sundano68,

Just a word of advice, if you do drink a lot of alcohol, you may be an alcoholic and as you said, there is other family that were, but that is common. Most people have some relative with a history.

I strongly recommend using the AA program to help you stop. Though you may be able to stop on your own that program is soooo supportive. You may find others that have had the same feelings as you and are further along in recovery and can help you.

Remember that alcohol, though it does increase the dopimine in the brain, is also a depressant and actually makes it harder for the brain to produce it's own dopimine.
So stopping drinking is just a start of a long road to allowing your brain to recover normal feelings of happiness.

Getting the help of a therapist is also a good idea. Often there is something bothering you that you may not even realize.

Open Eyes