You are 4-8 times more likely to become an alcoholic if you have a family history of the disease. Often it's not the parents that had the disease but the grand parents, aunts and uncles, so many think that it's Not in the family when It really is. You can also develop alcoholism through abuse. I've had many people ask me about it over the years. They say things like "I have 1 glass of wine every night". I tell them to skip a couple nights a week. You just never no when or if that switch will flip. It's odd that at the same time that the brain decides to obsess about it, the liver's tolerance begins to change and the effects vary from day to day. Some nights 6 drinks produces a moderate affect, and the next night 4 drinks and the person is hammered. That's the cruelest part. The not knowing. Looking back, the scariest part was the poor decisions that I made when I was drunk. I should've died a good number of times. I truly believe in angels, there's no other explanation that works.

I asked the same question to my doctor, once. His answer, "if the brain is hardwired to be, then yes."


I have no family history of alcoholism, not my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc on either side of my family. I appear to be the FIRST!

Looking back, I know now I was an alcoholic LONG before I took my first drink! And I drank like an alcoholic from that first drink!

Jen

Thanks guys...that made me think about it differently.  It's such a challenging disease to understand.  But it makes sense that an alcoholic "processes" the alcohol differently than a non-alcoholic.  Thanks!