How many drinks do you have per week?

[burge13]

You are also just so much more productive with your time when you aren't drinking regularly it's ridiculous.

I get more done around the house prior to a write off session as i know I wont do it otherwise

Saturday morning I got a load of washing done, weeding, cleaned bathrooms/kitchen, groceries before having 300 pints (Sunday was dead). If I got hammered everyday 2nd day at least those mornings would be productive AF

In fact, might be onto something here. Going to need to drink more to up productivity I usually have

 

[Pistol Night]

I get more done around the house prior to a write off session as i know I wont do it otherwise

Saturday morning I got a load of washing done, weeding, cleaned bathrooms/kitchen, groceries before having 300 pints (Sunday was dead). If I got hammered everyday 2nd day at least those mornings would be productive AF

In fact, might be onto something here. Going to need to drink more to up productivity I usually have

Bang on

 

[Sinjin Smith]

This isn’t very productive or helpful. you’re not a heavy drinker. I’m more interested in the experience of people who aren’t scared of alcohol. it’s like saying smokes are bad. obviously they’re not good for you but it’s all relative.

People coming on here who don’t drink and are lecturing are in the wrong place.

I don’t go into the myriad fast food threads and bag them out. people reckon sushi sushi and Guzman y Gomez is a healthy meal.

I’m quite a stressed out and melancholic and emotional person and alcohol helps with that. I don’t think some specialist or shrink is going to help and SSRIs are absolutely ****ed. it’s not a healthy way of dealing with my personality and feelings but it’s my decision.

At this point I’m looking at harm minimisation. I’m a proper hypochondriac so just need to know I’m not going to end up seizing at work or something.

As said, I’ll generally have a six pack almost every night - obviously some evenings it’s one or two stubbies and sometimes it’s 10. Thursdays through Sunday nights it’s at least that many with a bottle of red on top. I know it’s a large amount. I’m not worried about my health because it’s fine - I’m not even worried about being addicted because after all this time, it hasn’t escalated (which is unusual: most people slowly progress from a few a night to the spirits). I just don’t want to have to end up with serious withdrawal issues and to be in a situation where I’m hospitalised from withdrawal.

Again, a bunch of people coming in saying ‘I don’t drink but that seems a lot’ isn’t productive.

Ok I'm not being judgemental, I'm the last ****ing person to be any sort of authority on this and to preface I don't drink. I used to (see page 1 of this thread) but it didn't work out well for me.

I wont go into quantity and how often as booze affects people in different ways. There are functioning alcoholics, there are those that just like to get rinsed on a weekend and there are those that can have a couple to unwind, for me it is each to their own.

I will say that if you are stressed out, melancholic and getting emotional (and there is nothing wrong with that, happens to the best of us) alcohol is not a good way to medicate. It will provide temporary relief but it will increase your anxiety and remember alcohol is a depressant. All I can offer is don't get caught in a cycle like I did, its dead set ****ing awful and can be very hard to get out of.

 

[Frank Bunn]

Ok I'm not being judgemental, I'm the last ****ing person to be any sort of authority on this and to preface I don't drink. I used to (see page 1 of this thread) but it didn't work out well for me.

I wont go into quantity and how often as booze affects people in different ways. There are functioning alcoholics, there are those that just like to get rinsed on a weekend and there are those that can have a couple to unwind, for me it is each to their own.

I will say that if you are stressed out, melancholic and getting emotional (and there is nothing wrong with that, happens to the best of us) alcohol is not a good way to medicate. It will provide temporary relief but it will increase your anxiety and remember alcohol is a depressant. All I can offer is don't get caught in a cycle like I did, its dead set ****ing awful and can be very hard to get out of.

I read your post on page 1. It sounds like you had a physical dependency on alcohol, with withdrawal symptoms if you didn't drink. That's a reasonable definition of alcoholism. I am happy you have your life back on track. But I think your experience is quite rare. For many it's a balance between enjoying a few drinks or having it adversely affect their health, job, family etc.

Someone who likes to get rinsed on a weekend or those who have a couple to unwind can be perfectly functional. They enjoy a drink but are not alcoholics. Then some let their drinking get out of control without the physical dependency. Perhaps that is functional alcoholism.

You seem to have accepted a life time of taking valium and anti-depressants as an alternative to booze. Does that mean you are a functional valium addict?

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

I read your post on page 1. It sounds like you had a physical dependency on alcohol, with withdrawal symptoms if you didn't drink. That's a reasonable definition of alcoholism. I am happy you have your life back on track. But I think your experience is quite rare. For many it's a balance between enjoying a few drinks or having it adversely affect their health, job, family etc.

Someone who likes to get rinsed on a weekend or those who have a couple to unwind can be perfectly functional. They enjoy a drink but are not alcoholics. Then some let their drinking get out of control without the physical dependency. Perhaps that is functional alcoholism.

You seem to have accepted a life time of taking valium and anti-depressants as an alternative to booze. Does that mean you are a functional valium addict?

Oh boy, that’s harsh. And to say alcohol dependency is “quite rare” is just so wrong. It’s extremely common and the effects can be devastating on individuals and those close to them. People CAN come back from alcoholism and rebuild their lives but they are never CURED of alcoholism. There would be different ways of treating alcoholism and associated conditions, but the main thing is to not touch alcohol in any form.

 

[phantom13]

Oh boy, that’s harsh. And to say alcohol dependency is “quite rare” is just so wrong. It’s extremely common and the effects can be devastating on individuals and those close to them. People CAN come back from alcoholism and rebuild their lives but they are never CURED of alcoholism. There would be different ways of treating alcoholism and associated conditions, but the main thing is to not touch alcohol in any form.

I suspect its a bit of a semantics thing but quite rare/extremely common are just terms.

What constitutes extremely common to you? Id say it has to be 50%+ of the population as a minmum. I doubt 50% of the Aussie pop is dependent on alchohol personally.

The WHO seems to back that up.

An estimated 400 million people, or 7% of the world's population aged 15 years and older, lived with alcohol use disorders. Of this, 209 million people (3.7% of the adult world population) lived with alcohol dependence

 

[Gough]

I read your post on page 1. It sounds like you had a physical dependency on alcohol, with withdrawal symptoms if you didn't drink. That's a reasonable definition of alcoholism. I am happy you have your life back on track. But I think your experience is quite rare. For many it's a balance between enjoying a few drinks or having it adversely affect their health, job, family etc.

Someone who likes to get rinsed on a weekend or those who have a couple to unwind can be perfectly functional. They enjoy a drink but are not alcoholics. Then some let their drinking get out of control without the physical dependency. Perhaps that is functional alcoholism.

You seem to have accepted a life time of taking valium and anti-depressants as an alternative to booze. Does that mean you are a functional valium addict?

Some people simply can't have just a few drinks, it's a disease.