Developing into an Alcoholic?

KungFu

The first time I had ever drank was when I met a crowd of friends with my roommate over the summer and since then we have partied about every single weekend and I usually drink at each of these parties to either get tipsy or drunk. I guess you could call this binge drinking since I consume many drinks in a short amount of time with intent of getting intoxicated.

I don't ever feel any sort of withdrawal from drinking and I am totally fine with not drinking and could not drink for a night if I chose to, but I do like getting drunk. What I am more so concerned about is the long-term affect of my partying every weekend and drinking every party. What are the chances of becoming physically addicted to alcohol by consuming as much as I do? Is it possible to party every weekend like I do and never develop true-alcoholism / addiction?

Also, how long before I start fucking my liver up? Has this damage already started just over the past months? Is that just a part of drinking alcohol or can one drink and not mess with the liver at all?

Fireflash

You won't become an alchoholic by drinking every weekend. It's a very popular activity amongst young adults :P You start to become an alchoholic when you "need" alchool to feel good/better about yourself.

No idea about the liver tho.

Thanatos

The answer to both questions is "it depends." Some people can get drunk every weekend (or more often), for the better part of 4 years, and be just fine afterwards, both their liver and their addictions. Other people can't.

YosemiteSam

Why don't you try not drinking for a weekend just to prove to yourself that you can do it? I'm not trying to say that you can't, but everyone says to themselves that they can. Find out what happens when you actually try. If you can do it but you find yourself thinking about alcohol often, you might have a problem. If you can't do it, you definitely have a problem.

Raneados

unless it starts affecting your life in a bad way and you can't stop, THEN you're an alcoholic

YosemiteSam

Raneados wrote:

unless it starts affecting your life in a bad way and you can't stop,

There are not a lot of alcoholics who come to this conclusion by themselves.
Again, I don't know anything about the OP's situation, but this is terrible advice to give to someone trying to self-assess.

KungFu

Well, I have skipped a party one or twice just to relax because I was a bit tired and I just played video games instead and didn't think of alcohol. I like the social aspect of the party more. If people aren't around, I doubt I'd be drinking - being alone and drunk doesn't sound appealing to me. So at this time, I am confident in my ability to not be an alcoholic, I was just ignorant of whether or not large consumption of it would eventually make my body want it or something of chemical nature.

I had just had several friends joke or possibly believe that this will make me alcoholic so I wasn't sure about the accuracy of such claims.

Also, I have never experienced a hangover in these months, and there have been plenty of times that I had heavy amounts of liquor and got wasted, but woke up just fine the next day - unlike my roommates. They often complain about feeling sick to the stomach, headaches, weak, etc if they had a night of heavy drinking. Am I different or just lucky so far and it will happen someday?

kingmetal

KungFu wrote:

Well, I have skipped a party one or twice just to relax because I was a bit tired and I just played video games instead and didn't think of alcohol. I like the social aspect of the party more. If people aren't around, I doubt I'd be drinking - being alone and drunk doesn't sound appealing to me. So at this time, I am confident in my ability to not be an alcoholic, I was just ignorant of whether or not large consumption of it would eventually make my body want it or something of chemical nature.

I had just had several friends joke or possibly believe that this will make me alcoholic so I wasn't sure about the accuracy of such claims.

Also, I have never experienced a hangover in these months, and there have been plenty of times that I had heavy amounts of liquor and got wasted, but woke up just fine the next day - unlike my roommates. They often complain about feeling sick to the stomach, headaches, weak, etc if they had a night of heavy drinking. Am I different or just lucky so far and it will happen someday?

eventually you will begin to have hangovers. just count yourself lucky at this point and enjoy it while it lasts, I used to feel marvelous after a night of heavy drinking and now you have to drag me out of bed with a fucking crane. many of my friends are the same way.

Raneados

YosemiteSam wrote:

Raneados wrote:

unless it starts affecting your life in a bad way and you can't stop,

There are not a lot of alcoholics who come to this conclusion by themselves.
Again, I don't know anything about the OP's situation, but this is terrible advice to give to someone trying to self-assess.

just because you realize you have a problem doesn't mean you can actively stop doing it

Tube

I don't think I've ever met anyone who's life got worse because they drank less.

bone daddy

KungFu wrote:

What are the chances of becoming physically addicted to alcohol by consuming as much as I do?

Drinking two days out of seven is very unlikely to punt you into "physically addicted" range. The problem is developing a psychological addiction and starting to drink more and more often until you wind up physically addicted to boot.

KungFu wrote:

Is it possible to party every weekend like I do and never develop true-alcoholism / addiction?

Yes. It doesn't prevent you from doing something stupid while trashed, though, which is one of the bigger problems associated with alcoholism.

KungFu wrote:

Also, how long before I start fucking my liver up? Has this damage already started just over the past months? Is that just a part of drinking alcohol or can one drink and not mess with the liver at all?

That really depends on the person and how much stress any given liver is already under. Most people don't have their liver working at full capacity, so periodically having to deal with a little extra in the toxin filtration department isn't a big deal. Other people have bodies that are more sensitive to certain poisons, so what should be a little turns into a lot. If you're really concerned, you can read up on liver health and things that are hard on your liver (excess salt is a somewhat surprising one), and do a sort of point exchange thing where you're kinder to your liver on other fronts. This, of course, leads to the uncomfortable question of whether you're so fond of drinking to excess at parties that you'll make alterations to your sober life rather than simply drinking less, so....

Basically, this isn't a predetermined road to alcoholism, but it's how a lot of people get there, and not being an alcoholic isn't necessarily going to keep you from getting unlucky while trashed. You'd probably be way better off confining your boozing to the tipsy range if you're doing it on a weekly basis.

Kate of Lokys

I highly recommend reading John Barleycorn, a mostly-autobiographical novel by Jack London (better known for White Fang and Call of the Wild).

For starters, it's an entertaining book, and it's free.

It's also, however, a fairly realistic look at the development of alcoholism, and has a lot of commentary on the social aspects of drinking. Jack London didn't even *like* alcohol, he spent most of his life being disgusted by the stuff, but he kept drinking it because he felt pressured to do so, and he ended up in a bad way because of it. It's a good cautionary tale, if nothing else.

Axim

yeah its more when you start being like 'oh man this exam is stressful i think i will have a quick drink before going out' or 'man this week was depressing think i'll hit the bottle, raise my spirits a bit'

partying every weekend is pretty normal when you're in college/uni anyhow

DynamiteKid

Being an alcoholic is nothing to do with how MUCH you drink, it's to do with WHY you drink. You drink to get pissed. That's fine, though I wouldn't personally approve; the day that you need a drink to get up, or need a drink to have fun, that's when you worry.

If you need proof, go a couple of weeks without it.

Food?

As for the liver, slow down on the binge drinking. While I'm sure you're fine now, since you're young and haven't been doing it long. But picture binge drinking as a punch: if you do it quickly and all at once, it hits your liver really hard. Pace yourself and take it easy.

DynamiteKid

axiumxp wrote:

partying every weekend is pretty normal when you're in college/uni anyhow

Doesn't mean it should be encouraged.

Spackle

Sounds like normal social drinking at college to me. Your friends will (should?) let you know if they think you are having a problem.

KungFu

Thanks for the advice and information.

I guess this is solved then :^: