I'm thinking that I'm going to quit drinking.

[InvalidUserID]

Thanks for this response. I honestly think that I'm ready to wind down, like I've already done the scene and had as much exploration of it as I really need. I know that most people probably don't feel that way until they graduate but I'm not built for it.

Well that's the other part of college: exploration and trying new things. There are somethings you try, like and keep and things you try and decide aren't for you.

In college I dabbled in drinking, smoking, clubbing, raving, casual drugs, casual sex, go-go dancing, tattoos and kickboxing among other things. Some things I kept, other things I stopped. Listen to yourself, if you don't like something, you don't like it.

 

[0098386]

I don't drink but I can only imagine drinking a lot and then not would improve your health .

 

[MovieCutter]

Some things I kept,

$5 on go-go dancing.

 

[-aggie-]

It is far-fetched to claim that I have said that environmental factors are the cause (as if there would be only one cause anyway), based on my postings in this thread.

I stopped paying attention after you said you couldn't be born an alcoholic.

 

[shinobi-81]

I stopped paying attention after you said you couldn't be born an alcoholic.

Oh, of course - except for the cases where the mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. How silly of me to ignore that

EDIT. And by the way, I wrote about "being born alcoholic" after you said I blamed it on the environment, so it was still far-fetched anyway. Now I'm not sure if you're serious or just trolling. What the **** do you want?

 

[iJohnHenry]

I stopped paying attention after you said you couldn't be born an alcoholic.

Even aback in the 50's, the teachers used to harp on something they choose to call The X Factor, and that you were born with it.

If you have it, as soon as you start drinking you will become addicted.

Scare tactics sure, but for some it is still the truth.

 

[Surely]

Well that's the other part of college: exploration and trying new things. There are somethings you try, like and keep and things you try and decide aren't for you.

In college I dabbled in drinking, smoking, clubbing, raving, casual drugs, casual sex, go-go dancing, tattoos and kickboxing among other things. Some things I kept, other things I stopped. Listen to yourself, if you don't like something, you don't like it.

I haz a sad that we weren't in college together.

 

[\-V-/]

May I inquire how my post even remotely suggest that he fake intoxication??

I thought you were implying to order a drink that looked like alcohol, hence where my thought patterns were. My mistake.

 

[TSE]

Good on ya mate.

I just finished my freshman year of University, and before the year I set my limit to twice a week at most, never on a school night, and if I have a large project that requires me to work all weekend, no drinking that weekend.

I followed it perfectly, and will NEVER break that rule. No ifs ands or buts. If I do, I'm getting help. My family has had drinking problems in the past and I have seen friends become alcoholics and they look like absolute ****.

 

[east85]

So I didn't eat a thing yesterday. Today my appetite returned but my urine was orange this morning, which kind of scared me as it's a sign of liver failure. But I'm just going to assume it's because I had coca cola + was already really dehydrated yesterday already. It should go away by the next time I go. I'm probably just being paranoid. My friends are going out to drink tonight, no sign of any invite to be the watcher so I think I'll just stay home and continue sketching/listening to music/doing homework for now. I haven't really been drawing as much, so I think I just picked it up as an old past time. It's really satisfying for me for some reason. I've done three portraits so far of a few friends and they love them.

Pretending to be drunk doesn't make being around drunk people suck any less... at least for me.





Thanks. :]

I must say though, there's no reason you can't go out with your drinking friends and just hang out, but I've never had a time of doing this where they weren't all trying to get me to drink as well... which can be immensely frustrating when you're committed to being sober... which is why it's much more enjoyable to just hang out with other sober folks. I'll only DD now if I know that my friends are stupid and want to drive themselves, then I'll either come pick them up or call them a cab. Or I'll DD if they buy me things.

Haha,

If I do get the chance I'll probably take this up if they want. I really have no problem as long as they're willing to reciprocate and buy me something I need or cover gas. I know that they're all pretty understandable so far about being sober, but after a few beers who knows? It's pretty simple to say no though I guess. I have a lot more self control when not drinking,

Well that's the other part of college: exploration and trying new things. There are somethings you try, like and keep and things you try and decide aren't for you.

In college I dabbled in drinking, smoking, clubbing, raving, casual drugs, casual sex, go-go dancing, tattoos and kickboxing among other things. Some things I kept, other things I stopped. Listen to yourself, if you don't like something, you don't like it.

I took care of most of that in high school and the year after high school that I took for myself. I did drink a little in high school even, though it wasn't probably the best idea. I was invited by this fairly attractive girl though to do a swing class. I might do it for fun, but kickboxing sounds way more exciting.

I like your sentiment though, the best thing you can do is listen to yourself about these things.

I don't drink but I can only imagine drinking a lot and then not would improve your health .

Nah, as I stated before I kind of started feeling sapped constantly. I used to never get a hangover when I drank, but now it's just like a guaranteed thing. My body simply isn't rebounding fast enough. I don't think anyone can really drink excessively forever without risking liver or kidney failure.

first give you my best wishes to you!!!
i know it is hard time for you,but believe me and yourself,hard makes things better.

Thanks for the wishes! I suppose a lot of the best things in life are harder to come by. It's easy to go out and give way to drinking, a bit harder not to.

Good on ya mate.

I just finished my freshman year of University, and before the year I set my limit to twice a week at most, never on a school night, and if I have a large project that requires me to work all weekend, no drinking that weekend.

I followed it perfectly, and will NEVER break that rule. No ifs ands or buts. If I do, I'm getting help. My family has had drinking problems in the past and I have seen friends become alcoholics and they look like absolute ****.

I agree with you totally. I think it's good you've set a standard you want to go by, just stick to it. I actually have shared the same worry simply because I have a few family members that are alcoholics, lifetime every day drinkers. College definitely is the most important part of this experience, getting a degree. No need to not have fun, but it shouldn't get in the way. I didn't slack on homework yet due to my drinking habit but honestly I could see it going that way if I continued drinking.

 

[iJohnHenry]

Consider that your system is purging impurities, but take care that you don't drink too much water. That could cause you to lose electrolytes, and you don't want to go there.

 

[Surely]

Consider that your system is purging impurities, but take care that you don't drink too much water. That could cause you to lose electrolytes, and you don't want to go there.

That is why Gatorade is the hangover drink of choice (well, besides a Bloody Mary ).

 

[\-V-/]

That is why Gatorade is the hangover drink of choice (well, besides a Bloody Mary ).

Rehydration is also immensely important because your brain literally shrinks in size from dehydration. Not a particularly wonderful side effect of a hangover. Drinking more alcohol instead of rehydration is quite dumb.

 

[yg17]

That is why Gatorade is the hangover drink of choice (well, besides a Bloody Mary ).

 

[Surely]

^^^what is that?

Rehydration is also immensely important because your brain literally shrinks in size from dehydration. Not a particularly wonderful side effect of a hangover. Drinking more alcohol instead of rehydration is quite dumb.

That's what the tomato juice is for. Der.

 

[SteveAbootman]

That is why Gatorade is the hangover drink of choice (well, besides a Bloody Mary ).

I've defeated many a hangover with Gatorade and a couple Advil.

Tried Vitamin Water and had less favorable results. Never even heard of Brawndo.

Oh right.. the OP is quitting drinking, not looking for hangover cures. Carry on then! Good luck mate!

 

[east85]

Thank for the luck mate!

Today I had a little temptation, just simply from my roommate asking me to go out and drink. I basically said no thanks. I offered to go out and be sober and there wasn't much of a bite so, I guess that won't happen. Last night though (I manage a chat room for fun on the side) I witnessed what I probably looked like many nights. It was not pretty. The guy who I talk to in real life quite often started sipping a bottle of scotch, got pretty sentimental about his girlfriend, puked three times and fell over twice (on cam). I don't know what it is, but at first I thought to myself "this looks like a lot of fun" and then it just kind of got to that point. I guess it's a good reminder as to why I'm doing this. I called him since he lives about an hour away just to make sure he was okay, a little worried.

 

[Designer Dale]

Some interesting posts in this thread, especially from some I consider intelligent.

Alcoholism is not like having some bad habit, where if you make a conscious effort to stop doing it, the impulse goes away. Also, when it comes to having friends or not drinking for the alcoholic, not drinking must win out. The OP needs to quit with no thought as to what these friends are going to do or think. Also, whether or not they support the decision, if they're going to drink like they have been, it is best for the OP to avoid them, at least for a long period of time.

I am in a long term relationship with a (now) recovering alcoholic who just crossed 24 years of sobriety, and I agree with this. When this person first tried to quit drinking her social life seemed instantly vacant because she couldn't socialize without drink. Over the years these people drifted out of her life and she is not missing them at all.

Alcoholism? All I see is a binge-drinking college kid who gets peer pressured into drinking when he's with his friends. And then, once he's gotten started, he continues to drink because the alcohol is clouding his ability to make the decision to stop. He even stated somewhere above that he doesn't drink when he's alone. Labeling him with alcoholism is premature at this point. Going in another direction, perhaps he's having some sort of allergic reaction to the alcohol?

That being said, if he doesn't start making better decisions regarding his use of alcohol, it could potentially turn into alcoholism.

//snip//

Binge drinking is a common form of alcoholism. It's a disease. You either have the potential to be alcoholic or you don't. The simple definition of alcoholism is if you get drunk every time you drink regardless of the impact it has on your life.

And now for the advice from the experts:
Alcoholics Anonymous. The OP owes it to himself to check this out.

We who are in A.A. came because we finally gave up trying to control our drinking. We still hated to admit that we could never drink safely. Then we heard from other A.A. members that we were sick. (We thought so for years!) We found out that many people suffered from the same feelings of guilt and loneliness and hopelessness that we did. We found out that we had these feelings because we had the disease of alcoholism.
We decided to try and face up to what alcohol had done to us. Here are some of the questions we tried to answer honestly. If we answered YES to four or more questions, we were in deep trouble with our drinking. See how you do. Remember, there is no disgrace in facing up to the fact that you have a problem.

Here is the link to the above questions.

Dale

 

[Surely]

Binge drinking is a common form of alcoholism. It's a disease. You either have the potential to be alcoholic or you don't. The simple definition of alcoholism is if you get drunk every time you drink regardless of the impact it has on your life.

Binge drinking is a common form of being a college student. Let's not jump to conclusions here.

 

[-aggie-]

I am in a long term relationship with a (now) recovering alcoholic who just crossed 24 years of sobriety, and I agree with this. When this person first tried to quit drinking her social life seemed instantly vacant because she couldn't socialize without drink. Over the years these people drifted out of her life and she is not missing them at all.



Binge drinking is a common form of alcoholism. It's a disease. You either have the potential to be alcoholic or you don't. The simple definition of alcoholism is if you get drunk every time you drink regardless of the impact it has on your life.

And now for the advice from the experts:
Alcoholics Anonymous. The OP owes it to himself to check this out.



Here is the link to the above questions.

Dale

Thanks for posting something to back up what I already stated earlier on. After some of the responses I received, I pretty much gave up trying to explain things to some of these posters...the amount of cluelessness was astounding. I figured, perhaps, that the amount of education about this disease had progressed from when I quit "many" years ago. However, from many of the posts here, obviously, not so much.

Anyway, I'm not seeing any of the advice being taken, at least from the posts the OP has made so far. In other words, he seems to just be trying the "I'll just quit" approach. I wish him well, but the odds of him staying on that course are slim, from what he described in the original post. But, who knows?

Your link to the "questions" was exactly what I was basing my "diagnosis" (as one ******** called it). I remember when I first had to answer those questions, and thinking these questions are ridiculous. "Everyone does this stuff." "So, I had a few blackouts?" Numerous blackouts later, I ended up in the right place at the right time (didn't think this at the time) and finally quit. Each year the feeling I was missing something gradually lessened. It may be trite, nowadays, but "It does get better."


Edit: amazing, someone down voted my post.

 

[Designer Dale]

Thanks for posting something to back up what I already stated earlier on. After some of the responses I received, I pretty much gave up trying to explain things to some of these posters...the amount of cluelessness was astounding. I figured, perhaps, that the amount of education about this disease had progressed from when I quit "many" years ago. However, from many of the posts here, obviously, not so much.

Anyway, I'm not seeing any of the advice being taken, at least from the posts the OP has made so far. In other words, he seems to just be trying the "I'll just quit" approach. I wish him well, but the odds of him staying on that course are slim, from what he described in the original post. But, who knows?

Your link to the "questions" was exactly what I was basing my "diagnosis" (as one ******** called it). I remember when I first had to answer those questions, and thinking these questions are ridiculous. "Everyone does this stuff." "So, I had a few blackouts?" Numerous blackouts later, I ended up in the right place at the right time (didn't think this at the time) and finally quit. Each year the feeling I was missing something gradually lessened. It may be trite, nowadays, but "It does get better."


Edit: amazing, someone down voted my post.

Yes, surprising isn't it? The people who understand this are the ones who have been through it and lived to tell their stories. The person I made reference to is my wife. She told me that alcoholism was so common that if there were 100 people in a room, you could have a meeting. I thought this was a joke until we went on a cruise and found "Friends of Bill W." in the activities planner.

The first phase of getting sober is usually trying everything to get sober without stopping drinking. My wife went to dietary extremes looking for the one possible substance that she could eliminate from her diet and still be able to drink...

Dale

 

[Surely]

Edit: amazing, someone down voted my post.

I think you meant some sissy.

 

[east85]

Physical withdrawals, I've had none (and never have in the past, during year long+ durations without it). Even before this while partaking binge drinking was not a thing for me. Apart from that hangover described in the first post, nothing physical. I've been keeping occupied. And yeah, I suppose we could classify everyone that I know who parties as binge drinkers that need to go to AA, but it is a common tradition at all colleges to binge drink.. fraternities, etc.. Surely is right about that. I'm not too concerned as long as I stick to it. It's not like I've been doing this for a long long time either. I'll go to AA if suddenly I start binge drinking again (or ever, since I've decided it's not for me), but until then as far as I'm concerned I just got too caught up in the college party scene for awhile and it was problematic. I discovered it, and along with that discovered that it's not really my thing. That's a fair conclusion.

There's been a 30 pack of beer in the fridge since I've posted the first post in this topic, and I've had no desire to drink or break my comitted realization that it's not for me.
I've already been invited out twice to drink, and have turned down both occasions even at the dismay of others.

My chances of sticking to my guns sober are pretty high, thank you.

 

[-aggie-]

I think you meant some sissy.

I'm guessing a year from now, the downvoting thread will still have no response from Arn.

 

[hafr]

Binge drinking is a common form of being a college student. Let's not jump to conclusions here.

It might be common, but it's far from normal behavior. And it in itself drastically increases the risk of becoming an alcoholic, if you're not already.