What they should do, obviously, is go to a doctor with the problem and see if there's help to get. Not all can afford a clinic, but it should be possible to cut down and quit over time. Cutting down rather than cold turkey until you're off it being the basic idea to keep the withdrawal symptoms from getting too awful.

I can see what a challenge that must be, though, for someone so far into alcohol abuse. Still, years of being addicted to alcohol can really screw up your body, brain included. They should definetly do something about that.

My brother has this same problem, sort of. If he stops cold turkey, he seizes and has gotten into some bad spots before with this. It means he has to wean himself off...but once he's weaned he's not at risk of having seizures anymore. Unfortunately he keeps going back. Now at the age of 27 he already shows the beginning stages of liver failure.

Oh god that's awful. My brothers only 27, it seems so young to experience something like that. My friends parent has damaged themselfs far too much for to benefit from coming off alcohol, which is why they haven't been to a rehabilitation center. It wouldn't benefit their life, and would cause more problems to them and the family, through constant supervision incase of the seizures, alcoholism is a horrid horrid thing. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy to be honest.

I wouldn't want anyone to experience a guy in your living room suffering from alcohol addiction.

It's really horrible to see the way they drink every day and get closer and closer to losing their brains... bad thing about it is that they just won't give it up for anything in the world.

To you who know alcoholics, how are they with alcohol? Do they drink a little every day or is it a lot? Are they often completely wasted?

I don't know how much they drink, but they never seem wasted, maybe its because they have a high tolerance for alcohol, but I've never seen any of the known alcoholics to be wasted. Which is sort of weird. Considering.

It's not so much that they want to get wasted every night or day. It's the fact that their body has developed a need for it, as is with most addictions. Even if a heavy alcoholic wants to go a week without drinking, his body does not agree.

I have one older friend in particular that drinks every single day, no question. Never missed a day the 5 years I've known him. He drinks anywhere between 12-24 American light beers per day. He doesn't act beligerent most of the time, but does end up pretty intoxicated by the end of the night. He does work, so he can afford to maintain his habit, which is equally as bad as it is good. This is by far the worst case of alcoholism I have ever encountered first hand. His body can physically not go a prolonged period of time without literally shutting down. He's in his mid 40's but looks early 60's, has had 9 DUI convictions to date, has done numerous stints in both detox centers and jail/prison and can never legally posess a drivers license or permit in a certain US state ever again. It's just unbelievable to me that alcohol has had such negative effects on his life and he has still never given up drinking.

I never thought someone could become that hardcore of an alcoholic from beer only, I was under the impression that alcoholics that bad off were heavy liqour drinkers. Overall, I think alcoholism is a battle between the body and the mind. The mind may not want to drink, but the body HAS to, and will power prevails.

Supposedly, my brother started drinking at age 14. I don't know how true this is though, seems like it would be hard to get that past parents, at least MY parents. I would say at one time he was a "functioning alcoholic". Had to drink a few beers everyday, maybe a bit of hard liquor. Now he's progressed well beyond that, to the point where he won't be able to get out of bed for a week. We've found empty gallon jugs of vodka and other miscellaneous liquor in his room. He used to absolutely detest wine. Now he'll drink it straight outta the bottle in what seems like one swig. He even drank my mom's vanilla flavoring (she uses it for baking). Two huge bottles...gone.

The sad thing is, I truly believe he is miserable and wants to quit. That's why he just quits suddenly. One day he wakes up and decides he wants to stop...but his body can't handle that anymore. So the weaning process begins. After that rough period, he'll do great for 1 week, maybe 2...and then it's back off the wagon he falls. Someday the wagon's gonna run him over though. :(

Arghh, I thought thee had the scurvy.

It be a foul disease.