Once I start drinking, I can't stop. Am I a binge drinker or an alcoholic?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Binge drinker and a good one at that. Few people are true alkies.
-Brax

A binge drinker is an alcoholic.
If all you think about is the next time you can drink and then can't stop yourself, you're well on the way.

There's no guarantee the beer switch will work, but trust me, ANYTHING is better than what you're doing now.

Best bet, for me, was to quit entirely for a while. I'm not going to say how long, but until it doesn't consume your thoughts is a good place to start.

Hope this helps, good luck

BINGE DRINKER

An alcoholic needs to drink every day to function

You're probably both; & you're headed in the wrong direction.
Get in touch with Alanon & get into a program for help.

To be an alcoholic you have to not be able to function without it. If your able to restrain your drinking to only on weekends, then you are not a alcoholic.

Technically, binge drinking is having 4 or more alcoholic drinks at one setting. So, you are a binge drinker. It is a bad thing, but your not the only person it is effecting. I would say about 90% of college students are binge drinkers.

Replacing liquor with beer might be a step in the right direction, but then again your replacing alcohol with alcohol, so it kind of isn't. Beer vs liquor both have their pros and cons about drinking, so it really doesn't matter which one you drink more than the other.

I've been in your boat. Going to beer will just give you a worse hangover. The brutal truth is if you're not an alcoholic yet you are well on your way. Get help now while your still young. Read self help books if you're too embarrased to go to AA. I know your friends might be able to handle it but not everybody can. I wish I could go get drunk and not want more tomorrow but I will. You don't want to be the girl who's always drunk. Exercise helps sometimes too. Good luck!

Me

I've been experiencing a sort of multi-month binge as well lately (3-5x a week 8-20 beers/night although this isn't the first such binge and I doubt it's the last.) One thing that seems to trigger excess drinking in my case is holidays/work stress/sheer boredom (mind you I live in IA ;))

One of the best solutions I've got for ya is to try drinking in a more relaxed environment. This seems to help with blackouts because not so much wild random sh*t is going on all the time compared to a crazy house party or busy bar/club on the weekend. I USUALLY tend to drink less in these situations but can't say that you'll run into similar results. As for still drinking a lot and not blacking out it can still happen but I've seen that it isn't usually that embarrassing. I found myself in a situation like this around New Years.

3 girls and I were sitting around playing UNO and "binge" drinking. All they were talking about was bags and rugs and boring stuff like that (I'm not a chick). I ended up throwing down 15 beers in a few hrs and remember everything at my friends place but as soon as our drunk a$$es got to the bar we all kind of blacked out.

Either way if your just keepen it chill you're less likely to feel embarrassed when you wake up. I think drinking beer will help solve your current situation and I don't think you are an alcoholic just make sure to keep your priorities straight (family, friends, school/work, etc. should in most situations take prescience over drinking)