How much drinking is too much?

[noshenanigans]

I had a whole bottle of wine friday night, a glass last night, and now I really am feeling the urge to go buy some vodka or something. Does it make me a drunk if I do?

[LeftyMom]

1. If you have to ask it's probably too much

This is definitely one of those things where it's better to err on the side of caution.

[Kajsa]

2. What happens once you start drinking?

Do you need more to keep going?
Have any memory lapses?- ( blackouts)

Those answers will tell you more about
your drinking than anything else.

[noshenanigans]

6. no blackouts, really..

I fell asleep on the toilet once, though, and my fiance found me. How embarassing.

[kedrys]

3. I'm trying to find that out myself

Not tonight, though, 'cause I have to work tomorrow, but I've been drinking quite a bit lately.

Is it considered alcoholism if you make a deliberate choice to get shitfaced? I think not, as long as you also make a deliberate choice not to get shitfaced the rest of the time.

I'm just sayin'.

[kiraboo]

4. I am wondering if there is something going on in your life right now

that makes drinking seem like a good idea (not that it is; but sometimes it eases the mind).

[ZombieNixon]

5. If you post this tomorrow morning:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5148538

then you drank too much. :hangover:

[SmileyBoy]

7. As Dane Cook once said...

"When you get into a taxi, and you think the fare is the time."

[ZombieNixon]

8. Umm...I've done that sober.

:blush:

[SmileyBoy]

9. Hey man, it's 75 past 13, man!!!

It's 14 O'Clock!!!

:D

[2bfree]

10. When you start to question your self it is a sign.

Take a break from alcohol and see how it goes. Couldn't hurt.:shrug:

[liberaltrucker]

11. When one is too many

And 20 isn't enough.
Bitter experience speaking.

[noshenanigans]

12. oh crap.

You hit the nail on the head with that one.

[liberaltrucker]

13. Get help, my friend

nt

[noshenanigans]

16. I don't have insurance..

and I refuse the AA "God Aspect". Eh, I was raised Southern Baptist so I feel guilty if I have a beer.

[Kajsa]

17. Don't let that get in the way.

You determine what that higher power is, no one else.
Whatever works for you.

It is very open to interpretation.

[Frank Cannon]

18. The "higher power" can be anything you want it to be

Some people look at "health" as a higher power. Some look at just the group support. I even heard of a guy in AA whose higher power was Batman. It was just the idea that helped him keep his sobriety.

[BikeWriter]

14. When you catch up with me.

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. Opposite the urge

are there voices outlining the reasons you shouldn't, and those reasons are based not in logic (i.e. "I have to go to work tomorrow") but in something resembling guilt or shame?

If yes, it'd be a good idea to listen to them.

[tjwmason]

19. How often is this?

I've drunk more that much in a single binge - but that's the very odd exception which doesn't bear much comparison with my normal drinking habits.

If this is what you're like on a consistent basis - then there may be a problem.

Try giving up alcohol for a while - see how it goes, that will tell you more.

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. How much is too much?

When you find yourself getting through most of a bottle of wine or, worse, of hard liquor before passing out several nights a week. When you find yourself waking up with a skullcrushing hangover on Sunday morning and guzzling down vanilla extract for a hair of the dog because all the liquor stores are closed. When you start to realise that you can't remember what you did last night, or the night before that. When you wake up in a strange place with people you don't know and no idea how you got there and the horrifying realisation that somehow you've lost three whole days. When you find yourself thinking 'I need a drink' on a regular basis (not 'I want a drink'). Any of these is a warning sign that maybe it's time to think about stopping.