Early Signs of Alcoholism

Some people say the only thing they did was drink too much, too often, for too long.  When I went into treatment the exact words I heard from numerous people in my life was, “the general consensus is that you overreacted”.  My family knew I drank a lot but I don’t think they would have all classified me as an alcoholic. The only person who knew the real severity of the problem was my husband because he knew what happened behind closed doors.  The Jellenick Curve is a great resource to understand the general progression of ones addiction.  Be warned, the curve always reads left to right, it will never go right to left for more than a short period of time.  What this means is once we drink enough to open those neuropathways that crave alcohol, it is very difficult (and many would say impossible) to ever completely shut them off.  So many people have addictive tendencies and addictive behaviors but it takes a perfect storm to move into the final stages of alcoholism.  We know enough today that many are fortunate to be able to stop well before they become the “homeless guy under the bridge with the brown bag”. Below are just a few of the initial signs that I was in trouble:

·      Immediately wanting a drink in my hand at any function
·      Frequently telling myself “Just one more”
·      Thinking it was ok to drive after three glasses of wine-because its not
·      Making excuses to drink, bars after work with coworkers, out to dinner, etc.
·      Waking up the next morning with guilt about breaking promises to myself
·      Always being one of the last ones to leave the party
·      My husband starting to watch/comment about my drinking at gatherings
·      Switching from hard alcohol to beer only, to wine only, then to hard alcohol only because it had less calories


For more information on how to overcome addiction of any kind call 774-329-4393.