My ex live on boyfriend was one, hid it from me. I couldn't live with someone like that, it was too stressful for me.
I wonder if the people's lives he destroyed were able to regain what they loss and turn their lives back around?
Yes I agree their are many reasons, a lot of Russians became alcoholics, including Lisa's husband, because they couldn't cope with the changes brought about by the fall of the Soviet Union, alcohol became a prop a way of blotting out a world they didn't want to face.
Babs...you say in your opening post that Alcoholism hits close to home for you, and that you've researched it very well over many years ...and in another post that you have no experience of it in your immediate family...may I ask , is there a a reason you've asked this question, is there someone outside of your family..a friend, an acquaintance that you've know with alcoholism?
Yes, I saw many alcoholics in Hungary when I lived there. Just in general though people drank more there, thinking nothing about a shot of alcohol in the morning. When my son visited us in the summer while he was at college, he was never carded even though he wasn't 21 They have zero tolerance though for driving and people do take that seriously, so that's a good thing.
Alcohol played a big part in my life. It had a strong hold on both sides of my and my husband's family. Both my parents were alcoholics, so in my teens I decided to read as much on the subject as I could. I too came to think of it as an addiction. Then there is the word addiction. "The state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit forming, such as alcohol or narcotics, to such an extent that it's cessation causes severe trauma." Another thing I picked up on was the history of how these substances play into our physical history. In many cultures all over the world beer, mead, wine and other forms of alcohol were just part of a person's daily intake for nurishment from childhood. Over centuries this had to alter our physical makeup, just as eating meat, fish, or vegetables have. We now know and teach the populous what these foods can do for or to us. We even explain that such things as obesity come from the over consumption, (addiction), of many of kinds and types of foods. Many people of differing cultures will get sick if their diets are radically changed, because their bodies become accustomed to certain foods. Of course this can be overcome for most, but others will crave these foods all their lives. Because of what I had figured out through my reading, I never drank until I was 26. Right off the bat I found I had a very high tolerance to hard alcohol. Some saw this as a trait to be desired, but I realized that by the time I would reach my tolerance level I would be drinking much more than a fifth a day. More than either of my parents, so I stop drinking while I was ahead of the game. If I hadn't understood how any food or substance can be an inherited addiction, I too would have gone down many wrong paths. Some people have a stronger need for substances than others, so it is not just a matter of stopping.
I don't believe it is me who said I have no experience in my own family....unless it's a typo in one of my posts. I do have experience with it in my family...enough experience to say I know what I am talking about here.
Yep my mistake Babs..It was Bonnie who said she had no experience in her family, I apologise ...similar avi's got me mixed up . ..Please understand I wasn't questioning your knowledge of it, more that I was enquiring if you had been personally affected by it...because, only you and those of us who have, can really know the huge damaging effects it can wreak on those us who are not alcohol abusers and who live with the consequences of it.....
There are all types of alcoholics too. My ex was a fairly functioning one. Most times he appeared normal but if he didn't have a drink he'd go through withdrawal. At first I believed what he said about just being sick...but soon realized what was going on.
There is developing proof that there can be a predisposition to addiction if addiction was present through the generations...and yet it is still the person theirselves who makes the choice to take that drink or not. And once they have and become addicted .... it becomes more than just a matter of stopping. For many that is because even if they stop drinking...the reasons they started drinking for still exist and as long as they do...they will continue to fall back into their addiction. That is why most 30 day rehab stints do not work....it is like putting a bandaid on a wound that needs surgery instead. Most alcoholics need to get to the "root" of their drinking before they can quit.
@Holly Saunders There is no misunderstanding. And yes I have been personally affected by it and really know the damaging effects personally too.
Yes I agree Chrissy, there are the alcoholics who are continuously drinking but functional, Lisa's husband was one of these but he eventually deteriorated due to brain damage over a few years, and eventually it killed him. I have a friend who has a bout of drinking, loses control completely, then doesn't drink for a few weeks then repeats the pattern. (Binge drinking)
There are "binge" alcoholics who may just go on binges a few times a year and never drink in between those binges, there are functional alcoholics who drink but act "normal" for the most part...they are able to work and even behave normally until that alcoholism catches up and causes disease in their body, or their body stops tolerating alcohol as well and they begin to show signs of drinking. There are also full blown alcoholics who live to drink from the moment they wake until they pass out...only to come to and start all over again, etc. The end result of all types of alcoholics is the same...death and destruction unless they get the help they need and quit drinking period.
Yes that is what I believe Ina, it's easy for me to drink alcohol as and when I want or not at all, as I don't have a need for it, but I consider myself lucky that I didn't inherit a bodily need for substances.