Cancer is an illness. If you're an alcoholic, to say you are "ill" is an insult to those suffering from genuine conditions over which they have no control. So why do even health professionals perpetuate this euphemism? Can't people who drink too much admit to being drug addicts? I became an alcoholic by the same method as everyone else...the ONLY method there is...namely, pouring large amounts of booze down my throat on a regular basis for years. I didn't catch it...it didn't develop on it's own. While I was drinking, I was never "ill"...I was drunk. When I stopped drinking, my "problems" went away. It's about time people grew up, I reckon. Bloody whining drunks. Put the glass down, it's hardly string theory...
2007-05-16 19:16:42 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Other - Diseases
If I seem judgmental, it's because I am. As an alcoholic, I have a perfect right to judge other alcoholics. And a sorry bunch we are...
2007-05-16 19:35:47 · update #1
Who said stopping drinking was easy! I went through my little personal hell, just like everyone else. Giving up any drug is difficult. But it is NOT, repeat NOT, an illness.
2007-05-16 19:49:40 · update #2
Last addition, I promise. There is only one way to recover from an addiction. That is to stop using the su8bstance, and never use it again for the rest of one's life. This is very DIFFICULT, yes, yes. But there's nothing complicated about it at all. Is there? Perfectly straightforward. Help? There isn't any. Talk to all the people you want, it will still be just you and the drug. Fact. Sorry.
2007-05-16 20:05:56 · update #3
Alcoholism is an addiction, which is classed as an illness. An alcoholic can not simply give up drinking in the same way that a depressive can not be told to cheer up. Even an addiction to gambling can be an illness once it affects your mental well-being. Do not confuse the terms illness and disease (such as TB, AIDS, Cancer). Illness in the case of alcoholism is correctly used as defined by the World Health Organisation. If you managed to beat your addiction by sheer will power then well done to you you're lucky, but I think you need to look at resentment towards those who are still suffering.
P.S. To those who seem to have latched on to the "not like cancer" argument. Many forms of cancer are avoidable, some aren't, do you refuse to classify as illness skin cancer due to too much time in the sun, lung cancer due to smoking, bowel cancer due to not having a balanced diet.
2007-05-16 19:52:09 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
I trust that your question is one of semantics. If not consider this question...Does a person who develops lung cancer from smoking have an illness? Well, you say that cancer is an illness, but the person WHO smokes certainly contributed (probably he was soley responsible) to his cancer.
I think your point is that once the alcoholic stops drinking he is 'cured' but once our smoker stops the remains with all its awful implications. All people who drink too much are definitely not alcoholics. People who have no control over how much they drink probably should consider the term 'alcoholic' as being applicable to them.
The jury is out on whether alcoholism is acquired or inherited, but be assured that it is real. If we call it am illness, a habit or anything else really doesn't matter.
2007-05-17 07:59:56 · answer #2 · answered by Tim 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I too am a recovering alcoholic, just so you know I am not writing from an outside point of view.
I won't argue the point because it appears you have your mind set. Kudos to you for giving up the booze all on your own. Now, why does it matter to you how others get sober or what they call it? What's with all the anger and aggression? Look into AA, get a program and do an inventory. I think you would be surprised at what you would find. Clearly not ALL of your problems are gone.
2007-05-17 05:53:57 · answer #3 · answered by blondbrainserenity 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You said"When I stopped drinking, my "problems" went away" If it was easy for you to stop drinking then you don't know what it feels like you have absolutely no clue. Someone who suffers from this illness will be hoked on the first drink it is almost impossible to stop!!! Some people have an "addictive personality" so for them it is naturally much more difficult time with most "substances". I believe that everyone needs to avoid alcohol period and then the people who have this illness will never have problems!!!!
2007-05-16 19:40:30 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Alcoholism is an addiction which is a mental state and hence it is considered an illness - a mental illness. I can understand it may be insulting to those with 'real' illnesses but at the end of the day it requires treatment as with any other illnes and is also very life threatening. I think it all depends on the level of severity because I don't really feel it is justified to spend out taxes on it as it is self inflicted, as with drugs, etc.
2007-05-16 19:24:02 · answer #5 · answered by Curious 1 · 3⤊ 1⤋
If it's not a physical illness then it is a mental illness. First, it starts off by your mind telling you to drink because you like the way it makes you feel. It's great after a hard days work, shooting the bull with your friends, weekend bar b ques and basically social drinking makes it fun when you are with friends. All kind of reasons to drink but when it gets to the point when your mind has to have it then you have a mental illness that needs attention. I drink. I love to drink but I keep it in check.
2007-05-17 16:20:58 · answer #6 · answered by jay 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Ooh you sound like those bloody ex-smokers, who when they quite suddenly become all righteous about the fact that they have done it so why can't everybody else! As a smoker and ex-smoker I made a vow to never be like them, because it is different for everybody. Addiction is an illness that affects everybody differently and everyone with a serious addiction should be given as much sympathy as the next person as they are simply acting on huge compulsion to drink as it makes their life bearable in the same way that drug addicts need their hit in order to feel well. Get over yourself and channel your energies into helping people not slagging them off.
2007-05-16 21:45:31 · answer #7 · answered by Dimples 4 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Aren't you a Christian? Either way, Jesus meant to be like children in that children are receptive to the Word of God. Scripture also states: 1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. -Till Christ Returns God Bless
2016-05-20 17:32:44 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some people do seem to have an intolerance to alcohol in the same way that some have allergy's to other substances. I have personal experience of living with someone who was drunk practically very day, yet he wasn't alcoholic, he could have stopped whenever he chose, he simply enjoyed the state and considered it somewhat macho. I do believe that the true alcoholic doesn't have that choice
2007-05-16 19:56:23 · answer #9 · answered by blondie 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
because it IS a disease. there is mental and physical addiction. if alcoholism were just a matter of "will power" alot more people wouldn't be alcoholics. like cancer, alcoholism can develop over time. just because you don't consider yourself an alcoholic doesn't mean you don't have the potential to becoming one. you maybe a "functional" alcoholic. alcoholics are not bad people trying to be good; they are sick people trying to get well. i haven't had a drink of alcohol in 20 years, i completed substance abuse studies and was a counselor at University of New Mexico Center of Alcohol and Substance Abuse
2007-05-16 19:34:32 · answer #10 · answered by oldguy 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋