Alcoholism

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HAL9000

Lifer
Oct 17, 2010
22,021
3
76
if you have a desire for intoxication of any sort you have a problem.

The amount I want to roll my eyes at you now cannot be easily expressed on here so I'll just have to make do with this:
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
39,838
20,433
146
before it ends up an addiction it starts out as a bad habit and from there the fall into the abyss occurs.

You just nailed it, that's exactly how i feel about religion.

OP, you're not doomed, predisposed.
 

rasczak

Lifer
Jan 29, 2005
10,437
23
81
Just because your parents and grandparents were alcoholic, doesn't mean you will be. Due to genetics, you may be more susceptible. It's all choice. You make the choice to drink a little or a lot, and the experiences you went through growing up will only help shape the choices you make as far as drinking is concerned. Take a good hard look at both parents and say to yourself, "Do I really want to end up like them?" I sure as hell wouldn't.

Personally, I have witnessed family who have struggled with addiction (drug or alcohol) and made my own decision to never do drugs or drink heavily. On occasion I'll get buzzed, but I have never touched drugs. Again, all based on my own experience with family members who struggled.
 

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
50,419
8
81
lol..

Alcohol, the worst legal drug in the history of mankind.
 

BeauJangles

Lifer
Aug 26, 2001
13,941
1
0
Am I genetically predestined to be an alcoholic?

No, but there is evidence that a family history of alcoholism makes you more susceptible to it. It's something to watch out for, just because your parents were alcoholics doesn't mean you're doomed to become one or even that you need to give up drinking.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,997
31,568
146
Mosh got it. I don't really believe in alcoholism as a "disease", but consistently being subjected to those who appear to be addicted to alcohol in your home environ, it would likely have some sort of impact on you.

KT

addiction is a disease in the sense that biochemically, one with a predisposition to addiction has a higher capacity for tolerating such stimulants (essentially, it takes more and more of the substance to get the same effects than those with the "normal" gene).

It's not much different from schizophrenics or those with other hormone or chemical imbalances that society tends to accept as sick, and judge very different from an alcoholic.

The real difference, of course, is that in the end, one chooses to put something in themselves, as opposed to the other who has no choice in controlling what kind of hormones are being pumped through their system.

an addict is an addict, though. alcoholism is no more or less a "disease" than one addicted to heroine or nicotine (generally the most addictive substance out there. actually, it doesn't take a "genetic addict" to become addicted to nicotine.)

the addictive substance has the power to re-wire your brain. nicotine, especially. When you have such drastic biochemical responses, it really puts you in the same class as any other disease.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,997
31,568
146
before it ends up an addiction it starts out as a bad habit and from there the fall into the abyss occurs. Most never recover. Most don't have the strength of character never to start.

that's what happens when you become a Republican. start watching Fox. then Rush....start denying science. start denying knowledge. start using the word "elitism."

start redefining long-standing terms such as "liberal." start watching Glenn Beck. Suddenly, the history of the earth shrinks from 4.6billion years to 10k years. Jesus rode dinosaurs, with Bush. The earth is perfect and there are no cycles that will, in the end, lead towards extinction. Nothing that science ever says is correct. Nothing that a human ever desires is ever proper.

The abyss...it is here.

this doesn't have to happen, of course. one can be a perfectly rational card-carrying republican. But once you start down that path, the choices you make can lead in many directions. IGBT is a reflection of one who has fallen into the abyss.
 
May 11, 2008
23,333
1,575
126
This sums it up perfectly : :thumbsup:

Genetic tendency? Yes.
Doomed? No.



Just because your parents and grandparents were alcoholic, doesn't mean you will be. Due to genetics, you may be more susceptible. It's all choice. You make the choice to drink a little or a lot, and the experiences you went through growing up will only help shape the choices you make as far as drinking is concerned. Take a good hard look at both parents and say to yourself, "Do I really want to end up like them?" I sure as hell wouldn't.

Personally, I have witnessed family who have struggled with addiction (drug or alcohol) and made my own decision to never do drugs or drink heavily. On occasion I'll get buzzed, but I have never touched drugs. Again, all based on my own experience with family members who struggled.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,997
31,568
146
Alcoholism is a dependency, not an addiction. Just to clarify.

I used to think this way...but medicine and biochemistry disagrees.

It can provide the same type of brain re-wiring as any other addictive substance, which will lead to its own set of physical withdrawal symptoms when trying to quit.

It is not simply "a desire" that someone has. To clarify, someone that "drinks a lot" may not necessarily be an alcoholic.

If you need a few belts of scotch just to wake up, get through to lunch, then get yourself to afternoon, where you pass out on the floor and sleep for the next 8 or 10 hours....you are addicted.
 

Spike

Diamond Member
Aug 27, 2001
6,770
1
81
that's what happens when you become a Republican. start watching Fox. then Rush....start denying science. start denying knowledge. start using the word "elitism."

start redefining long-standing terms such as "liberal." start watching Glenn Beck. Suddenly, the history of the earth shrinks from 4.6billion years to 10k years. Jesus rode dinosaurs, with Bush. The earth is perfect and there are no cycles that will, in the end, lead towards extinction. Nothing that science ever says is correct. Nothing that a human ever desires is ever proper.

The abyss...it is here.

this doesn't have to happen, of course. one can be a perfectly rational card-carrying republican. But once you start down that path, the choices you make can lead in many directions. IGBT is a reflection of one who has fallen into the abyss.

Wow... forget your in OT and not P&N there?
 

wheresmybacon

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2004
3,899
1
76
Cards are stacked against you but you aren't doomed. For a fascinating read on the science behind this disease, check out Under the Influence:

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Influenc...9367926&sr=8-1

As an alcoholic in recovery, this book helped me immensely to come to acceptance and that if I want to live a normal life, I'd need to abstain from the booze. It explained in detail how and why I continue to drink when others have long since heeded that last call. It's not because I'm depressed or daddy didn't love me, it's because I'm biologically different. How I process alcohol is completely different from how an non-alchy processes it. It's no different than having diabetes or any other disease.
 

FDF12389

Diamond Member
Sep 8, 2005
5,234
7
76
I used to think this way...but medicine and biochemistry disagrees.

It can provide the same type of brain re-wiring as any other addictive substance, which will lead to its own set of physical withdrawal symptoms when trying to quit.

It is not simply "a desire" that someone has. To clarify, someone that "drinks a lot" may not necessarily be an alcoholic.

If you need a few belts of scotch just to wake up, get through to lunch, then get yourself to afternoon, where you pass out on the floor and sleep for the next 8 or 10 hours....you are addicted.

No.

Alcohol provides a provides a "Feel good feeling" that people can become psychologically dependent on. Additionally alcohol has physical withdrawal symptoms, when you stop, the body isn't getting what it is used to.

But it is not a physiological change that causes you to crave more, even though yes, the same area areas are effected as addictive substances.
 

FDF12389

Diamond Member
Sep 8, 2005
5,234
7
76
Alcohol dependency and addiction are just two different stages of alcoholism. Addiction leads to dependency.

Wrong, you are physically dependent on alcohol when your body becomes accustomed to having alcohol, to the point that stopping gives you withdrawal symptoms. This can happen in as little as two weeks and is the classic definition of dependency.

When you say addiction you mean psychological dependency, every person goes through this stage differently.

But again there is no addiction.
 

Whisper

Diamond Member
Feb 25, 2000
5,394
2
81
Wrong, you are physically dependent on alcohol when your body becomes accustomed to having alcohol, to the point that stopping gives you withdrawal symptoms. This can happen in as little as two weeks and is the classic definition of dependency.

When you say addiction you mean psychological dependency, every person goes through this stage differently.

But again there is no addiction.

So wait, above you say that alcohol can provide a "feel good feeling that people can become psychologically dependent on," but here you say that alcohol creates physical dependence without psychological dependence. Which is it?
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,997
31,568
146
No.

Alcohol provides a provides a "Feel good feeling" that people can become psychologically dependent on. Additionally alcohol has physical withdrawal symptoms, when you stop, the body isn't getting what it is used to.

But it is not a physiological change that causes you to crave more, even though yes, the same area areas are effected as addictive substances.

wrong. it is a physiological addiction. alcohol dependency very much alters your brain chemistry. no less than heroin or nicotine. this is how one classifies addiction.