Drank once and it was okay

I know it counts and I hit the reset button. My mental health has been much better lately and I’ve felt more in control of my life in general. I drank once and everything was okay nothing crazy, but whether or not I have or had a problem. I’m going to keep this app and counter. It helps me keep myself accountable.

Anyone has problems drink with excess and stopped got help with there mental health and then social drank?

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I am an alcoholic. I no longer drink. I don’t ever plan on “testing” myself to see if I’m still an alcoholic. I KNOW I’m still an alcoholic.
Nothing good ever came from me drinking.
Some people may be able to have 1 or 2 drinks but i am not one of them.
I’m guessing that you believe that you are cured of alcoholism. And maybe you are. However people who don’t have a drinking problem don’t usually ask these kinds of questions or seek out these apps.
Good luck on your journey wherever it brings you.

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Fantastic letter and to the point. Once an alky always an alky. One day at a time is what it takes. God Bless.

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I am not saying I am cured from being an alcoholic. I wasn’t an alcoholic, to begin with. I had depression and anxiety. I treated the anxiety with pot, and my depression would lead to me drinking and not being able to stop.

Before you dismiss someone’s question. You might want to think their journey might be different than yours.

I’ve graduated from college, and got a stable job with a future and got some help for my depression. I have smoked pot and drank once in about 4 months. This app helped me through a hard time and was what I used to stay sober, so I can face my mental health. Fast forward a year, and I drank on occasion never in excess and I rarely smoke weed.

I asked this question, to see if anyone has had a similar experience with their mental health.

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. I wasn’t an alcoholic, to begin with

Anyone has problems drink with excess and stopped got help with there mental health and then social drank?

I presume if they did they wouldnt be on here may try a social drinking again app wish you well

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Hey it’s great you aren’t an alcoholic. I bet a lot of people here wish they weren’t. I am, but that’s besides the point. However, this is a sobriety forum, not a mental health one. The general experience for us is that to improve out mental health we can’t imbibe in any drug. That’s all we know, that’s what we do. So our advice is always going to be tailored around complete abstinence. I know it took me around 9 months for my mental health to improve once I was sober. Also, since we seem to be qualifying, I got a law degree and was a practicing attorney, achieved all while in active addiction. That didn’t stop me from being an addict or alcoholic.

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I received a bachelor’s degree as well as a fantastic career all while I was drinking. Even graduated with honors but I was and still am an alcoholic.
I wasn’t demeaning what you are going through or went through. I also didn’t dismiss your question. I answered it to my best of my knowledge. You may not like it but that is my opinion.
I wish you the best and hope you continue to find support here.
I for one would not be sober without the help of this app.

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I wish I could have just one drink, but I know me… I’m not your average person, I’m an alcoholic. If I have just one drink it will activate my alcoholism and I will steadily slide downhill from there.

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I don’t have any diagnosed mental health issues. My overall mental health is good.

I started my drinking career 23 years ago, mourning the death of a marriage. My last relapse ended a little over a year ago, during which I was mourning the death of a parent.

In between I cycled between drinking a little, drinking more, drinking a lot, quitting, drinking a little, etc.

I skydived once. It was okay. That doesn’t mean my chute will open next time.

The only thing keeping me sober is my ability to say “no” to the drink that matters…the first drink and to say “no” to the hardest person to say “no” to…me.

So yes, I have experience with thinking I can control my drinking, and I have experienced failure to control my drinking. What I know for sure is if I say “no” to the drink that matters…the first drink, there won’t be a second, third, or fifth.

So I go with the “sure thing”. I don’t drink.

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Not everyone can “just have a drink”. This app is for people who are abstaining from alcohol completely. While i understand you using this app to help with mental you should understand the message you’re implying with this post is that its ok to have a drink. Some people on this app are in a very sensitive stage of alcohol addiction and should not be flirting with the idea of drinking.

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I’m not an alcoholic either, but I stopped drinking several months into my recovery from a behavioral addiction. I’ll hit 6 months alcohol free in a few days and don’t plan on drinking any time soon. Sobriety helps my anxiety most of the time, although sometimes it means facing feelings head on that I’d honestly rather not.

It seems like you might be waiting for someone to tell you “yes, take that drink!”, but asking for that kind of feedback on a sobriety forum makes me wonder what you’re really needing.

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Hey Spidey!

Here is the thing with drinking and drugging, only you know what is going on inside you. If I lie to my docs, even they can’t help me. I know of people who had alcoholic tendencies and/or traits concerning how they drank during certain periods, but then stopped. I can’t say what is going on inside them or know whether they have the malady I have. I also know people that got their meds right for their mental health and then started drinking again and ended back up in the rooms.

Maybe you aren’t an alcoholic or addict, which is great. Maybe you just need more field research. Just be open and honest with yourself. If you find that you are one of us, there is no shame in that and no reason not to come back to get help.

All the best man. Goat

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I guess I’m not an alcoholic either, by your standards.

Maybe you are, and maybe you aren’t. This is a subjective view. What isn’t open for debate is the one sure way to keep alcohol from negatively impacting our lives is 100% abstinence.

Drink or don’t. That’s up to you. Don’t like the answers to your questions? You might want to reexamine your thinking. I believe deep down inside you know drinking is dangerous for you. Otherwise you wouldn’t have sought approval to drink. Well, you won’t find it here.

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My answer to your question is yes I have.
Ten years ago I was involved in a physically and mentally violent relationship that ended in a nasty divorce. This of course left me mentally scarred and I drank to excess as a relief from the anxiety and depression. I realised I was drinking too much and was able to stop myself and get help for the mental health symptoms (both medical and psychological) much to my relief. I felt better, I also resumed drinking at some point along the way.
For several years I maintained a “normal” drinking pattern, just socially and rarely at home. Fast forward 3 years and again I found myself in trouble with my mental health, my son had been diagnosed with autism, my dad had recently died and my second husband was cheating. I remained on my medication but felt my drinking starting to slide again. My drinking continued for the next seven years getting worse and worse time until I acknowledged it as a problem and sought help. I am now 121 days sober and will never go back. My anxiety and depression have all but gone without the alcohol to the point I have now stopped my medication and am happier than I have been in those ten years.
The reason for the long reply is to show that although my story and experience will differ from yours my answer to the question you asked is yes, I did try it. The thing that sticks out to me here is that I was aware my drinking was too much ten years ago to the point I stopped, exactly as you did. I believed I could be a normal drinker but normal drinkers don’t ask themselves if they have a problem or feel the need to stop. I wasn’t normal I just hadn’t realised it yet. If I had not resumed drinking I would have saved myself ten years of struggle. Life is always going to throw us situations that are hard and if drinking is your go to anxiety relief as it was mine I can only see a downward spiral over time. Since you mention education I will also say that I graduated with an honours degree and maintained a professional job as a Medical Unit Nursing Manager running an entire Medical Unit including the ED throughout my drinking career, this was one of the justifications I used to drink, I was very successfully maintaining a very difficult job so therefore I must be normal.
Your perspective my differ but I just wanted to share my experience in answer to your question.

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Hey there,

I’m glad you asked the question. I entertained this one for a long time too. Here’s my two cents…

My mental health and my drinking have always been closely correlated. I drank far more when I was anxious and depressed (well…let’s be honest…I also drank 'cause I loved drinking. Wanted to embrace that lovely bottle until the day I died.)

I had two lengthy periods of sobriety - when I was pregnant and nursing. My mental health improved greatly - so much so that I decided I could drink again. I kept it in the road for a few weeks…then I was drinking daily again…then I was blackout drinking every night again…and my conscience, my morals, and my judgement were on a downward spiral along with my mental health. It wasn’t long before I was right back to being a self-loathing, suicidal drunk.

At a little under eleven months sober, my mental health is the best it has been in my adult life -not always great, but so much better. Every now and then, I have a fleeting thought of “I bet I could have one.”. I have to remind myself that, FOR ME, my disease is mental and spiritual as well as physical. I cannot take that risk again. My last run was just too horrible. If I drink again, I won’t live long.

Whatever your decision, know that there is nothing wrong with asking the hard questions. I wish I had found my answers long before I did. If you decide that you need to stay sober, know that you will find the support to help do so here.

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Moderation never worked for me. I could “control” it for a time…would pat myself on the back…then the wheels would come off.

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“Anyone has problems drink with excess and stopped got help with there mental health and then social drank?”

Yes - in a seemingly endless cycle for the last 20 years. I finally just realized my pride was getting in the way of attaching that label to myself. Once I quit pretending that it was something else causing me to overdrink, life got a lot easier. Examine your life with a microscope - maybe you will find some of the same qualities in you that I did in me.

  • High functioning / successful professional
  • Risk taker / chasing the next challenge
  • Educated / always seeking higher education
  • Never satisfied / bored easily
  • Obsessively fit / sometimes exercising to the point of injury
  • Control freak / wanting to be in control of everything in my life
  • Social drinker…of varying degrees, to excess more often than not

All of these things fit right into the profile of a person with an addictive personality…here are some bullet points to consider from an addiction website:

  • Related to others who have developed addiction
  • Experiencing other mental health disorders
  • Adventurous and risk-taking
  • Disconnected and cautious
  • Obsessive and compulsive
  • Apathetic
  • Unable to self-regulate

I’m an alcoholic, I have no qualms about that statement any longer. Wish you well.

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Hi @Spiderman616 I have struggled with alcohol for many years and also my mental health. Not sure what came first tbh…but what I do know is that my mental health without alcohol is infinitely better than when I was drinking…so why would I want to change that…?

Can you explain why you want to start drinking again? My own view is that I cannot think of any good that can come from alcohol and I don’t feel like I am missing out…is that also a reason you want to drink again?

I don’t know what the cause of your mental health problems were/are but alcohol can cause severe problems in this area…why risk it? Give it some serious thought…in smart we use a tool called cost benefit analysis… check it out online it might help your decision making… good luck :grin:

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I too have played with fire. I have no moderation with my drinking.So I’ve quit for 7 months, then decided To have some drinks, it was fine and I limited myself, then 3 days later had a couple more…and within a week I was right back to my blackout stupid self drinking until there was nothing left.
I’ve stupidly done this many times and everytime I think I can control it.
Lesson learnt? I only have control over alcohol if I do not consume it. Good luck

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Honestly OP, I’ll be straight up. I think you’re in denial and you’re playing with fire here.

So many times after long stretches of sobriety have i thought I was “cured”. I would go days and sometimes weeks of “drinking moderately”. I could control it at first. But slowly, I always end up right back where I left off last time. Blacked out, piss drunk, puking on the bathroom floor, texting and calling exes at 2am, and overall making a dumbass of myself.

I don’t think you would have downloaded this app if you didn’t think you had a problem. If you thought even for a second you might have a problem, ever, then you probably do.

Don’t kid yourself.

Your journey is your own. If you wanna drink then ultimately we can’t stop you… but from my experience and many others, this is a very dangerous game you’re playing.

I’m not here to attack or cetiticize you, just letting you know from personal experience that this type of thinking has never ended well for me.

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