[Zeus]

Hi all,

I've been at uni now for four months. When I first started uni I hadn't really drunk much in the past, and like many first year students I'd drink when out a night down town. However, in the past few weeks here I've become slightly more and more reliant on alcohol, particularly vodka. Due to drinking so much, my tolerance to it has risen - I'll now need maybe 3/4 of the bottle to get a full drunken feeling from it. Either way, a bottle won't last for longer than two days.

My concern is how much I'm now drinking. Instead of only drinking during nights out, I'll buy a bottles of vodka throughout the week when I feel like a drink, which is more and more. The main reason I do it is the amazing confidence boost I get from it which gives me the ability to be extremely chatty and upbeat (providing I don't drink *too* much, in my terms). For example, this week I've bought (and drank) five bottles of vodka. I've almost gotten to the point where I'll crave/want some when I know I'm going to be in a social situation. Without it I'm pretty shy and feel like I don't have a whole lot in common with many of my friends (I live in a flat of boys who are all typical boyish guys, into sports etc, where I'm quite the opposite..although we are friends).

After drinking over a bottle on Friday night (in the space of about 12 hours) I recall a female friend sitting me down and telling me she's not the only one who has noticed how much I'm drinking, and that drinking problems can start at any age. I felt horrendously ill yesterday which really had me worried as I don't usually get hangovers at all! I know many people my age joke about how much they drink, but it's quickly starting to become something I'm embarrassed about mentioning.