Alcoholism

[Embattle]

Drinking issues are slowly but surely creeping up on more and more people, but in reality there isn't a great deal most people can do to help because one excuse is used after another.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Drinking issues are slowly but surely creeping up on more and more people, but in reality there isn't a great deal most people can do to help because one excuse is used after another.

I can't agree with the drinking getting worse, if anything kids seem to be going for the hippie lifestyle of no smoke no drink, just weed.

Atleast it seems so in Finland, then again, drinking beer seems like a sober activity around here

If a regular Joe Finn Face came to the UK, he'd probably be labeled an alcoholic on the spot.

 

[Wij]

I like a good 4 cans a night (couple more on weekend). The wife makes me have Tuesdays and Thursdays off though

She thinks I'm an alcoholic. I just don't like soft drinks or Horlicks really. Beer and wine are yummy.

 

[Wij]

I like a good 4 cans a night (couple more on weekend). The wife makes me have Tuesdays and Thursdays off though

She thinks I'm an alcoholic. I just don't like soft drinks or Horlicks really. Beer and wine are yummy.

Shit. It's Tuesday !

 

[supersaint]

Was Bank Holiday yesterday so pretend it's Monday.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Beer and wine are yummy.

Tastebud fail.

 

[Fweddy]

If a regular Joe Finn Face came to the UK, he'd probably be labeled an alcoholic on the spot.

I'm not sure Toht, we score higher on the league table: List of countries by alcohol consumption - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


My best friend starts most days with a couple of cans of lager to take the edge off the day before's hangover. Anything I invite him to do, from watching a film to going for a walk in the countryside, he'll say "Sure, I'll just finish my beer and come over," bringing a few cans with him. He goes out and gets wasted at least twice a week and stays in and drinks the other nights.

I don't really consider him an alcoholic. He just doesn't particularly like being sober.

 

[DaGaffer]

Official stats tell you nowt. Scandinavians all drink bathtub pocheen because the booze is so expensive and that doesn't appear on the figures. I used to live with Norweigians and cheap booze turned them into maniacs.

 

[Bugz]

Official stats tell you nowt. Scandinavians all drink bathtub pocheen because the booze is so expensive and that doesn't appear on the figures. I used to live with Norweigians and cheap booze turned them into maniacs.

You realise the table has an 'unrecorded' consumption column right? Or do we ignore that because you lived with some Norweigians?!

 

[Talivar]

If you cant go a day without a drink your an alchoholic, you dont need to be perma drunk or hiding bottles of vodka you just need to be at a point where you HAVE to drink to some degree every day.

 

[rynnor]

I'm with Throd, where the fuck pays £100,000 a year for lower management?

Perhaps I work for the wrong company, but in my place (and they publish the payscales...) lower management certainly don't anywhere near that, and infact fairly senior management probably don't get to sniff £80,000.

I'm not even a low level manager and I'm on the same as your fairly senior managment - what do you think my manager (who's as low as you can be and be a manager) earns...

And these rates are nowt compared to the city but hey.

 

[rynnor]

The most impressive (just about) functional alcoholic I knew was a Dane.

I used to see him drinking a few pints in the morning on his way to work - he once did 12 pints of guiness at lunch then back to work - he was a machine.

He was very thin and dont think I ever saw him eat anything he just seemed to exist on alcohol.

 

[DaGaffer]

You realise the table has an 'unrecorded' consumption column right? Or do we ignore that because you lived with some Norweigians?!

Since

Unrecorded consumption was calculated using empirical investigations and expert judgments.

My empirical investigations and expert judgements are just as good as the next mans. That list also has the Irish drinking more than the British, which may be true in folklore, but not reality. Trust me, if booze wasn't so ridiculously expensive, Scandinavians would top most lists (and have a look at what the Finns drink; nearly as much beer, and more spirits - its the women wine drinkers that ramp up the UK stats).

 

[DaGaffer]

I'm not even a low level manager and I'm on the same as your fairly senior managment - what do you think my manager (who's as low as you can be and be a manager) earns...

And these rates are nowt compared to the city but hey.

That's a meaningless argument; lots of companies have highly paid specialists in non-managerial roles. There have been times in my career when I've had staff working for me who got paid more than me (which is annoying, but fair enough).

 

[Tom]

I very rarely touch the stuff. I don't quite understand why, but I don't need to drink.

Many of my friends seemingly can't get through life without drinking.

 

[MrHorus]

None of us are allowed to go near him if we have consumed booze.

That's a pity you have to keep such a close eye on your family interactions due to his lack of self control.

Sorry if that sounds harsh - it's meant to be.

People can harp on all they like about how alcoholism is a "diesease" and how they "can't help it", but it's bullshit.

Nobody forces an alcoholic to take that first drink each day, nobody ties them down and makes them.

It's lack of self control, pure and simple.

There have been several alcoholics in my family so I've seen what drink can do. It's not pretty but for someone to say that they are powerless over drink as if that's some sort of excuse just sounds like self-denial

 

[ford prefect]

It's lack of self control, pure and simple.

There have been several alcoholics in my family so I've seen what drink can do. It's not pretty but for someone to say that they are powerless over drink as if that's some sort of excuse just sounds like self-denial

Lack of self control? Perhaps there is an element of that, but there is so much more too. Alcoholics have a genetic disorder whereby a inhibitor called Gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) is under produced and the GABA receptors become over stimulated when they interact with Alcohol. The result is an extreme addiction, and an almost bi-polar like condition following DT when that addiction is denied.

I am not saying that Alcoholism cannot be suppressed by will power, because it can, but it is not a "pure and simple" lack of self control. It is as valid a condition as any other congenital disease, but the best that any Alcoholic will ever be able to do is supress the addiction, not recover from it.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

It is NOT A DISEASE. Disorder yes, diesease no. Such a horribly misleading word to use, encourages people to think it's nothing they can control so they don't bother.

 

[Wij]

I enjoyed that South Park episode too

 

[ford prefect]

It is NOT A DISEASE. Disorder yes, diesease no. Such a horribly misleading word to use, encourages people to think it's nothing they can control so they don't bother.

Actually it is both. It is a disorder because it has a genetic component, but it is also a disease because it is initially triggered by an external factor.

 

[DaGaffer]

Actually it is both. It is a disorder because it has a genetic component, but it is also a disease because it is initially triggered by an external factor.

Shenanigans. SHENANIGANS I say. Is alcoholism caused by the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular organisms, or aberrant proteins known as prions? No? Then its not a disease.

 

[Will]

I have to agree with DaGaffer on that one. Korsakoff's syndrome, for example, is a disorder, not a disease, and it is mainly caused by alcohol abuse.

Though I do agree with the rest of Fords assessment on alcoholism.

 

[ford prefect]

Shenanigans. SHENANIGANS I say. Is alcoholism caused by the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular organisms, or aberrant proteins known as prions? No? Then its not a disease.

Is Addison's Disease? Parkinson's Disease? Hemoglobin disease? in fact assume I have listed a page ful here.

These are pre-existing genetic predispositions that are often triggered by external factors, none of which fall into the above.

 

[Will]

Or maybe it is just negotiable depending on the mood of the doctor who names the condition?

 

[Sparx]

That's a pity you have to keep such a close eye on your family interactions due to his lack of self control.

Sorry if that sounds harsh - it's meant to be.

People can harp on all they like about how alcoholism is a "diesease" and how they "can't help it", but it's bullshit.

Nobody forces an alcoholic to take that first drink each day, nobody ties them down and makes them.

It's lack of self control, pure and simple.

There have been several alcoholics in my family so I've seen what drink can do. It's not pretty but for someone to say that they are powerless over drink as if that's some sort of excuse just sounds like self-denial

Im not biting on this, we dont do it because he will have a drink, as i said before (which i assume you missed) he hasnt touched a drop in 29 years. I think that showns brilliant self control right there. Its called common courtesy on our part in caring for a loved one. If i had a mate who was trying to quite smoking i wouldnt blow smoke in his face every 5 mins (i wouldnt blow smoke at all as i dont smoke but you get the point)

 

[MrHorus]

Lack of self control? Perhaps there is an element of that, but there is so much more too. Alcoholics have a genetic disorder whereby a inhibitor called Gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) is under produced and the GABA receptors become over stimulated when they interact with Alcohol. The result is an extreme addiction, and an almost bi-polar like condition following DT when that addiction is denied.

But ultimately it comes down to self control; nobody forces them to drink, just like nobody forces a heroin addict to bang a load of skag into their arm.

I'm not denying that there is a physiological aspect to addiction and I'm not denying that it can be difficult, but ultimately it's down to the individual as to wether they want to master the addiction or if the addiction will master them.

 

[MrHorus]

Im not biting on this, we dont do it because he will have a drink, as i said before (which i assume you missed) he hasnt touched a drop in 29 years.

I'm not sure if you are trying to be snarky, but actually yes - I did miss that part

Maybe I'm not expressing myself well but I've been around enough alcoholics in my life that I no longer suffer them willingly.