Alcoholism

[agogobil]

...  a smart guy like me is not a wino prototype (I have a bachelor's degree in Economics and have a job with great income besides drumming). All of that cannot deny the fact that, just like you did, whenever I start drinking with the boyz from the band, I can't seem to stop, until I'm wasted. That's because I don't feel the pain while drinking, but only the following day/s, when I (again and again) swear to myself I will not do that again.
Recently I decided I will not drink alcohol AT ALL, except on gigs, which is like 3-4 times a month. In the meantime I started taking some pills which are supposed to help the liver work and @$%#...
Reading all this made me realize there are a bunch of ppl in this position.. I have a 1.5 year old daughter and I want her to grow up happily and have a living father in the meantime. :-) I have to find a way to quit altogether!

There are a lot of hints in the many posts above.  You can join a lot of other people with bachelor's degrees in economics and many other fields such as nuclear science and sanitation maintenence that were walking the same path and found a way out.  You don't HAVE to drink (alcohol anyway) with the boyz in the band.  You DO have a choice.

You can easily find a "bunch of ppl in this position"  http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/en_find_meeting.cfm]here .

Not sure?   http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/en_is_aa_for_you.cfm]Check it out .  Be HONEST.

Feel free to PM or email me (or anyone else that's chimed in here) if you want.

[Rylie]

I'm one of the lucky ones, I guess. My father was a daily drunk (quart of liquor per day) until age 65-ish. He went out to the woods alone and stayed until the shaking stopped, and never drank again.

I used to drink every day, and ingested my share of illicit pharmaceuticals through the years. All of a sudden I just lost the desire to be impaired. I may have a beer or two with my barbeque or dinner out. Three beers pretty much puts me down now, and I literally hate the feeling of being drunk.

I believe I'm genetically predisposed to addiction (drums, guitars, tools, etc. notwithstanding!), but blessed with the ability to convince myself I'm better off sober. The desire to drink is completely gone, and life is better.

[xXxBURYyourDEADxXx]

Not yet.

[Mark Counts]

wow, quicksfoot -- what an inspiration you are! i haven't known many folks that bounced back from heroin, unfortunately. fantastic story.

i guess it's ok to say i had a mean coke habit in the 80s. so did everyone else, but i was dating a dealer and it made things so much easier and harder. i really put my folks through hell. i did like you and picked myself up after 1)getting rushed to the hospital 2)seeing my mom cry over me in the hospital bed. for me, it's always harder knowing i've hurt someone else more than i've hurt myself. :-\

chills.

Smogg, your story hits home with me.  From 1979 through 1987 I had the same problem you did.  I have been clean for 19  years.  I did it on my own and never looked back.  I had to move away from all the people that were into it.  My wife, which I have been with now for 19 years said that I needed to make a choice. Quit it, or me.  I made the right choice.  I believe that we make choices in life.  You have to really want to quit.  Some people need support groups and some don't.  I just made up my mind and did it, just like I made up my mind to quit smoking 8 years ago and did it.  I have a friend that was drinking a 5th of Vodka a day.  He weighed over 320lbs and the doctor did blood work on him and thought his liver was so far gone that he was going to die.  His sugar levels were also messed up.  He never went to AA but it scared him so much he quit cold turkey and never went back.  He has been sober now for almost 3 years.  He did however need some anti depressents to help him get over the shock.  He doesn't drink anymore, but he smokes pot like crazy. He now weighs 210lbs. My brother in-law is a doctor and told me that he will be much healthier smoking pot than drinking.  He told me there are no proven health problems realated to pot smoking. This is a medical experts perfessional opinion.
Anyway, good luck bonejoyll, I will be praying for you!!!
                                               Nutty

[tatarsis]

Alcoholism is kind of an allergic reaction that any of us could have. However the results of that reaction would really be devastating. - Just because of this danger, I am sometimes having hard time to understand why the pot is banned and alcohol is sold freely.- My father was suffered dypsomania for several years and only remedy that he found is to never drink anymore and share his experiences about being sober with the other alcoholics. fortunately recovery does not take so much time, in just 1-2 years he was able to overcome the past side effects of his condition. Good luck.   

[Later66]

this is a problem that has been in my family for countless generations......they all started when they were my age and unfortunately so did i. that is until about a month ago now that i went overboard at a party and payed for  it the next morning. so i called my 2 best friends and told them never to let me drink again. the three of us have gone to 6 parties with alcohol since then and ALL of us took an oath to stay sober.....i have a hell of a lot of faith in this because i'm not alone by any means