Hey Guys and Gals,

For those that are not familiar with me (which i assume is most of you) I am a life long poker player, playing 'professionally' for the last 4 years or so.

I have contributed significant and substantial threads to 2p2 before; See:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...t-reg-1416098/

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...glory-1515114/

The purpose of this thread is to help bring some more awareness to how rampant alcohol is in our lives. It affects literally every single aspect of our life in some way, yet its brushed off as a normal part of our worldwide culture.

I understand that alcohol, like any other substance, affects everyone differently and isn't necessarily hindering progress for some people. But I believe its a hard argument to make, that overall, it doesn't affects us negatively, and ultimately stagnates our progress.

I have Suffered intensely because of alcohol. I would consider myself an alcoholic since the age of 21. I'm 28 now. And its something i live with every day.

Somehow I've been able to be very successful in my life. Over-achieving in everything i put my mind to. Yet i feel that alcohol has always held me back from being 'better'.

I will share some specific ****ed up stories in my follow up posts and i encourage anyone who reads this to chime in with their own opinion and stories on this topic. I think its very important we have a global conversation on this and find a solution. It doesn't make much sense to allow something that has an overarching negative effect on society and not have an in depth conversation about it.

Define alcoholic, by this I mean are you some 28 year old american that gets drunk 3x/week and therefore classify yourself as an alcho, or do you need alcohol daily, get withdrawal when off it, etc.

What is your drink of choice?

Regardless of whether I continue to drink or not, I am an Alcoholic. I have a difficult time controlling an urge to drink. Usually the best solution is abstinence, and it's deff the best long term solution. I haven't been able to get there yet, but that's the goal.

At my peaks I'm drinking minimum a bottle of wine a day. My drink of choice for a while was gin. Then I ended up in the hospital for a week because my pancreas couldn't handle the stress any longer.

There's a very good, non-judgemental and supportive thread on alcohol in OOT here http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/34..****ohol-642366/

I don't see that you've posted in it yet. FWIW I would recommend checking it out if you haven't already.

A bottle of win lmfao that barely brings a buzz. And I rarely drink. Obviously this is another look at me thread. Waiting for the 6 figure income post blah blah blah.

you should consider quitting

Just because it barely gives you a buzz doesn't mean it isn't unhealthy for you.

Someone who drinks a bottle of wine a day is not a functioning alcoholic. Lol.

Sounds like an underachiever to me

Who said it is? Garbage thread about what a great alchy he is lol

Missing the point of OP completely. But it's OK, so is just about every other poster here starting with Purretrog in reply post 1.

No I get the point and I already stated it. LOOK AT ME.

This looks interesting and similar to what i want to achieve with this thread. Will deff check it out, Thanks.


Thanks for your input Briro.


TBH its not about how much one drinks, its about how it affects all the other aspects of your life. For arguments sake, when i say minimum a bottle of wine a day, that means that every single day without fail for xxx amount of time (see: binge) i'm drinking minimum a bottle of wine a day, and more likely a **** ton more. Id say its more likely a binge starts with a lot of hard alcohol (Gin or Whisky) and then i have to drop down to something my body can handle better like wine.

Regardless of how sick i get after a few days of this behavior, i continue. Even if i wake up extremely hungover and spend half that day vomiting, ill continue to drink throughout and continue to poison my body. This can continue for weeks at a time where i am sick most days, yet continue to abuse my body.

I find it strange that theres already so much negative feedback, when obv this is something thats a very serious and personal issue for me. Im trying to create a positive and healthy discussion about this topic and hopefully others who suffer with the same issues share their stories and advice so we can all improve.

I havent yet shared any real life examples of how it has affected me because frankly i dont know where to start. 3 DUI's. Multiple hopsital stays. Endless nights making a fool of myself. Most relationships failing due to the added stress my alcoholism adds. A really ****ty underlying negative view on myself. Not being able to control this thing is very depressing. Im already prone to depression and the downer that is alcohol makes it exponentially worse.

Agreed.

Yes, unfortunately so far it seems most of the replies you have in this thread are from the 'drinking is cool, and you're not a real man unless you drink a lot and drink often.' crowd. After all, 'who needs a liver, right?

Perhaps you'll get more mature, serious and helpful replies in that other thread mentioned.

How many days did you used to drink weekly? over or under about 3,5 days?

my sister drinks a bottle of wine every night

a/s/l?

If I'm binge mode then its everyday, all day. From the moment i wake up to the moment i crash. That can usually last 2 weeks- months. As i get older, though, ive realized my body can not handle the same amount of stress so now its closer to couple weeks with a week or so break in between.

My most recent spurt of 'abstinence' lasted for 3 months. Best 3 months I've had in a very long time, and in general my life is a lot better off from the progress i was able to make in that time. Having to worry about possibly ending up in the hospital again has put things in perspective. For now at least.

I'm 30 now, but from the age of 23-28 I drank a liter of Jack 6 nights a week and blew at least a gram or 2 of blow up my nose everyone of those nights too. Drank maybe 5 times the last 2 years, LOL wine.

Weed bro, weed. Alcohol is the devil, Bobby!!

For me a definition of an alcoholic is when alcohol creates a negative impact in your life yet you continue to drink.
Could be as small as drinking too much the night before and being late for a meeting in the morning. If that happens to a "normal" person they will refrain from drinking the night before an important meeting next time. Someone with a drinking problem will yolo it and continue the pattern and alcohol will continue to have a negative impact on their life.

It's like looking into a forum-mirror, OP. I'm 27, went through all of these events from 16-20 (only 1 DUI @ 19, not 3) and have been sober since 21.

Does this mean just alcohol, or all drugs, mind/mood altering substances?

What did you do differently in that 3 months?

How are your familial relationships?

When's the last time you went to a doctor for liver panel, bloodwork?

Duration of worst binge, and was it followed by the longest period of repercussion?

Have you sought outside help?

Do you like tequila?

More importantly, how bad is your hangover RIGHT NOW

Wine was just a unit of measurement. I could have used any other example. Dont get caught up on that detail because its irrelevant anyway.

I agree, weed has saved my life the last 6 months. I dont smoke it because im really sensitive to it. Instead i take edibles. Just the comfort of knowing i have these edibles available helps so much. Whenever i get an urge to drink and i find myself about to walk out the door to get some, ill remind myself i have these edibles and can take them instead. They make everything a lot more interesting and I can work creatively more effectively.r

Yup.



Its Not too bad. Had an oscars get together last night at my place and drank 'socially'.

How much do you think talking with other people about your problems with alcohol helps you?

Do you think that maybe you're not fulfilled and that leads you to boredom and drinking, therefore making you a binge/heavy drinker and maybe not a full-blown alcoholic?

Do you think that your experience is significantly different from others that have gone through the same types of alcohol-related misfortune?

Have you ever lost a job/been unable to complete obligations due to your drinking?