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Only A Few (Drinks) What Harm Can It Do! ... Or At Least So I Thought!

by M
(West Midlands)

I have been growing increasingly concerned about my own drinking. Its got to the stage where its not normal now and need to find a way of cutting down.

For years I have been habitually drinking 1 or 2 cans of larger an evening. I like beer and always find it relaxing to have one at the end of the day, the problem is over the past 6 - 12 months its more like 6-8 cans of larger an evening and its every evening.

I don't crave a drink as such, sometimes I'll have my first beer at about 11 o'clock at night but still end up drinking 4 and fall asleep on the sofa.

I've always been telling myself its only lager, I'm not an alcoholic because I don't drink spirits or wine, I don't drink in the morning and I don't crave drinks during the day, it doesn't affect my career or my family.

I'm a great dad, never drink in front of the kids and my career is flourishing. However other things I do are tell-tale signs when I think about it.

I drink alone after my wife and kids are in bed, I hide the amount I'm drinking from my wife by putting empty cans in the outside bin, I buy beer even when we have no money, I wake up every day thinking "that's it I'm not drinking for a couple of days" but sure enough that night I'll be cracking open another 4 or 5 cans.

I don't want to stop drinking all together but I need to be at the point where I never drink in the week and maybe just have a couple of beers on a Saturday night or socially. But getting to that point is going to be hard, I don't want my wife to find out how far its got, she has enough on her plate and as she doesn't drink so can't relate to what drinking alcohol is like.

I don't think groups will be my thing and I would rather go about this with the fewest amount of people knowing as possible if any! I also wonder how I could go about doing it, if I just quit I can see it affecting me physically because I am surely dependent on alcohol considering how long I've been drinking habitually.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

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Thanks
by: M

Thanks for your comments. I'm past the stage of trying to pretend theres not a problem, as I said I now know that I have one. The thing is I've never even thought about it so this is actually the first time I've even tried to quit. I think I've been putting it off because I'm afraid that if I try to quite I won't be able to and I'll have to deal with the problem. Another big worry is that I'm dependent on alcohol and that just quitting might have some side effects.

I didn't have anything to drink last night which is a start I suppose. I'm planning on not touching any alcohol for 10 days, if I can't go that long without alcohol I'll go to the doctors. If I can, then its encouraging but I'll need to be careful if I decide to have my 'weekend beer' that I don't slip back into the same old routine.

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You are an alcoholic
by: Anonymous

But what you say, you are an alcoholic and are still in the phase trying to rationalise why you're not that bad yet, and still hope to be able to moderate your drinking. Alcoholics can't moderate. That's what makes us alcoholics, and judging by your behaviour, you are one. Test it out and see for yourself - try the drinking only on weekends thing, and in moderation. If you can, maybe it is just a bit of a phase you're going through. If you can't, you've got yourself a problem. And the sooner you face up to that, the sooner you can deal with it. There is nothing wrong with getting help. Asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. So stop beating around the bush and get brutally honest with yourself. You're half way there, but not quite. And the longer you put off doing so, the worse things are going to get, believe me. You're obviously a bright guy, so stop wasting time.

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