Everyone here knows that. People still drink because they’re alcoholics, this is an alcoholism sub. Addiction isn’t as easy to overcome as simply learning about the risks and deciding to quit. This is a lifelong struggle for many of us, when we try to quit the cravings are very intense and very difficult to resist.
Sheesh… if I had a dollar for every day that has passed after the first doctor told me ten years ago that “you’re gonna die if you keep going”, I’d be a wealthy man. Day 1 today (again). We get past the point of being afraid of the consequences. I know without a doubt my life is much better when sober.
Just saying, there are people who don’t know. If you’re an alcoholic and a redditor and are new to all of this then where would you turn to first?
So please, don’t lecture me.
Idk, the countless people who treat it like a medication or even more so the people who just party harder than they should?
Look man, i’m not trying to be combative. Truth is, we’re both right.
I’m trying to reach those who drink for all the wrong reasons. How did you end up an alcoholic?
It's less that people don't know, more that many people think it won't happen to them. Withdrawals, liver disease, job loss, family loss, broken hopes and dreams...this happens to other people, but it won't happen to me. That's the logic. We lie to ourselves, until the shit happens. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that.
That isn't how I read your comment initially, but it's good to clarify.
I'm mostly sober now, drinking isn't worth much to me any more. Booze destroyed many things in my life. It took me years to develop a physical dependence the first time. This last stint, it took me a month. Kindling is a mother fucker. I know it will kill me if I go back now, and so I haven't. I'll have one or two drinks like once a month, maybe. No desire to do any more than that, and realistically I should knock that shit off, too.
because to me, alcoholism is symptom of emotional malady, its a slow suicide where im not consciously making a decision to die but i know what the outcome will be if i continue and i guess thats part of the appeal? spend life in a blur until something happens thats 'out of my control'. too cowardly to take 'cowards' way out and its a disease I can only keep at bay, never fully eradicate so sometimes it feels futile when i think about the lifelong struggle. thats why they say 1 day at a time bc its too much to bare otherwise.
Began my drinking with friends and family. Eventually, they leave your presence - on good or bad terms, only temporarily or perhaps indefinitely/permanently. When the time of togetherness ends and you're left alone in your house, alcohol doesn't have anywhere else to be. It's a permanent family member.
Same. But why
Edit - it may not mean much now, but if you look hard enough you’ll find people who do care. Stereotypical therapist answer, i know.
There are so many scars up and down my arms. I don’t care either, but i’m trying to make the most of it. Why? Idk fucking why anymore
Yea I get what you’re saying. I obviously care about my health and stuff but when you’re so depressed and just want the alcohol, everything else just hits the back burner unfortunately :/
I’m sure there won’t always be sunshine
But there’s this momentary beam of light.
You dont have to wait those salty decades to get through the gate.it’s all in front of your face.
Lyrics from a song that was in my dream last night
For whoever is downvoting me for asking that, i took a cursory look at this person’s profile and found music i relate to.
Chill out. People can ask questions
I'm wary of the religion behind it and having to accept I'm powerless. I don't believe in a lot of the things they seem to push. I've looked into it btw.
I went for 14 years straight and then started relapsing. Religious views are not allowed. The concept of a God of our understanding means we have to realize there is something out there that is stronger than ourselves. I get the pushback on this concept. I dont go to meetings much anymore but I firmly believe ALL people should be working the steps. There are sound psychological principles behind them.
i am sorry to hear that friend. if you ever want someone to talk to, i will be here. me personally, it has helped me a lot to also be able to talk to people in fellow situations next to a psychologist.
that's ok, i totally understand. talking about stuff can be very difficult. but if you ever feel the need, you can always message me! stay strong buddy <3
There are known risk factors for alcohol and other drug addictions. These include genetics, trauma, childhood adverse experiences, stress and stress resilience, co existing disorders, early age of use onset, drug availability, and environmental stressors. Any of these may be contributing factors or there may be no identifiable underlying risk factors,
While addictive drugs each work by different mechanisms they have some things in common. Acting on the mesolimbic reward pathway and related functional neurocircuitry they create powerful motivational drives. These can overpower the same mechanisms evolved for survival prompting us to seek out food, shelter, and reproduction. Regulation of emotions and stress responses become dysfunctional.
Earlier use is dominated by positive rewarding effects. As the disease progresses negative reward becomes more important. At some point use becomes compulsive with progressive loss of control. There are known long term neuroplastic cellular and network abnormalities corresponding to behavioral and affect changes occuring in addiction.
While we experience life in cognitive “knowing” and decision making that is not what is going on beneath the surface. Neuroscience estimates that about 10% of brain activity is cognitive function. Addictive drugs alter the very same mechanisms corresponding to choice. They in a very real physical sense rewire the brain creating both a need and a solution, more drug.
This is a review reflecting current understanding of addiction.
[https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1511480](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1511480)
I'm not an alcoholic but I'm saying this as observing my partner, who has had a drinking problem: there's a lot of self rationalization involved and not admitting health effects until they are staring you in the face. I swear I've seen a number of smaller health effects of alcohol in him over the years but nothing extremely blatant until he had a bought of acute pancreatitis and then subsequent near liver failure. Doctors did a biopsy of his liver and said there was no signs if chronic damage, concluded it seemed more like an acute poisoning not related to alcohol and sent him on his way. I have a PhD (not in medical science but in another field) and can read journal articles and showed him all the research on the relationship between drinking and alcohol. He had enough fuel from the doctors telling him he had no signs of chronic liver damage to be self rationalizing and not really believe his drinking had an effect on it. Though, to his credit, he listened enough to cut back to ~2 drinks per day and one day of no drinking a week (which was a pretty large life change for him and I was proud of him).
Well, he just got pancreatitis again and this time the doctor told him "alcohol is poison to you." I think that's the only thing that could be obvious enough to cut through the self serving rationalization. He hasn't had a drink since getting out of the hospital and has been drinking non alcoholic beers. For him, I do not think his addiction is so bad that he will ignore big health risks but they had to be in his face, obvious and current for him to not be able to write them off. Potential far-off risks weren't enough to outweigh the benefits he was getting from alcohol in the moment. That calculus, I think, has changed. It's a shame it took a large amount of medical debt to get there.
Unless it’s instakill you don’t give it that much thought
This next cigarette will not kill me
Nor will next 20 ones
20 cigs per day in a next 20 years will
But this one doesn’t seem like a dealbreaker
Plus I think the fact of slowly killing yourself might be one of the parts of the addiction, it might even be tempting
I honestly like getting fucked up. I've tapered back to just 4 drinks a night, from like 10+ and that's over the course of 2-3 hours. I was drinking a 750 of tequila a night for a while. Now that I'm not drink that much I honestly don't even want to drink at this point. I'm just doing it to manage withdrawals. What I really wanna to do is get fucked up and have fun.
We are going to die anyway. May as well have fun while we can. My goal is not to live the longest life I possibly can (hence why I don't have kids). My goal is to live a happy life. I am an extremely high functioning alcoholic and honestly, my life is great. Sure, I regret when I can't remember some nights. But if I had to choose between living until 90 with no health issues or to 65 and die of liver cirrhosis, I would choose the latter. Being old sucks.
It’s a biological thing for me. Pretty much exclusively because I crave it. I have cut way back, but if I was going to quit anytime soon I would have already. I just need detox meds to get rid of the cravings
It was so fun. Drinking with friends and family, going to bbqs and bars and talking to people loose as a goose because you don’t have anxiety anymore. That’s what is addicting to me. Eventually it got to the point where I wanted to feel like that even if I wasn’t around anyone so I started drinking alone. Then drinking in the morning to kill my hangover. Then saying eh I’ve already taken 2 shots what’s 1 more? Then realizing I’m 8 shots deep and it’s not even noon yet.
Everyone here knows that. People still drink because they’re alcoholics, this is an alcoholism sub. Addiction isn’t as easy to overcome as simply learning about the risks and deciding to quit. This is a lifelong struggle for many of us, when we try to quit the cravings are very intense and very difficult to resist.
Sheesh… if I had a dollar for every day that has passed after the first doctor told me ten years ago that “you’re gonna die if you keep going”, I’d be a wealthy man. Day 1 today (again). We get past the point of being afraid of the consequences. I know without a doubt my life is much better when sober.
Just saying, there are people who don’t know. If you’re an alcoholic and a redditor and are new to all of this then where would you turn to first? So please, don’t lecture me.
>Just saying, there are people who don’t know. Who tf doesn't know? Alcoholics that don't know alcohol is bad for you. That's a new one on me.
If you dont know, your body will tell you- constantly.
Idk, the countless people who treat it like a medication or even more so the people who just party harder than they should? Look man, i’m not trying to be combative. Truth is, we’re both right. I’m trying to reach those who drink for all the wrong reasons. How did you end up an alcoholic?
It's less that people don't know, more that many people think it won't happen to them. Withdrawals, liver disease, job loss, family loss, broken hopes and dreams...this happens to other people, but it won't happen to me. That's the logic. We lie to ourselves, until the shit happens. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that.
Well that’s why i made that comment homie I’m one of those people through all of those
That isn't how I read your comment initially, but it's good to clarify. I'm mostly sober now, drinking isn't worth much to me any more. Booze destroyed many things in my life. It took me years to develop a physical dependence the first time. This last stint, it took me a month. Kindling is a mother fucker. I know it will kill me if I go back now, and so I haven't. I'll have one or two drinks like once a month, maybe. No desire to do any more than that, and realistically I should knock that shit off, too.
because to me, alcoholism is symptom of emotional malady, its a slow suicide where im not consciously making a decision to die but i know what the outcome will be if i continue and i guess thats part of the appeal? spend life in a blur until something happens thats 'out of my control'. too cowardly to take 'cowards' way out and its a disease I can only keep at bay, never fully eradicate so sometimes it feels futile when i think about the lifelong struggle. thats why they say 1 day at a time bc its too much to bare otherwise.
Began my drinking with friends and family. Eventually, they leave your presence - on good or bad terms, only temporarily or perhaps indefinitely/permanently. When the time of togetherness ends and you're left alone in your house, alcohol doesn't have anywhere else to be. It's a permanent family member.
I drink vodka nowadays so i named it tatiana
She sounds like a lovely lady. My gals hang out at my place by the dozen, and they can't wait for their turn in my hand
It’s a slow suicide or a slow succumbing to illness, however you want to look at it.
Don’t care.
If it gets bad enough you will care. Or, your entire life around you will dissolve. You can run but you cant hide.
Same. But why Edit - it may not mean much now, but if you look hard enough you’ll find people who do care. Stereotypical therapist answer, i know. There are so many scars up and down my arms. I don’t care either, but i’m trying to make the most of it. Why? Idk fucking why anymore
Yea I get what you’re saying. I obviously care about my health and stuff but when you’re so depressed and just want the alcohol, everything else just hits the back burner unfortunately :/
I’m sure there won’t always be sunshine But there’s this momentary beam of light. You dont have to wait those salty decades to get through the gate.it’s all in front of your face. Lyrics from a song that was in my dream last night
I for sure is an actively killing me. I can’t stop I’m on meds and in therapy. Fu k this demon
Fuck this demon. On another note, ever listen polyphia?
Love the song they did with mothica
The reckoning?
That would be the one
It’s a good one for sure. It goes super hard
Dig them for sure!!
Yeah? What’s your favorite? Testing your chops lol
For whoever is downvoting me for asking that, i took a cursory look at this person’s profile and found music i relate to. Chill out. People can ask questions
Nobody cares why I drink. Ive abandoned myself, according to my psychologist.
Go to an A A meeting. I guarantee you they will care.
I'm wary of the religion behind it and having to accept I'm powerless. I don't believe in a lot of the things they seem to push. I've looked into it btw.
I went for 14 years straight and then started relapsing. Religious views are not allowed. The concept of a God of our understanding means we have to realize there is something out there that is stronger than ourselves. I get the pushback on this concept. I dont go to meetings much anymore but I firmly believe ALL people should be working the steps. There are sound psychological principles behind them.
But I don't believe there is anything out there stronger than ourselves. If I can't get with that principle the whole concept is useless to me
If I put you in a ring with 10 professional boxers, who would win? The point is the group can do what the individual can't.
How so?
Why nobody cares or that I've abandoned myself?
The abandoning yourself will answer the first part friend
Lot of family issues, a rough life, mental burn out, it's complicated.i really don't even enjoy drinking anymore. It's just filling a void.
i am sorry to hear that friend. if you ever want someone to talk to, i will be here. me personally, it has helped me a lot to also be able to talk to people in fellow situations next to a psychologist.
thank you. it's just really difficult to go into. and really tiring.
Yeah I can imagine. But suffering alone is not the way to go buddy. Peers can be really helpful and give you some hope <3
I honestly wouldn't know where to begin. I'm exhausted explaining my stuff to psychologists and it's hard for me to talk about it in general.
that's ok, i totally understand. talking about stuff can be very difficult. but if you ever feel the need, you can always message me! stay strong buddy <3
There are known risk factors for alcohol and other drug addictions. These include genetics, trauma, childhood adverse experiences, stress and stress resilience, co existing disorders, early age of use onset, drug availability, and environmental stressors. Any of these may be contributing factors or there may be no identifiable underlying risk factors, While addictive drugs each work by different mechanisms they have some things in common. Acting on the mesolimbic reward pathway and related functional neurocircuitry they create powerful motivational drives. These can overpower the same mechanisms evolved for survival prompting us to seek out food, shelter, and reproduction. Regulation of emotions and stress responses become dysfunctional. Earlier use is dominated by positive rewarding effects. As the disease progresses negative reward becomes more important. At some point use becomes compulsive with progressive loss of control. There are known long term neuroplastic cellular and network abnormalities corresponding to behavioral and affect changes occuring in addiction. While we experience life in cognitive “knowing” and decision making that is not what is going on beneath the surface. Neuroscience estimates that about 10% of brain activity is cognitive function. Addictive drugs alter the very same mechanisms corresponding to choice. They in a very real physical sense rewire the brain creating both a need and a solution, more drug. This is a review reflecting current understanding of addiction. [https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1511480](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1511480)
Thank you.
Alcohol is an addictive drug, that's why people still drink it, even if they're aware of the consequences.
I'm not an alcoholic but I'm saying this as observing my partner, who has had a drinking problem: there's a lot of self rationalization involved and not admitting health effects until they are staring you in the face. I swear I've seen a number of smaller health effects of alcohol in him over the years but nothing extremely blatant until he had a bought of acute pancreatitis and then subsequent near liver failure. Doctors did a biopsy of his liver and said there was no signs if chronic damage, concluded it seemed more like an acute poisoning not related to alcohol and sent him on his way. I have a PhD (not in medical science but in another field) and can read journal articles and showed him all the research on the relationship between drinking and alcohol. He had enough fuel from the doctors telling him he had no signs of chronic liver damage to be self rationalizing and not really believe his drinking had an effect on it. Though, to his credit, he listened enough to cut back to ~2 drinks per day and one day of no drinking a week (which was a pretty large life change for him and I was proud of him). Well, he just got pancreatitis again and this time the doctor told him "alcohol is poison to you." I think that's the only thing that could be obvious enough to cut through the self serving rationalization. He hasn't had a drink since getting out of the hospital and has been drinking non alcoholic beers. For him, I do not think his addiction is so bad that he will ignore big health risks but they had to be in his face, obvious and current for him to not be able to write them off. Potential far-off risks weren't enough to outweigh the benefits he was getting from alcohol in the moment. That calculus, I think, has changed. It's a shame it took a large amount of medical debt to get there.
Unless it’s instakill you don’t give it that much thought This next cigarette will not kill me Nor will next 20 ones 20 cigs per day in a next 20 years will But this one doesn’t seem like a dealbreaker Plus I think the fact of slowly killing yourself might be one of the parts of the addiction, it might even be tempting
I honestly like getting fucked up. I've tapered back to just 4 drinks a night, from like 10+ and that's over the course of 2-3 hours. I was drinking a 750 of tequila a night for a while. Now that I'm not drink that much I honestly don't even want to drink at this point. I'm just doing it to manage withdrawals. What I really wanna to do is get fucked up and have fun.
We are going to die anyway. May as well have fun while we can. My goal is not to live the longest life I possibly can (hence why I don't have kids). My goal is to live a happy life. I am an extremely high functioning alcoholic and honestly, my life is great. Sure, I regret when I can't remember some nights. But if I had to choose between living until 90 with no health issues or to 65 and die of liver cirrhosis, I would choose the latter. Being old sucks.
It’s a biological thing for me. Pretty much exclusively because I crave it. I have cut way back, but if I was going to quit anytime soon I would have already. I just need detox meds to get rid of the cravings
It was so fun. Drinking with friends and family, going to bbqs and bars and talking to people loose as a goose because you don’t have anxiety anymore. That’s what is addicting to me. Eventually it got to the point where I wanted to feel like that even if I wasn’t around anyone so I started drinking alone. Then drinking in the morning to kill my hangover. Then saying eh I’ve already taken 2 shots what’s 1 more? Then realizing I’m 8 shots deep and it’s not even noon yet.