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Alcoholism Discussion Thread Version 7.0

That is a good thing. I am glad that I never have to drive past where I copped.
 
Although I didn't really enjoy drinking I don't think it's good for a successful recovery. There's 3 restaurants neraby my building and people drink outside most of the time. It's a very welcoming environment and I love our apartment. But I have seriously thought of moving elsewhere. But there's that saying about people carrying their problems to wherever they go. Besides the market is not good and my family loves living here.
 
It's close enough that I can get what I want but far enough that I have t think about it there's a gas station that's closer but they never serve me, I'm only 3 so they feel the need to card me for cigs and beer
 
Disulfiram as a new cancer medication:

http://www.asbestos.com/news/2014/05/28/cancer-treatment-disulfiram/

it also seems possible that it can prevent the formation of cancer in the first place:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23863824

this is not a new finding, those articles have been published a couple of years ago. It seems that the Antabuse needs to be taken with a copper supplement to be really effective against carcinogenesis. Too much copper can be toxic for the body, though, but I'm not sure whether the disulfiram converts excess copper ions to a chelated form that is toxic only for cancer cells.

Of course disulfiram can cause dangerous side effects to some people in rare cases, but if someone's already using it, I hope that this finding gives them more motivation to stay on the medication.
 
Crazy, that is pretty cool :)

... or should I say, rather, interesting. "Cool" doesn't seem quite the word ...
 
Okay. I was worried. I would probably yell at your mom for allowing you on bluelight :p.

Sometimes the more obstacles you put in front of using, the easier it gets to not use.
 
My experience with alcohol isn't a pleasant one.first of all everyone I know who drinks have behaviour issues,temper,violence and just plain rudeness.they don't become chirpy and funny or even pleasant.can be because they drink due to stress,depression of just common problems.I'm not the biggest fan of alcohol because of how I've seen good people become monsters,just like with most substances.I did drink a long time ago I enjoyed it when I was in school with my friends weekends.we were kinda nerds,so abusing alcohol made us think we were bad asses.while our fellow mates did harder substances we stuck to cigarettes(zones)and alcohol.I'd still like to enjoy a cocktail,cider or a nice whisky but ever since I became an adult I can't drink,if I have one beer I have a hangover for 3 days.my head hurts I vomit like I have food poisoning.I don't know why it always happens.I tried diff types of alcohol but end results the same.Has anyone here had that problem?so at any party,game of get together I'm the one playing with the kids,cleaning,dishing up and just making sure there's no fist fights..I'm a 29yr old female who cannot drink.
 
It seems your body can't handle alcohol anymore. With me if I drink anything I get very swollen for days, regardless of the amount or if it's simply a couple of beers.
 
Weird,I use to party drink till 6 in the morning,slept till 8 got up showered felt fresh and party again.this was my senior year in high school.I only drank weekends and never during exams.So I wasn't an extreme always party gal.but when I partied I did it decently and thoroughly.never got sick..guess this is the universe way of prohibiting me from destroying myself..maybe alcohol wouldve been one of my downfalls.still I'd like to enjoy a light beer or cider from time to time.Tried non alcoholic beverages it sucks.
 
^ When you say that, do you mean inability to process insulin or the other way around, or is it something else?
When I think of pancreas what comes to my mind first is how they produce insulin to deal with possible excessive glicosis.
 
My liver,kidneys and pancreas are in top condition.its just I can't drink,I feel like dying after 1 drink,like a hangover from binge drinking even tough I just had one.My head throbs,nausea and I'm literally sick.like I said maybe the universe doesn't want me to drink lol
 
I say go to a Dr and get a check up. Be honest with them. Say you have one been and these things happen. Something I'd def wrong. All is alcoholics say we're allergic t
 
To alcohol but you may.avctually be. Sounds like you're having an allergic reaction to it. Could get worse if.you don't get it checked out. That's my thoughts
 
Forgive me if I touch a topic that has been discussed many times before, it's just that I find there are so many different good opinions on this one and I need a little bit of input. Where do you draw the line between having a beer and having an alcohol problem? The reason I ask is not because of myself as I have sort of started to trust my own honest judgement of myself, but because of another persons problem (which they acknowledge). I feel I have to provide some background first because my question is slightly more specifically aimed than the general way I put it. This person used to drink way too much, way too long from way too early age. End result? Minor cortical deficiency before turning 30 according to MRI. It is maybe the worst part of the brain to have damage in, in my opinion. So I'm trying to be supportive by abstaining myself, which seems to be have a huge impact at least. It's good for both of us actually in many ways.

I'm a little surprised how this wasn't as difficult for me as I expected, being at 11 months now and having only had one drink out of curiosity mostly, which felt like confirmation that I have never indeed even liked alcohol despite self-medicating with it for period of time in my life, so I can somewhat sympathize. I still get the occasional thought that it somehow 'helps' in an undefined way when I'm stressed, but I try to remind myself how it was actually unpleasant to have that one drink. Too bad the memory is fading again. Anyway, the other party is unfortunately not as successful even though I'm really proud of their success so far. I don't judge if they end up having a few every now and then and try to be supportive, help them see negative aspects of drinking and positive sides of not drinking to the best of my ability, as subtly as I can.

The damaged prefrontal cortex is the nastiest part here, as it leads to decreased impulse control, addictive behavior in itself, decreased motivation, depression, poor concentration, cognitive decline and sort of a rigidity of thought. They have very negative thought patterns stuck in their head, terrible self-image (as in even if they get praise from others, they feel like an utter failure) this sort of general belief that they are doomed and life can't improve because healing is impossible for them. We have had many long talks where I try to convince them otherwise, but the persistent negativity kind of caught me by surprise at first, it's not rational and there is no logic to it, it is almost as if they have just decided that this is how things are, despite me pointing contradiction after contradiction in what they do or what they say, which they acknowledge too (sometimes). They are trapped, broken and a prisoner of their own mind, unable to do anything about it but watch the shadow of their former self and hope to be put out of misery according to them. Eventually after being perplexed by the problem long enough I realized I need to approach it from a different angle, the physical brain.

So I tried to explain to them what the diagnosis meant after having read it on paper, white matter and grey matter, how they could look at themselves as not broken but sort of hibernating, that their thinking capability isn't dead but is in fact intact in that grey matter but the white matter that connects to it is dead, and luckily for them, they can still form new connections. Like repairing a broken muscle, the nerves are still there but you have to reinforce the pathways and build back the muscle, and while possible it will take effort and won't happen by itself. Sort of tried to turn their hopelessness into hope by pointing out that it is the passiveness that the brain damage brought that is keeping the brain from healing and that the reason they haven't healed yet isn't that it's impossible but simply because of the insidiousness of the damage that makes it very difficult to instinctively and spontaneously perform activities that are necessary for this healing to happen in the first place.

Obviously, the best results are obtained if they completely abstain from alcohol, but it is understandably difficult when the part of your brain that sort of controls behavior is malfunctioning. I imagine every drink is a small setback under these conditions, but I don't know where the line goes where healing comes to a halt. I would really appreciate studies, personal experience and advice. Complete abstinence is touted a lot and again I would put emphasis on the fact that this would indeed be ideal, but is it an absolute requirement? It's hard to believe in absolutes when it comes to life, because the more you expose yourself to it the less black and white it becomes. Primary goal right now is to achieve undeniable progress to bring about the experience of healing which I'm hoping would be the catalyst for their hope and optimism regarding the future, I have both already when it comes to them but it's very hard to pass that forward under these conditions which is an obstacle right now.

I know that at least part of them believes me, because when I asked them to write me a list of all things they find difficult - and retrospectively I think I was a bit vague because I have to improvise here for the lack of experience - since I intended that we would do things that aren't difficult for them but incorporate aspects from that list to the doable things as a form of therapy, well I got a bigger, better and more in-depth list than I knew how to ask for!

The healthcare professionals haven't exactly been too helpful either, they put the blame on the patient for lacking motivation and sort of use it as an excuse that their hands are tied... Finding a competent doctor that actually cares for something other than themselves is like winning a lottery unless you spend a lot of money, the public sector is overworked to the point that the nurses (who you can get to see much more often than a doctor) are having difficulty remembering the names of their clients because there's so many of them. Doctors purpose is mainly to give prescriptions, and sadly they seem to be struggling even at that because there can be multiple doctors treating a single patient (i.e.a psychiatrist, specialized pain doc and a general doctor). Nobody seems to see the bigger picture even if there are extremely obvious errors, to the point I have to ask them to pass a message to their doctor which medications need to be changed and suggest safe alternatives because the current combination can be deadly. I definitely wouldn't want to be taking orphenadrine, bupropion and tramadol at the same time, least of all if there was a known danger of relapsing to alcohol. It even says in the bloody package instruction that "do NOT take these medications together" but the doctors are very insistent on always being correct, just for the sake of vanity in most cases. It's not medical expertise they apply when they check their computer program for an obviously incomplete list of medical interactions.

Turned out a bit longer than I intended, apologies for that but I really needed to speak about it somewhere I suppose.

TLDR: Where do you draw the line between having a drink and having an alcohol problem, especially if there is long-term damage from alcohol already present?
 
Ever since I got so sick when drinking,I had the opportunity to observe my friends who enjoys a drink at a braai,game or just when we chill.being the only(sometimes I'm lucky to have a friend who also doesn't drink)sober person,I learned a lot.Some people can have a couple of beers,relax talk crap have a few laughs,and even though there's still alcohol left stop and call it quits for the night.then you get your loud drinkers with each glass they get louder more obnoxious and rude.they don't stop until there's nothing left.you get your(what I call power rangers)they have tempers and become violent just craving a dispute or disagreement and fight(I hate them most of all).what I've learned is alcohol is just as dangerous(maybe more)than some drugs out there,I've met more people who's life is in ruins because of alcohol than drugs.I think the line becomes crossed when a concerned party addresses the drinker and they defend the alcohol.they'd rather cover up or blame anyone or anything other than the wine,I think that's the line with every substance,when your out of control yet you defend it like your life depends on it,you bargain for it just to justify using(abusing) it
 
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