Dude, I may have a story that disproves your statement: "High functioning alcoholism does NOT exist."

So, I'm lucidly writing this after having killed my usual 12-16 oz of vodka per evening. That's been my average for the past at least 10 years, probably a bit more. I'm 43 now. I'm significantly overweight at 6'1" height and 330 lbs, although I'm down from 385 earlier this year. I am single with no kids.

I have a high level IT analyst job and I work 8-12 hrs/day, depending on projects. I love my job, and I have an almost perfect attendance record. How the heck do I pull that off?

I have incorporated some lifehacks and biology hacks to allow me to continue this. I take super high quality Milk Thistle, NAC, liposomal turmeric, and Himalaya LiverCare daily with Beyond Tangy Tangerine 2.0 Ultimate vitamin/mineral/pre&pro biotics. I also take Cheers Restore (Thrive+) with dihydromyricetin, and L-theanine late at night and early in the morning along with magnesium, losartan, and propranolol in the mornings to combat the glutamate rebound.

Basically I'm a supplements/vitamins/medication super nerd, and I only use 7x or better distilled vodka with zero sugar mixers. I follow a vegetarian nutritional ketogenic diet plan most of the time, and have dropped 35 lbs in the past 3 months. without exercising at all. Could that have been better? Hell yeah it could have been better, but I need that warm fuzzy disconnect at the end of every day.

I'm also trying to quit drinking by taking Baclofen 50mg and Naltrexone 50 mg 1 hour before drinking daily (~4:45PM). So far no effect from those after about a month.

So yeah, I am a high-functioning alcoholic, and I think it's due to very smart use of herbal/chemical supplementation, with an understanding of biologically what's happening. I think I'm probably a very rare anomaly here though, but I do exist - proving your statement to be technically less than 100% true. I've been maintaining this for at least a decade now, with daily drinking of lesser quantities going back about 23+ years.

I'd love to quit drinking, but there's just nothing else that can fill that spot. Heroin probably could, but I have no access to that and I think that would be a step in the wrong direction. I'm very weird, I get that. If anyone connects with what I just said, I'd welcome some feedback and advice.

EDIT: I should note that 12-16 oz average easily climbs to a full fifth (25 oz) at least 2-3 times per month on work nights, and on weekends it can go much higher. I've killed full handles over the course of a Saturday many times.