ok...who has an alcoholic in their family?

[D_Andreas Sukov]

Most of my dad's family are either alocholics, religious or both. The church has an alcohol-free option when it comes to communion wine because so many of its members are recovering alcoholics.

I'm a little concerned about my own drinking, because I do put away a fair amount of the stuff on a regular basis, but I don't "need" a drink. I don't actually crave it and I can get by without thinking about alcohol quite happily, but when I do drink, it's a similar pattern to my alcholic relatives - if I have more than two drinks, I want more.

exactly the same with me. my uni doctor told to cut down which i feel i have but i still drink more than recomended

 

[Industrialsize]

I think the easier question would be "Who Doesn't?"

 

[D_Tim McGnaw]

Both of my grandfathers were alcoholics; both of my parents are (still) active alcoholics and abuse drugs. My sister was a self-destructive alcoholic and drug addict from the age of 14 (she'd say younger) until she got sober in 1990 and hasn't picked up anything since.

One of my first cousins is a junkie and a drunk and hasn't been as successful as my sister in controlling it; his brother (whom I don't know) is reported to have issues with alcohol, and his sister (whom I haven't seen in 35 years) apparently now abstains from drugs and alcohol completely after a troubled youth (I never saw her sober, once).

On my mother's side, her sister (my aunt, and her husband when he was alive) is/was an alcoholic, as is their son. I don't specifically know anything about their three daughters but presume that at least one has had her issues, as she was a real wild child.

With all this alcoholism and drug addiction in my family, I take booze very very seriously and am highly conscious of my consumption, which has occasionally been excessive in my life but never out-of-control. I have also spent years of abstinence when I didn't touch a drop, and with the very rare exception of a puff or two of weed have refrained from any illicit drug use since I was 23 (almost 27 years ago).

My sister chose abstinence because she was killing herself and could finally see it.

I'm struck by the similarity between my family and yours Big B.


My mum and dad were herione addicts, my mum quit cold turkey when she found out she was pregnant with me, and god bless her she never touched it again, my dad who we left when I was 2 is still a junkie. I've seen him once in 28 years and had no other contacts with him.

Meanwhile my mum developed a serious problem with booze, and is now a raging alcoholic even though she would never admit it. Drugs of all kinds were a commonality as I grew up.

My mum's youth when she had me, meant that in many ways I was more like her parent's youngest kid, so my grandparents siblings are really more like my aunts and uncles and instead of great-aunts and great uncles.

Anyway at least two of my great grandparents died of alcohol related deseases, and of my mum's mum's 3 sisters 2 are alcoholics and are married to alcoholics. Both my mum's brothers have problems with booze, the younger one is a high functioning alcoholic. Mind you my mum, despite the crazed lifestyle she has sometimes lead was high functioning for a long time, she isn't anymore.

Of my cousins at least three of the six of them are alcoholics, and one is a Scientologist :biggrin1:

Both of my father's sisters, whom I haven't seen in years had mental health issues and alcohol or substance abuse problems.

Just like you Big B, I take booze seriously, drugs I am much more ambivalent about, but my use of them has only ever been social. I am however hopelessly addicted to cigarettes, and used to be an over-eater. I kicked that particular demon, and lost a third of my then body weight in the process.

 

[Calboner]

Al-Anon !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please go to Al-Anon !!!!!!!!!!

Watch this before you do anything of the sort:

Penn and Teller on twelve-step programs

Edited to add: On second thought, maybe watch this instead:

Father Jack goes to AA

 

[dolfette]

I think the easier question would be "Who Doesn't?"

my ex. his family are all so damn nice!

 

[B_625girth]

I am an alcoholic. had major problem in my early 20's with booze, drugs. after about 2 1/2 very fuzzy years, I rehabbed myself, no rehab fac back then. I did what's called "switching" for about a year. I had a real problem with downers, got off those, but "switched" to alcohol. I still drink a little, and smoke pot once in awhile. I have great self control, but I know I can fall at any time. sometimes the "little guy" in my head says "lets go the bar and get fucked up", and it's like 7 am. a year ago, the little fucker in my head was talking to me every day, and I resisted, and haven't had that happen for awhile. it's hard to explain to someone who doesn't have the gnawing feeling bugging the shit out of them in their head all the time. I worked with a gal, and she had no concept of alcoholism or addiction, "All you have to do, is say NO" that was her standard conversation.

my brother is an alcoholic also, runs in both sides of our family. my brother drank upwards of a 1/2 gallon of vodka every day for about 20 yrs, went to rehab. one brief relapse. clean ever since. but it did cause some physical problems for him. almost blind and diabetic, which does not run in our family,brought on by booze.

I have seen booze, drugs destroy friends, families, lives. I have buried several friends over the years due to addiction. It's a bitch.

 

[Rubenesque]

I think I must have lead a very sheltered and blessed life. There is no alcoholism in either side of my family. We like a drink when we go out and at celebrations but there is no-one who, thus far, has been unable to control it.

My heart bleeds for those who have the disease, but more for those who have family members with it. I can't imagine how heartbreaking it is to watch someone you love destroy themselves.

Love to sufferers and those whose loved ones are suffering xx

 

[bspompey]

My Dad was an alcoholic and I think that I was benficial in a way that he was never someone who was a bad drunk. The hardest thing for me and my brother is that we were old enough to see the deteration, from working, married, home owner, to a bloated unemployed addict. He did manage to stop drinking (as far as know) after he had a stroke but then it was like looking at an old man. He died at 49, single in a bedsit. I don't think you ever stop loving the person but I think you stop making excuses for them once it get's to a certain point.

 

[Icantthinkofaname]

My maternal grandmother's mother drank herself to death, she died of liver failure.

Aside from her I've got two uncles on my mom's side, and a few on my dad's side too.

 

[helgaleena]

An interesting thing happened in my family. One of my aunts decided to go to AA and she said so very publicly. Her siblings, most of them older, ostracised her for admitting she had a problem in the local newspaper. None of them were problem drinkers, only social drinkers and upstanding members of the Freemasons, professional organizations, boards of directors, tenured faculty and so on. But she embarrassed them.

Not until she moved to another state and had children of her own did those bridges get mended.

I have had a problem with self-destructive behaviors in my life, but they were more obvious than substance abuse, which takes so very long to kill you. I think it is a resort for the less self-aware type of miserable person.

 

[D_Cock_Hudson]

I had one, who died about fifteen years ago, a month after his 60th birthday. It's a sad loss.

 

[Notaguru2]

I have one; my dad. Although he claims sobriety over the last 9 years, his inexplicable frequent trips to the 'Kroger', or to wash his car in the middle of family gatherings and growing slurred speech say otherwise.

I've learned to love him in spite of his struggles with alcohol.

 

[helgaleena]

For those who know this behavior, I hope you can find out what is making you unhappy, or what is making your loved one unhappy, and find a way to fix it.

These socially tolerated painkillers are so costly. My best wishes and thoughts...please do not hurt so much.

 

[dufus]

I grew up in a small town in the Bible belt, and the town was full of drunks. My father's drinking made my youth a living hell. He was also a chain smoker and died of lung cancer when I was 15. I have had a bout with alcohol myself, something that I never, ever thought could happen. But it did. Fortunately, I am over it now. Alcohol is something that I never think about any more.

 

[Principessa]

Who doesn't?

About 5 years ago, I found out about a cousin who came back from WWII shell shocked as they used to call it. After the war he became an alcoholic, probably depressed, and one night shot and killed his wife, 3 children, then turned the gun on himself. :frown1:

My great uncle used to own a very popular bar near a racetrack in New Jersey. He however, never drank and was a deacon in the Baptist church to which he belonged.

Another uncle and a cousin owned bars in Pennsylvania. Not sure that they were alcoholics, but I know they supplied various cousins who were in the community. :redface: