Am I an alcoholic?

lol, i love that as a young adult its ok to drink to get drunk, but as you get older if you drink to get drunk its unseemly. however you can drink for the "taste" and its completely fine and dandy and you can drink as much as you want but look down on a 25 year old whose just as drunk as you but did it just to be drunk.

Don't think i've had a drink in ages. got a bottle of stupidly nice/sweet chocolate type liqour stuff, probably the only bottle i've had in the past 6 months. Don't crave it, just been busy and not going out much(illness) so not drinking. but god damnit, when i go out, i enjoy getting drunk its as simple as that.

If i want to do something for the taste, i'll have a damn pizza with friends, or i'll have a nice chocolate bar or a great meal. I don't hate alcohol but I don't find anything so fantastic tasting that i just must use it for the taste.

Every damn person that claims thats the reason for drinking is kidding themselves, and more than likely due to the kidding themselves FAR more susceptable to becoming an alcoholic. If you know you're trying to get drunk, well, you know. if you actually persaude yourself to believe its just for the taste well, whats the harm in "tasting" something more often.

I know some older people who insist they drink wine for the taste, and later on are drunk as hell and move on to a nice whiskey or a shot of a liquor or whatever. Problems arise when you hide what you're doing, and by saying you're drinking for any reason other than the real one you're already hiding which is a bad step.

Sure theres good tasting wine and bad tasting wine, but in the end its wine. Theres good vodka and terrible vodka and i prefer great vodka, but i don't love the taste. get real already.

To the OP, ridiculous to say you are an alcoholic, not at all.

As someone said, this country is all but addicted to caffeine, i CERTAINLY am. i get headaches when i don't drink caffeine for a i dunno, half a day/day. but you know what, i'm fine with that, i couldn't give a flying............. anything. you know what, i'm addicted to food and water aswell, i would give it up but, well that seems silly too.

We will all die, eventually of something, so whats the point in going for the holy grail of healthyness, the healthiest person on earth having never enjoyed the pleasure of drinking, or over eating or having chocolate will............ still die.

AS for recommended drinking levels and so on. well, everyones different. at uni, and before, hell, at 14/15 when i first starting drinking now and then, i've never met anyone that can come remotely close to what i can drink and maintain the appearance :p of being ok. My main thing i can just keep going indefinately, i just don't throw up from drinking alcohol as most people do, no matter how much i get through. I'm not hugely proud but, i'm saying some people will have liver damage from drinking the amount i did, plenty of people won't. just because you can't drink say 5 pints without passing out doesn't mean other people can't. most people learn exactly what they can drink, our bodies tell us if its unhealthy way before damage occurs in general, as with anything. overtraining can usually be felt way before you do a long term serious injury.
 
Cyberstrike2027 said:
I don't drink at all, I can't see the appeal. All I see of young people is them trying to look cool with each other, boasting about how much they drank such and such a time, or how much they spent in a night. In fact, that seems to be what the conversation post-night out seems to consist of, what everyone had to drink, in order, at what price, and where. Anything else is just a minor event, almost definitely brought on by the booze anyway lol :p
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hmm... and post night out whats your conversation?
If you avoid nights out you distance yourself from most of your friends and then in turn remove a massive part of social life from your weekly activitys, lets face it the pub etc has been a big part of a british male's life for quite a number of centurys.. The only people i know who dont go on nights out and refuse to drink in general are complete recluse and social retards.
 
I would think an alcoholic would be one who feels the "need" to drink in order to feel better about themselves and use it as a distraction from a deeper underlying problem

peetee said:
hmm... and post night out whats your conversation?
If you avoid nights out you distance yourself from most of your friends and then in turn remove a massive part of social life from your weekly activitys, lets face it the pub etc has been a big part of a british male's life for quite a number of centurys.. The only people i know who dont go on nights out and refuse to drink in general are complete recluse and social retards.
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This kinda attitude is what is increasing the binge drinking culture imo. People feel the need to go out and drink cos everyone else is doing it etc, not to mention the glamorising of it with various celebs and other methods. Thankfully none of my close friends drink at uni so never have had the need to go out and waste pointless moneys on drinks etc with them. (course year socials are always inevitably organised round drinking out etc so I have to bare it then)
 
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drunkenmaster said:
Every damn person that claims thats the reason for drinking is kidding themselves, and more than likely due to the kidding themselves FAR more susceptable to becoming an alcoholic.

I know some older people who insist they drink wine for the taste, and later on are drunk as hell and move on to a nice whiskey or a shot of a liquor or whatever. Problems arise when you hide what you're doing, and by saying you're drinking for any reason other than the real one you're already hiding which is a bad step.
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Out of all the ill-informed and outright stupid comments I've seen in this thread, this one takes the biscuit.

You're trying to tell me I don't actually like the taste of real ale and expensive malt whisky. I was drinking alcohol before you were born laddie, don't try to tell me what my reasons are for drinking whisky. I spend, on average, about £40 for a bottle of malt and have spent in excess of £200 on one bottle. If I was drinking to get drunk, I most certainly wouldn't be spending that sort of money - I'd be buying the £7.99 supermarket stuff. I rarely drink enough to get drunk, I did all that when I was young and in my party animal phase. I drink £200 malt because it tastes a damn sight better than any soft drink I've ever tasted.

Now go away and stop insulting people you know nothing about with your ridiculous generalisations and don't come back until you've learned some manners and actually know what you're talking about.
 
Bigstan said:
I spend, on average, about £40 for a bottle of malt and have spent in excess of £200 on one bottle. If I was drinking to get drunk, I most certainly wouldn't be spending that sort of money - I'd be buying the £7.99 supermarket stuff. I rarely drink enough to get drunk, I did all that when I was young and in my party animal phase. I drink £200 malt because it tastes a damn sight better than any soft drink I've ever tasted.
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Speaking of expensive drinks, did you ever track down that 40yo Laphroaig? :D

Evangelion said:
No, just an anti-social tit.
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How is going out (by definition a social exercise) antisocial just by the fact that you're getting drunk? Do you even know what antisocial means?
 
I think the easiest way to judge if you depend on alcohol is to compare it to something else, if i only smoke after work and at weekends, am i addicted to smoking? if i enjoy some pot a few times a day and at the weekends am i a addicted to pot? if i inject heroin a few times a week am i a heroin addict? once you start doing something excessively and make excuses as to why its ok you're addicted, wether it impacts your life is another matter atleast in my experience.
 
Andrew1978 said:
I think the easiest way to judge if you depend on alcohol is to compare it to something else, if i only smoke after work and at weekends, am i addicted to smoking? if i enjoy some pot a few times a day and at the weekends am i a addicted to pot? if i inject heroin a few times a week am i a heroin addict? once you start doing something excessively and make excuses as to why its ok you're addicted, wether it impacts your life is another matter atleast in my experience.
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I agree with the point I believe you are trying to make, i.e. that the use of an addictive substance does not necessarily imply addiction but how do you define excessive use? Where is the cut off point between recreational use and addiction?
Also, how do you differentiate between making excuses and having a valid argument? Would my explanation of why I drink expensive whisky constitute making excuses in your eyes or would you consider that to be acceptable - bearing in mind that I do occasionally get drunk (a couple of times a month)?

I'm not trying to be obtuse, I would genuinely like to know the criteria on which you would base such judgements.

Some people in this thread have made statements regarding alcohol use/abuse without making it clear why they think the way they do. I would like to know the reasons people have for their opinions and where they got the information they used to come to that conclusion. Comments like "Getting drunk makes you an alky - end of." are throwaway comments and add absolutely nothing to the debate. Any comments like that, I ignore. If people explain why they feel the way they do, I probably won't agree with them but at least I'll have an insight into their reasoning.
 
Bigstan said:
Comments like "Getting drunk makes you an alky - end of."
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Thats probably the most stupidest along with "Binge drinkers are alcoholics".

Ironically before I started my Drugs Awareness course and volunteering I didn't actually know any alcoholics in all my 49 years.
I obviously knew people who liked a drink and liked to get drunk at the weekend but I didn't know anybody who depended on it and put their family through hell because of it.
I was lucky to share a table in class with two ex alcoholics who put me right on a few things and then the volunteering hammered home the rest.
 
Sinque said:
They have nothing to do with it. If he's an alcoholic he will have a physical / mental need to drink alcohol, not just because he likes it. :rolleyes:
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I was just making a point that if you stop doing something you like then it will obviously effect you. And having bad side-effects of stopping doing something, like sleeping, will give very bad side effects- doesn't mean that sleeping was bad for you.

Thus if someone like the taste and/or effects of moderate and safe alcohol consumption then it is obvious that after a week they will report some negative effects. But this is expected and and is no indication of an alcoholic.

The suggestion of stopping drinking alcohol to see the effects is quite dangerous,. as described above if the person is an alcoholic then there is a strong chance of death!
 
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Surely it's already been agreed that it's a dependence or a need for alcohol that is more likely to make you an alcoholic. Saying to your friends "right let's go and get ****ed tonight" is just a thing that people seem to like to do. If you can get by without craving for a drink then I don't see how then having a mad night out makes you an alcoholic. I love chocolate for example, but I can go for weeks without needing/craving any, however I'll go to a petrol station to pay for some petrol and I sometimes feel the urge to grab a chocolate bar. It's not addiction or chocoholicism just because I had an instant urge or craving. It's when it becomes a dependence and a repeated action with the belief that you need it to get by through your day. Heck I used to have a glass or two of wine every night because I enjoyed it.

I think there's a fine line between drinking enjoyment and drink problem - it's quite clearly different.
 
pitchfork said:
One of my mates said i'm turning into an alcoholic, I don't get drunk everyday, maybe once, twice, three times a week. Depending on how many times I go out with mates, drink in the evenings (if i'm in or down the pub but 3-4 slow ones), wine with my meal, liquid lunch sometimes.
I don't drink due to any kind of problems, I love life, I just enjoy it, would you consider me an alcoholic though?
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can u stop drinking at any point and say have no drink for a week or two and not climb the walls?
if so then your not realy a hardcore alcoholic butyou do seem to drink a fair bit
 
Bigstan said:
As I said before, you have good reason to dislike heavy alcohol consumption so your views are different to mine.

It all depends on how you define alcoholic. If you use the medical definition then, yes, I was an alcoholic (and still am). If you take a more practical approach then I was a very heavy drinker and have toned down to being a heavyish drinker in terms of quantity consumed (I don't think I am a particularly heavy drinker). As mentioned above, a lot of it depends on how you react to alcohol - it takes considerably more to make me drunk than most people I know and always has done. I obviously have a high natural tolerance to alcohol, therefore what seems like a large amount of alcohol to a lot of people is a moderate amount to me - everybody's different which makes defining alcoholism difficult and not something which can easily be defined by setting a static limit.
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So in short you drink more because it takes more to get you drunk.
I stand by my original thoughts then eh :p
 
ChrisJSY said:
So in short you drink more because it takes more to get you drunk.
I stand by my original thoughts then eh :p
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Where did I say that? :confused:

What I said was that, due to having a higher tolerance to alcohol than most people, what I consider to be drinking in moderation would seem like excess to others. When I drink alcohol, it is mostly well below the level that would make me "drunk", someone with a lower tolerance would probably get "drunk" on the same amount which I consider to be a sensible amount. It's all about knowing your limits. If I'm drinking with someone who has a higher tolerance than me, I don't try to match them drink for drink, that would be stupid, I would get drunk long before they did and the evening would be spoiled.
 
D.P. said:
Don't ahve sex for a week, assuming you are in a relationship with regular sex. come back and tell us how you feel, and if you managed it.
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Last time I looked sex doesn't destroy your brain or liver. Food is an essential part of life and the rest are just nice not addictive.

So the point of your post was?

You should have said: go without caffeine for a week. I have tried that once and it was hard and not a lo of fun.
 
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