wine, liqueurs, ...and very occasionally, gin, vodka, cider, and several other exotic things.... except that it may be days or even weeks between tastes. A 6-pack of beer may last a month... or a week.

I take NO credit for my good luck.... I just never did enjoy being drunk.. (maybe 3-4 times in my life was I legally drunk, and that was 40 years ago or more.)

So.... the answer I hear most from individuals who DO have the problem is that it requires almost total abstinence... no matter how you get there.

Best wishes......

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 10:52 AM

I've been in the AA for years, and what's drinking got to do with the Automobile Asociation ?

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 10:56 AM

There's a special group.. AAA-AA.... for people who are being driven to drink.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Amos
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 11:02 AM

One of my best friends recently conquered alcohol on sheer will power, by filling his glass with water every time. Where he used to be sipping wine all afternoon and be half-crocked by evening, he now has a glass of water handy. He has lost ten years from his fasce and gained dramatically in intelligence, interest in life, and general sanity.

You can drink as much as you want if you do it this way.



A

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: MikeL2
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 11:45 AM

Hi

I used to drink really heavily ( for many years mainly beer but getting into whisky too)and got to the stage that I knew I was destroying my family life and my own health.

My first marriage failed because of my drinking and I chose to try to cut it down.

I never actually stopped drinking but I cut out the whisky and cut down on beer.

I now drink a couple of glasses of red wine most nights and when we go out I have a few beers and an occasional whisky or brandy.

I know I am lucky to be able to have handled this in the way I did.

I also know others that have the real problem and how difficult it is for them to try to stop.

You are on the first step of quitting by recognising the problem. Others here have have given some good advice.

Best of luck

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 12:25 PM

I think I've been lucky not to have an addictive personality (except for buying records!). I gave up drink during my college years for financial reasons. I had one job where there was a drink culture on Fridays which I went along with but didn't carry it over into other days or other jobs. On retirement I tried to drink sensibly. Recently, for medical reasons, I've cut back from about 14 units a week to 7 or 8 and haven't found it a problem. I have a friend who is suffering with a serious drink problem which is affecting his health, and his family. He tries but keeps lapsing. We try to give them support but, as others have said, the individual has to make the decision and find a way to stick to it.

RtS

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 01:06 PM

Alcoholism runs in my maternal grandfather's side of the family, so my mom had two brothers who were alcoholics - one died of old age, poor, but content to have lived life on his own terms. The other committed suicide from the effects it had on his life and for other very serious problems from WWII. My brother has struggled with it for years, but has been sober for quite a while now. My son, poor boy, got a double whammy from his paternal grandfather and my side, and has been struggling with it. He has lost a great deal including two homes, a long-term relationship, and his vehicle which leaves him in a precarious state work-wise.

In the case of our family, it has always struck the men.

AA worked for my son, but he did not like it and stopped going each time. Ditto with my brother. The way it goes is: admit a problem or be forced to go there by law after being in the drunk tank overnight; go, make a few friends, notice some things that are helpful, go a few more times, get your first token etc. Miss a meeting or two, rationalise why you don't need to worry about it, you're fine. Stop going altogether. Meet up with a friend or have a shitty day at work, get depressed for whatever reason and tell yourself "I can have just a couple." It's a slippery slope from there on.

It is good you have recognised there is a problem. (Funny how docs can get us to focus with a few scary words, isn't it?)I wish you all the best. Looks like you will have access to some great helpers right here in Mudville. May it carry over for you into your 3D life.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 01:12 PM

Interestingly, geneticists on the Human Genome Project are now discovering evidence for an 'addiction gene'. This seems to me to prove that certain individuals are battling their addiction in the face of a pre-programmed tendency to become hooked on substances, behaviours and thought patterns. It must be doubly hard for them, as their brains are wired to continue drinking. I've seen much drug addiction in prisons, and the men were so obviously powerless to change. What's exciting is that gene therapy may be a possibility, so that these destructive genes can be modified and de-fused so to speak. I feel very much for the families, partners and friends of alcoholics. AlAnon is an excellent way for them to get support too.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 02:15 PM

"so have stopped drinking wine for the last couple of months. I miss a glass in the evenings, but I think I've identified the problem."

Sulphates bother Carol. We buy sulphate free wine. It is available at our local health food store and at the newly-opened Co-op.

I have never been to an AA meeting but I have researched the organization. I have read a book by a founder, Bill Wilson was his name, I think. A lot of what JohnfromKansas says is spot on. But the perspective is very different from that of AA. They tell you all the things he seems to be warning about up front. For instance there are twelve steps that REQUIRE religion but that don't actually specify the religion. So is AA a religion itself? It is a debatable question. But I have read that many non-Christians have benefited from 12-step programs, without taking up a new religion. So I would not dismiss it for that reason.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Step_Program

Why am I using the term 12 step program? Because there are plenty of addictions other than alcohol and 12 step programs, based on AA which have some degree of success, higher than most other approaches, with addictions in general.

I think Wil Fly's post about "the gene" is insightful, and Eliza's about recent research and Bill D's about him and his brother are also telling.

I think that there are genetic factors not for alcoholism alone but for addiction in general that can predispose a person to have "an addictive personality" I think that environmental factors, most notably abuse as a child that can greatly increase the chances that one will become susceptible to addiction.

Who are the people most likely to abuse and neglect their child? Addicts.

Its very complicated. There probably will never be definitive answers to the causes and cures.

But in answer to the original question, all I can say is that if I were in a condition to ask the question that I think yis being asked, I would look up my local chapter of AA and go to a meeting and ask my question there.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 02:46 PM

I would have thought that the most important thing to do for an alcoholic (or any other addict) would be to eschew judgmentalism.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 04:44 PM

I'll mention the guy that I used to work for. He has been in detox 4 times, and is now on 1-2 litres of vodka per day. He does not eat, his liver count is off the scale, his potassium count is nil and he will be dead within weeks. That is what drink does to you, anybody who braggs about drinking is an ass - remember that when you go "off to the pub" - you are an alcoholic in the making!!

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 05:20 PM

That is not necessarily true, B3; there are many, many pub-habitues who never become alcoholics and many at-home drinkers who do.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: gnu
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 05:26 PM

AA website (Canada)

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 06:22 PM

It all depends what you live for. If nothing you might as well die happy.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Joe_F
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 08:26 PM

I don't have a problem myself (it's mainly a ritual matter for me), but there is a literature on the subject, and my impression from it & from casual acquaintance is that different people have different drinking problems.

Pete Hamill (_A Drinking Life_) was in the habit because he had grown up in an Irish working-class family & neighborhood, and that was what men did. In middle age, he decided it was destroying his memory, on which he depended for his profession as a writer, so he quit. He was in a sleazy bar & had ordered a drink, so he said, this is my last drink, and he drank it, and it was. After that, he had no problem going out with his buddies & drinking something nonalcoholic & telling them why if they presumed to ask.

On the other hand, the wretch depicted (I dare say from life) in Cyril Tawney's song "Reunion" found that he had been dependent on alcohol for conviviality & that after he quit (doctor's orders, I suppose) the jokes weren't funny any more. So he had to say goodbye.

Those people managed without going thru 12 steps (as did a friend of mine who went out to has former favorite bar with me & some others, and ordered tea to celebrate), but I can well believe that enlisting the help of others in the same boat can be immensely helpful -- particularly if the feeling that you didn't matter was part of the problem. I myself am addicted to chemicals I produce internally (mostly adrenalin, I guess), so I don't have that recourse.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Nigel Paterson
Date: 05 Jul 12 - 02:54 AM

I have to agree strongly with Ebbie's comment about pub & home drinking. I drank to excess at home, on my own. I only visited pubs when I was working, i.e. singing in folk clubs, many of which were (and still are), sited in pubs. When we were on tour, we would visit many pubs, but to eat, not drink. Pubs & alcoholism are absolutely NOT synonymous.
                                                                                                                Nigel.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: MikeL2
Date: 05 Jul 12 - 05:17 AM

Hi bonzo

We all know what excessive drinking can do.

But I disagree with your point about going to the pub.

Many alcoholics don't go to the pub, especially females. They buy their alcohol cheaply from the supermarkets or wine shops and drink at home.

I and my circle of friends have drunk in pubs,clubs and bars for over fifty years now and not one of them to my knowledge has an alcohol problem.

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 05 Jul 12 - 05:44 AM

"You might as well die happy." I don't think that many alcoholics who are so ill that they die of their addiction are in any way happy. The ones I've known were in the depths of despair and physically suffering too.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: HuwG
Date: 05 Jul 12 - 10:10 AM

Chacun a son gout

I would certainly not regard myself as an alcoholic, but about eight or nine years ago, I was struck down with gout. My GP (General Practitioner) was kind enough to say that the immediate cause was some passing kidney ailment but recommended I cut out the booze. Naturally, I scoffed. This was a period of my life when I was more active and generally fitter than I had been for years. On reflection I had to admit that I had spent years in environments (engineering department at University, HM Forces, rugby club, hanging around folkies) where heavy intake of beer was the norm.

This period coincided with being made redundant from an IT job. I took a job behind the bar in a local pub to make ends meet. The landlord was one of the first micro-brewers, and proudly presented his first batch to the bar staff for tasting. We all pulled faces like lemon-squeezers and suggested it be allowed to breathe. Or preferably, be smothered in its cradle. The next day, I went down with the worst attack of gout I have ever had, and was unable to walk for almost two days. So, what with painful joints and empty wallet, I cut out the drink.

At the time, I was trying to get a date with a girl who was a health visitor. She congratulated me on my willpower. I replied that anyone who has had gout doesn't need willpower, but she regaled me with horror stories of some of her "clients", such as one whose gout was so severe that crystals of uric acid were large enough to penetrate the skin, and others whose fingers had been wrenched into Queen Anne chairlegs by the inflamed joints, but who refused to lay off the alcohol.

The upshot is that I have not drunk for most of the last decade. (A few sips of champagne at my niece's wedding don't really count.) Nor have I suffered more than perhaps two minor twinges in my toes.

A friend, a bass guitar player, recently went down with gout. On the face of it, he is a more likely candidate for the ailment, being over twenty stone and with the build and appetite of Monsieur Mongetout. He refuses to stop drinking. I have given the story of my own experience of the disease, but I won't proselytise.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Elmore
Date: 05 Jul 12 - 10:24 AM

Don't be a slave to willpower.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: GUEST,999
Date: 05 Jul 12 - 10:34 AM

from

http://www.alcoholismresources.com/causes_alcoholism.html

"The cause or causes of alcoholism have been theorized to be many different things at different times. The American Society of Addiction Medicine and the National Council of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence jointly define alcoholism as, "...a primary, chronic disease with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations the disease is often progressive and fatal.
It is characterized by continuous or periodic impaired control over drinking, preoccupation with the drug alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverse consequences, and distortions in thinking, most notably denial."

There is a variance among alcoholics: They have different drinking patterns (episodic, binge drinking, daily drinking, etc.), different choices of alcoholic beverages ("hard" liquor, wine, beer, etc.) and different quantities consumed (a "few sips," several six packs, a fifth a day, a few glasses of wine with dinner, etc.). Focus on the disease should not be on the differences but on the fact of uncontrolled drinking despite the consequences.

There are many "theories" of the cause of alcoholism. One theory, diminishing in popularity, is that alcoholism is a "moral weakness" -- that the alcoholic could stop drinking if he or she "would just use a little willpower."

Other theories regarding the cause of alcoholism include:

-- That anyone who drinks enough over a long period of time can become alcoholic.

-- That alcoholism is an environmental product, influenced by one's surroundings. There are areas of the country where drinking is much more acceptable than in other areas; and, therefore, more drinkers can be found there. There are also occupations which appear to attract heavy drinkers. These include popular musicians, poets, novelists, salesmen, career soldiers and sailors, and coal miners.

-- That alcoholism is caused by an individual's "allergy" to alcohol.

-- That this person metabolizes alcohol differently than others.

-- That it is caused by either a deficiency or excess of neurotransmitters in the chemical make up of the brain.

-- That the disease is genetically influenced. Research has made it increasingly clear that the genes people inherit can contribute to the development of alcoholism. In the last few years, studies have persuasively demonstrated that approximately one half of all alcoholic persons have inherited a genetic predisposition --or susceptibility--to the disease. Studies of twins and adoptees have shown that children who have a biological parent who is alcoholic are four times more likely to develop alcoholism than the children of non-alcoholics. For sons of alcoholic fathers, the risk is even higher. This is true regardless of the environment in which they are raised.

The disease of alcoholism may be compared to that of diabetes--while the individual is not responsible for developing the disease, he or she is responsible for carefully following a treatment program once they know they have it. As with other chronic diseases, the symptoms of alcoholism may "go away" with treatment, but the disease is still present in a controlled form. In other words, the disease is in remission as long as the alcoholic doesn't use alcohol. Although incurable and potentially fatal, it is important to remember that alcoholism is also among the most treatable of all chronic diseases."

##############################

"One's too many and a hundred's not enough."

##############################

Good luck to you.

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: ossonflags
Date: 05 Jul 12 - 07:55 PM

Willpower is all it takes.............. and taking it one day at a time

Subject: RE: BS: Quitting drinking
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Jul 12 - 08:34 PM

Ossonflags: Willpower is all it takes.

I'm not sure about that. If it is anything like quitting smoking, I learned that willpower didn't do it for me; it could carry me only so far before it lost its oomph. I couldn't quit smoking until the day that I clearly saw the consequences of continuing, in other words, until I was ready. Quitting was not only possible then, but also much easier.