Hi i am new 2 this forum, and have a question, it might be a naive 1 as i am 49. I can drink a 70cl bottle of voddie a day and sometimes more and not get drunk mixed with small measures of coke i'e half pint glad 3/4 voddie and 1/4 coke. I am not sure if i am an alcoholic or not!! i drink 5out of 7 days, but have no withdraw symptons. I am not looking for a well done for this i am seriously looking for advice as if i have money it goes on drink. I don't get hangovers, shakes sweats etc. Am worried to even go and have tests to see the damage as i know that no one could drink the vodka at the strength i do, and kidded myself that because i cannot drink it straight means i am not an alcoholic. Please anyone with any advice etc would be kindly accepted thank you.
You are certainly drinking far, far more than is good for you, Louisa.
If you delay getting help, then the situation is only likely to get worse over time.
My suggestion to you would be to please bite the bullet and make an appointment to see your doctor. The body is an amazing thing and can repair itself very well if given the chance. Be honest with your doctor and tell him/her how much you are drinking so that the relevant checks can be done.
Also, if you find it difficult to reduce the amount you are drinking, look into The Sinclair Method, which is a way that you can gradually reduce your drinking right down to abstinence if you so wish. This is a medical treatment that can help you since it certainly appears on the surface to me that you are somewhere on the sprectrum of Alcohol Use Disorder.
Read this article on this website for more information on this method.
https://patient.info/health/sinclair-method-for-alcohol-use-disorder
There are many ways that can help you, so it's just a case of doing a little research and finding the one that you thinks suits you and your circumstances the best.
Thank you Joanna,
I realise that i drink far too much, and use the excuse that i can go without sometimes for a week or so use tht as an excuse that i not have a problem, but it was the other week when i was putting my rubbish out and actually realised i had 4 empty vodka bottle in my bin form just over 5 days, and also i am buying alcohol delivery service and thinking if i buy from these twice a week and only go in my local shop twice a week i won't be looked at as an alcoholic. I am very scared to get checked put as i only turned to drink as 5 yrs ago i lost my business and all to a partner who not only nearly killed but lost me my business. I have a new business, but i am still fighting PESD and night terrors from what happened so used alcohol as my crutch, but now has become a habit as i am now agoraphobic as he is now out of prison. I feel so lost and trying so hard to use my business as a diversion, but now it is the alcohol i am using as i diversion x
Sorry PTSD*
First to change something louisa (like your name by the way)....to change...we have to acknowledge....You have already acknowledged that you have a full blown problem.
What I think you may not be acknowledging is that you would have this problem with PTSD...or without PTSD. I have PTSD..too and many other conditions...that I could rely on for my reason for drinking.
But, the truth is...your an alcoholic...in my belief there is some genetic disposition to you being prone to over using alcohol...you were born with it.....I was born with it....I'm not like everyone else that drinks...when I put any alcohol in my body....I can't stop drinking until I get drunk.
So the only solution for me is to NOT put ANY alcohol in my body. OR to find a way to put alcohol in my body but to not abuse it.
2 choices -
Be abstinent with some help from drugs that stop cravings.
OR...use the Sinclair method or Naltraxone drug to curb your cravings, still drink (but drink less, because the drug makes your brain think drinking is not so appealing) and eventually stop drinking.
But, it seems the end result is the persons goal in both circumstances is to avoid alcohol, live happier and be healthier.
Not everyone can achieve sobriety to the point of total abstinence...hence these types of forums exist for us to discuss our UPS...Our DOWNS and our in betweens.
Nice to meet you..glad you found the board!
ty Missy, i know i have 2 either stop or control, hense why i joined here so i could be around those fighting this and hopefully it will help me to understand and also stop this distruction. I appreciate your feedback it means a lot x
welcome...have you decided if you want to stop or control?
Maybe control first until you are able to stop?
Louisa
It appears to me you maybe alcohol dependent which means it's psychological ..
It appears you just knock them down systematically ..like a rono
Sorry I mean like a robotic action.
So you maybe be blocking some trauma behind that.
Vodka is strong so you are probably trying to block pain.
What you need to do is go to a rehabilitation unit which uses cognitive behavioural therapy to help you kick the habit...
Cognitive behavioural therapy is the most powerful form of therapy used on people that use alcohol as a crutch and it s success rate is high.
Sometimes drinking can turn into a bad habit ..
I am going to a hypnotherapist next week to sort out my alcohol dependency and if he is good you just never know maybe it may encourage others to take that route too.
The good thing is you recognise a problem that is the first step to recovery..
SO WELL DONE‼️😊
what a hard life Louisa and how hard a drinker for a woman you are. Many other women would have collapsed..hard to tell you simply to stop since that could be very very dangerous..do try to cut down gradually 
Robin
That is why i posted Robin, i have finally realised the damage and destruction i am doing to my body. Iam going to be a granny for the 1st time in May and want to be either controlled or have stopped. So i thought it best to get help professionally and also from those who have or are in the same situation with drink. Thank you for your coments all of you it means alot.
Thank you Jessie. Sitting here 2nite 3/4 down the bottle not drunk quite alert and thinking to myself not only is this getting expensive i'e checked what i spent on voddie in last month and i have spent £180.00 so far. I am not bragging if that how it sounds i am saying because what an expensive way to kill yourself and i know this habit is doing this 2 me, or i should say i am doing this to me. I have a great business and have got myself back in to a place where i lost everything, it's like after everything i do not know how to enjoy it and stop letting the past control me. I got an email the other day from someone and they said if you want to stop you will, i was like are you an addict and they said no, so i replied i am and i am ashamed that this has taken over my body and my life, and when you are in my place tell me you can pass by a shop without seeing the ads for special offers on booze and not go in, sit at home and yearn for that drink to stop you feeling. Trouble is like any drug your body becomes immune and so you take more. I so want to kick this habit as i know it is killing me :-( x
how is today going for you Louisa? Just wondering since you want to stop and it is not easy.... Robin
I have replied to you both missyand Robin but i swore so might be not posted sorry been a bad week :-(
I have found out going 2 be a granny 4 the 1st time so my son bloxked me on fb and doesn't want me 2 know them, my other son sent me a pic of the scan and was in tears so uknow the story felt sorry for myself and have hit the bottle today, i know didn't and shouldn't have done that but am heart broken but this is a scan of my grandchild i might not ever see, and if i could be told mum stop and u can be in ther lives i can promise i would stop xx
I probably understand this like no other.
My oldest and his girlfriend have eliminated me from my 7 year old grandsons life AND I have never seen my grandaughter that will be 2 in 2 weeks (except one time when she was born).
The SAME reason...I was drinking and going in and out of their lives...there is a lot more to the story than that..but for the most part...my drinking only put the nail in the coffin.
Somehow get sober....you can only SHOW them that you are sober....you can't tell them anything....
.
I DO know how much pain you are in...there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of BOTH of my sons....BOTH have shut me down due to how much alcoholism has hurt them.
You are so right Missyand it is one of the rasins i searched for a forum like this, i know i have falied today, and this is not an excuse i was sohurt and any noraml person picking up a bottle of voddie or wine it wouldn't be flinched upon, but when u r told u r not a person they want in there loves it kills you, it;s not a case if being weak it is a case in your own mind that they are proving a point as to how u feel about yourself if that makes sence xx
It makes a lot of sense...but as I DID NOT FAIL.
You did not fail.
You are his mother! Just as I am my sons mother....we deserve to be loved...we have an illness...one they don't understand...Its not an excuse to say it is an illness...it is not an excuse to drink because they shut you out...it is a coping mechanism...one that is a very bad....FOR US.
I find it to be an excuse for them to avoid something that is hard for them...and you can't blame them....my therapist told me that my boys pulling away from me because they can't deal with what this "condition" entails...it entails let downs, FEAR of losing us....anger....
My counselor doesn't have children...I understand they have feelings....I understand it is hard. But, I only hope that my continued sobriety will make me stronger...and give me the knowledge of what to do....next...involving them.
In the meantime.....I try to do what is best for me...and staying sober right now is the best thing for me...and believe me I do have hope that they will return someday or I will have the strength to deal with what has happened to our relationship.
But, drinking is not going to help me get to that place.
Regardless of my drinking...I am a GOOD, LOVING, GIVING person....and I have the sense that you are all those things too.
Just remember when your sad...someone does know how you feel...and that is ME.
PM me anytime.
My sipport worker i saw today said to me you have stepped back for 3 yrs have built a business and even with the drinking you have not lost it i have used alll the coping mecjanisms u have been taught... your son has become so used 2 u giving him all amd now u fighting to keep your business alive because of the abusive man u let in your life and nearly kill you and take all you had he using that as an excuse to make u seem weak, and she is right Missy, isn't it funny i am 49 and see my friends posts of depressiona dn can answer straight away what they should do as i did psycholgy threw open univerity with flying colours in uk, but we didn't listen when we read all those pheosis about how we ignore our own hang ups ;-( and how 2 deal with them, always easier when u sort others out hey x
Since 8pm tonight i have nearly polidhed off 3/4 lt of voddie snd ehst msked me more worrid is i can still sit here typing as know my tolerance level is getting more :-( xx ty so much Missy that means somuch xxx