My name is Don and I am an alcoholic. I was a functional Alcoholic they tell me. About 14 years ago the company I worked for, for 20 years, sold. As a result of that sale I took a 50 percent pay cut. What happen then was the need to tighten the belt. I could cut everywhere, except my bar tab.

I started drinking when I was 14 years old. I finished high school but didn’t graduate. At 18 I entered the United Armed Forces where I made rank in minimum time drinking a maximum amount of time. I never missed a formation; I always showed up for work on time.

I knew I was drinking too much even then. So when I got married I said I wouldn’t drink. That lasted until the first fight, maybe 30 days. From that time on I continued to drink from the time I got off work until I went to bed daily without fail.

I still worked in retail management running a grocery store.

During this time we lost our first house in a foreclosure. We had two beautiful children a boy and a girl. On more than one occasion I told myself I had a problem, but look, I had a good job that paid good money and I never drank before I went to work. I never drank on the job. The financial problems weren’t my fault it was the times.

As a result of the pay cut my world came falling down. I stopped drinking cold turkey, then one night on the way home I stopped at the local bar just to visit; I was entitled to it.

That started the last run. I was in a black out off and on for the next 90 days. The rent check bounced, I lost $1,000. I woke up and looked in the mirror and knew that it was life or death. I self admitted to treatment program On 15 Sept 1990.

By this time my daughter didn’t want anything to do with me, our son was on a run with his addiction, my wife wasn’t talking to me when we did talk it was a fight not a talk. Our home had become a total war zone. BUT I STILL HAD A JOB!

As I approach my 13th sobriety birthday we own a home free and clear we have two brand new cars and we did this making 25 percent less than I was making before. My daughter says, "Dad work your miracles." Our son is in recovery. Our family can sit down at a dinner table and we don’t yell at each other.

The only major thing that has changed is that I got into recovery, got a sponsor, attend meetings, do my steps, and don’t drink no matter what! One day at a time. The Promises do come true. Stick around for the miracle.

http://www.stopdrinkingadvice.org/guide/

You might be under the impression that alcohol taken in moderate quantities is wholesome for health. It may be true in some cases, but not in most of the cases. So stop drinking alcohol. Drinking alcohol even in small quantities may affect your driving ability. Blood alcohol concentrates as low as 0,02 percent can considerably impede your driving skills.

Alcohol with Medication
Even minor quantities of alcohol taken along with certain medicines can aggravate their adverse impact. There are as many as 150 medicines which when taken with alcohol may prove detrimental to the health of the drinker. For example, if you take alcohol with antihistamines for cold and allergies, the sedative effect of the medication will increase. This can impair your ability to handle the machinery or drive a car.

If you take alcohol with painkillers like Tylenol, you run the risk of damaging your liver. Most of us who quite often buy over-the-counter medicines and take them indiscriminately with alcohol can become vulnerable to numerous health problems. It is advisable to check with your doctor about the advisability of drinking alcohol while you are on medication.

Social and Legal Problems
Addiction to alcohol may create many social and legal problems especially for heavy drinkers. You may fall out with your colleagues at your workplace, with your spouse at home and friends and even strangers. Alcohol addicts are likely to get up late in the morning due to the hangover from drinking in the previous evening. They may reach their office or workplace late. In some cases they may not even reach their office at all. Their productivity may be affected. They may lose their jobs.

Alcohol-Related Birth Defects
If pregnant ladies take alcohol, their children may become prone to a range of congenital defects. Children born of alcoholic mothers may contract life long learning and behavioral problems. They may suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome-FAS– leading to serious physical and mental problems.

Long-Term Health Problems
Drinking alcohol may cause liver problems, heart diseases and certain forms of cancer. These problems may not appear immediately but over a long time of drinking. Women are more prone to alcohol related problems than men even if they drink lesser than men.

Alcohol Related Liver Complications
Millions of people across the world contract liver diseases such as hepatitis or inflammation due to alcoholic drinks. Complications born out of alcoholic hepatitis can sometimes lead even to death. Around 10 to 20 percent of the heavy drinkers develop alcoholic cirrhosis or scarring of liver requiring in some cases liver transplants. Some heavy drinkers may also contract hepatitis C virus-HCV-infection which may cause liver cancer.

Nervous System
Alcohol drinking may seriously impact the nervous system in some case. It may depress the central nervous system. Though alcohol may stimulate the mind initially, it may lead to sedation after a continuous use. Alcohol impairs your immune system. It may affect your logical thinking, emotions and judgment. It may affect your speech and muscle coordination. It may even cause life threatening state of coma.

Problems with Diabetics
Alcohol impedes the release of glucose from the liver which can increase the risk of low blood sugar causing a disease called hypoglycaemia. This disease can prove dangerous to your life if you are already taking insulin to regulate the level of your blood sugar.

Pancreatitis
Pancreas produces insulin that regulates the blood sugar level in your body. Drinking alcohol may also endanger your pancreas that produces hormones to control you metabolism. Pancreas produces enzymes that help in digesting the proteins and carbohydrates. Long time drinking of alcohol may cause pancreatitis or the inflammation of the pancreas. Acute pancreatitis may cause severe abdominal pain that can be fatal at times. It can also cause diarrhea and weight loss. So stop drinking alcohol.

There was a time in my life that I drank beer as my favorite pastime. Really, it’s true. I of course only realized this after finally walking away from drinking, but the point is that drinking was literally what I did for fun. I always figured drinking was just kind of "along for the ride" , if you will, but finally realized that the act of drinking was my pastime. The interesting thing about this little Christopher Columbus like discovery I made was the fact that almost everyone I knew was just like me!

I’ve heard it said before that you become just like the people that you spend time with, but never gave it any credence. That was until I came to these realizations for myself. It’s so perplexing to me, but most everything that I did at that time in my life, revolved around drinking beer. Well, maybe revolved isn’t the correct term, but involved drinking beer. Going over to a friend’s house to have a BBQ? Who’s bringing the beer? Going to the lake fishing? Did you remember the beer? Playing cards in your buddies’ basement? How much beer do you have? These are all the types of questions that were always asked. None of these so called "things to do" were about whatever it was that was being done, they were about the drinking!

Once my daughter incarnated into this world (which is another story) and I decided to walk away from drinking, I also walked away from all of these so called "things to do". Not as a conscience effort, but just naturally. I didn’t see the "friends" or "buddies" anymore either. Once I stopped drinking they all faded away as well, again not consciously, but it just seemed to "happen". This is when I came to the realization that drinking was my pastime, none of the so called things to do or friends mattered.

Once I really started to analyze it, I also realized that this had been going on for 15 years! Drinking had been my favorite pastime for 15 years, and do you know what else was ironic? I was in about the same position, personally, as I was when it all started. It’s almost as if those 15 years was a dream! A dream we would all rather not have by the way. The point is that by the grace of God my daughter came into my life and all of that came to an end. I’ve heard it said that everything happens for a reason, well now I know that statement to be true.

http://www.stopdrinkingadvice.org/guide/

Do you spend all your money just to buy a week long supply of wine rather than food?

How many more times do you feel rage because you’ve run out of wine in the cellar rather than the times you’ve run out of food in the refrigerator?

For any regular person who doesn’t drink as much, these rages may not happen but for an alcoholic these are not peculiar situations.

Alcoholism is regarded as one of the most expensive illnesses in the United States alone in terms of both money and happiness.

Billions of dollars are spend every year because of excessive drinking; a cost carried by many agencies including social, philanthropic, religious and government agencies.

All these clinics and hospitals can do little tohelp an alcoholic completely recover from his illness unless he is willing to be cured.

An alcoholic should recognize his need for help and should be willing enough with total conviction and complete motivation to overcome his addiction. No hospitals or clinics, however technically advanced, can cure an alcoholic who defies treatment and refuses to accept his addiction. One of the biggest problems of treating alcoholism is the fact that only very few of these alcoholics have the true motivation for a long-term cure.

Many of them deny the fact that they are alcoholics. More significantly they refuse to recognize their inability to deal with the stresses of everyday living.

Just a quick message to thank everyone for stopping by over the last year and reading our posts.  Stop Drinking Advice would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

One of the problems with excessive drinking is the possibility of alcohol poisoning. 

While there are people who think that a high school or college student who is stumbling around in a drunken stupor is funny, it may be a serious problem.  Alcohol poisoning can be deadly.

There are many dangers that exist concerning alcohol poisoning.  Tragedies happen because people do not know what to do in these situations or even the signs to look for.

Some people think that a person who has had too much to drink should just take a cold shower, drink some coffee or walk or sleep it off.  None of these things work, the only thing that does work is time and a person who has alcohol poisoning may not have this luxury.

When a person drinks the alcohol depresses the nerves that control involuntary actions.  These actions, like the gag reflex and breathing can be stopped if a person drinks too much.

Someone who has had too much to drink may vomit because the alcohol irritates the stomach.  If that person chokes on the vomit they may die because they are not conscious.  A person’s blood alcohol concentration may keep rising even after the person has passed out.  This can also lead to death.

If you are in a situation where there is a possibility of someone having alcohol poisoning here are some critical signs to watch for:

Vomiting

Mental confusion, stupor, a person who can’t be roused, coma

Irregular breathing

Bluish skin color or paleness that can signify hypothermia

Seizures

Slow breathing

Any of these signs can mean that you need to take action.  There have been many cases where people have waited too long to call 911 or have assumed that the person will be all right after they sleep it off.

All of the symptoms do not need to be present for there to be a serious and life threatening problem and any person who has passed out from drinking could die.

When a person has alcohol poisoning and does not get the treatment they need there are several things that can happen. 

The person may experience slower breathing which can become irregular and then stop all together. 

A person who has alcohol poisoning and goes untreated may choke on his own vomit. 

Sometimes severe dehydration occurs and the person will have seizures, permanent brain damage or may die.  If a person who has alcohol poisoning is not helped her heart may beat irregularly or stop beating. 

Hypoglycemia, which is too little blood sugar can lead to seizures.

Alcohol poisoning is a serious situation and one that needs to be handled with care.  Don’t assume a drinking buddy will be O.K. after he has stopped drinking and passed out.  Know the signs and know what to do.

Ed Philips is a writer for http://www.stopdrinkingadvice.org which is an excellent place on how to stop drinking
 

Just ask yourself these four quick questions.

1 - Is your drinking habit getting on your spouse’s nerves?

2 - Do you feel that your family is slowly drifting away from you?

3 - Is your life moving in a direction that you otherwise don’t want to go?

4 -  Are you one of the millions of people suffering from alcoholism?

Often times it is difficult to accept the fact that one is already suffering from the symptoms of alcoholism.

Sometimes this starts out as light indulging with a group of friends. Sometimes work dictates the occasion of alcohol consumption, maybe a few shots of alcohol with important clients, but sometimes this innocent indulging can progress into chronic bouts of heavy alcohol drinking and before you can say no to another drink you are already deep into the habit.

An alcoholic can neither refrain from drinking nor control the amount of alcohol he consumes. Once the addiction has set in, physical and psychological dependency on alcohol are expected.

There is an estimated 5.6 million people in the United States alone that are alcoholics and about one fourth of them are suffering from serious complications.

There is a varying rate of alcoholism among populations from various geographical locations. The country with the highest incidence of alcoholism among its population is France followed by the United States, Switzerland and Sweden.

There is a lower incidence rate of alcoholism in rural areas compared with urban areas. Most of these alcoholics are found in homes, factories and offices and only very few of them are the "skid row" type of people.

Studies also show that most of these alcoholics are living with spouses in well-founded homes and have established jobs. A high percentage of people suffering from alcoholism hold jobs involving special responsibilities and or skills.

Economic factors greatly affect a person’s drinking patterns. High profiled businessmen drink at their exclusive men’s club. Suburban dwellers drink at home parties with friends, family and neighbors.

There are those who drink at local taverns. Even culture affects a person’s predisposition to alcoholism. Studies show that the Irish and the Poles are among the cultural group with the highest incidence rate of alcoholism in the United States.

The Italians, Greeks and Jews on the other hand show the least number of alcoholics despite their heavy alcohol consumption. People in specific work groups have also shown high incidences of alcoholism.

These include bartenders, night-club operators, liquor salesmen and seamen. The list of people who have been lured by alcohol can go on and every year the number is rising.

It is your responsibility to say no and not become part of the statistics. Personal discipline and awareness can be your guiding rule.

Countless homes and happy families have been ruined by irresponsible drinking. Alcoholism has taken so many successful careers, happy marriages and promising futures. Alcoholism at its worst has taken great many lives most often innocent ones.

If recently you feel that you or your loved one is drinking unusually heavy, don’t you think it is time to slow down or better yet stop? Try to assess your drinking habits or talk with a health professional. There is certainly more to life than just a bottle of vodka. By Michael Russell

Want to find more information on how to stop drinking then visit  http://www.stopdrinkingadvice.org/

 Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction.
- Bob Marley