Thread for functioning and working alcoholics

[a feel]

Nobody likes a quitter.


Nah congratulations, I personally drink about 3-4 750ml bottles of vodka per month but I used to be putting down 6-12 beers most days of the week and that was hell.

Haha! Thank you! I honestly didn't plan to never drink again when I started my journey.

POWERLEVEL:

My drinking had spiraled out of control (after easily 20 years of alcohol abuse) due to an event, and I honestly thought I could just go and "fix it" and go back to drinking "normally" (for me) because I was comfortable that way and didn't have a problem. I hold a steady job, right? How bad can it really be? How could I be an alcoholic when, clearly, I am a functioning member of society with a 9-5 job?

Spoiler: Most alcoholics are.

It was only through therapy that I learned how fucked up I really am and that drinking sucks even though I'm always gonna crave alcohol every now and then because my brain now works that way. I don't ever want to go back to my "functioning alcoholic" days even though I felt fine at the time. In hindsight, my job and alcohol were all I cared about and everything that defined my miserable existence. The human brain is a remarkable thing with a remarkable ability to fool itself so we don't have to face the ugly truth.

Edit: tags.

 

[Piss Clam]

Well if you want to be real men post your highest BAC. Which you would have to have either been arrested or admitted to the hospital.

Mine was .450 (hospital) and that is when I quit drinking.

Blood alcohol content - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And that is no shit my friends, that is coma level, but I was just fine walking and talking just fine.

If you want to know that is drinking a half gallon of whiskey about every two days, or in a day....it depends don't it.

I was diagnosed manic/depressive decades ago so I used the alcohol to temper down the mania....you just build a tolerance to it.

But I tell you, it all ends badly, so go to rehab or a hospital and ask for help. It ain't gonna work out for you.

 

[a feel]

I was diagnosed manic/depressive decades ago so I used the alcohol to temper down the mania....you just build a tolerance to it.

But I tell you, it all ends badly, so go to rehab or a hospital and ask for help. It ain't gonna work out for you.

This, OP. It ain't gonna fix itself. At some point, you're gonna lose what little control you still have over your drinking. You may not realize it now, but substance abuse and addiction usually starts out as a coping mechanism for some underlying issue. Once that issue becomes clear, you can take steps to improve your life.

 

[Midlife Sperglord]

I drink about three six-packs of beer a week, usually on the weekends. My doctor has expressed his concerns about this, and oddly enough, he suggested that I replace it with the now legal Mary Jane in my state. But since I am now used to doing both of those things at the same time on the weekends, I gotta make a sacrifice somewhere.

Still, it has no effect on my job performance or my social life so far.

 

[Fek]

Yeah, uh..somewhat on topic, and avoiding the powerlevel as much as possible:

I'm currently dealing with a [person] who thinks he's functional in spite of the alcoholism, and Imma have to put a solid [X]Doubt on the "functional" part. Now, I don't remotely doubt that he (and you guys dealing with it yourselves) feel that way. I'd just place a hefty wager that it's pretty obvious you're actually not to anyone who is close enough to give a rat's ass about you.

We all deal with personal shit in our own way, just don't let it destroy you, eh? Kinda defeats the point.

 

[Nykysnottrans]

Man Wakes Up From Bender With Financial Problems Solved

EUGENE, OR—Though he has only the haziest memories of what happened between the time he left work Friday evening and woke up late Sunday afternoon, marketing associate Ben Taylor told reporters today that during his 36-hour drinking binge, he somehow managed to sort out his entire financial...

www.theonion.com

 

[Voltaire]

Might as well become an alcoholic then.

Anyone who drinks less then a bottle of whisky per day ks baby tier you are the equivalent of girls on Instagram talking about depression and mental health while they have hyper privilledged positions in society.

 

[UQ 770]

View attachment 816225
Functioning is a very flexible term.

I fucking hate you. I now see why Colonial and Medieval Europe outlawed fortune-telling. I need another drink.

 

[wellthathappened]

If you still get up and go to work, you're* functioning.


*I'm

 

[Karl der Grosse]

If I woke up tomorrow morning feeling like I felt every morning back when I was a "functioning" alcoholic, I'd go straight to the hospital. I got lucky, one day I just woke up and the desire to drink had disappeared. I felt like hell for a month, but whatever was making me pound whiskey like a rat pushing a lever for a crack pellet never came back. Still hasn't in over a decade now.

I ran into a young guy who used to be my neighbor the other day. He's drinking every night and all day when he has a day off. He's smart, good-looking, educated. He works hard too. But it's all falling apart for him. I could see it clear as day.

 

[V0dka]

If?




You know that alcohol withdrawal is one of the only types of withdrawal that can kill you, right? With stimulants you just want to die but it's not going to happen. With alcohol you can seize and die.

Sweet!

This, OP. It ain't gonna fix itself. At some point, you're gonna lose what little control you still have over your drinking. You may not realize it now, but substance abuse and addiction usually starts out as a coping mechanism for some underlying issue. Once that issue becomes clear, you can take steps to improve your life.

Depends on your issue, depends whether you can identify it, depends if it can even be fixed through "hiking up those bootstraps and getting back on the bike" assuming that person is even in such a state or even capable of reaching it. And if you are fixing it in other ways, then what pills are you taking? Now your just medicating in a different way, and those pills have massive withdrawals that can turn you into a crawling blind baby.

Theres a lot of unknown factors for each person, even down to how much shit they can take, how resilient they are to it. Whats behavioral? Whats genetic? Some people do what they have to do to keep functioning. If they didn't they'd be long dead.

 

[UQ 770]

We all deal with personal shit in our own way, just don't let it destroy you, eh? Kinda defeats the point.

Oddly enough after starting to drink as heavily as I currently do, most people just treated me like an average dude who's a little awkward in public. Made me immediately cut just about all of the neurotics out of my life, as I realized they were addicted to something on the side. After that, suddenly I started drinking (less) recklessly. Never trust someone who's socially awkward, they're hiding something.

 

[a feel]

Depends on your issue, depends whether you can identify it, depends if it can even be fixed through "hiking up those bootstraps and getting back on the bike" assuming that person is even in such a state or even capable of reaching it. And if you are fixing it in other ways, then what pills are you taking? Now your just medicating in a different way, and those pills have massive withdrawals that can turn you into a crawling blind baby.

Theres a lot of unknown factors for each person, even down to how much shit they can take, how resilient they are to it. Whats behavioral? Whats genetic? Some people do what they have to do to keep functioning. If they didn't they'd be long dead.

Username/post combo checks out.

"Bootstraps" is an inherently American concept, and that's not how therapy works over here. Through behavioral therapy, and most importantly, analysis (of myself, my own behavior and reactions) I was able to find different responses than "DRINK!!!111" and regain confidence in myself by actually solving problems and minimizing bad feelings through healthy responses instead of substance abuse.

That's literally it. No one told me to man up. No one forced me not to drink. No one offered me any pills. I changed the way I (re)acted, observed the results, which were positive, felt better about myself, learned how to handle pressure and how to essentially balance my life - things I was absolutely certain I already knew how to do, except I didn't because I was a drunk fuck who really had no idea because I emotionally stunted myself through alcohol, and prevented myself from reaching the level of confidence and maturity to successfully get through life without it. Try it. It's worth it.

If I woke up tomorrow morning feeling like I felt every morning back when I was a "functioning" alcoholic, I'd go straight to the hospital. I got lucky, one day I just woke up and the desire to drink had disappeared. I felt like hell for a month, but whatever was making me pound whiskey like a rat pushing a lever for a crack pellet never came back. Still hasn't in over a decade now.

Yeah, I never want to wake up like that again and think "this is fine." It's not. It's shit, and it doesn't have to be that way.
Btw, I had the same thing with nicotine a couple of years ago. I just lost the desire to smoke and quit that same day. Haven't felt the urge since.

 

[V0dka]

I was able to find different responses than "DRINK!!!111" and regain confidence in myself by actually solving problems and minimizing bad feelings through healthy responses instead of substance abuse.

If the problems are always solvable and the healthy responses always worked, the psychology and psychologist professions wouldn't exist. That's the thing, situations and particular problems and even people themselves are different.

 

[W00K #17]

>OZfag
>thinks their drinking is fine

Checks out.

Nah, I've known lots of functional alcoholics and a very few functioning addicts of other kinds. I think general lack of stigma and ease of access to liquor makes it easier to be a working drinker.

Eta: at least you're not pissing it up on the dole, so you've got my respect for that.

Agreed it's also much cheaper than having an illegal narcotics addiction. An opiate addict can shoot up several hundred dollars worth of product a day. Pretty hard to have any other semblance of a life when every red cent goes to that. A handle of nasty rot gut vodka can be had for less than $15. Lot easier to keep the lights on with that kind of expense for your addiction than it is with heroin, crack, meth etc.

 

[UQ 770]

If the problems are always solvable and the healthy responses always worked, the psychology and psychologist professions wouldn't exist. That's the thing, situations and particular problems and even people themselves are different.

Yeah, I'm gonna bump this and say that you turn to this kind of bullshit when you feel like you're out of options. I'm not adverse to therapy in and of itself, but modern psychology is so filled with stuck-up assholes that I've just accepted that its not even going to try and meet me half way on just about anything. "If you want something done right you've got to do it yourself" shouldn't apply to mental health but unfortunately at least where I live it does.

 

[a feel]

If the problems are always solvable and the healthy responses always worked, the psychology and psychologist professions wouldn't exist. That's the thing, situations and particular problems and even people themselves are different.

You don't need to re-learn how to tie a shoe every time you buy a new pair. Our brain heavily depends on automatism. If your standard response to feeling overwhelmed is to punch someone in the face you will never not punch someone in the face in that situation unless you stop punching people in the face and try something else. That's literally how the brain works and how to solve problems that trigger the "feeling uneasy" response.

But that's it from me, I don't want to TMI.

 

[Karl der Grosse]

In my experience, many times drinking compulsively is self-medication for other mental health issues, especially depression. People who are chronically depressed like alcohol because a drink or three buoys your mood, induces a sort of pseudo-manic feeling (in some people, at least), and eases social anxiety. Of course, in the long-term compulsive drinking makes all of your problems worse. And it makes it so much harder to get appropriate mental health treatment. It's hard to tell if someone's depressed because of alcoholism or because they have an underlying mental condition, and harder still to treat any underlying issues while the chronic drinking is continuing.

 

[Underestimated Nutria]

I think you can rate a society by how easy it is for its addicts to be functional. America is based on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. For a chronic alcoholic that means lots of booze.

Many great thinkers would agree. Benjamin Franklin once said that wine was 'proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy'.

The guy who sleeps outside the liquor store said 'I wanna make sure I'm there when it opens'.



The interesting thing is that the drugs that are legal - alcohol and nicotine - have functional users.

Or I would say, drugs are legal or illegal depending upon whether or not they are conducive to you going into work the next day.

BTW Opiates should have lots of functional users in a sane society, I lived in a country where codeine, synthesised from morphine, cost well under $10/gram from the pharmacy. Heroin if anything should be cheaper, and barring acute toxicity, it's a lot better for you than any other drug.

 

[Classist.]

Never trust someone who's socially awkward, they're hiding something.

I just have autism, I can't help it