I am new to this subject so I thought I would give you why I posted here and some background info.
I never drank in high school. I had my first beer my 2nd year of college and have enjoyed them ever since. I have never thought I had a problem and I still wonder if I do. What brought this to my attention was a couple of weeks a go I was told I needed to watch my alcohol consumption due to high blood pressure. It has been 2 weeks and while I have cut down I have not been able to go a night without haveing at least a couple of beers. I usally have between 2-5 beers after work each day. My wife drinks wine. We did stop for 2 weeks late last year just to prove we could stop. I do like the feeling of being a little tipsy. II am a beer snob. Anyway I just thought there might be a problem because I cannot seem to stop. I know I will at some point but I thought I would throw it out there. Any advice would be appreciated. I do not plan to give up beer completely and have not had more than 3 beers all week. Thanks for letting me share.

I really don't know what to tell you, Jim, seeing as I've never had a problem with substance abuse (unless you consider food lol). But, I did wanna say that I wish you the best with whatever you plan to do in this regard.

Thanks Jaime!! My goal is to have more nights I go with out than nights I have a couple. I know I can do it. My wife starts weight watchers next week so that will help. In this area we both do not really help the other person. If one of us wants a glass of wine or beer the other ends up joining them. We both have agreed we will cut back. Just wanted to share my situations with others.

Hmmmm, maybe designate certain nights of the week depending on your schedule...that way it's more like a treat than anything else...
Ya know, like maybe on Wed and Fri nights....just an idea

I used to drink after work every night, 2 or 3 G&T's or those yummy Hard Lemonade things, but then I noticed the alcohol rebound become very uncomfortable (wake up in the middle of the night, rapid heart beat, feeling anxious) so it wasn't too hard to cut back and now I rarely drink and only 1 which my body pretends not to notice.

One of my chums was trying to cut back and found it helped to make the beverage of choice not so available...like you had to go to a bar and have 1, or you could change your behaviour patterns around when you normally drink..like pursue another interest you have that is equivalent to the alcohol effect you like. Only drink when you normally wouldn't and the situation may allow you to monitor intake better. My Dad (non add though) went to near-beer and I think he considered himself quite a conoisseur. He's now eliminated it completely, and his bp is much better.

For blood pressure...youmight also drink more water but reduce/eliminate salt in your diet. I did that myself, food tasted a bit off for a while, but now everything unsalted tastes perfectly normal..like it was lighty salted...and the extra bonus is, stuff that tasted good like chips, say, now taste uncomfortably salty! yay!

Anyway, maybe there's something useful there.

You would be the only one that would know Jim. Drink is a shifty devil. It's about as sneaky an addiction as I've ever known. The fact that you've found that cutting back or stopping is more difficult than expected should be a red flag.

There are a couple of key indicators that helped me determine whether I had a problem with alcohol. One was that once I had one the second one always was more attractive. The second was that I could not stay stopped for a year. The third was that it was doing for me what I could not do for myself. I'll leave that last one up to you to define for yourself.

When I didn't drink I was grouchy as all get all. It's such a personal thing to determine Jim, but most people without a problem never ask the question. Pierrette grew up with a drunk and she's paranoid that she's capable of developing a problem. She was having a glass of wine nightly but has now stopped. I think she's scared she'll lead me to drink more.

Living on the west coast I can see how you'd become a snob about your beer. I love the west coast breweries for the most part. I'm a lover of real ales.

On the bright side, the very nature of addiction is defined by an increasing intake and tolerance. I've been to enough meetings to know that there are as many ways to deny the problem as there are people with problems too. How long has your consumption been stable or is it? Even that's no guarantee though.

Bear with me here..
I've read a couple of novels recently that have challenged my ideas about making errors in judgement knowingly. My basic conjecture from these books poses the question in terms of survival. If it helps you to live (or stay living) to believe a lie or support a lie, is it really all that wrong? I've likely not been clear enough to make myself understood. I've just begun pondering this so still fresh slightly under baked. :) I suppose I'm just learning more about forgiving myself some of the ways that have been less than "right" in what I've come up with to "cope" throughout my life.
rambling comes naturally.. ian