how serious is my compulsive drinking and what can I do?

Hello.

I am male, 33, 5

[LIZZIE LOU]

how serious is your drinking?  sometimes our words can answer our own questions...re-read your post and ask yourself that question.  you do not have to drink daily to have a problem or be an alcoholic.

are you wanting to stop or are you asking if you can continue drinking but with "control"?

[Yoda99]

I have an "addictive" personality.  That means I get easily addicted and can never just have one.  It's either all or nothing.
Like Lizzie Lou said, read your post.  It's very revealing to us and should be to you also.  And keep in mind, that even binge drinking does serious damage to your liver.
If you want to quit, this is one of the places to come to and we will help you.  We are all addicts or recovering addicts from various addictions.
Good luck,
Yoda

[athena-8]

there are a lot of studies that suggest that people w/alcohol proplems metabolize liquor differently than others. Hence the continued compulsion when it gets into the system, and eventually, a formed dependence and inability to "control" how much they put in their bodies and what happens when they do. have you ever tried to quit or control it? if you have and it didn't work so well, you may be one of these people. I am, and I too hated the idea of stopping. yet once I did, I discovered it was just easier all around to not have alcohol in my life. Period.  i soon discovered my friends could really care less whether i drank with them at parties; in fact most of them confided they were very happy I quit. try and access the damage you may have done and look honestly at the negative consequences it may have created in your life. you mentioned a few, and perhaps there's more, i don't know. weigh those out against that glass (or if you are like me--bottle) of full-bodied Cab with an amzing bouquet and ask yourself is it really worth it. having a drinking problem and choosing to quit really isn't the worst thing in the world. but if you're like me, it takes true diligence to stay stopped, and avoid picking up another addiction (for me, pills--that's why I'm here). there are many resources available out there to help you; whatever you do, please don't do it cold turkey cuz you can die.
and also, don't dis 12-Step programs until you've given them a try. In 2000, AA was touted as one of the top five most profound spiritual movements of the 20th Century--or something like that. i don't know you, and perhaps this sounds like a horrible honor, but i find it quite amazing. Good Luck to you. i hope we can help you in some way here.
--athena

[dyblue]

my dad used to get drunk awhen I was a kid and I thought it turned him into a baby its weird youre perceptions of drunkeness when your a kid.  I used ti drink alot working in bars and when I hung out with a drunk I was a drunk you are the company you keep.  I'm sure your wife doesn't like it . maybe your depressed or something do you have to drink to have a good time someone said that to me and I said yes.  in aa they say going to a bar for a 7up is like going to a ***** house for a kiss .  I miss aa it was great specially when they had a oldtimer talk.  you might enjoy a aa meeting .  I went to them for quite awhile liked it better then na. check it out sorry if I sound harsh Its just the way I talk no offence to you just can relate a little good luck.

[dyblue]

drinking like that is a form of alcohol addiction if your blcking out thats a real bad sign maybe you'll quit when you really screw up like kill someone or something booze is the worst drug  because its legal doesn't mean its ok some politician just wanted his cocktail after work.  I didn't think I was a drunk until I went to a AA meeting and I sais I'm a druggie and a drunk the havoc it plays on your body if you want  to look good amnd feel good when your older don't drink kills a lot of brain cells when you black out too if you don't want tp quit well don't your an adult but some part of you must or ypu wouldn't be writing this. youy want a big red vieny nose when your old and get really fat just kkeep drinking.  I quit because I had alcoholod and it was horrid.

[CATUF]

Stop by a few open AA meetings.  My guess is that you will relate well to a lot of what you hear in there.  Your drinking pattern sounds a lot like mine was.  I don't live like that anymore and you don't have to either.

Here's a bit from Chapter 3 of AA's Big Book:
==========================
Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.
We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.

We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals usually brief were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better.

We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones. Neither does there appear to be any kind of treatment which will make alcoholics of our kind like other men. We have tried every imaginable remedy. In some instances there has been brief recovery, followed always by a still worse relapse. Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing a making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish this, but it hasn't done so yet.

Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By every form of self- deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic. If anyone who is showing inability to control his drinking can do the right-about- face and drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to him. Heaven knows, we have tried hard enough and long enough to drink like other people!

Here are some of the methods we have tried: Drinking beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drinking only at home, never having it in the house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to brandy, drinking only natural wines, agreeing to resign if ever drunk on the job, taking a trip, not taking a trip, swearing off forever (with and without a solemn oath), taking more physical exercise, reading inspirational books, going to health farms and sanitariums, accepting voluntary commitment to asylums we could increase the list ad infinitum.

We do not like to pronounce any individual as alcoholic, but you can quickly diagnose yourself, 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.
====================================

The Big Book is available on-line at http://www.recovery.org/aa/bigbook/ww/index.html

[estrelagal]

Thanks for your replies. I

[veelainil]

How do I overcome my addiction when the love of my life denies the addiction and his family celebrates it and my family treats is as the death sentencace?  I'm addicted like my family but linked to a family that celebrates it, I've never been so depressed. ever.