I am an alcoholic. Sometimes the hardest thing to admit. My parents were both alcoholics. Does this mean I have copied their behaviour or was it genetic predisposition? Who knows? All I know is that when I pick up an alcoholic drink it sets in motion an uncontrollable urge to drink until I'll drop for many days afterwards.

How often, shaking from withdrawal, or close to oblivion, have you gone to the internet and looked for help? The result? Medical journals written by those who will never understand. This site is designed to help us all understand ourselves a little better via a message board.

This site offers no answers. The nature/nurture question is of no importance here. After all, knowing the answer does not cure the addiction. The message board is my answer. I want to offer you my support.

You give me some, and together, let's at least try and give each other the benefits of our experience, be it good or bad.

I say addiction, others say illness... still others, a disease. Does it matter?

Alcoholism is as much about damage limitation as anything else. If you're picking up that drink and blacking out afterwards, let me, through my experience, offer some tips.

You've probably already got yourself a counsellor or doctor. They'll say don't pick up that first drink. Oh lordy, we do try to take their advice but it seems ... we just keep picking that drink up. And I don't understand it, neither do you.

You might have tried controlled drinking. To a certain extent, in my experience, this can work, but the end result is the same.

We're putting poison into our bodies. Cirrhosis of the liver, limb amputation, brain damage, acute depression, heart attacks, behaviour out of character, suicide. These are the joyous gifts we have been granted due to a thirst we don't understand.

Along with this, alcoholism shows no respect for whom it chooses. From the President of the US, to the lonely housewife hiding behind the curtains, it tries to take our soul. Black, white, rich, poor.

About the Author

Anonymous

Our drug and alcohol rehab website is an advocacy site for those with substance abuse issues and their loved ones. We strive to deliver the most accurate information about drug and alcohol abuse including rehabilitation methods, centers and current thought. Our hope is that everyone with a chemical dependency problem seeks some form of rehabilitation so that the damage to oneself and others can stop.

While we strive to bring the most accurate and relevant information possible, we are not doctors, clinicians and medical researchers. The information on this drug and alcohol rehab website should not be substituted for that of your own personal doctor or a trained physician in this field. We offer the information of this site as a public service, so as they say, "take what you need and leave the rest."