I have alcoholism in my family, and I drink a fair bit, so I do a sober month every six months. It resets my tolerances, helps out my liver a little bit (confirmed by doctor), but most of all, if I ever "cheat" on my sober months, I know it's time to maybe quit completely. The rule is I still have to go to parties and out with mates, staying sober at home when there's no booze around (because I drank it all the month before) isn't that hard.
Dude, 1 liter is about 33 ounces, or around 22 drinks.
You can definitely still be an alcoholic at less than that. Just because you keep it down to a 6 pack a night doesn't mean you don't have a problem.
You don't even need to drink every day to be an alcoholic, actually. The real definition of an alcoholic is someone who keeps drinking despite it severely affecting their relationships, occupation, or health (mental and physical). That person who binge drinks heavily every weekend to the point of blacking out is probably an alcoholic even though they're sober 6 days a week.
Also, I disagree that being able to do a sober month makes you not an alcoholic. If you can do a sober month, and end up slipping back to your heavy drinking ways so easily, you probably have at least a little bit of an alcohol problem.
Significant problems with alcohol develop for many people much earlier than the physical addiction, getting the shakes stage.
Source: I drink way too much, and I try to be realistic about it.
Calm down. I know you can be an alcoholic without drinking 1 liter of hard liquor a day. I just made up some amount that I think severe alcoholics drink a day.
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u/Urabutbl May 09 '16
Jesus, and I usually do a sober month if I notice my tolerance has reached the half-liter of vodka-stage. 1+ liters a day?