Hoov - a little test: try going out with your friends - but don't drink any alcoholic beverages. If you can't do it, perhaps you should seek the advice of a professional.

Hoover,

It may be a problem or it could just be a bad habit...Everyone in the "Professional" field will tell you without question that it is a problem...They have to create problems even if they don't exist in order to help their job security...

It is a problem if you can't stop or control it...But it could just be a bad habit as a result of your environment (i.e. friends)...Change your Monday, Wednesday and Thursday ritual for a month and see if it is a problem...

Through most college and my first job out of college I drank like a fish nearly every night...Every professional in the world would have said I had a serious problem...It was not a problem, it was just a habit that came from going out with buddies and clients nearly every night...When my wife and I started dating and I changed jobs my drinking changed to the occasional social drink over dinner about once a week...No shakes, no withdrawal, no sneaking drinks in the mid-day...It was no different than playing a video game, it was something that I enjoyed doing but not something that I needed...

So don't buy into the "you definitely have a problem" song and dance...The reality is you might have a problem but you might just be involved in a bad habit...Only you can figure that out by changing your environment.

Thanks for all the help. I feel that I can control my drinking, but I think the problem is who I'm handing around. If I'm alone I never drink, I only do so around my friends. My "friends have been around more as of late, maybe I should not be so willing to go out on the town.

Thanks for all the help.

Hoover

i like my beer...but i've had to cut back big time lately for safety. doc's got me doing treadmill time, and after a few brewskis, i kept falling off the damn thing. so i decided to run first, then have a couple. problem is, i dont feel like drinking a beer after running for 35 minutes! so i'm getting up early and getting it out of the way.
hell...i think i got a drinking problem too!!!
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and i cant quit...what would i pour on my wheaties?
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Hoover,

I agree with #15 and #16. Only you can find out if there is a problem. And IMO, trying to do without alcohol will let you know quickly enough.

Good luck.

This solution does not involve the self-exploration as the others stated but its a method that I try to follow to prevent drinking from damaging my body.

1. Stay busy- whenever I drank for no reason it was because I was bored. I find technology amazing so I spend alot of time doing harmless hacking and tinkering with my computer. I've screwed so many things on it and was too stubborn to call tech support. I stayed busy some weekends just trying to get my PC back up and running and always came away learning somthing. Moutain biking, hiking, canoeing, sking - all kinds of stuff to do.

2. Realize the harm drinking does. Take your blood pressure after a 15-20 drink night and then imagine your blood being forced through your organs at that rate. Not good. Alcohol also turn liver cells to fat, a horrible way to die.

3. If all your looking for is a buzz - smoke a doobie. At the very least, it will be a break for your body from alcohol.

A more superficial solution but if it promotes long-term health then what the heck. I know first hand how easy it can be to use alcohol to fill free time.

I drank a lot for a couple of years in my early 20's, until a friend mentioned that it seemed I always would use bars as meeting places for friends. That sounded to me like one of those things that get said to alcoholics, so I gave up the alcohol, which was actually pretty easy, from what I remember. I think I've had 3 drinks in the last 10 years, each at a celebration of some sort or another. I'm the geek at the sports bar who thinks 15-20 Diet Cokes watching my beloved Chiefs.

Anyway, Hoover, though I don't know much about alcohol abuse, I think 30 drinks a week pretty much indicates a problem, especially if all that is concentrated into 3 nights. The only advice I have is that, if you do end up getting help in cutting back, don't trip too much off that whole backsliding theory that says that if a single drop of alcohol touches your lips you're doomed to a month-long bender, vomitting in the gutter and losing your eighth or ninth wife. Moderation might well be the answer for you. (I've only been doing the wholesale abstinence thing because it's a habit that started in a fit of youthful idealism and I'm just not that interested in going back to booze.)

Here's a good link if you wonder if you might be drinking too much. It has a quiz and links to resources for moderating your drinking behavior. It does a good job of avoiding all the hype that anti-drinking fanatics foment, focussing instead on useful info:

http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol-info...nkTooMuch.html

[Edited by DanT on 02-22-2001 at 08:12 PM]

DAN T,

Cool sight, but I am not telling how many times I said yes.

BIG DADDY

Loves drinking.

As a recovering addict I can't say if you have a problem or not...too me, from my experience, 15 to 20 drinks of any kind, 2 or 3 times a week indicates a potential problem...there are a lot of functional addicts and alcholics out there...I was one for 8 years before everyting finally caught up to me and I had to get help...but for me a problem is one drink or one drug..for you it may be 30...

Regardless of the socio/economic problems drinking and druggin cause...think about your health...that much booze is not exactly recommended in many nutrition books...

Some one said it earlier...if you think you have a problem, you probably do...there are alot of simple tests you can do...tests that ask you certain questions and if you answer yes to them...you may have a problem...contact your local AA HQs...they can send info that may shed some light...

One thing I learned...no matter how bad your problem, or how much you admit it...you will never solve it unless you really want too...

I spent the first 5 years of my "recovery" trying to substitute my drug of choice with liquor and other drugs...I just got worse...

As they say, it is a process and not an event...

Good luck...feel free to e-mail me if you want more info about AA or NA...if nothing else, go to a meeting and talk to the members...you might get some answers...