A
female
age
26-29,
anonymous
writes:i have a problem with alcohol and i can't stop, i feel i must drink it. every time i don't i can't fall asleep at all. i always drink to sleep or forget but i don't know what to do now. it has gotten somewhat bad for me and i need advice. Reply to this Question
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female
reader, Tisha-1 +, writes (21 June 2012):
 So you have bigger problems that you are trying to get away from by drinking alcohol to sleep.
Sorry to hear of this very disturbing situation. Please contact one of these organizations to get a local referral for someone who can help you: http://www.rainn.org/ http://apps.rainn.org/ohl-bridge/ 1-800-565-HOPE
or http://www.thehotline.org/ 1-800-799-SAFE.
Visit those websites and get help from the trained counselor at either place. Tell them what's happening to you and they will be able to provide qualified help, okay?
Be brave now, go get help there!
A
reader, anonymous, writes (21 June 2012): This is verified as being by the original poster of the questionok then. i have been abused to where i don't know if i would wake up the next day, starved to where i cant move. almost killed by my brother, and always getting in trouble for what he does. my dad has anger issues and takes it out on me. my mom always takes his side on an argument. i will leave to go to a friends house so i wont have to hear all the fighting and yelling between my brother and dad. i usually stay at a friends house and don't come home at all so i won't have to be in a house with all my brothers friends and get forced to do something i don't like. i have also been sexually assaulted by one of my friends cousin.
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reader, anonymous, writes (20 June 2012): "what has happened to me i cant begin to say on account of how i will feel afterward."
Ok, hun, it's all anonymous here. No one knows who you are or where you are. So you can tell us what happened. And if you tell us, we can help, maybe.
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female
reader, Tisha-1 +, writes (20 June 2012):
You need to tell someone about whatever happened so you can get the help you need. Alcohol is not the answer. Ask for help, there are all kinds of places designed to help people in crisis, okay? Be brave now and get the help you need.
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reader, anonymous, writes (20 June 2012): This is verified as being by the original poster of the questionno i havent been sexually assaulted by a family member. what has happened to me i cant begin to say on account of how i will feel afterward.
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female
reader, curious1987  +, writes (15 June 2012):
 Drinking to forget is never the answer, not at any age, let alone t ur age. what about ur best friend? can u talk to her about this? Im sorry if im wrong, but are u being sexually assaulted by a famiky member? Is that wat u are trying to forgt? If that is the case, u MUSt talk to a friends parent or someone else who will help. I knowcits hard, but u need to get to the bottom of whyu feel this way. If its coz ur depressed ppl can help u to get through this. so please speak to someone. i knowcitscscary so maybe u culd take a friend with u when u soeak to someone??xxx
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female
reader, Tisha-1 +, writes (14 June 2012):
The problem with using alcohol as a self-medication to avoid confronting a problem is that it leads to even bigger problems.
You have to tell someone, ask to see your doctor and tell him or her. Be very honest and upfront with the doctor and he or she will make sure you get the help you need.
You don't need to confront whatever terrors you fear on your own, but you do need to reach out for help to get someone to stand beside you, okay?
Deal with this now, you have a whole healthy life to live ahead of you.
Whatever is bothering you, CAN be dealt with. Alcohol will not fix it in the slightest. It will just make you physically ill and create more issues for you.
Be well.
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female
reader, So_Very_Confused +, writes (14 June 2012):
 What do you want to have advice on?
If you want to stop drinking and you are drinking every day you need to go to your doctor and tell them you need to be in medical detox.
Did you know that the only detoxing that will kill you is from alcohol.
If you try to stop cold turkey without medical supervision you could DIE. You could have seizures and DTS. It’s best to seek medical attention for a severe alcohol problem.. and clearly if you are drinking so much that you do not know how much, then you have a severe problem.
You can do several things:
1. Die from alcohol poisoning if you continue to drink
2. Die from self-detox if you try to do it alone
3. OR: Seek help from your family or professionals. If you go to the guidance counselor at school and ask for help they will help you.
addictions are not a sign of weakness and often are genetic in makeup...
if you don't want to talk to anyone why did you post here for help? what do you expect a bunch of unknown strangers on the internet to do?
(folks I'm sensing a bit of a put on here to be honest as the OP doesn't trust anyone, is very young and does not know how much they are drinking)
I am partnered with an active alcoholic... he's slowly killing himself. He started drinking at 12.
do you realize that whatever age you are when you start using is usually the age you will emotionally arrest your development.. that means if you are 14 years old you will forever in your brain be 14 until you stop using and seek help.
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female
reader, eyeswideopen +, writes (14 June 2012):
 "its about the entire bottle of alcohol a little less" Are you talking pint or fifth or gallon? Where are you getting it from? Where are your parents?
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reader, anonymous, writes (14 June 2012): This is verified as being by the original poster of the questioni don't really know how much i drink i just know its a lot and i believe its about the entire bottle of alcohol a little less. and im trying to forget a lot of stuff
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reader, anonymous, writes (12 June 2012): And how much of that do you drink?
You mentioned that you're drinking to forget. What are you trying to forget?
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reader, anonymous, writes (11 June 2012): This is verified as being by the original poster of the questionanything i can get my hands on..... vodka, tequila, wild turkey, moonshine
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reader, anonymous, writes (10 June 2012): I saw your post a while back and hoped that someone would tell you something that would get your attention. From your follow-up I see that’s not the case. I have some experience in this area I’m afraid, so let me give it a try.
The simplest answer is that losing one night’s sleep, or two or three, isn’t the end of the world. You’ve trained yourself to fall asleep more easily with alcohol. You can untrain yourself too. If you stop drinking alcohol, at first you’ll have trouble falling asleep. And may have trouble staying asleep. But after a while you’ll become so tired that you’ll again be able to sleep well without its help. I guarantee that it won’t take more than a few days, easily within a week. The real question is whether you have the will to do it.
You haven’t said how much alcohol you’re consuming. I’ll take a wild guess and think it’s probably in the range of a couple of ounces of hard stuff, or the equivalent of wine or beer. Stopping that abruptly won’t give you serious withdrawal symptoms, so cold turkey is safe.
The concern is that you’ve chosen alcohol to help you cope – you mention that it helps you to forget. It certainly does that for a while. What you don’t know, what you won’t believe, is what happens over time.
One of the things I heard as a kid was ‘never drink alone.’ I learned to ignore that once I found it was inconvenient to have to find a drinking buddy around whenever I wanted some. What I didn’t understand was that not drinking alone was an amazingly effective safeguard against getting into trouble. Going out with friends has the side effect of them keeping an eye on you. If you drink as much as you want and become insensible, they call you on it. It’s the most amazing safeguard, and one I’m very sorry I tossed overboard.
What I’ve learned is that drinking to forget, while wonderful at the time, has never solved any of my problems. Oh, I keep doing it, but what I’m really doing is adding to the number of things I want to forget. I’ve been digging the hole deeper for years. I started around your age. I was caught a few times but talked my way out of it. My life would be very much better if I’d been called on it, because there’s been so much damage since.
I understand your not trusting many people, not wanting to talk to anyone. I was the same. Yet here I am a great many years later with health problems, family problems, relationship problems, I could go on. So – if there’s no adult in your life you can talk to, find someone anonymous. Call a help line – organizations like the Salvation Army run them. Check this DC link:
http://www.allaboutcounseling.com/crisis_hotlines.htm#crisis10
Some of them are relevant to you.
You have been very smart to ask for help. And believe me, dealing with it now is dead easy compared to what will happen if you’re like me and let it go on. Please do this. You’re on a path I started down long ago, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
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reader, anonymous, writes (9 June 2012): This is verified as being by the original poster of the questioni dont like to talk to people face to face about this, and i dont like counslers. there are very very few people i trust
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female
reader, anonymous, writes (8 June 2012): You are very young to be dealing with alcohol dependence on your own. I urge you to seek out the help of a trusted adult. If your parents are good people and can get you the help that you need, please talk to them. Even if they are disappointed with your drinking, as long as they are good reliable people, they should be able to find you a counselor, doctor, and/or program that can help you address your sleeplessness, alcohol use, and why you drink 'to forget.'
If your parents are providing you with alcohol, or are part of the reason you are drinking, you need to speak with a trusted adult: A school counselor, a friend's parent that you trust, an adult at a church or community group you attend, or even your family doctor.
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