Alcoholic Drinks

[stroll]

It worked for you, fine.

Equally successful are NarcoticsAnonymous meetings, contrary to what Bill and you say. They are modeled on the AA's 12 steps which as you confirm have proven to work for a lot of people, not my cup of tea though.

There are many roads out of Rome...

[ProThaiExpat]

stroll: Actually. NA was not around in Bill W's day, so when he referred to alcoholics not being able to help druggies, it is generally believed that he was only relying on his experience that AA works because alcoholics are helping alcoholics and that alcoholics were of little help in trying to help drug addicts. He didn't say narcotic addicts couldn't help narcotic addicts, which is the foundational principle of NA.

This is essentially what KevinN said in his post:

Bill W. said that we can not really help the addict,and I know that they are different and we can not really help them.I have tried.

Of course the "we can not really help the addict" means alcoholics can't help the addict as there is no common experience, an essential of AA's success.

[Yohan]

I made this poll and thread for other reasons, I want to ask for your opinion, if you think, that a non-drinker is an outsider - Do you think, it is a disadvantage, not to drink alcohol as man, when meeting people? By my own experience people belittle you as weak person. And so I have very little understandings for accidents, illness, also family problems, which are related to alcoholism.

Johann

stroll, your troll says:

People who don't drink at all do often feel left out , pushed and not wanted, i. e. as the evening progresses, they will feel more out of place.

Stroll, this is an excellent reply.... I agree...

Your interpretation is very typical for the situation in Europe, and typical here in Japan.

I am not so sure however about Thailand.... non-alcoholic drinks are not unusual there even in evening. I also found, that Thai people respect a person, who is refusing to drink alcohol, they do not find it funny. And alcohol-free drinks are cheaper than alcoholic drinks - this is not always the case in Europe or Japan.

Thank you!

[Bluecat]

I posted it before.

Frank Sinatra's saying:

I feel sorry for people who don't drink- because when they get up in the morning that's the best they will feel all day.

Yohan?

[medicinebox]

I don't drink everyday, but say approx once a week I drink. I get plastered as well.

Last night I got rattarsed and woke up and pissed in the wardrobe. Luckily it was on her clothes and not mine. I have no recollection.

Not good you may say, but life is a tad dull when you never let off steam.

I voted binge drink once a week.

Enjoy yourself, its later than you think

Enjoy yourself, while you're still in the pink

The years go by as quickly as you blink

Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself its later than you think

The Specials

[Bluecat]

I drink nothing during the week, but lots on Friday

Not all fridays, but some.

Today will probably be one of them.

If I do not post anymore, it was one of them,...

I am but can still post a few things.

Like I do not care whether somebody with me does not drink.

I do not care either when somebody with me does drink when I do not.

But this is true that with my very good friends, I was drunk with them at one time or another.

I do not say it is the reason why they are my best friends.

But it probably helped.

I do not trust people easily and as the Romans said a few thousands years ago:

"In vino, veritas", i.e.

"In wine, the truth",...

And it is sure not a critic at all of the people who never drink.

[fatter than harry]

Last night I got rattarsed and woke up and pissed in the wardrobe. Luckily it was on her clothes and not mine. I have no recollection.

Not good you may say, but life is a tad dull when you never let off steam.

Good on you MB, I like your style! Life would indeed be dull without a little crazy.

[splitlid]

MB i always piss on my own clothes as i dont have an other half.

maybe i should get one for that purpose.

[Axel]

If you are in charge of a middle-sized or bigger company and have to hire more sales staff.

Short listed are 3 applicants, one who never touched alcohol, one who stopped drinking and one who drinks regularly but not in excess, who do you hire?

[Kringle]

Problem Drinking

I drink

I get drunk

I fall down

I get up

No Problem!

[medicinebox]

If you are in charge of a middle-sized or bigger company and have to hire more sales staff.

Short listed are 3 applicants, one who never touched alcohol, one who stopped drinking and one who drinks regularly but not in excess, who do you hire?

The last one, because the first two are probably lying little toads.

[dekestone]

If you are in charge of a middle-sized or bigger company and have to hire more sales staff.

Short listed are 3 applicants, one who never touched alcohol, one who stopped drinking and one who drinks regularly but not in excess, who do you hire?

The one with the biggest tits!

[KevinN]

PTE; in response to your idea that all people in an AA meeting will disagree with me as to alcohol a drug,I asked a friend of mine living at lathrop wells nevada,he has been sober 18 years and here is his reply.

The example I always use is......"If you line 100 people up and give them each drugs, they will ALL eventually become addicted. If you line 100 people up and give them each alcohol, only they REAL alcoholics will start drinking alcoholically."

I usually do not win this argument and don't really care too much about it. I KNOW I am a REAL Alcoholic........and ever so grateful to be so...

And that is the answer that most of us really want,,but we also do not like for people that do not know give answers that are false or the wrong answers to someone that might be looking for some way to get out of the alcoholic nightmare.

[ProThaiExpat]

KevinN: I really like the example regarding lining up the druggies and alkies and I could not disagree with the outcome of the experiment. I submit, the example proves that different chemicals have different degrees of addiction. Hard core drugs are certainly more addictive than less addictive drugs and alcohol, like nicotine, are less addictive than hard drugs.

If you choose to use the addictive nature of a chemical as the definition of what is a drug or what is not, then alcohol is not a drug by that definition when compared to heroin, crack and the like.

On the other hand, if you define a drug as "any mind altering chemical", alcohol is a drug.

Lets let "reasonable men disagree" on this subject, shall we?

[konangrit]

PTE; in response to your idea that all people in an AA meeting will disagree with me as to alcohol a drug,I asked a friend of mine living at lathrop wells nevada,he has been sober 18 years and here is his reply.

The example I always use is......"If you line 100 people up and give them each drugs, they will ALL eventually become addicted. If you line 100 people up and give them each alcohol, only they REAL alcoholics will start drinking alcoholically."

I usually do not win this argument and don't really care too much about it. I KNOW I am a REAL Alcoholic........and ever so grateful to be so...

And that is the answer that most of us really want,,but we also do not like for people that do not know give answers that are false or the wrong answers to someone that might be looking for some way to get out of the alcoholic nightmare.

Not all drugs are physically addictive. Scientifically speaking alcohol is a drug.

[Bluecat]

Not all drugs are physically addictive. Scientifically speaking alcohol is a drug.

Whatever it is, I'm sure you can get addicted to alcohol.

I know quite a few cases.

They WANT to stop but they just can't.

Overall, a very small minority can but the majority can not.

And they need a LOT of help.

So, please, do not reach the stage where you CAN'T,...

[stroll]

Not all drugs are physically addictive.

Come on, spill the beans! Which non-addictive drug have you been taking every day for the last few years?

[dr_Pat_Pong]

This hang-over pill is being pushed via TV commercials right now in the US:

The Chaser Pill

On the subject, I had an older brother who was an alcoholic and an amfetamin-addict. A downward spiral led to him finally dying when one of his "buddies" crashed a stolen ride...a strong deterrant for my younger brothers.

Me myself, I do drink too much on occasion. Living an expat (salary) life right now I find it very easy to revert to drinking several nights per week. After the first couple of drinks I fight myself whether to have another drink or not - and it's not easy - I'll tell you that much...

The strange thing is, I do enjoy so much that initial buzz...whattodo?

/// DFW

I would have liked to see what that link said, but, alas, it doesn't work.

[konangrit]

Not all drugs are physically addictive.

Come on, spill the beans! Which non-addictive drug have you been taking every day for the last few years?

See extra option 1 Although the Euro championships have given me the appearance of an alcoholic Is football a drug?

[KevinN]

This hang-over pill is being pushed via TV commercials right now in the US:

The Chaser Pill

On the subject, I had an older brother who was an alcoholic and an amfetamin-addict. A downward spiral led to him finally dying when one of his "buddies" crashed a stolen ride...a strong deterrant for my younger brothers.

Me myself, I do drink too much on occasion. Living an expat (salary) life right now I find it very easy to revert to drinking several nights per week. After the first couple of drinks I fight myself whether to have another drink or not  - and it's not easy - I'll tell you that much...

The strange thing is, I do enjoy so much that initial buzz...whattodo?

/// DFW

I would have liked to see what that link said, but, alas, it doesn't work.

No telling what it is,,used to be Benzedrine when I was young,now it is crank I think,anyway 1 and you could live with the hangover,3 and you were amped out so might as well drink all nite again.

dfwbkk;There is no excuse to drink just because you are an expat,there are a lot of us expats here and a lot of us do not drink,you only drink cause you want to drink,but everyone knows that an alkie is an expert at making excuses that only he thinks sound good,

One of the signs of the disease is the desire to have more,,a fellow that is not an alkie can leave part of a glass of his favorite wine,booze or beer and walk comfortably away,,an alkie has to force himself to do it and most times he won't walk away. Have you ever heard one is to many and a thousand is not enough?

I can remember using the same excuse as you when my wife asked me why I drank so often,and have heard others use it also,not so much as expat,but being a logger,iron worker,mechanic,weldor,cop,You name it it has been used, I said"well I work 7 days a week no less than 10 hrs and sometimes as much as 20 hrs a day,I make good money and to do this kind of work,ya just gotta drink,when this job is over,I will quit" and I did,not quit drinking,but quit stopping every morning at 0200 and stayed drunk for 2 months in 3 states and at the end,had to call home collect to have her send me gas money to get home. At that time I was 26 years old.my last drunk lasted 2 years 24/7 and I was 48 years old.I am now 71 and have not had a drink since 1-14-82

I know all about drinking all over the world,and I also know how to keep from ever having to have a drink again,so if you would like to have had your last drink,e-mail me and I can tell you how,maybe you won't do it.but you can.

, but you can if you want.

[350torana]

I think booze is a drug and should be treated with respect. But who am I to say that. Anyways, always been curious about the border between binge drinking and being an alcholic . I know in Aussie binge drinking(sure it is the same in most other western countries is a right of passage , but most slow down in thier mid 20's). My dad always gave me the advice when i was young bugger.... " If u drink, drink beer or wine, it is the hard liqour that gets u in <deleted>" Oh well ,not sure what my point is

[fatter than harry]

ummmm, I think love is the drug you been thinking of

[guuuuuitar]

[Phil Conners]

I think drugs should not be illegal. I don't care if someone wants to kill themselves with any drugs. Better that than the drug users kill innocent people to afford the drugs which prices are only high because it is illegal.

If anyone could go into a pharmacy and get stoned or whatever they are, on heroin, cocain, estacy or whatever they like, so what. Their life, their loss. Just like with booze.

[ProThaiExpat]

350torana: No difference between alocholics that are binge drinkers and those who sit on a bar stool for hours and sip their poison, both end up in the same state.

You father's advice would have been good, if he had added, "in the same quantity". However, people drink beer a lot differently than they sip or drink hard liquor, likewise wine. One of the "methods" alcoholics try to use to "cut down on their drinking" is to switch to beer or wine. Doesn't work, as they all contain alcohol, and as the body becomes accustomed to alcohol in the system, it sends signals to replace it with more, as the body metabolizes what's already there. Thus, you just drink more beer or wine than hard liquor inorder to maintain that "buzz" level.

One of the mental concepts that must be erradicated in the alcoholic is the belief that "if a little is good, more is better".

[KevinN]

when in my early teens and even before, I would drink anything,get nice and drunk on beer, but could get drunk faster on whiskey,and if allowed I would have killed my self thru alcohol poisoning as i would drink chug style even after I was in a blackout,and my friends always took the bottle away from me.

As has been stated,all alcohol is the same,just have to drink more of some than others to get where you are going,and if you happen to have the screwed up gene that makes you an alcoholic,where you are going is blackout drunk.

The only way to control alcoholism is to abstain from all consumption of alcohol.

When the alcohol is out of your bloodstream,which takes a couple of days to a week if you are real bad,the tranquilizers wear off and you are fine,no cravings at all as the cravings that you had were caused by the alcohol,and if any are left,then it is mental,cause you know that booze used to make you feel better,another day and you are eating again,then with a little education that you have already had but seems to be required for someone else to mention them before you will believe them,you are on your road to complete recovery,unless you talk yourself into the idea that you can have just one.But if you are having trouble listening to your past experience because you are different,go to your nearest AA meeting place and buy for about $5 a copy of the book "alcoholics anonymous" or as alkies call it,"the big book" read chapter 3 at least and make your own decision if you have a problem or not,,early education might save you a lot of grief,and when you are ready,you will know what to do.

[Elliot]

What is your opinion about drinking alcohol? You like it? Everyday? Are you drinking alone, or only together with other people? sometimes drunken? Or you drink just a little bit?

whatever you think, for thb 1500 (or thb 1200 if you bring yourself) you can get unlimited cocktails, heinkeken DRAFT beer, wine and coolers on the sunset cruise tonight leaving from chalong pier on the m/v dawg bua! and we always give one-third of profits to children's charities in thailand...be there at 5:30 pm saturday...

[jayenram]

a fellow that is not an alkie can leave part of a glass of his favorite wine,booze or beer and walk comfortably away

I beg to differ on this point, KevinN. A true blooded yorky, alkie or not, would never ever leave a drink unfinished even if, and this is a remote possibility, he/she had paid for it themselves.

But to get back to the subject; I drink on average half a case of *chang* per day with the occasional few extra on ‘boys’ night out on Fridays. I rarely get totalled but there has been the odd time. I rarely drink before midday except at a Khmer wedding, funeral or open house. I do not get aggressive with drink. Whether I am alcoholic, I cannot say.

I have good friends who either do not or only occasionally drink alcohol and they do not feel as though they are excluded from the local community because of this.

[ProThaiExpat]

jayenram: If the "chang" consumption doesn't interefere with your life or cause you problems, I wouldn't worry about it, except the issue of the effect of the daily use of alcohol, over a protracted amount of time, on your body.

The conventional wisdom is that if your body never gets the chance to rid itself of the alcohol, the "pickling" process continues unabated such that future health risks are inevitable.

The tolerance for alcohol increases with prolonged use, so the quantity of your consumption is really not relevent to getting drunk, only to the effect on your body. "Cheap drunks" are fortunate, in that it doesn't take much of the "poison" to get them "buzzed" "relaxed" or in whatever state your objective is when you start to drink.

My neighbor drinks before noon every day he is here in Thailand. However, he works on an oil rig, so he has 30 days every other month to let his body "dry out" and recover from his clearly "alcoholic drinking". He would be termed a "binge drinker" by some, although there are many days here where he is not fully "drunk" or out of control but he does drink everyday without fail when he is here.

[farang noi]

  if you think alcohol is so  cool, get your Thai gf Drunk and piss her off, then judge it's coolness for yourselves

Good point

Even though I like to enjoy a beer once in a while or a glass off whiskey, I still think its sad to see many of the farangs ,where I live( NE thailand), sitting in the bars day after day.

Why should I care??? you might ask.. well I might not win a popularity contest by saying it but, it seems to me that alot of the farangs comming to live in thailand, who havent got a job in thailand, quickly gather together in the bars and seem to get stuck there. come on guys get up come outside interact with the thai's , learn some culture because you don't learn much of that in the bars. I am tired of hearing excuses like: its too hot, I cant understand them. Come on get real, you knew it was hot here before you came out here, and for the speeking part put an effort in to it and it will come slowly.

hope I havent offended too many and if I have I don't care

[KevinN]

The tolerance for alcohol increases with prolonged use, so the quantity of your consumption is really not relevent to getting drunk, only to the effect on your body. "Cheap drunks" are fortunate, in that it doesn't take much of the "poison" to get them "buzzed" "relaxed" or in whatever state your objective is when you start to drink."""

All this is very true, but the more you drink,the higher the tolerance level.

Then when in the advanced stages of the disease,[when admitted or denied] the tolerance starts to go down,and then you are a cheap drunk and the end is getting near.