Alcoholism Myths

As an alcoholic, almost everything you choose to believe about alcohol is bullshit.  Completely, utterly, bullshit.  There are so many ways you have manipulated the events and how you interpret them that you can almost make yourself believe that you did turn water into wine or whatever.  Here's my top ten with some help from Doug Thorburn's Alcoholism Myths and Realities.

The Chemistry of Alcohol
This was a real eye opener for me.  Simply put, alcoholics' only partly process the alcohol so we only get the 'fun' feeling, not the 'eww' feeling straight after.  This is part of the reason why we can drink so much poison willingly.

The human body converts alcohol first into a poison, acetaldehyde, and then into acetate, both of which find their way to the brain.  While the former substance - in the same class of chemicals as formaldehyde - perversely makes the drinker feel good, the latter causes feelings of nausea, hangover and sleepiness.  Now think about it: if a person experiences a quick conversion into acetate, he feels lousy or sleepy and is unlikely to keep drinking.  If on the other hand, the body blocks the conversion of acetaldehyde into acetate, the former works its magic and she feels good.  It shouldn't be surprising if this person, experiencing a buildup of the acetaldehyde and little or no increase in the latter, continues to drink.  Therefore, the speed at which the body converts alcohol into acetate determines a person's predisposition to alcoholism. p.8

So the body is getting all the good feelings and none of the bad.  Sounds like trouble to me.  Or like getting things on no deposit credit...

I Never Had a Hangover
I never got hangovers for most of my alcoholic career.  It was like burning the candle at both ends without any of the negative feedback, so I could go even harder and longer than most and not worry about the consequences.  It was something to be proud of, like I was a genetic freak for drinking.

Researchers found that 50% of the subjects of a study of alcoholics reported no hangovers within the past year or more and 23% reported that they had never experienced a hangover, despite heavy drinking. P.17

So drinking again is without the feedback, and of course it is like access all areas with no credit limit!  Later in my drinking I did get an awful eternal hangover, which I took was my body screaming back at me that it was clogged with the detritus of twenty years of abuse and was seeking some easy filtering with just water and tea.  Each morning I would wake up and the first hours were Ok because I was most likely still buzzing drunk.  But then, in the afternoon, the credit would fall due and I would be weak and dizzy.

Drug Free -except alcohol
I would tsk tsk with the best of them at others drug fucked escapades.  Plus, I had gone drug free for so long myself, so I wasn't totally 'weak' like them.  And given up cigarettes, so, yeah, i was pretty much a straight arrow except for being a raving alcoholic...

Alcohol is not only a drug capable of causing distortions of perception and memory, but it's also the first drug of choice for most addicted persons.  If not, it's almost always one on which an addict will fall back if nothing else is readily available.  And, it does more damage than all the other drugs combined. P.23.

Just like my sister, who when the supply amphetamine dried up, was always philosophical at the bar, prosthelytizing about 'you can't always get what you want' and other nonsense.  When there was no gear, she'd revert to alcohol in a snap.
And me, when in my drug stage, used to always have some wine in arm's reach.

Loves a drink, but no, she's not alcoholic, always loved a drink.
People often make excuses for other drinkers so the alcoholic tag is kept out of sight.  Like I was described often enough, as great for someone to have along to a dinner party because he brings five bottles of wine (sometimes I'd just bring a case of 12 bottles and have them in the car, and keep going out to get fresh bottles and putting the empty bottles in the car so no one knew how much had been drunk.  Well that's what I thought anyway.)

alcoholics dream of drinking non-addictively while experiencing the unparalleled pleasure from alcohol that only an alcoholic can feel.  However, while they can sometimes drink without observable adverse effects on their behaviours for a period of time, there are few if any reports of instances in which alcoholics have been able to continue to do so for more than a few years. P 28.

I became alcoholic because I had low self esteem
I had low self esteem, or I had such grandiose designs on where I should be, reality was always a deflated let down.  Whatever the case, my completely fucked behaviour whilst drinking soon lowered what esteem I had left so it was low all round, no matter who you asked.

I've stopped drinking a few times now and never had withdrawals.
So what?  Do you expect some earth shattering withdrawal like on trainspotting where you are crying and climbing the walls?  Forget it.  Not that dramatic.

...decades of active alcoholism are usually required before physical dependence occurs and that such dependence is but one symptom of latter stage alcoholism p 30.

Poor environment, upbringing, divorced parents, no pet ponies, etc
I was top of my class all through school, we had international family holidays, I saw Disneyland, I spat off the Eiffel tower, and got lost on a Fiji Cruise before I was twelve - but then my parents divorced.  So I was shipped off to an elite boarding school to finish my education.  And then I landed in law school.  But we never had a pet pony.

Many alcoholics remember their first drinking occasion, while non-alcoholics rarely do. P 42.

I still remember my first drink, Jim Beam bourbon from a 150ml hip flask gulped nervously behind the cinema a few miles from my house.  The burning, the sense of power, the tingling throbbing in my head.  I was an alcoholic right then and there, and the funny thing is, I knew it too.

Moderation
This just doesn't work - it's like giving me an ice cream cone and saying stop when you hit the cone.  You just can't do it as an addict.
I hope I haven't been to harsh here, but there are so many myths and hushed tones when speaking about alcoholism it is best that I explode some crap right here and now so we can all go forward.

Please add your experiences of these myths and how they have shaped your experiences with alcohol.