Pregnancy helped save me from alcohol

Alcoholism shouldn't be a disease. The addictive personality of the person is the disease. You don't just "come down" with alcoholism. That requires picking up the first drink.

Alcoholism IS a disease ( and so recognized by the AMA) . There are many reasns to stop drinking. The cunning and baffling aspect of alcoholism is the fact that alcoholics continue to drink or start to drink after stopping for no "reason" at all. Alcoholism is a physical, mental, and spiritual (no, not religious) disease that "centers in the mind and assaults the soul" ( to quote a friend of mine).

I am glad you were able to stop. It truly amazes me how much alcohol is a party of our everyday life and people that don't drink are actually shunned like me. I hope you stick to it, there is so much pressure even on adults to drink.

Addiction is like a disease in the sense that it is a person's responsibility to monitor and maintain it for wellness. Someone with diabetes can't just eat whatever they want - they have to watch what they eat and monitor.

oh and N, alcoholics can actually DIE from withdrawls. did you know that? Probably not.

WOW. I never realized how many perfect people there are! Almost everyone here just seems to KNOW everything!
Please get over yourselves!
Not everything in this world is a choice like you people make it out to be. You have never been in that situation and hopefully you never will.
Just because you have family that was addicted to something does not mean you WILL become an addict your self! My father and all my aunts and uncles on that side are/were alcoholics. Does that mean i am one when i pick up a beer or glass of wine? No. I do drink on occasion but i'm not an addict. I drink maybe 3 times a year. Maybe my brother wont be so lucky when he tries his first drink, or maybe he will.

The tendancy towards alcoholism may not be a choice, but drinking is. Just like the tendancy to put on weight is genetic, but allowing yourself to be fat is a choice. You have choices.

I have to agree with the fact that there is a LOT of judgement here. Unless you have experienced it, you have NO IDEA: what is going on in the other person's mind, why are they doing it, why did they choose to? It might not make much sense for you personally and thank god for that.

A friend of mine has anxiety issues that make it very, very tough for her to leave the flat and lead a normal life. Ridiculous to a bystander? Surely. Makes sense to you? Not really, considering there is not much that can happen to you out there (excluding extreme case scenarios like a bus hitting you, a stray bullet etc etc) but is it a concern and a social handicap? Hell yes! Is it a choice to lead a miserable life? Hmmmm... That's a tough one...

So you come to some moral epiphany, you stumble upon a "social awareness" ad, you are taught about it properly or, if you're lucky enough, a good friend (or friends) helps you out (and DRAGS you out of it in the first place) and step by step you do it. It's tough. And alcohol is a drug, like any other, except for it is not publicly recognised as such. It is addictive. If you're having a crappy time, you want to ease it in some way or another. If you have no other way, you turn to alcohol, drugs, sex- whatever! Life is tough and we are all differently wired (genetic predisposition, social/peer pressure, particular circumstances etc etc) so please, PLEASE, don't judge unless you've actually LIVED it. If you haven't- you don't know what it is. If you jog every day, eat oatmeal, check the level of sugar in your blood or cholesterol (and/or your friends are the same)- fantastic! Good for you and your loved ones! Not everyone is as lucky to have a welcoming, supporting and NON-JUDGMENTAL (ahem) entourage to help.

Anne: If your family has a drinking problem and you know this, why would you ever pick up a drink in the first place? Did you want sympathy? The experience? To fit in? I have trouble feeling sympathy for people like you. I know many alcoholics/drug addicts who come from families with addiction issues that they knew about, were very public and they saw the negative effects of everyday, but still chose to start drinking/ using and of course, got hooked very quickly. They knew, before they ever took that first sip, that there was a family history and a genetic predisposition towards alcoholism and still chose to start drinking. They knew from looking at their family that handling their issues with a bottle, needle or pill wasn't going to help, only made things worse and that the people around them who chose that weren't having fun, but they did it anyway as opposed to seeing a therapist or finding a healthy way to handle their lives. How is that anyone's fault but their own. Grow up and stop blaming your family. I have a predisposition towards diabetes and high blood pressure. I exercise regularly, maintain my weight, don't eat much salt and barely touch processed sugar. Maybe I'll still have these diseases, but I won't contribute to them. Anyone who knows they are predisposed to these things and doesn't take the same measures to prevent them, has no place to complain when they are miserable at 40 as a result of the disease. Not becoming a person suffering as a result of their predisposition towards alcoholism is much simpler than this: don't start drinking. I also have friends who have parents/siblings/other family members who are alcoholics and decided very early on that they weren't touching the stuff lest they end up the same way. They haven't and they didn't. I'm sorry for your disease, but just like most people's obesity/food addiction, it is a disease that you triggered and have a choice in. No one made you pick up that first drink, just like no one made any of my dead friends drink, decide to snort coke, put the litmus strip on their tongue, etc. Some had really tough lives, but they had a choice and they took the easy way out. That is what caused your alcoholism: taking the easy way out of your problems instead of facing them head on.

N: You do need to be careful with what you say. There are plenty of "diseases of the mind" that have physical causes no different than diseases such as diabetes. A person with bipolar disorder, clinical depression or schizophrenia can no more decide to have normal brain function than a person with diabetes can decide to start producing insulin and processing sugar correctly. Their bodies function properly to do so without help. Moreover, some addictions become physical. A person can physically die from detoxing off of alcohol or drugs too quickly because their body becomes dependent on the substance and can't handle the shock. I agree with you that the start of the problem is a choice, but once it progresses, it's not that simple.

I applaud her honesty and the fact that she was able to acknowledge the life growing inside of her and put aside all the negative habits in her. Furthermore she recognized the facts that had been there all along relating to her issues with alcohol and decided not to return to that negative lifestyle She faced issue head on stopping the dowward spiral of alcohol abuse.She has my applause!

Great article! Reminds me of me. I began drinking when I was 14. Just socially, with friends. When I graduated college and began working a really stressful job for the state, I began drinking a lot more. Everyday. First and last thing I did when I got home from work. I changed jobs but remained with the state, and things calmed down. I ended up having to work a different schedule one week (going in at midnight instead of my usual 7-5:30). I drank tons of caffeine and ate sugary foods to keep myself awake and productive. At the end of the week of that crazy schedule, I made a bee-line to the liquor store. I had enough to stock my cabinet. I got home and started mixing a drink. I kept having a nagging feeling to go take a test. Took the test and, sure enough, I was pregnant. The entire pregnancy, I didn't have any weird food cravings. I craved beer. I hated beer before I was pregnant. I didn't drink during my pregnancy except for one tiny glass of wine for a special occasion. Since I had my baby, alcohol doesn't have the same appeal to me. I might have a glass if we go out for a special occasion (so rare), or a beer here or there. I find that I don't even usually finish one glass - I just enjoy the moment and move on. Funny how babies can do that to us.. :) Glad yours worked out so well!

Couldn't agree more, GingerGina!! This story is alot like mine. For me it is hard to think of being an alcoholic as a choice. It is a choice to take that very first drink, but after that it becomes harder and harder to say no. You don't think clearly. You wake up in the morning with a massive hangover so you pick up another to feel better and that turns into 10-20 more. It came to the point where being sober was physically painful. If you have a bad headache, what do you do? You pick up some tylenol and take some and hope it works. Same for alcohol. You feel sick and are shaking and you KNOW that picking up that drinking will make you feel better.

When I got pregnant I was to that point. It physically hurt to NOT drink. After forcing myself to be sober, due to being pregnant, I started thinking clearer. I had been told several times that I was an alcoholic and I blew them off. The more time I spent sober, the better I felt and the better my decisions got. My daughter is now 3 and I have been sober for 4 years as of August 6.

Trust me, alcoholism is not a choice. You hurt people around you and yourself. No one would choose that!!! What is a choice is drinking that first drink.

Wow, so much judgement in these comments. I'm still shocked that in this day and age people are still arguing that Alcoholism and other addictions are a choice. I hope these people never have to see the truth about alcoholism and suffer the way my family and many other have.

Wow, this article is really well written. It hit home for me because I am currently going through some stuff with my brother who has a history of alcohol abuse. He has been struggling to find that something in himself that will settle the question of whether or not to drink once and for all.

Yes, Anne it is a choice. I have had many relatives choose to die of alcohol related deceases, such as cirrhosis of the liver. You could blame genetics . But at the end of the day if you choose to take that drink, it is your fault.

Ah, yeah "N", I really chose to be an alcoholic. So did my father, his mother and a lot of his cousins. Like choosing to get a salad or a sandwich for lunch. Just that easy. This women didn't look at other "non-alcoholics" in jealousy because the disease of addiction prevented her from maintaining control of drinking. No, no. She looked at them in jealousy because she is just a jealous person by nature.
When I came home from work every night, hid in the bathroom drinking, then brushed my teeth after so no one would know; I did it because I like bathrooms and brushing my teeth.
Hey, "N" : Those who don't know should shut their mouth!

But wasn't it alcohol that got you into the pregnancy in the first place?

This sounds almost exactly like me. I know my daughter saved my life. She is my angel!!

ALCOHOLISM IS A DISEASE!!!! For those of you who have never experienced alcoholism, please say NOTHING. My mother was an alcoholic... in turn I was predisposed to being an alcoholic myself. I realized I was a true, full blown alcoholic after about 2 years of drinking... mind you I'm only 23. The constant NEED and thought and obsession overtook me blindly.

3 weeks ago I, too, found out I was pregnant. On September 11th, 2011 actually. And your right... I chose to never drink again, for the health of my baby. But DO NOT for one second believe that it was easy, or welcome whatsoever. It was not welcome because of the disease of addiction. My brain was literally telling me to drink. A part of my brain I had no control over. All of you have said that disease is something you cannot control... I wish you could be inside my head for once second to witness the battle that goes on. The strength that it takes to not drink, and the constant urge that I have no control over that continuously tell me to go ahead and drink...

TELL ME THAT IS NOT A DISEASE

u and they told me after my kid had nothing but im keeping my good habit now