It is reported that 1 in 13 adults of both sexes in the UK struggle with alcohol. They are not all on park benches, in fact the chances are they are in your family, your coleagues or workmates. Many are functioning alcoholics. Many are lace curtain drinkers preferring to drink in secret. Apart from AA, which does an admirable job both in Sheffield and worldwide there are other groups, one being SHARP (SHeffield Alcohol Recovery Project). They have a website at www.sheffieldalcohol.org.uk.
If you are, or somebody in your family etc. is, struggling with alcohol please make contact with this self help group that are in contact with Substance Misuse, SAAS and other Sheffield alcohol agencies. They have a contact 'phone number on their webpage

My mother was an abusive alcoholic and it eventually was the cause of her death.

One of the main things that enabled me to deal with this and the effect it has had on my life is the support of ALANON and ALATEEN - for the friends and families of alcoholics.

Anyone can PM me if they want to know more.

The students union are running a campaign at the mo called 'whats in it', giving out leaflets and beer mats and t-shirts that say, for example: "one pint of carling: 2.3 units". This worries me because apparently women are supposed to drink 2-3 units a day? And I'm on at least 10? And I can't remember a day in the past few years when I haven't had at least one pint.

Everyone laughs it off cos we're students but really I think I should be a little bit more worried. Do you think I will get laughed at if I go for some help? I have tried to cut down but tis really hard. I never drink before about 2pm, so I don't think I'm an alcoholic. Plus I think I CAN go without booze if I have to.

Struggling with alcohol does not mean you are falling over etc. There are 3 basic stages of struggle. The first is a social drinker, one who enjoys a drink but must have one every day, the second is the habitual drinker, one that needs a whisky to meet new people or too get to sleep etc. the third is a dependant drinker that can not function unless they have taken a drink.If you are any of these I suggest you make contact with a group because it is an easy slide down but a struggle climbing back up.

Originally posted by kathythebean
The students union are running a campaign at the mo called 'whats in it', giving out leaflets and beer mats and t-shirts that say, for example: "one pint of carling: 2.3 units". This worries me because apparently women are supposed to drink 2-3 units a day? And I'm on at least 10? And I can't remember a day in the past few years when I haven't had at least one pint.

Everyone laughs it off cos we're students but really I think I should be a little bit more worried. Do you think I will get laughed at if I go for some help? I have tried to cut down but tis really hard. I never drink before about 2pm, so I don't think I'm an alcoholic. Plus I think I CAN go without booze if I have to.
I'm in exactly the same boat. I drink (quite alot) more than guidelines suggest that I should be drinking every day, and also can't remember a day in the last year when I havn't. I know I can go without alcohol, because I have done it in the past. I never drink before 8pm. I'm probably classed as an alcoholic, but it is something I will resolve in the future. I hope.

Pleased to know its not just me :) Perhaps we should meet for for a drink sometime to talk about it!

Anyone needing any other information can pm me. I will be pleased to help.

The same offer applies to me. I am more than happy to talk - via PM or face to face with those who are living with the problem of alcoholism.

It takes a long time to realise that its not the fault of the family or friends and that it is a disease.

My problem is that I like to drink. I love the taste and when I have a drink I have more and more and end up getting totally Pi**ed. But, I don't drink everyday. Just when I do drink, I don't stop!

I tend to binge. I don't bother during the week, but hit it at the weekend. However, I have cut down by quite a lot due to the fact that I can't take it too well these day.

That would mean four or five cans each weekend night as opposed to seven or eight previously.

My biggest weakness is on the Sunday afternoons when we stay in and have a Sunday lunch.

That I really love.

Just to note that a parent with an eating disorder i.e Bullimia, is as bad as having a parent with alcohol problem. Yet there doesnt seem to be much support for eating disorders.

Originally posted by kathythebean
this worries me because apparently women are supposed to drink 2-3 units a day?

I think that's a recommended maximum, not a quota :)

Do you think I will get laughed at if I go for some help?

No, you won't get laughed at.

I have tried to cut down but tis really hard

The problem with cutting down is that it reinforces the idea that you are depriving yourself of something useful and pleasurable, and therefore makes the thing you can't have seem all the more attractive. If there were some way you could see quitting as positive step rather than something you are forcing yourself to do reluctantly it wouldn't be so hard.

Shutting up now before I sound like an evangelist.

Well I really need to lose some weight coz I have really piled it on in the last couple of years :gag:

So, as alchohol is full of empty calories I'm going to cut down drastically and aim to lose about 2 stone :heyhey:

Yippee - can't wait!

That's the spirit :)

I struggle with alcohol. From the point of view that I am completely intolerant to it. I can have literally one drink and it will make me feel very unwell, I'll be awake all night and feeling terrible the next day. No idea why but its a pain in the bum.

Originally posted by tslogf74
[B]I think that's a recommended maximum, not a quota :)




That really really made me laugh so hard I had little tears in my eyes :)

Thank you for starting a thread on this topic BB. It's good to read other people's experiences, and it's nice to read some jokes about it as well!

I have become increasingly worried about my drinking in past 2 or 3 years. I have known for some time that I'm hooked, but I have done nothing about it. You see I have contained my drinking into a certain time slot ( 12.30am to 3 am). I often drink until inebriated and then go and pass out. Then I get up and go to work the next day and do not drink again until that magic 12.30am time. I could not let a night go by without this ritual. It's so contained and controlled it scares me!

I'm not in the pits or anything, but what really upsets me is the trail of 'I'm not drinking tonight' initiatives that have failed. Knowing that I cannot escape my nightly habit. I feel defeated!

I know the feeling. It appears from your response that at 12.30 you are giving yourself permission to drink, so it becomes a habit as well. We have a word it SHARP that is HALT. You are more likely to drink if you are Hungrey, Angry (anxious), Lonely Tired. Maybe you could look into this for yourself. We also use another three letters STD. If you feel like a drink find Something To Do. It is surprising how maybe something as simple as turning the tv station over can direct you away from focusing on drink, unless they are all in The Rovers.

SHARP has a hotline phone number that, if you wish it, I will give you if you pm me. This number is to talk thru the situation prior to taking the first drink. We wont stop you, thats for you to do, and we wont preach. Its just a buddy lifeline.

Nowadays my main drinking is the times I attend SF Meets! I probably average less than 10 pints of beer and a bottle of wine a MONTH, which is a significant improvement on 10 years ago.

Which in turn is better than when I was a student.....

When I was a student I shared a house with two other guys and for a while we were going to the pub every night, sinking 3 or 4 pints each, going home and probably getting through a half bottle of spirits each night!!

One morning we got up, concluded we were seriously messing ourselves up, and stopped.

I'd NEVER go there again - it was quite scary.

Joe

Alcohol should be classified as an addictive substance and sold with all the warnings , same as tobacco. The alcohol industry goes to a great deal of trouble to give its product a fashionable image- just look at the way teenage kids latch onto it. I have listened to their banter and gathered that they think anyone who dosent drink is a nerd.

It seems that people are simply going round in pointless circles when they talk about drink.
"Am I a social drinker ?" "Am I relying too much on alcohol ?" "Am I an alcoholic ?" "Is 4 pints a night too much ?".......etc .....It all seems so pointless because people drink for very different reasons and a person's capacity for alcohol varies enormously.
A lot of people rush off to check what our wonderful experts have to say ! The experts approach any , "problem" like this :-
Stage 1 ] Think of a health problem and get someone to do a few surveys on it.
Stage 2] Take the lowest figure for whatever you are preventing and publicise it quickly e.g. "Don't drink more than 2 units a day "......etc.....
Stage3] Persuade the government that it's a vote-catcher if they support your campaign to , 'Stamp out this evil".
Stage4] Laugh gleefully and rub your hands together as millions of pounds pour into your campaign coffers.
Stage 5] Expand your campaign even more and scare as many people as possible . This will generate even more money.
If people could recognise this pattern , they'd perhaps just get on with drinking what THEY feel comfortable with and the people who DO have real problems would benefit from all the surplus funds .

Broadly, ask yourself this question. Is drink affecting my life, be it relationship, health, financial, concentration, work etc.etc. If it is then you are struggling with alcohol.

Got your PM Bruce. Let me know when the new leaflets are ready and I'll give you the address where I work so you can get some to me when the new ones are printed. :)

My 61 year old father was admitted to hospital today for the third time in 6 months. Actually third time ever, but he has been told that if he stops drinking for 10 months he will be able to go on the waiting list for a liver transplant. This came as quite a shock as I had no idea than he was actually abusing alcohol to this extent. I feel completely powerless as I have always done the best by him and thought that he had realised the full awareness of his predicament. How wrong. Any advice would be gratefully received.

Spent Saturday watching the footie with a mate and our blokes. Mine doesn't drink anyway, having spent 9 years running a pub and being put off for life. But he's very accommodating and not preachy about picking me up from town after a girlie night out and a couple of sherbets when I'm a bit wobbly.

My mate's bloke on the other hand, was completely ratted by the time we fetched up at about 1.30 on Saturday. She was on the little bottles of lager, I was on the occasional vodka and coke, and he was on his second bottle of wine. When the match ended, he went to bed. While he was sleeping the first lot off after the match, she went out (with my bloke) to get more wine. Which her bloke then polished off in a second sitting, while we slaved over getting a bbq ready. Then he wobbled down to join us and just sat there going "I'm absolutely w*****ed".

In February they got engaged, she then kicked him out because of his drinking. He was demoted at work and hung on to his job by the skin of his teeth. She knows he needs help. But because he just does it at weekends or, in this case, "when there's an England match on", and can do 4 or 5 alcohol-free days/nights in the week, he thinks it's ok. He's not aggressive or rude, apart from kicking every ball while watching the match, but soppy and pathetic. His dad's in hospital after a minor routine op, so routine he had the op Friday and came out yesterday; after speaking to his mum he burst into tears. My mate quickly pointed out, when he said he'd been thru it these last few days, that my b/f's mum died a few weeks ago so he's been thru it a lot more lately. At which her bloke apologised profusely but still blubbed. They're perpetually skint - she admitted they'd saved 300 quid in a couple of weeks, when he stopped drinking the other month after she kicked him out - and then took him back.

I can tell she's concerned but at the end of the day only he can help himself. And I don't think he will.

Am 51 and a social drinker and have been for the last thirty years - I'd guess I've had easily double the recommended units every week in that time apart from once when I had flu - never missed a day off work from the booze and have had no time off for sickness of any description for over two years.

I avoid spirits like the plague except for a couple of times a year when I'll have an armagnac or calvados as a "digestif".

I never have a drink during work time - and rarely before 10 pm except on Sunday when I have half a bottle of wine with Sunday dinner.

Have often wondered whether I'm in control or alcohol is - or whether we've reached some sort of happy compromise.

I'm not in the pits or anything, but what really upsets me is the trail of 'I'm not drinking tonight' initiatives that have failed. Knowing that I cannot escape my nightly habit. I feel defeated!

Eventually you feel it's just not worth trying because you know you will fail.

It seems that there are some people who drink more than is recomended each day and that concerns them. What should really concern them is that they drink every day. Being a regular drinker means you have a problem and it needs to be fixed. Drinking to excess on the same set days each week, perhaps every Friday and Saturday is also dangerous as it sets a pattern. Really what needs to happen is for drinking to be socailly unnacceptable, after all, you wouldn't see an addict shooting up once a week and consider that OK because it was under a daily limit or it was only once a week.

Really what needs to happen is for drinking to be socailly unnacceptable, after all, you wouldn't see an addict shooting up once a week and consider that OK because it was under a daily limit or it was only once a week.

I fully expect that to be the next "crusade" after banning people smoking in public.