Hi, all. I am an Adult Child (formerly "of Alcoholics") in the other section of this website and binge on food and drink a 6pack of Lite beer pretty much nightly. I have been reading all your posts, especially those to McSwagger. Very interesting. I am working the 12 steps with Adult Children, lots of changes in the 2 weeks since I started. I just wanted to give you a shout that even though I can call myself many things, I can't seem to wrap my mind around a nightly binge of a 6-pack of Lite beer makes me an alcoholic. However, the collective wisdom of the group obviously would disagree.
So rather than torture myself and you with back and forth, I am conducting an experiment. I am working alcohol into my 12 step program with Adult Children (side by side with food, gee my 12 step program is crowded) and I am 3 days sober, as of 12/30. One of the interesting things that I've started thinking about was ALL the six packs of Lite beer I've drunk pretty much night.y and that period of time I was drinking Scotch like it was sweet tea before I scared myself off of Scotch for good.
So no persuasion needed...ESH welcome, mostly just wanted to let you know that I am lurking as I am sure others are and your collective wisdom has motivated me to take real action steps (which will probably end up with me admitting I'm an alcoholic). :) Ole.
Doctors opinion in the AA Big Book and first 44 pages of the book explain alcoholism and can help you decide. Below is a questionaire that is often used for self assesment.
hope this helps, keep coming back.
Rob
Who...Me? In order, to determine whether you have drifted from social drinking into alcoholic drinking it is good to ask yourself a few questions. It is possible - but not probable - that you may fool somebody else but you must be honest with yourself. If you want the help of Alcoholics Anonymous, you must want to become and remain sober because alcohol has you, beat. An alcoholic? Well, here are some questions, to ask yourself. 1. Do you require a drink the next morning? 2. Do you prefer to drink alone? 3. Do you lose time from work due to drinking? 4. Is drinking harming your family in any way? 5. Do you crave a drink at a definite time daily? 6. Do you get the inner shakes unless you continue drinking? 7. Has drinking made you irritable? 8. Does drinking make you careless of your familys welfare? 9. Have you thought less of your husband or wife since drinking? 10.. Has drinking changed your personality? 11.Does drinking cause you bodily complaints? 12.Does drinking make you restless? 13.Does drinking cause you to have difficulty in sleeping? 14.Has drinking made you more impulsive? 15.Have you less self-control since drinking? 16.Has your initiative decreased since drinking? 17.Has your ambition decreased since drinking? 18.Do you lack perseverance in pursuing a goal since drinking? 19.Do you drink to obtain social ease? (In shy, timid, self-conscious individuals) 20.Do you drink for self-encouragement? (In persons with feelings of inferiority) 21.Do you drink to relieve marked feeling of inadequacy? 22.Has your sexual potency suffered since drinking? 23.Do you show marked dislikes and hatreds since drinking? 24.Has your jealousy, in general, increased since drinking? 25.Do you show marked moodiness as a result of drinking? 26.Has your efficiency decreased since drinking? 27.Has drinking made you more sensitive? 28.Are you harder to get along with since drinking? 29.Do you turn to an inferior environment since drinking? 30.Is drinking endangering your health? 31.Is drinking affecting your peace of mind? 32.Is drinking making your home life unhappy? 33.Is drinking jeopardizing your business your job? 34.Is drinking clouding your reputation? 35.Is drinking disturbing the harmony of your life? Note: These questions are not AA questions but are the guide used by JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL in deciding whether a patient is alcoholic or not. In addition we in AA would ask even more. Here are a few: 36.Have you ever had a complete loss of memory (blackout) while, or after drinking? 37.Have you ever felt, when or after drinking, an inability to concentrate? 38.Have you ever felt remorse after drinking? 39.Has a physician ever treated you for drinking? 40.Have you ever been hospitalized for drinking? ACCORDING TO THE HOPKINS STUDY if you answered YES to any of these Questions, there is a definite warning that you may be an alcoholic. If you have answered YES to any two of these Questions, chances are, you are an alcoholic. If you have answered YES to any two of these Questions, chances are, you are an alcoholic. If you answer YES to three or more of these Questions, you are definitely an alcoholic. No one in AA can tell you whether you are an alcoholic. This you must decide for yourself. Once you have made that decision then you are ready to take the FIRST STEP: "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol that our lives had become unmanageable.
__________________
Rob
"There ain't no Coupe DeVille hiding in the bottom of a Cracker Jack Box."
well sometimes you're better off in AA pretending to be an alcoholic, than in a bar pretending you're not. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. That's all.
__________________
It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
Hello ASO and welcome to the board. you're on the right track. To effectively work the steps, a person needs to step away from all mood altering activities, in order to deal with their feelings, and get in touch with their authentic self, and in your ACA program, you're inner child. I too am and ACA and a codependent. Worked all 3 programs (plus attended NA meetings) from 6 months sober till 3.5 years. Gave up smoking cigarettes and joined a gym, lost 25 lbs. that year as well. That's a lot of demons to kick down the road all at once, but it worked. A 6 pack a night is a significant habit. In the end, I was drinking about 6-10 beers a day. What was odd, some nights I drank 10 and never got "drunk", and other nights drank 6 and was pretty hammered. My liver was beginning to process alcohol sporatically. That's one of the cruelest parts of this disease. A group of folks that could "drink others under the table" now has a russian roulette experience nightly. Some folks get to the point where one or two drinks get them hammered out of control, the liver shuts down and they stay drunk for 18 hours as the alcohol just stays in the blood stream. That's the progressive nature of this disease. We can get off of the merry-go-round at any time, and the sooner the better.
Thanks, guys, Rob the checklist was an eye-opener. I got 13. I read the post about bed-wetting, which I don't do, but when I have to pee, it's sudden and I have to get to a bathroom right then or I start peeing my pants. I wonder if that's a liver function thing. I'm going to do some more research on that.
Dean, I got a scholarship to the Y and have been working out regularly for 5 days straight. My job situation is very tenuous (do project work, haven't been called in a while, emailed for a reference, total silence, recruiter didn't return my follow-up call, which is like the death knoll in my field), u/e runs out in a couple of weeks. I don't know if there's a causal link between the drinking and my situation but I am 6 months late on getting in front of the 8 ball, and now I am a breath from rock bottom. Been on u/e in between projects for the last year (not many projects, mostly u/e) $150 bucks/month on beer, $100/cigs., $150/month on unnecessary food instead of saving u/e pennies.That is a cold hard truth that is hard to write.
ASO, praying for work (I'm a contractor) has been working very well for me, for the last 22 years. Imo, our Higher Power wants us to work so that we can take care of ourselves and families. This is not really in alignment with the 11th step, but my first sponsor told me to do it, it worked and it's continued to work. Try it.
To me , I am an alcoholic because I have no breaks when I drink alcohol I say I will stop at 1 and I never do . I never drank every day and I never drank 2 days running , I maybe only drank once a week but when I drank it was hell My name is Jessica and I AM AN ALCOHOLIC xxxxxx
I ran an experiment with a 6 pack yesterday. I bought it, had 2 and said that I'm not alcoholic if it lasts a week. On the third beer, 15 mins. later, I got the munchies and drove to a drivethrough and got $10 worth of junk food. The other three beers washed down the junk food. Oh yeah, on the way back from the driethrough, I stopped at the liquor store and bought a bottle of Mudslide, that chocolately stuff with liquor in it but you can't really taste it until it makes you unconscious.
I didn't do this for any other reason than to actually pay attention to my usual behavior.
So I laid down but couldn't sleep, so I laid there all night, getting depressed, feeling guilty, with a headache starting, thinking I hope I threw my bottles away so the reclclying man won't see them (or worse yet a neighbor walking past who should look into my reckycing bin)..then I thought of Rob's chcklist.
Got up the next morning after dozing, felt like crap, didn't go to the gym because I felt like crap, didn't do my usual morning prayer routine because I was depressed, dind't job hunt because I felt like crap.
I think about that answers that question, huh? Last night showed me that alcohol is poison to me and I can't resist it, and I simply cannot pick up a drink again.
Wow, I found myself skirming in my chair a bit while reading all that. Glad that you're in one piece. the headache might be from all of the sugar. I get one when I indulge in too many deserts around the holidays.
I ran an experiment with a 6 pack yesterday. I bought it, had 2 and said that I'm not alcoholic if it lasts a week. On the third beer, 15 mins. later, I got the munchies and drove to a drivethrough and got $10 worth of junk food. The other three beers washed down the junk food. Oh yeah, on the way back from the driethrough, I stopped at the liquor store and bought a bottle of Mudslide, that chocolately stuff with liquor in it but you can't really taste it until it makes you unconscious.
I didn't do this for any other reason than to actually pay attention to my usual behavior.
So I laid down but couldn't sleep, so I laid there all night, getting depressed, feeling guilty, with a headache starting, thinking I hope I threw my bottles away so the reclclying man won't see them (or worse yet a neighbor walking past who should look into my reckycing bin)..then I thought of Rob's chcklist.
Got up the next morning after dozing, felt like crap, didn't go to the gym because I felt like crap, didn't do my usual morning prayer routine because I was depressed, dind't job hunt because I felt like crap.
I think about that answers that question, huh? Last night showed me that alcohol is poison to me and I can't resist it, and I simply cannot pick up a drink again.
Step One
check
What's next?
StPeteDean wrote:
Wow, I found myself skirming in my chair a bit while reading all that. Glad that you're in one piece. the headache might be from all of the sugar. I get one when I indulge in too many deserts around the holidays.
well not to mention a 6 pack and sugary mudslide drinks, been a LONG time since you had a drink if you don't figure that in the equation for your "man morning sickness" condition lol
-- Edited by LinBabaAgo-go on Thursday 5th of January 2012 11:04:15 PM
__________________
Light a man a fire and he's warm for a night, set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life
It says in the big book something along the lines of we don't like to pronounce anyone alcoholic, but you can easily diagnose yourself..........step over to the nearest bar etc..........it may be worth a case of the jitters to get a full knowledge ............bingo bongo, looks like you did some good research there and came to a conclusion that you can believe.
__________________
It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you got. BB
Gentlemen: Here's what I'm going to do. Having come to the realization that I am powerless over alcohol, the effects of family dysfunction, and overeating, I am humbled to realize that my life is unmanagable. I believe that only Jesus can restore me to sanity, and I decided to turn the whole parcel--my life and will and all these problems--over to His care. I'm going to live one day at a time, starting today, 1/6, I'm going to count my blessings every day and forgive myself for how much time I've wasted and how long I've been in denial. I deserve a glorious life, and it is within my reach. Right now, after having said my morning prayers and got valued feedback from this forum, which is a wonderful way to start the day, I'm going to go work out. After that, I have ten small tasks that I have been procrastinating, and I'm going to knock those out. Then I'm going to hunt for an AA meeting for tomorrow morning.
I'm taking St. Dean's advice, and I intend to shuffleboard all these things down the road to healing in 2012, starting toDAY.
