alcoholism

[scorpio1960]

is being an alcoholic a disease?

[rod44]

I think it is regarded as a disease by the World Health Organization.....

Personalty I dont get bogged down in analyzing, I let that to the doctors and scientific community because at the end of the day I am an alcoholic and nothing is going to change that fact, I get on with the business of staying sober.....

Ray        

[victoria61]

We were told in the Priory Rehab Clinic that alcoholism is a disease. They say there have been tests done on the brains of alcoholics and non-alcoholics, and they found all the alcoholic's brains had a different chemistry to the non-alcoholics.
Victoria ~

[ibizan]

i drank at 14 to get drunk....never seemed to have an off switch like some of my friends who never went  to the xtreme i did!i did this with drugs too.....i always failed miserably at controlled use.....there seemed to NO OFF SWITCH within me...no matter how desperately i tried to find it!I have quite a family history of alcoholism......i do believe in genetic predispostion as well..but I didn't ask for this disease.....i liken it to having an allergic reaction to any mood altering substance.....but i am responsible for it not running my life or destroying it!Am soon 2 turn 55...and the abscence of it all for 26 years has been well worth the journey!

[Jacker]

And on the other side of the coin, our body and brain will change over time, as we continue to abuse alcohol.  Once we do this for a long enough period of time, the changes are permanent.  And as Narla says, we can't drink again or limit ourselves.  

[narla]

Many doctors debate this,I personally believe we have a chemical imbalance in our brains that make us crave more alcohol than the so called average person,it makes us constantly want more and that's why alcoholics cannot control their drinking,with me I know it's all or nothing,I can't limit myself to say 2 days a week because my brain starts rationalising on the alcohol free days why it would be ok to have a drink,and then it's back to 7 days a week again.

Denise