Alcohol and Alcoholism

[HexNoir]

I'm coming to a point in my life where I have two choices - I can either keep my fiancee or I can drink.

I've heard all about the relationship between social phobia and alcohol - how the socially anxious are more inclined to self-medicate and slip into potential alcoholism than average folks - but for some reason I didn't see it creeping up on me until I counted my intake; 40 beers in a week might not be a lot to an everyday binger, but for me, that's way out of character... or at least it would have been just a few short months ago.

How many of you are self-medicators, or perhaps over-indulgers? Has anybody gotten over their alcoholism, more importantly? And if you don't mind, I'd love to hear some personal stories, should anyone feel so inclined to share. It's a sensitive topic, but I think the pain of talking about it bears a lot of meaning.

 

[AlienGeranium]

I drink casually now, and more often than not it makes me feel more sick than good, but when I first started it felt like a godsend and I feared it was going to become a crutch for me. I'd drink, and I'd suddenly become the person I was always capable of but was held back because of the high inhibitions I had. And I loved that guy. He was great. He was probably a little annoying. But for the most part, it gave me the confidence I should have already had, since in my humble opinion, as far as character was concerned I had a pretty good one.

Over time though the effect stopped being so pronounced for me, and I feel I started to slip as a person so getting drunk would usually remind me I wasn't well rounded as I once was, and the whole appeal sort of disappeared. In a weird way though, I guess this is probably one of the few success stories of self medicating with alcohol. I sort of used it as a inhibition-lowerer, as needed, and as I was able to do responsibly, it helped. If I ever got my act together again, and needed the boost, I'd probably consider using it as an aid again. That train of thinking scares me, and isn't something I would recommend to others, but right now that's my take.

 

[Monkish1]

Alcoholism runs in the family, but fortunately it makes me sick after a few. That's an indicator for alcoholism. I self-medicated early in college, then started to visit support groups. To be honest, I might be a drunk now, except I tend to value my own health too much. I slip up quite a bit, especially after a difficult day, or, ironically, when I'm having a good time.

 

[Drummer90]

I started drinking a lot when I was a lot younger. I'm 24 now. When I drank years ago it was somewhat social as I was a very active musician. Then one day I stopped playing music,distanced myself from my family and I drank like never before. Sometimes I'll go out with one of my only friends for some beers but alone I only drink liquor. And honestly it hurts me now. I never saw any of this coming. Sometimes I'm afraid to ask for help. I highly recommend you choose wisely between someone who values you as a person and something that will deplete your ambition and keep you in a persistent but silent nightmare. At social gatherings(when I used to be able to pretend I was someone I wasn't) I would drink myself to the point of complete loss of reality and flip my shit. Made for some horrible little gatherings in the latter part of my social life. As far as my story goes,I drink a lot to cope with the nature of everyday human behavior. I consider most people to be very selfish,ugly to one another,and just brainwashed for the most part. Hopefully i will completely sober up in the near future. My side hurts me a lot.