Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

[coalfire]

I hope people don't mind me asking this question. I am interested in science and genes and all that type of stuff and something I read got me thinking about this. I actually drank relatively little before I became an alcoholic.I didn't start drinking properly until my mid 20's and I became an alcoholic at 28.My alcoholism started suddenly. The media/society always equates heavy drinking with the onset of alcoholism.You will always hear young people being warned-"Don't drink too much or you will end up an alcoholic"-as if the two always go hand in hand. You never hear someone saying to a young person-Be careful.Even though you only drink socially you could end up an alcoholic.You would swear that didn't happen if you went by the newspapers and yet it does. I am a text book case.Anyway I found this article and it said basically that people have different genes.One person can lash it into them and never become an alcoholic and the other person can drink far less and become an alcoholic. When I look around me I can see that this is true..I have at least 3 cousins who would have heavily drank all the way through their teens and 20's and are nowhere near alcoholics today.I know that some people can drink so heavily and so often that they become dependent on alcohol but what about the other type?

1 Did anyone in this site become an alcoholic from a background of light/social drinking?
2 Did anyone develop alcoholism suddenly ie did they go out one weekend as a normie then waken up the next weekend as an alcoholic?
Im just curious. Thanks in advance for anyone who responds....and if there is noone then I am going to label myself as an alien from outer space and donate my living body to medical science.:H Genes That Drive You To Drink (But Don't Make You An Alcoholic)

[coalfire]

Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

Ps I forgot. This is the sentence that got me thinking in this article. This was me.

"Individuals with a set of genes that predisposes them to drink moderate amounts of alcohol may still have the genetic predisposition to lose control over their drinking behavior, and perhaps become alcohol dependent"

[mario]

Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

When i was about 14 Depending on money and accessibility I drank around every two weeks, From the age of 16/17 i started to drink on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, then I started to drink on a Monday. I then started to drink every night of the week ,I could binge drink for 2/3 days at a time. Apart from the hangovers, which were not a deterrent, I still drank heavy every night just to relax and chill out.eventually any excuse and i would have a drink,The whole social circle here in Ireland is based around drinking,looking back now from a sober point of view i can see that an awful lot of my uncles & aunts and family are/were heavy drinkers,Drinking was never discouraged sure you werent a man till you could have a few ???? So in answer(at last) i came from a heavy drinking backround.

[madmans]

Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

i have loads of friends that " don't " have a drink problem and in Ireland we all seem to be fond of it but i often ask myself could they just stop drinking for good that easy ? is it the case were they were like me with the " i can stop any time " thinking , until they wake up one day and drink the cure at 8 am. i have friends that have a drink problem its just they can't see it and would not call their drinking heavy

[coalfire]

Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

Thanks Mario.Anyone else?

[coalfire]

Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

Thanks madman...Im not sure which category you mean you were in. Are you saying that you were a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic?

[theshark]

Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

i was a social drinker up to the age of 27 say then someting clicked and i basically nneeded it every day ,definately dependent by the age of 30,from which i have drank everyday ,virtually,till now 50 y/o.
but i know of people who drink more than me and are not alcoholic,and family members who drink as much and are not dependant.
alcoholism was very prevellent on my grandmothers side of the family tho

[madmans]

Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

not really sure what i'm saying . i don't know when i became an alcoholic, i started of drinking late about when i was 21 and not really that heavy until i moved to the US at 25 and was out every night drinking, so you could say i was drinking heavy before i knew i had a problem but i don't know i never tried to give drink up for good when i was not drinking heavy. i might have seen i had a drink problem back then if i had. i think there is a lot of people that would say their are social drinkers here in Ireland that have a problem, its just they will never know until they try to stay AF for a long period of time and since they don't see it as a problem why would they want to stay AF.

[Cassia]

Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

I never drank every day - once a week twice max. I had no off switch that was my problem. and i started to crave it if i was stressed out. Glad that is removed from my life now!

x

[coalfire]

Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

Thanks madmans,shark and cassia.

[coalfire]

Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

Cassia;1085906 wrote: I never drank every day - once a week twice max. I had no off switch that was my problem. and i started to crave it if i was stressed out.


x

Cassia your lack of off switch. Did you never have an off switch or did it break suddenly. If you had kept a diary could you look back at a certain weekend for example and say- there,thats when it broke(like me) or was it a gradual thing that you just drank more and more like madmans/Mario? Thats what I am interested in. Thanks.

[akgirl]

Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

I never thought of myself as an alcoholic. It was such the "norm" in my family. My mom was a bartender and it was just what everybody did. Weekends, holidays.....it was just how I was raised. Never thought anything different. And although we all drank, we all held jobs, did well and even excelled. So again....never thought I was an alcoholic.

I think I realized in the last few years. Thats when I really wanted to try to stop. I was doing more and more stupid stuff, falling down, not remembering.....I was embarrased and disgusted with myself.

So, In answer to your question.....happened over a long period of time.

But I still have to wonder the definition of alcoholic. I read in one of the post someone said their friends drank as much as them but weren't alcoholics....

[coalfire]

Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

akgirl;1085929 wrote:

But I still have to wonder the definition of alcoholic. I read in one of the post someone said their friends drank as much as them but weren't alcoholics....

Thanks akgirl. My friend and I go out to the pub and we have say 2 drinks. At midnight he heads off to bed. Her night is over.Meanwhile those 2 drinks have triggered such an overwhelming massive craving in me that I cant go to bed no matter how desperate I am for that to happen. I must and I repeat must go home and continue drinking from my supply at home. Its the classic panic at the end of the bottle response although I would rename it frantic at the end of the bottle. If I had the choice between having 3 drinks or none at all I would choose none at all -hands down every time.It would be too distressing for me otherwise.I thought that thats what alcoholism was for everyone..that it started and looked the same for everybody. It was just that some people were further along than others. Based on what I have been reading recently I am not so sure. Anyway I dont want to talk about my type. I posted this to hear about everyone elses type so I will shush now.:H I would love to hear other people answers to my 2 questions. Thanks.

[ladybirdheart]

Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

Interesting questions, Coalfire. I drank frequently in college, graduate school, but never too much and always after my studies and other responsibilities were done for the day. In my second year of college at age eighteen I lived alone in Paris for a while and found the pace of life and the inclusion of wine, beer, and spirits even for a young person to be natural. I liked drinking but also had a easy tolerance and a need to be in control of myself that made it uncomplicated to keep things civilized. I do think, however, that I became an alcoholic overnight around ten years later. I had gotten into an intense argument with my mother who become very upset and had a brain hemorrhage which proved fatal. That night when I came home my boyfriend took one look at me and brought me a big glass of whiskey. There was something different about my response to that drink and I knew it immediately. It brought me around like a slap and then washed over me like a wave. I did not suddenly fall into a vat of booze but I was changed. I never changed back. In the years that followed I still drank only after important things were done, went on to have a strong career, and I never had any alcohol related drama, but alcohol became an entity in itself, something I needed to keep close, I looked forward to it, found in it all kinds of things all by itself. I could not be without it. I had to have enough in the house to get to a certain blood level or it was torture, as with you a little only primed the pump. And it didn?t have anything to do with my mother. I think any number of things besides strong emotion could have one day or another precipitated the change in the neurochemistry of my brain so that I responded to alcohol differently, and I have both a genetic background consistent with alcoholism and persons who drank huge amounts but never tipped. Thank you for your interest in the science behind what ails us, it does take a village to get us out of here. With best wishes, Ladybird.

[kitty72]

Were you a heavy drinker before you became an alcoholic.

coalfire;1085944 wrote: Thanks akgirl. My friend and I go out to the pub and we have say 4 drinks. At midnight she heads off to bed. Her night is over.Meanwhile those four drinks have triggered such an overwhelming massive craving in me that I cant go to bed no matter how desperate I am for that to happen. I must and I repeat must go home and continue drinking from my supply at home. Its the classic panic at the end of the bottle response although I would rename it frantic at the end of the bottle. If I had the choice between having 3 drinks or none at all I would chose none at all -hands down every time.It would be too distressing for me otherwise.I thought that thats what alcoholism was for everyone..that it started and looked the same for everybody. Thanks.

I could have written that myself! Thanks for the thread CF.

In answer to your original question, I drank socially until I got to about 25, then the heavy drinking really started and I became an alcoholic at 30. I can also see that many of my family members have a problem with alcohol as well. My father drank very heavily though has certainly cut down over the years. Also any family function was always very booze orientated.