I have a great doctor who specializes in brain chemistry and alcoholism is connected to depression in many people. One of the first questions he asked me was whether there was any alcoholism in my family. It was a manic day and I was talking a mile a minute so I'm surprised he could understand me. Practically everyone on my mother's side was an alcoholic. My mother self-medicated until the booze finally killed her. The thing is, you feel good for a while but it increases depression when you sober up. I was paranoid to even have alcohol in my house for a long time. Now I can have beer or wine (and I make killer margaritas) without panicking. We have addiction issues in my family, knowing this I just turned it into a positive and made working out my addiction. Still, I panic if I don't get to work out for a couple of days. But I figure that's probably better than spending my days with a vodka bottle in my hand.
Cindie
Surprisingly, since my father was an alcoholic....when I got married to a guy who was going to start his General Surgery internship in a month....he made me promise that whatever else...that I would never drink alcohol alone.
That was in 1977.
I bet I haven't poured myself a drink, when alone, 10 times in 33 years. Even when I did, I rarely finished them.
I know I have an addictive personality. My total points on Pogo.com reflect that...

If it wasn't for the facts that too much alcohol will really trash my intestional tract, I don't like beer or wine and I HATE to be out of control....I am sure that over the years, for a variety of reasons....I could easily have become an alcoholic. I have rarely become sick to my stomach, even nauseated..when I drank too much and outside of the trashed intestional tract, I don't have hangovers per se. I have frequently thanked God, for making sure that too much trashes my IT....have often wondered if He made sure that I would have those effects to keep me from making some really bad decisions.