275
Americans who say they drink alcohol remains at record low, survey finds
(www.usatoday.com)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2026
275 points (100.0% liked)
News
38895 readers
2103 users here now
Welcome to the News community!
Rules:
1. Be civil
Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.
2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.
Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.
Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.
5. Only recent news is allowed.
Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.
6. All posts must be news articles.
No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.
7. No duplicate posts.
If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.
8. Misinformation is prohibited.
Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.
9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.
All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.
10. Don't copy entire article in your post body
For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
You can stop right now.
Edit: You guys are right. It’s better to resign yourself to doom and give up. I guess my case was miraculous. Self control wasn’t a factor. No one has ever quit drinking successfully.
That's not how dependency works. Depending on how bad the addiction is, alcohol withdrawal can be deadly.
I dunno... I used to drink pretty heavily (several drinks per night) and then cut back to less than one drink per month. Never felt a single ill effect.
I understand that's anecdotal, and I'm sure some people do have dts and withdrawal, but I doubt every person who quits drinking will suffer severe side effects, just like I don't believe anyone has ever hallucinated pink elephants from drinking too much.
that's not much for a garden variety alcoholic.
You're an idiot spreading an admitted anecdote. Use your phone and look it up before you spread your ignorance to other people.
Alcohol and benzo withdrawal can be incredibly dangerous and medical professionals should be consulted whenever possible.
If people are getting medical advice from lemmy they have bigger problems. And at least I called it out as anecdotal. Go rage somewhere else.
Booze, Benzos, and Barbituates: the three deadly “B”s, merely cessation from which can kill.
Your very first sentence is very correct. "I dunno…" Yeah. You don't. You followed it up with a bunch of "I, me, my" and can't understand that someone may have a different issue than you.
I don't drink daily. I'm a binge drinker. I convince myself that it will only be a few this weekend and go on a bender every time. I can't stop lying to myself. I keep telling myself I'll quit next weekend and do it all over again. Cut back? I cut back every week.
We are the same.
I did 11 months last year and thought I could "reintroduce". It was good at first, I still kept my Fri Sat rule but then it crept and as I watched my weight loss regain and my control loosen it wasn't so good.
Now I'm just trying to avoid going back to my lowest which is like major blackouts and no sleep. Puking.
Unfortunately it will probably get worse before it gets better. I wasn't even a heavy drinker, but when I started seeing shadows jumping and little flicks of light out of the corner of my eyes, that's when I called it quits. Turns out that's a symptom of alcohol withdrawal.
I did the same thing. Cold turkey quit after 15+ years of drinking. Going on 4 years sober now.
That's awesome. I'll get there soon, I hope.
The other horrible thing about alcohol compared to most other drugs is that quitting when addicted can kill you. In many cases special care is needed to ween, which is kinda a thing alcoholism doesn't facilitate.
As far as I’m aware, the only other drug class aside from alcohol, whose withdrawals can kill you are benzodiazepines.
I was in rehab once with someone who had a terrible Xanax addiction. They had to wean him off, and he still had psychotic episodes where he would hallucinate some very bizarre things accompanied by these terrible panic attacks while they weaned him off, not to mention the seizures he would have.
They eventually stopped, but the first few weeks he was there were an absolute nightmare for him.
Hospitals stock beer cans because dealing with withdrawl is too difficult with other health issues.
This is true. A medical hospital can assist but it will be straight drugs and monitoring. You’ll sit in a room with a TV and whatever books or electronic devices you bring with you. Outpatient support? Maybe. Probably not.
A mental health hospital will monitor you and provide the drugs to keep you out of danger. Little room time. No electronic devices. Group therapy. Exploration of why you’re drinking with some Coping Skills 101 training. Discharge plan to include outpatient support.
That special care seems to be ativan, in my area. It's not replacing the poison, it's calming the neurological side - effects of detox.
Everyone is aware there are steps they can take to get free of whatever substance they are dependent on. If it were as simple as that, addiction wouldn't be the scourge that it is.
You think if I could, that I just wouldn't? No. I have been trying for years and can't. I may not get withdrawal symptoms, but the societal pressures and habits drive me back to it.
Only reason I still use Reddit is because of R/stopdrinking... my virtual little AA meeting whenever I want/need it.
I was a daily drinker for 10 years, and the last few were... well if I kept it to a fifth of cheap canadian whisky a day, I was "doing well." 🙄 , I didn't do well most days.
Anyway, I was sittin on the couch one day, thinking about string theory. about how our decisions create little offshoots of different realities, and I thought about the string where I kept drinking, and where it ~~might~~ would lead.
Went into the kitchen, poured out the handle I had in the freezer. I remember looking into the sky... it was so blue.
From then on I only used weed and shrooms. Shrooms for figuring out big stuff, going through traumatic shit from my past. Weed sometimes did that too. Have you heard of EMDR? it's where you just sit and follow a light bouncing from side to side. Well I'd get real high, sit on my Marcy recumbent stationary bike, and play Mariokart on my old Nintendo 64. And shit, I swear that acted as a perfect EMDR machine. I'd be on there dissociating, thinking about shit, making major breakthroughs.
Anyway, this year I finally found the courage to face the trauma from my past, confronting my past abuser, then confronting my parents that ignored it... and you know what? went from smoking weed almost everyday to... not. Like at all. I just don't feel the need anymore. It's crazy. My life isn't perfect, but it's so much better it's nuts.
I dunno. just my own story. Hope you get there someday, brother. I promise it's worth it.
That's not how addiction works.