How many drinks technically make you an alcoholic?

Answer 1

The amount of drinks it takes for you to become drunk depends on many different factors. Some of these include age, gender, and weight. Note: If you drink a lot, it will take longer for you to feel drunk. You'll still be drunk, but your body has built up somewhat of a tolerance to it. Thus, it will take longer for you to feel the effects.

Answer 2

It's not how much you drink, it's why you drink. Active alcoholics or those with alcohol abuse problems may show any or all of the following symptoms. Any are cause for alarm.

• Denial
• Excuses for unacceptable, irrational or uncharacteristic behavior
• Drinking alone or in secret
• Being unable to limit the amount of alcohol you drink
• Not remembering conversations or commitments, sometimes referred to as "blacking out"
• Making a ritual of having drinks before, with or after dinner and becoming annoyed when this ritual is disturbed or questioned
• Losing interest in activities and hobbies that used to bring pleasure
• Feeling a need or compulsion to drink
• Irritability when your usual drinking time nears, especially if alcohol isn't available
• Keeping alcohol in unlikely places at home, at work or in the car
• Gulping drinks, ordering doubles, becoming intoxicated intentionally to feel good or drinking to feel "normal"
• Having legal problems or problems with relationships, employment or finances
• Building a tolerance to alcohol so that you need an increasing number of drinks to feel alcohol's effects
• Experiencing physical withdrawal symptoms - such as nausea, sweating and shaking - if you don't drink.

There is a pamphlet available in many AA meetings and at some clinics or doctors offices that lists a set of questions that you can ask yourself to see if you might be an alcoholic. No one else can say for sure if you are an alcoholic except you, but there are some strong indicators. Including the ones above,

1. People who are not alcoholics do not generally wonder if they are alcoholics.
2. A person who only drinks once a year can be an alcoholic if after s/he takes that first drink, s/he doesn't know how many more s/he will drink or what will happen next.
3. If the individual prefers to go to the restaurant that serves the drinks over the one that doesn't ... all the time, never wants to go anywhere that doesn't serve the alcohol
4. If beer or liquor never stays in the house for long. Non-alcoholic people will have 5 of that same six-pack in their frig from last year when someone visits again this year. they never got around to drinking them. But, the alcoholic would never leave them there that long; s/he would consider that to be alcohol abuse!
5. Would s/he consider leaving the bar before finishing a drink? Would s/he get up to dance before finishing a drink and risk having someone else drink it?
6. Does s/he drink more than one drink (or two at most) on any occasion, and does s/he EVER walk away from that drink and risk losing it?
7. Does s/he get tuned up before a party, have a few just to feel good on the way in or just in case there is nothing to drink right away or just to relax him/her right off the bat or whatever?
8. Does s/he have trouble figuring out why other people get so upset at him/her after a party when things seem to go so well in the drinker's mind?
9. Does s/he have times when s/he "puts off" drinking for any reason at all? And, does s/he feel about this? Inconvenienced? Rushed? Frustrated? Can't wait to get out of there?
10. Has s/he ever sworn off certain types of drinks for any reason at all?

I could go on and on. If you drink alone at home, and you drink more than one or two beers, and you wonder if you might be an alkie, well, there's three, Any two or three might be good enough... maybe it's time to find out. You can check your local AA meetings. There's nothing to lose in the process. You can wander around in some of the rooms for a few weeks, listen to what some of the folks in there say about their Alcoholism and see what you think. If you don't agree with what is offered there or don't think you need it, you don't have to go; you can walk right back out the door and never return. No one is going to chase after you or force you to stay. But, it is worth checking out if you want to know. It won't kill you to check it out. But, not checking it out if you are an alcoholic and just continuing to drink might kill you... or someone else on a road someday when you are too drunk to drive but too stubborn to realize it, or when the alcohol convinces you into something else equally deadly or when your body just can't take it anymore.

So, the answer is, there is no set answer. Only the alcoholic knows for sure. It's however many drinks that person can stand before s/he says that's enough for him or her and s/he isn't going to stand it anymore. S/he can make that today, or S/he can make it another day. Everyone quits eventually; some just wait until it kills them or until they end up insane or locked up in jail. The decision belongs totally to the alcoholic and no one else.

Answer 3

That's actually a very difficult question to answer because there's no "correct" answer. Alcoholics drink until they're ready to take a break. Some can stay buzzed or "drunk" for days. It all comes down to the alcoholic at hand.

Answer 4

Absolute quantity is not the point, it's whether you can't do without alcohol.

Answer 5

For some, the fist drink makes them an alcoholic. To me an alcoholic is someone who w cannot do without a drink.

Answer 6

about 12.0 oz

Answer 7

2