Lorna at Vicenza

Sorry for calling you a "he". I never checked your name before posting.

dorishaslop

No worries Lorna.... I've been called worse Lmao xx

rugbymatt

Good for you.... Have an extra drink tonight to celebrate!

Sally Redux

Just wanted to check I could do it!

Leslie

Binge drinking is just as likely to indicate alcoholism as is daily intake.

Leslie

It's just horrible.

bobd22

Very true

jimenato

It's complicated isn't it?

It's tempting to say that you are not an alcoholic because...

• You don't drink during the day
  
• You don't drink at home
  
• You don't drink out
  
• You don't drink spirits
  
• You can go days without a drink
  
• You don't ever get hangovers
  
• You can stop whenever you want
  
• You never have more than three drinks
  
• Lots of people you know drink more than you

I suspect HBG's 1 in 14 could well be right.

But when mikelincs said 'an alcoholic will never pass a breathalyser test, in fact they are more of a danger if their alcohol level drops to zero' he was wrong. That is only one type of alcoholic. You can be classed as an alcoholic without having gone to that extreme state.

jimenato

You seem to be at about the same stage as me.

I have started having days off. It's not difficult - I've just got to remember to do it.

Every now and then, usually after I've been at it too much for too long, I'll take four days off. I feel wonderful on day four.

Leslie

I think that once the word alcoholic was taken out of a strictly medical context, and introduced into mainstream conversations, some chose to use it as a way to start labeling others.

There are habits and behaviors that an alcoholic may possess but that does not make everybody, who may behave in the same way, an alcoholic. So, an alcoholic may drink alone but drinking alone, in and of itself, does not make a person an alcoholic.

Historically medically speaking, leaving the psychology out of it, an alcoholic was a person with a physical addiction extreme to the point that sudden secession will lead to a withdrawal so severe that it can cause death (DTs). Most people do not fit into this category.

Nowadays, it seems that anybody who enjoys alcohol can be labelled "alcoholic" by some self righteous prat who doesn't have a clue what they're talking about.

I would suspect alcoholism in a person with a physical or psychological addiction, over which they have no control, that they cannot stop, no matter how deleterious to their health and/or personal relationships.

There are certainly many people who are problem drinkers or heavy drinkers. That doesn't necessarily mean they are all alcoholics.

Leslie

Bars are full of alcoholics.

rugbymatt

I do it for the whole of January for "chariddy bebeh" and I have to tell you right now, it's awful. Next time just ask me, you don't need to put your body through the HELL of denial, just ask me....

HBG

Addiction to alcohol is the easy one, we can all do it without breaking the law, we can do it without having to meet a dodgy drug dealer at Kings Cross who spits a score’s worth of crack into your hand.

We can stand up in parliament, pissed out of our boxes and have our drunken comments recorded in Hansard.

I watched the news about that unfortunate young heroin addict, Peaches Geldorf. What chance did that attractive young girl have? Her mother was an addict and her life revolved around addicts shovelling all sorts of shit into their bodies.

And her father? I suppose I need to be careful with my comments but that spaced out idiot should not have been allowed to be called a father. And didn’t they make the daft junkie a Sir?

Chatter Static

Leaving sober would not make them any less dependant, the assumption that an alcoholics will get shit faced every time is just wrong. Lots of heroin addicts get by on one little fix and manage to function in normal society however we tend only to hear of the ones that get it wrong.

I know how you feel I take a few weeks off from time to time, it's probably when my posting on FB gets the weirdest. but being a fan of Madmen "TV Show" I am so thankful it's not fashionable to sit at your desk with a fine beverage here as well it is fine to go into a bar at 8am and ask for a expresso and Pastis every lunchtime menu du jour includes a few glasses of wine.

In the UK when I worked for that large telephone company if I had a drink at lunch time that was the afternoon written off very little productive work would be done mind you some would have said that was more productive output than the morning

bobd22

Lots of heroin addicts get by on one little fix and manage to function in normal society however we tend only to hear of the ones that get it wrong.


Sorry but would from my experience of Heroin Addict disagree with that view. A very large number end up just as Peaches did sadly, but quite often in squalor. I do agree that yes alcoholics are not off their head on drink all the time, neither are people that get very drunk now and again an alcoholic. Many actual alcoholics function very well but do have that need to constantly have a level of alcohol within the system to function otherwise the withdrawal symptoms kick in causing them not to function properly. That is where the similarity with any other addiction kicks in. Alcohol pretty well is a known strength etc ( I accept in the case of some vodkas not so as not known true contents which in itself can cause harm). Heroin and many other illegal substances are concocted by the dealers and no one as a clue to strength etc of what is in it, particularly when injected into the system. Hence why many have taken such drugs over a long period suddenly die from it because the strength may far exceed what their body has become accustomed to and they tip over that fine line. They all play Russian Roulette with every fix.