newbie drunk

[BenZee]

Hello All

My name is Ben and I think I drink too much,

Well I drink every night, I started out a couple of years ago drinking a 1.5L bottle of wine everyday, Then I progressed to drinking a bottle of 80 proof Vodka a day, then to 100 Proof.
besides that I also go to local bars on weekend and drink until they toss me out. My freinds call me the town drunk.

Right I'm back to drinking wine, and liquor from time to time.

The problem here it that my life isn't bad, I have a good job, about to get my masters, and everything is fine so that makes me think that drinking isn't so bad because my life is normal (somewhat).
The other issue that makes me not quit drinking is that I have stopped drinking before cold turkey for as long as a month with no significant withdraw symptoms, I do not get the shakes, I sleep normal, etc.. so I keep telling myself why stop.

I know my drinking is a problem, hopefully quiting will not be,

Thanks

[AMELIA]

newbie drunk

Hi BenZee and welcome!!!:welcome:

Well the amount you are drinking sounds like a lot to me,....and it's every day too. So even if you feel like your life isn't being affected, that booze is going to be harming your body.
Given that alcohol addiction/drinking problems are progressive (ie, you just want more and more over time), now is probably a good time to start addressing it. Sounds like you have a promising future ahead of you. Don't let the bottle ruin it for you.

Stick around Ben, read up on the posts and see how you feel. Lots of support, knowledge and info on this site.

Take care and keep us posted.

[Thankful]

newbie drunk

Ben ~ Welcome. Congrats on achieving your Masters. That's fantastic.

Perhaps, everything seems to be great for you on the outside. You are what some of us here like to call a "functioning alcoholic". But what about the physical aspect of all this alcohol. Have you had your liver checked or better yet a complete physical? High blood pressure? I'm not trying to scare you, but sometimes we have things that can be wrong and not really have any noticable symptoms. Potential consequences may be lurking some where and perhaps it's best to get control now before any come to a surface. If everything is great now, you should keep it that way and not risk any future problems.

You seem to be on the fence of what you want to do. Do you want to quit?


Love, Me
:l

[AMELIA]

newbie drunk

By the way, I have been drinking too much for 20 years and most of the time I kidded myself that it was Ok,...just a bottle or two of wine to unwind (it felt normal too).
It does catch up with you sooner or later though unfortunately. That's why we are all here.
See you round

[louise]

newbie drunk

Welcome BenZee,
There are a lot of us "well functioning" problem drinkers here. Even if your life looks ok on the outside, you know it isn't because that amount is way past what is considered healthy. Which is why you are here, so read a lot, join in and enjoy the support.

[Sam Handwich]

newbie drunk

Hey BenZee,

I'm pretty new here, but the past four days have really been great for me because of this forum. If you really want to quit, like me, hang out here, ask questions, and look at the whole MWO program. I'm finally getting a vision of how much my life will improve without AL after 5 years of daily inebriation. The folks here are very responsive and very helpful.

Looks like you've been able to quit before ... I would say that quiting for health reasons alone is your best move; that's a lot of vodka for one liver and heart to handle for very long!

Anyway, welcome! Good luck with your decision.

Sam

[Bambi]

newbie drunk

Hi Ben and welcome,

I too am a functioning alcoholic! I have a wonderful life, great husband and two great kids, we are doing okay as far as money goes, I have my dream job of being a stay at home MOM...so no worries I should have. EXCEPT...I drink too much to the point where it affects me and family! I too can go a week or month with out withdrawls physically, mental is another issue. It was once said on here that "if we think we drink too much, then we have a problem." That is so true, if it effects you, and or your family it is a problem.

We need to look at the future! If we keep drinking at these levels what is our future going to hold? Are you going to be able to get that dream job after your masters?....family? What is in store for our health? I, for one, worry about my health. I WANT to see my grandkids and grow old with my wonderful Husband. If I keep this up I won't.

This is a great site with wonderful people. Please read, share...we are here to help in any way we can.

Take Care!
Hugs and Best Wishes,
Bambi

[Evie.Lou]

newbie drunk

Dear,Dear,BEN,I to functioned quit well while drinking .I never got in troble and to most of the world I appeared to be very sucessful, many others even enveyed me.They could not see that AL was eating away at my self respect.I no longer gage my wealth as I once did, by how many dollars that I make or how many things I own but now i feel my wealth is gaged by how many positive emotions that I have about myself.If you keep drinking i think you will see that it only gets harder and harder to control the beast.Maybe right now he is managable but with time he can distroy you.As i read your post I think that you already know that you are on the road heading the wrong way(am I right)?You found this site and you will get all the support you need to stop before AL causes you any more pain...Keep posting...LOL.....Evie

[4theboyz]

newbie drunk

Greetings BenZ!

Well buddy, you said it yourself that you "know you have a problem" and your friends refer to you as the town drunk so let's make it unanimous, you do have a problem! It's not healthy for you to think otherwise.

I am going on a working assumption that you may be still in your younger days (less than 40, closer to 30 or less) and if so your body is still pretty capable of handling even the amount of booze you are throwing at it. This won't last forever and every year it continues it gets worse. You probably won't even notice it. But as your pants start fitting tighter, your skin gets puffy, it's not just from getting older and slowing down, it's the constant excess calories and the booze wearing down your bodies processes. Make it to your 40's and you'll drink more just to offset the aches, pains and sleeplessness you'll have to endure. Well - maybe, it's is though what happened to me.

Quit if you need to but it really helps if you really want to. Good luck and look forward to your posts.

4tb

[sasha]

newbie drunk

Good Post.

4theboyz;340405 wrote: Greetings BenZ!

Well buddy, you said it yourself that you "know you have a problem" and your friends refer to you as the town drunk so let's make it unanimous, you do have a problem! It's not healthy for you to think otherwise.

I am going on a working assumption that you may be still in your younger days (less than 40, closer to 30 or less) and if so your body is still pretty capable of handling even the amount of booze you are throwing at it. This won't last forever and every year it continues it gets worse. You probably won't even notice it. But as your pants start fitting tighter, your skin gets puffy, it's not just from getting older and slowing down, it's the constant excess calories and the booze wearing down your bodies processes. Make it to your 40's and you'll drink more just to offset the aches, pains and sleeplessness you'll have to endure. Well - maybe, it's is though what happened to me.

Quit if you need to but it really helps if you really want to. Good luck and look forward to your posts.

4tb

Thanks for this - Sasha

[nancy]

newbie drunk

I think you got a lot of good responses here.

How does it make you feel personally to be called the Town Drunk by your friends? Doesn't that make you feel bad? Or have you found a way to accept it?

[CrustyDemon]

newbie drunk

The fact that you wrote here is already something,.....Stick here a bit everyday the beast will be beated. I arrived last week and in 7 days I drank twice. This is my fourth day AF.

Admit yourself that you have a problem and try to knock it off like it was your enemy.

Try to do some day AF
Trust me the problem for the most part is a state of mind that must be washed off

[CrustyDemon]

newbie drunk

AMELIA;340307 wrote: Hi BenZee and welcome!!!:welcome:

Well the amount you are drinking sounds like a lot to me,....and it's every day too. So even if you feel like your life isn't being affected, that booze is going to be harming your body.
Given that alcohol addiction/drinking problems are progressive (ie, you just want more and more over time), now is probably a good time to start addressing it. Sounds like you have a promising future ahead of you. Don't let the bottle ruin it for you.

Stick around Ben, read up on the posts and see how you feel. Lots of support, knowledge and info on this site.

Take care and keep us posted.

Boys can take more alchool than girls,..It's medically proved,..lol

[vlad]

newbie drunk

don't want to scare but...

My brother-in-law drank a crate of beer a day and got pancreatitis at the age of 32 - that was a kick up the ass for me. That day I tipped away the bottle of vodka I was secretly intending to take to work. He's quit the alcohol completely now by the way, he has no choice.

[BenZee]

newbie drunk

Thank You all

Hello

Thanks for all the responses, it really helps,

I did not Drink last night, even though it was the NBA Finals and I live in the Boston area and I'm a big Celtics Fan. My freinds stopped by and were amazed that I'm not drinking especially during the game.

Your responses helped allot, I do know I have a problem and did gain allot of pounds due to my drinking, and my weight gain and me being out of shape has been a depressant for me in the past as I hated what I had become which made me drink more, I used to be in great shape and I played NCAA Tennis for my College. Today is a different Story.

I'm quiting, my issue is not quiting for a certain time, as I have quit for a month plus before only to come back a worst abuser.

I thought twice about coming back today and reading the responses, I did not know how I would be judged, but I'm very pleased to see people who share the same problems.

Alcohol is just starting to rear it's ugly face on me, my health is still OK, I'm 28th, Last year I have stomach pain, I thought I could drink it away but it turned out I needed an appendectomy. and To come clean I could not finish my two courses last semester because I found myself drinking instead of doing my school work, I fixed that issue and I'm still in school. My work is also affected because I'm hang over in the morning and so I have to expand allot more energy to do normal tasks, plus all the mood swings.

Well it's Friday today and I live in a pro drinking new england town, Let's see what happens Tonight.

Thank you all