Am I An Alcohohlic?

14 cokes a day would be excessive. 14 beers a day is insane. Getting drunk twice a week is not good dude.

 

smoke pot instead.

 

Need more info to determine if you're an alcoholic or not, but 14 beers really isn't that much unless you knock them out in a couple of hours.

Spread out over 5 hours (typical "night out" IMO), 14 beers is slightly less than 3 an hour. If you have a medium to high tolerance for beer, that's really not a huge deal.

I don't drink as much as I used to, but I can still occasionally handle 14 beers in 5 hours without being hammered. Could I do it twice a week? Probably not. Then again, I don't really have the desire to anymore.

Well, hell. Maybe you DO have a problem...

 

Associating drinking beer alone automatically with alcoholism is just stupid. Many people do not drink beer solely for the alcohol, but they actually like the taste. Drinking 1-3 beers a day is perfectly normal and there are indications that it might be actually more beneficial to your health than complete abstinence.

That being said, drinking 14 beers a night alone sounds kind of alarming. Seems to me you know this as well, otherwise you wouldn't be asking.

And it is really easy to drink 14 a day.
I don't know how it is in the US but in Northern Europe, a typical night out can go like this:
From 6 pm to 9 pm: Meeting at a friend's place, bar, or whatever and drinking 1-2 beers in an hour.
From 9 pm to 1 am: Some bar hopping, a few shots and 1-2 beers an hour.
From 1 am to 5 am: Going to a club or more bars, still 1-2 beers an hour.

That's easily over ten beers, and if you are not an 100lb Asian female, you won't be even that drunk at the end of the night.

 

As many others stated, you are not telling us much.

First and foremost, who is asking the question. Are you challenging yourself with this question or is someone else? If you're challenging yourself, then you have some issue. It may not be an alcohol problem, but its something else.

How long have you been doing this? If its been a long time, then yes, you have issues. If its only been for a couple months, then you need to evaluate your pattern.

If you can't go dry spontaneously for a couple months and not think about it, then there is an issue.

 

While drinking alone is not a solid indicator of alcoholism, it certainly is a warning sign. Drinking everyday is NOT perfectly normal. You don't need to drink a case a day to be an alcoholic. You can become an alcoholic with just 1 beer a day. Drinking alcohol for positive heath reasons is poor rationale. Anything beneficial in alcohol can be found in other non alcoholic ingredients as well.

 

Drinking excessively alone is a warning sign, that I can agree with.

And if you constantly are drinking alone, that probably means that there are other things missing from your life like friends, hobbies etc.

And I'm not saying anybody should start drinking alcohol for health reasons, what I meant that if you enjoy the taste/feeling/whatever of it, there really isn't a need to worry about it if there are no negative effects on your life from it.

 

Disagree. Getting drunk twice a week partying on Friday and Saturday is perfectly normal. Especially if you live somewhere that has a good bar/nightlife/daytime drinking scene like NY, SF, or even Austin.

 

Well what is the point if you think you're not an alcoholic?

 

Normal for a frat boy, maybe. If you are not in college, drinking 14 beers twice a week and / or drinking to the point of getting drunk two nights in a row is excessive and ridiculous. Why are drinking to the point of getting blitzed anyway?

 

Next time it is time to renew your health insurance, be sure to tell them you binge drink 14 beers a day twice every week, and pay close attention to what they say.


On a more serious note - WHY do you do that?

 

I drink 24 ounces a day which adds up to 14 regular cans beers a week. Try that instead. It's actually considered healthy assuming you're over 150lbs.

 

You drink 14 beers each day of the week or 14 beers twice a week? If the former, then probably. If the latter, you're just a binge drinker.

 

Surprised no one touched on this. One could make a case that you have a family history of alcoholism (it seems like you don't think this is the case) or at least a disposition towards it. Comparing yourself to others isn't a way to determine if your an alcoholic.

Look up functional alcoholic and see if it fits you.

 

Drinking 14 beers? I'm sure many of us have done it. Drinking alone? Again, we all do it. Drinking twice a week? No problem. But all of those things combined? The general consensus is it's not normal.

No one is saying you're irresponsible in your everyday life or it's affecting it yet. That's good.

But it seems like until you cross that line you're fine with it. I think you raising the question acknowledges that it's not exactly 'right' and it's good of you to make that realization. You might want to dial it back before it gets out of hand. You're only going to build up a tolerance and drink more and more, considering you keep going until you fall asleep. If you continually drink to pass out that would definitely be a problem IMHO.

 

I don't agree with those that claim alcoholism is a disease, but it is progressive, and you got symptoms.