How do you know if you are truly an alcolohic? This can be a hard question for some people to answer like me. There are three basic symptoms that define an alcoholic, but what if they are true during one part of your life and now that you have grown up, they are not. Are you still considered an alcoholic because of decisions you made in the past or are you really not since it doesn’t affect you in that way anymore? The three different symptoms are: binge drinking, alcohol abuse, and alcohol dependence. This is a lingering question I have had about my own life and I don’t know. I am going to tell my story and we will see if I am truly an alcoholic.

It all started in high school. I thought that if I drank with everyone, I would be popular. All of the popular kids drank and I wanted to fit in. I never craved it; I just wanted to fit in. Then there was college. I started out drinking to fit in. I wanted to be in a sorierty and all the girls would go out and party. I so wanted to be a part of that, but somewhere in all the chaios, I lost control of how much I was actually drinking. I never became dependent on it, but I did binge drink alot and I abused it. I thought this was what you were supposed to do in college. Through many trials and tribulations, I ended up in rehabilitation. After this I didn’t drink for awhile. No big deal. It didn’t really bother me at all. I still decided to start drinking again though. This time my boyfriend drank all the time so I always partied with him. It was no big thing to get drunk at a party. Again, isn’t this what you are supposed to do in college? Well the next time I quit drinking was because I became pregnant with my daughter. When she was about six months old when I started drinking again. I then got into trouble, so I quit again. I thought I was doing ok and then I started to experience extreme chronic pain. The only way in my mind at the time to get rid of the pain was to drink. I didn’t have health insurance and the pain was unbearable. During this time I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and I tried a number of medicines, but none of them seemed to work, so I went back to drinking. This went on for awhile and then I met my husband. We got pregnant, so again I quit drinking. My pregnancy with my son was extremely hard because I was in alot of pain. After I had my son, I had promised my husband I would stop drinking. I found alternative ways to take care of the pain, but I still wanted to go out every once in awhile and let loose. I did this a few times and each time I had three drinks or less, but I was doing this against my husband’s wishes. To this day, I can go and have one beer and it doesn’t bother me and the majority of the time that’s all I even want. I am not binge drinking, abusing it, or am I dependent on it, but I used to. So would I be considered an alcoholic? I mean once an alcoholic are you always an alcoholic or do circumstances and timing have a factor. Is it possible for this to be true? I know I am probably an exception, because most alcoholics and drug addicts can’t quit once they’ve started. It completely ruins there lives and they become severly dependent on it. I am not like this. I think this is a very hard decision to make and you are the ultimate decision maker. I just know that if alcohol or drugs is ruining your life in any way, you should quit.  I have learned that it is my life and if I want to have a drink every once in awhile, I am going to. It is not doing any harm to me or anybody else. If it ever starts to get out of control, I will just lay off of it for awhile. Alcohol can be very harmful and addictive. Please be safe when you do decide to drink.