[quote]Apoklyps wrote:
[quote]Captain721 wrote:
Good for you and hoping for the best! Let us know how it goes.[/quote]
It’s really refreshing to see someone on here with such a positive, encouraging attitude. That’s what lifting should be about.[/quote]
I’ll drink to that!
[quote]Apoklyps wrote:
Well… I’m back after a few months off. …
Right now, I’m feeling rather pensive. And slightly drunk. My current girlfriend thinks I have an alcohol problem[/quote]
As a son of a drunk, I suspect you do have a problem, but there are lots of ways to skin this cat.
My mom tried all the 12 step bullshit and it didn’t work because social situations were such that she would fall off the wagon.
So, she opted for the “5 days no drinking, 2 days drink” per week.
Typically Friday and Saturday drinking, but if she had something to go to she’d drink at that, then skip Friday or whatever.
And if she was going on vacation for a week, she’d save up her days so she could drink on holiday.
She’d only drink beer or wine. No hard stuff, so total drinks were never more than 4-5 (for a 110lb lady).
Basically, it’s like Weight Watchers for drunks, which I think is where she got the idea, since she did Weight Watchers and had the little notebook and cards (She’s pretty vain, and weight was the issue with drinking, ironically.)
Anyway, it’s worked for about 2 years now.
And a couple interesting points:
The top 10% of drinkers account for more than half of all alcohol consumed in the U.S. And that means…
“… the heaviest drinkers are of greatly disproportionate importance to the sales and profitability of the alcoholic beverage industry. If the top decile could be induced to curb their consumption to that of the next lower group (the ninth decile) then total ethanol sales would fall by 60%.”
It’d be interesting to see how the top decile breaks down demographically. If it’s 80 percent retirees that don’t have anything else to do, that’s one thing. If it’s people in the prime of their life, it’s a bit more bleak.
Tangentially, whenever I hear someone say “prime of their life,” “life begins at…,” or talks about conception, I always think of this:
hahahaha, I knew it was The Onion, so I was waiting for it to get funny.
And then I scrolled down…
If that chart is self-reported data, then I highly doubt its accuracy. Cool chart though.
Source: NIAAA Publications
And further discussion: When Data Journalism Goes Wrong
Short answer: Yes.
Talk to someone and get outside eyes on this. You’re in med school. Ask to go look at some advanced alcoholics and remember they might well be coming attractions for you.
Our Japanese poem for the day:
First the man takes a drink.
Then the drink takes a drink.
Then the drink takes the man.
Longer answer: You are probably not doing too badly now but are headed for a train wreck if you are not careful. Don’t forget that alcohol remodels the brain and you will have your reward centers royally screwed up before too long. And alcohol is way more toxic than stuff like heroin, as in hard drug withdrawal is awful, but cold turkey on alcohol will kill you deader than a doornail. Just saying not to underestimate what this can/will do to you. Also, a good friend of mine who is a drug counselor once told me that he had the hardest time with bright educated people – such as yourself, because they can always spin another convincing argument about why they aren’t going to have a problem if they start drinking again. (I live in a college town and I gather he gets lots of business from the university).
My dad was one – a great engineer who never missed a day of work, but came home every night and drank until he blacked out. And if what you are about to put her through is what we went through, you would be a lot nicer to beat the crap out of her now so she dumps you and never looks back. At least she’d figure it all out up front and it would be over and done with and believe or not, she’ll be way more kindly disposed to you even after that now than if she’s been through Hell for years with you before deciding she hates you. Few things hurt more than watching someone you love slowly destroy themselves and if she is a good woman, she’ll go down in flames trying to help you. Maybe you aren’t having a problem. Ask someone else not on the internet. If you are having a problem, pulling out now before it is a nosedive is going to be a lot easier.
Best of luck with your decision,
– jj
[quote]1 Man Island wrote:
[quote]Captain721 wrote:
Good for you and hoping for the best! Let us know how it goes.[/quote]
I hope I’m not the only one appreciating the irony of your advice and your avatar.[/quote]
Indeed. But it’s called experience. I have the nickname of Captain because of my many years of imbibing massive quantities of the beverage. And this was way before it gained the current popularity. However, I have reformed my ways (including drinking tons of vodka) and try to maintain a much more reasonable drinking style. Like another poster noted, drink only for celebration and you have made a huge step.
And I will note, I much prefer my current style. I still enjoy drinking with my friends and family, but have cut out the nightly drinking and drinking for negative reasons. Having a party? Go ahead and go crazy, get shitfaced, act the fool (no driving) and cut loose. But you are a happy drunk. 
jj-Dude speaks words of wisdom. I think many more people than the OP can benefit from this topic.
[quote]Derek542 wrote:
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
[quote]on edge wrote:
[quote]TooHuman wrote:
[quote]angry chicken wrote:
I personally don’t get why people get addicted to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, etc… [/quote]
it’s brain dysfunction… you’ve actually gone full tilt over the edge into sociopath territory which is why, despite the lack of emotional development you don’t respond to drugs in an addictive way. [/quote]
Are you suggesting sociopaths are inherently non-addictive personality types?
[/quote]
Actually, the vast majority of people with antisocial personality disorder abuse drugs and/or alcohol. And, while most addicts are not full blown sociopaths, the majority of addicts fall somewhere on the ASPD spectrum.
– Mrs. J[/quote]
Sorry Mrs. J, what we have learned on these boards is, you may have received your MD degree after long, long years of education and hard work. You may be the top in your field with a obviously high level of intelligence and critical thinking skills.
But you aint got shit on wiki and Web MD.
All you need to know:
DJ out/[/quote]
never had more truer words been spoken~
[quote]Edgy wrote:
[quote]Derek542 wrote:
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
[quote]on edge wrote:
[quote]TooHuman wrote:
[quote]angry chicken wrote:
I personally don’t get why people get addicted to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, etc… [/quote]
it’s brain dysfunction… you’ve actually gone full tilt over the edge into sociopath territory which is why, despite the lack of emotional development you don’t respond to drugs in an addictive way. [/quote]
Are you suggesting sociopaths are inherently non-addictive personality types?
[/quote]
Actually, the vast majority of people with antisocial personality disorder abuse drugs and/or alcohol. And, while most addicts are not full blown sociopaths, the majority of addicts fall somewhere on the ASPD spectrum.
– Mrs. J[/quote]
Sorry Mrs. J, what we have learned on these boards is, you may have received your MD degree after long, long years of education and hard work. You may be the top in your field with a obviously high level of intelligence and critical thinking skills.
But you aint got shit on wiki and Web MD.
All you need to know:
DJ out/[/quote]
never had more truer words been spoken~[/quote]
I bring the realz
[quote]Derek542 wrote:
[quote]Edgy wrote:
[quote]Derek542 wrote:
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
[quote]on edge wrote:
[quote]TooHuman wrote:
[quote]angry chicken wrote:
I personally don’t get why people get addicted to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, etc… [/quote]
it’s brain dysfunction… you’ve actually gone full tilt over the edge into sociopath territory which is why, despite the lack of emotional development you don’t respond to drugs in an addictive way. [/quote]
Are you suggesting sociopaths are inherently non-addictive personality types?
[/quote]
Actually, the vast majority of people with antisocial personality disorder abuse drugs and/or alcohol. And, while most addicts are not full blown sociopaths, the majority of addicts fall somewhere on the ASPD spectrum.
– Mrs. J[/quote]
Sorry Mrs. J, what we have learned on these boards is, you may have received your MD degree after long, long years of education and hard work. You may be the top in your field with a obviously high level of intelligence and critical thinking skills.
But you aint got shit on wiki and Web MD.
All you need to know:
DJ out/[/quote]
never had more truer words been spoken~[/quote]
I bring the realz [/quote]
hard realz to the team - yeah~
[quote]Edgy wrote:
[quote]Derek542 wrote:
[quote]Edgy wrote:
[quote]Derek542 wrote:
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
[quote]on edge wrote:
[quote]TooHuman wrote:
[quote]angry chicken wrote:
I personally don’t get why people get addicted to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, etc… [/quote]
it’s brain dysfunction… you’ve actually gone full tilt over the edge into sociopath territory which is why, despite the lack of emotional development you don’t respond to drugs in an addictive way. [/quote]
Are you suggesting sociopaths are inherently non-addictive personality types?
[/quote]
Actually, the vast majority of people with antisocial personality disorder abuse drugs and/or alcohol. And, while most addicts are not full blown sociopaths, the majority of addicts fall somewhere on the ASPD spectrum.
– Mrs. J[/quote]
Sorry Mrs. J, what we have learned on these boards is, you may have received your MD degree after long, long years of education and hard work. You may be the top in your field with a obviously high level of intelligence and critical thinking skills.
But you aint got shit on wiki and Web MD.
All you need to know:
DJ out/[/quote]
never had more truer words been spoken~[/quote]
I bring the realz [/quote]
hard realz to the team - yeah~
[/quote]
I know I am not a dentist, but I do my best.
– Mrs. J
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
[quote]Edgy wrote:
[quote]Derek542 wrote:
[quote]Edgy wrote:
[quote]Derek542 wrote:
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
[quote]on edge wrote:
[quote]TooHuman wrote:
[quote]angry chicken wrote:
I personally don’t get why people get addicted to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, etc… [/quote]
it’s brain dysfunction… you’ve actually gone full tilt over the edge into sociopath territory which is why, despite the lack of emotional development you don’t respond to drugs in an addictive way. [/quote]
Are you suggesting sociopaths are inherently non-addictive personality types?
[/quote]
Actually, the vast majority of people with antisocial personality disorder abuse drugs and/or alcohol. And, while most addicts are not full blown sociopaths, the majority of addicts fall somewhere on the ASPD spectrum.
– Mrs. J[/quote]
Sorry Mrs. J, what we have learned on these boards is, you may have received your MD degree after long, long years of education and hard work. You may be the top in your field with a obviously high level of intelligence and critical thinking skills.
But you aint got shit on wiki and Web MD.
All you need to know:
DJ out/[/quote]
never had more truer words been spoken~[/quote]
I bring the realz [/quote]
hard realz to the team - yeah~
[/quote]
I know I am not a dentist, but I do my best.
– Mrs. J[/quote]
ZZZZZZZZZZIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGG
That was impressive.
[quote]Apoklyps wrote:
-I’m in a highly respected medical school right now. I’m doing really well (above average), [i]but not top of the class. I probably could be if I actually gave a shit.[/i] Alcohol has never interfered with my ability to perform in school/work or in personal obligations.
[/quote]
Aside from the list of red flags you had, this kinda jumped out at me. I would suggest you quit drinking.
There seems to be a huge amount of denial and rationalization.
I remeber before I quit smoking I had a little cough…not the wet hacking cough like decades long smokers have but I’d cough a few times a day. I really didn’t think that was from smoking, that it was just a normal little cough anyone could have.
Well once I quit smoking guess what…it went away.
