Your question is both easy to answer, and impossible to answer. I don't know how badly your symptoms were, and how deep your problem went... "Alcoholism" is a very negative term, and will be called "substance use disorder" in the DSM V. But no matter how you call it, only you know exactly how bad the problem was last time around.

I'm saying this because even if your PN would not flare up as soon as you have a couple of drinks, I do know that quitting a second time can be a nightmare that is 10 times worse than your first quit. I don't know the reason behind this, but the majority of people who have a few drinks after a long period of total sobriety end up in places they couldn't have imagined the existence of.

I don't know the mechanics behind it, but I do know that in 99% of the cases that's what happens.

To complicate things further, alcohol is an incredible pain killer (I almost don't dare to write this here, but it is true). Drinking half a bottle of whisky can take away the pain completely - well, it did in my case... The problem is of course that it's very short lived, and with the hangover comes the horrible PN pain (it will eventually), and the only short term solution for both is...

Please don't take this as "holier than thou". I've been in serious problems with alcohol before myself, so I'm the last one to judge other people, but please consider not going there, and instead try to protect your sobriety. The odds of not getting into serious trouble are just too slim.

You are sober, and your pain is almost non-existent. A lot of people here would gladly give a small body part to get rid of the excruciating pain that comes with PN. So perhaps the answer was easy all along, even if it might not be what you want to hear.