The Whining and Bitching Thread

I don't get alcoholism. How bored are you that getting smashed is a better idea than playing video games or something equally unproductive but less taxing? Is it a depression thing to make doing absolutely nothing more bearable?

Serious inquiry. I hardly drink.

Sometimes getting a buzz on while doing a task makes it more enjoyable. It isnt hard for 3 drinks to turn into 7+, and before you know it, drunk. I dont think there are too many people who just sit in a chair and get smashed.

There's a difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency. I would say that a majority of people who binge drink/get drunk on a semi regular basis partake in the former category. People here talk about alcoholism but it's in a tongue in cheek manner because I don't think anyone here is seriously an alcoholic. If they are, they should probably get help.

I had a period of my life where drinking every night turned into taking a few shots in the morning to get through dealing with being stuck in a bad job. Before I knew it, I was getting withdrawals by the afternoon and started carrying some booze with me at all times to juice up when the withdrawals started making me jumpy and irritable. Trying to cut back gradually wasnt very effective because it just prolonged the time in which I was experiencing withdrawals. It turned into a trap, where I needed to have alcohol in the bloodstream to function properly at my job and to not be an irritable pain in the ass. Not to mention I also felt like shit. So one day when I got a really bad stomach bug I decided to take some days off of work (plus the weekend), and ride out the withdrawals. The worst times were the first 2 or 3 days, and after that it took another 3 or 4 to start feeling normal. To be honest it wasnt quite as bad as I was expecting it to be, but ill be damned if I ever get into that rut again. I now mostly limit my drinking to weekends and occasionally a night during the week.

I mainly drink out of boredom but other times it helps as a social lubricant. I mean, I could play video games, but those are also enjoyable (sometimes moreso) with alcohol so I don't really know if that comparison works. Combining one mindless activity with another and it's still a mindless activity. It also helps to turn off my brain (lol hurr durr guys here comes a joke from someone) as it's constantly going. It's probably the reason I've had sleep issues for years (that or some undiagnosed issue. I should probably do a sleep study at some point).

Alcohol depresses the CNS via GABA receptors, which are part of neuronal pathways involved with sleep. A lot of alcohol users have trouble with sleep for this reason.

Alcoholism is the point where someone needs alcohol to function (at least how I understand it). I can function without it. But then there's the whole 'functioning alcoholic' thing that I don't really get. I don't drink every day either. I think with alcoholics it's a constant thing.

What dont you get about 'functioning alcoholics'? It is just someone that needs a bit of alcohol in their system pretty much all the time, but they dont get wasted when they need to go about their lives. It is similar to that guy at work who almost always has a coffee in his hand or at his desk. They are still able to go about their lives, albeit at a more limited capacity.

I ponder this a lot. There's a line in The West Wing about drinking/alcoholism that I can relate to at times. It's a five minute conversation but it's the part about 1 drink vs. 10 drinks:



It kind of boils down to using alcohol like a drug vs just using it as a social activity. He also sort of alludes to the idea that if he has one drink, he will inevitably spiral back into a full blown alcoholic. While both concepts are interrelated, I do not think that someone who likes to get drunk is necessarily doomed to be alcohol dependent. Some people have no willpower when it comes to temptation, and it is people like this who need to realize that they have to abstain entirely.

My confusion is more centered around drinking to a regrettable point, where you're feeling terrible the next day or even during. I've been there myself in the past, but it was 100% social lubricant and hoping that by getting drunker I'd reach that jolliness people associate with it. Never worked out that way and now I hardly drink. I might have a beer by myself while engaging in activities but I literally never have drank so much alone that I pay for it later.

Ill admit that sometimes it isnt fun, but occasionally you will have one of those parties where you just have some good inebriated fun. I also like getting a little more than a few drinks in at a concert, smoke some pot, and mosh away (and no im not that staggering asshole who just gets in the way). I also think you are conflating the idea of getting "drunk" with being utterly smashed to basically blackout levels. I like getting drunk, but getting wasted is always just the result of having a few too many by accident. I dont think anybody wants to get sick, throw up, or be hungover the next day, though I have met people who find enjoyment in getting blackout drunk (I dont understand that either).

Alcohol is just like any drug really. Some people enjoy it, some abuse it, and some dont really enjoy it at all.
 
Just as an alternative to alcohol abusers making up their own standards for abuse, here are the DSM criteria for alcohol use disorder:

https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/dsmfactsheet/dsmfact.pdf

In the past year, have you:
  1. Had times when you ended up drinking more, or longer than you intended?
  2. More than once wanted to cut down or stop drinking, or tried to, but couldn’t?
  3. Spent a lot of time drinking? Or being sick or getting over the aftereffects?
  4. Experienced craving — a strong need, or urge, to drink?
  5. Found that drinking — or being sick from drinking — often interfered with taking care of your home or family? Or caused job troubles? Or school problems?
  6. Continued to drink even though it was causing trouble with your family or friends?
  7. Given up or cut back on activities that were important or interesting to you, or gave you pleasure, in order to drink?
  8. More than once gotten into situations while or after drinking that increased your chances of getting hurt (such as driving, swimming, using machinery, walking in a dangerous area, or having unsafe sex)?
  9. Continued to drink even though it was making you feel depressed or anxious or adding to another health problem? Or after having had a memory blackout?
  10. Had to drink much more than you once did to get the effect you want? Or found that your usual number of drinks had much less effect than before?
  11. Found that when the effects of alcohol were wearing off, you had withdrawal symptoms, such as trouble sleeping, shakiness, irritability, anxiety, depression, restlessness, nausea, or sweating? Or sensed things that were not there?
Yes to any 2 or 3 of the 11 items is mild, 4 or 5 is moderate, 6+ is severe.



Based on this I think my case is moderate.
 
I think I'm borderline mild/moderate. I experience cravings but not strong ones. It's usually more of a desire for a cold beer on a hot day or a drink after a shit day at work, rather than a chemical craving.
 
Fucking racist doucebag picked a fight with my wife and then me and my mate and ruined a perfectly splendid evening of grindcore and beering. Took a coward swing at me as security were ejecting him. Twat.
 
i don't handle alcohol all that well, but not in the sense that most people mean by that. like, it takes quite a lot to get me drunk, but not much at all to give me a shit of a headache and a godawful hangover the next day. that's especially true with beer, less so with spirits. a pox on people who don't get hangovers, anyway. they were probably evangelicals in a past life or something.

I don't drink everyday, but when I do I drink all the time.
 
I have difficulty understanding how people go overboard with alcohol since 9/10 if I go even a little past buzzed I skip drunk and end up falling asleep before I can get there. I do have a couple fingers of scotch or gin once a week or two, but more to take the edge off than anything.
 
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I only fall asleep when Im drinking as my body's self defense to alcohol poisoning. I usually only get that drunk at my wifes family's house... mostly because I feel so out of place and everyone is fucked on drugs.
 
Not that it's a bad thing. Since I let go and stopped getting too attached to bands it's easier to enjoy shit. There's always something new and inspired. Like a rich old man trading in his girl for a new model when she turns 30 :P
 
ever wake up in the morning and think "this again?" I used to think it was depression but now I realize it's just getting older ugh

Yeah, I wake up every school morning thinking "I can't take this anymore" because I am extremely tired from only 4 hours of sleep, and I have an entire school day ahead of me to endure in a state of fatigue. On weekends, I wake up and go in and out of sleep for a while until I wake up and realise "Fuck, it's Saturday, and tomorrow is Sunday, and the next day is Monday.