How do u know if you are an alcoholic?

Question

Since this question was posted, I just wanted to let everyone know that I have been alcohol free for over 3 yrs now and I feel great.
thanks

Answer 1

When you ask random people who don't know you, your behavior, or your drinking habits if you are an alcoholic.

Answer 2

Most alcoholics develop the letter A on their butt. Check the mirror for the A, if it's not there then you're not an alcoholic

Answer 3

If you *need* a drink, if you can't stop drinking once you start, if you drink every day or if you have binges where you drink five drinks in a row even if it's not every day. If you're asking the question, you may be one. Go to a meeting of AA and ask them for their test: they have a quick test that they can give you that will tell you the answer, and it's free.

Answer 4

One day you wake up and find that the party never stops. Before, it would end at 2 am and start over but now it is all the time only broken up by a little sleep

Answer 5

A real alcoholic must have the following two conditions present simultaneously:

1) Obsession of the mind - Cannot resist taking a drink even though he/she knows once they start the cannot stop. PLUS

2) Allergy of the body - Once any alcohol whatever is taken into his/her system, something happens in a physical sense that is without comparable effect on the average individual - a physical phenomenon of "Craving" develops - which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop, even if he/she wants and/or needs to stop. This is an abnormal reaction and hence an "allergic" reaction.

The existence of neither or only ONE of the above may result in problem drinking (Drinking too much - too often - even to the point of damage to ones health and livelihood) BUT does not qualify as a real alcoholic.

Both conditions must be present – and only ten percent of the world’s population has both of these conditions simultaneously

"If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic." (Alcoholics Anonymous, 44:1)

"We do not like to pronounce any individual as alcoholic, but you can quickly diagnose yourself. Step Step over to the nearest barroom and try some controlled drinking. Try to drink and stop abruptly. Try it more than once. It will not take long for you to decide, if you are honest with yourself about it. It may be worth a bad case of jitters if you get a full knowledge of your condition."

This method really works but the BEST WAY in my opinion is using the way I and millions have determined whether or not we were really an alcoholic. Get yourself a copy of "Alcoholics Anonymous" and read the first 43 pages, no more at firsty. These 43 pages are designed to help you make a determination whether or not AA is for you.

In other words, "Are you REALLY an alcoholic?"

Chances are good you are NOT. (Only roughtly 10% of the world population actually is.) If you are, its like winning the lottery with odds like that . (Because we have a solution.)

You may not be. You might just be a hard drinker or "misbehaving" - in which case AA is NOT for you. Unless I had LEARNED to answer that question - it was impossble to know if I was "In the right place" - AA members say they don't like to proclaim individuals as alcoholic (Those don't betray their own precepts that is.) -- so I had to do it myelf.
Luckily the book showed me how, just as it was designed to do.

Then when YOU decide that you are "One of us", or if there is anything you don't understand about how to make that determination, tomorrow go to a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous and get a sponsor who has experience in taking others through the 12 steps and identifies him/herself as someone who has has recovered.

If someone says they are still "recovering" politely pass, and keep looking till you find someone for whom the Program has actually worked.

Disregard how "Nice" or "Knowledgeable" the "Still recovering" person seems. "Still recovering" is the same as "Unrecovered". If you want to be that person's friend, fine - but do not permit yourself to fall under their sponsorship - unless they have recovered from alcoholism. "Not drinking" today does not count. YOU may NEVER drink again and this persons method to stop may KILL you - as earnest and nice as they seem,a sn as well as their method seems to be working for them.

Your sponsor will refer to him/herself as "RECOVERED"

He'll know EXACTLY what to do with you from there, and you can trust that without reservation.

Do not let anyone sponsor you whose solution is "don't drink and go to meetings", or "Just don't drink" or "One day at a time". These concepts are not part of our Program, but they are rampant never the less. If that is their solution, and it works for them, it may KILL you, if you are a real alcoholic as described in those first 43 pages.

If you determine from that book that you are a "Real alcoholic" then that kind of advice does not work. Never has, no matter what they tell you.

If anyone tells you "Aren't ready to take the steps" RUN! If anyone tells you they did it slowly, therefore so can you RUN! They may not be "one of us".

If anyone tells you that you ARE an alcoholic, just because you showed up. RUN! We don't like to pronounce any individual as alcoholic. YOU must ascertain it yourself, by those 43 pages.

Take the 12 steps as fast as you possibly can. It is a race. You must recover before the next first drink comes along, and don't let anyone tell you that THEY know when that is for you. You do not have to be prey to arrogance.

And then after you have worked the Program in the book, and the desire to drink has left, (That's a promise that it will), then you will be in a position to go find another alcoholic to work with as your sponsor has done and pass it on to another in the position you are in now.

Soon you will be free from alcohol, sponsoring others and joining us in the trenches. Your life will have become usefully happy and whole.

IF you are alcoholic, you could be recovered and enjoying the life by summer. Now THATS simple.

Peace,

Danny S

http://recoveredalcoholic.blogspot.com

Answer 6

you can't stop after two drinks you drink long after

the party's over. you hide your drinking . you self medicate

to anesthetize your anxiety lack of self esteem and

life's trageties and hurt friend and family and the man you love
you are an alcoholic. but remember it is a disease

and there is hope please believe me.

Answer 7

Medical term is more that 2 a day,every day.Can't stop till the bottle is empty,then you want more.

Answer 8

If you have to ask, then you are. You know you are. It's up to you now how to deal with it. Keep drinking? Give it up for good? You should figure it out.

Answer 9

having the capacity to type & ask this question...means you aren't one of the alcoholics.... yet.

Answer 10

Am I an Alcoholic?
by Sam Folk-Williams

The question comes up from time to time. I often wonder if I have a problem when I'm lying in bed at noon the morning after a night at the bars, feeling like I just died, or when I'm walking back to my dorm at 3:00 a.m., dizzy, stumbling, and gushing. In some respects, I think it's silly to ask myself if I'm an alcoholic every time I wake up with a hangover--I mean, if everybody who woke up on the weekend with a hangover was an alcoholic, then everybody I know would fit the bill. But sometimes I'm not sure if I'm completely in control of my drinking. So, how do I know if I'm addicted to alcohol?

First of all, there are a few distinctions to be drawn. According to the National Institutes of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (U.S.), there is a difference between being addicted to alcohol and abusing alcohol. Both can be more or less serious conditions, and both have their own symptoms.

As a first step to determine if you have either an abuse or addiction problem with alcohol, the NIAAA suggests asking yourself the following four questions. In some respects, these questions might seem like a joke--and you've certainly seen them before, probably in a health-education class in high school where you felt like you knew more than the teacher. Still, they can be useful.


Do you ever feel like you're drinking too much, or that you should maybe cut down?


Do people you know ever question or criticize your drinking? Does it annoy you when that happens?


Do you ever feel bad or guilty about your drinking habits?


Do you ever wake up feeling like you need a drink to start the day? If so, do you have one first thing?

It's important to note that the NIAAA says if you answer "yes" to a single one of those questions, you might have a problem, and if you answer "yes" to more than one question, you almost certainly have a problem. Well, at one point or another during the past two years, I could probably answer "yes" to all of those questions. Do I have a problem? I don't think so. However, the fact that I could answer yes to some of those questions definitely led me to look into the matter further.

In addition to the four questions, there are other common symptoms of alcoholism and alcohol abuse. If you are even slightly concerned about your drinking, and if you answered "yes" to any of the questions above, think about these other attributes common to alcoholism:


Do you ever feel a strong craving for alcohol? Some people crave alcohol the same way they crave food when they're hungry.


If you have one drink, do you find it hard to turn down a second? Many people with alcoholism can't stop drinking once they start.


If you go a few days without drinking, do you ever feel nauseous, sweaty, shaky, or anxious? If so, do those feelings go away when you resume drinking?


Do you have a high tolerance for alcohol? Many people who suffer from alcoholism have to drink a lot before they get drunk.

If you answer "yes" to one or more of these questions, then you're exhibiting some of the more telltale signs of alcoholism. However, it's still important to keep things in perspective. According to the NIAAA, having one drink every day for women, and two drinks every day for men is perfectly normal, healthy behavior. They also say that in the United States, about 14 million people have some kind of "problem" with their drinking (that's 1 in 13 adults).

The signs of having an alcohol abuse problem are different from the signs of alcoholism. The signs of abuse lack the high tolerance, physical dependence, lack of control, and craving that are typical of alcoholism. Instead, people who abuse alcohol are likely to, say, miss class or neglect schoolwork because of drinking. They may also do things like drive drunk or show up to work drunk, continue drinking despite repeated legal problems (like DUI tickets), or continue drinking despite relationship problems (like, your girlfriend or boyfriend gets mad at you for drinking but you keep doing it anyway).

One interesting fact is that people who have an alcohol-abuse problem probably won't show the symptoms of alcoholism, but people who are alcoholic may well show the symptoms of alcohol abuse in addition to the symptoms of alcoholism.

If you think -- even remotely -- that some of the symptoms above may apply to you, you might want to stop by the health center and speak with a doctor, nurse, or counselor. To health care providers, diagnosing and treating someone with alcoholism or alcohol-abuse problems is no different than treating someone for pneumonia or asthma. Alcoholism is a disease -- it's not your fault, and you can get help. No one will judge you, and you won't run into any legal repercussions for seeking help. At the very least, talking to a health care provider about alcoholism and alcohol abuse will help you determine that you don't, in fact, have a problem.

Am I addicted to alcohol? I'm still not sure. I think I probably abuse alcohol from time to time, but I don't think my symptoms are like the ones described for addiction. I'll try to moderate my drinking a little more, maybe stop drinking before I get drunk, maybe do more things that don't involve alcohol at all (like going to the movies instead of going to the party). If I can cut back without any difficulty, then I won't be too worried. If I have trouble, I may try to speak with someone about it.

If you drink on a regular basis, then questions about how healthy or unhealthy your behavior may be are certain to come up once in a while. The symptoms and questions in this article are a good place to start, but you'll probably need more information. If you don't feel like speaking with a counselor or health care provider right away, look to the NIAAA website for further reading.