Early warning signs of alcoholism include, but are not limited to:

* Attempting to limit one's consumption of alcohol

* Anger when confronted about one's drinking

* Feelings of guilt centered around one's drinking

* Use of alcohol in the morning as an "eye-opener"

* Relief drinking, or using alcohol to cope with anxiety/stress

* Planning one's schedule around drinking.

* Negative consequences associated with one's drinking, including but not limited to: legal entanglements (DUIs, Public Intoxication, etc.), alienation of nonalcoholic friends and family, difficulties involving one's professional or school work

* Experiencing blackouts, which may last for very brief periods of time or may be longer episodes

* Drinking alone, or attempting to conceal one's drinking

* Drinking more than one intended to, or having unpredictable drinking episodes

It is important to note that no one incident is necessarily indicative of alcoholism, but multiple or repeated indicators would suggest a problem. Quite simply, social drinkers do not experience problems as a result of their alcohol consumption and always possess the ability to control their drinking. Multiple alcohol screening exams exist, many of which can be found through a simple search engine query. Some employed by service centers include the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), the Self-Administered Alcoholism Screening Test (SMST), the Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADS) and the CAGE questionnaire.

Three rules to live by, to avoid allowing alcohol to creep into your mental discipline and poison it:

1- Never drink when you are angry or depressed
2- Never drink when you have responsibilities pending
3- Never drink when you feel like you "really need a drink"

You forgot some of the real clues that you may have a drinking problem.

• You know the names of more people at your local watering hole than of the people you work with.
• You see your bartender more often than the people you live with.
• Your bar stocks top shelf tequila just for you.
• Your bartender asks you how to mix drinks.
• You dont need to see a menu to order a meal.
• You can send the bar manager out on a search and rescue mission to purchase you booze.
• You know where the bartender lives. because you have driven him home after closing time.

Some additional new items learned in recent field study:

• You have had a bar tab over $1,000 in a single night. You drank alone.
• You know you dont have a problem because you know someone worse than you.
• You wake up next to that person in bed.
• You consider a bottle to be a single serving. The bottle is 750ml of bourbon.
• A single serving will not have much effect.
• The only way you can justify having a job is it pays for the drinks.

While some of you will know I am describing myself, I do not suffer from alcoholism. I am a professional drinker.

loki once told me this was sign of being a professional drinker, it could also be a sign of alcoholism.

When you throw up from drinking too much. Unlike the normal person who then stops for the night. They simpley brush their teeth, or rinse and pop a breath mint. Then go back to drinking like nothing happened. This must be done in a bathroom, into a toilet. It also must be something done in private. If you can't be covert, you are probably a novice.