• 💊 OTHER DRUGS 💊 Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Notable Threads 1 Notable Threads 2
    Dangerous Combos Addiction Support
    Emergency Services Benzo Guide v.1
    Addiction Stories Scary Case Studies
    Biology, Pharmacology & Drugs 101
  • Select Your Topic Then Scroll Down
    Alcohol Bupe Benzos
    Cocaine Heroin Opioids
    RCs Stimulants Misc
    Harm Reduction All Topics Gabapentinoids
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums

Harm Reduction How Bad Is Alcohol...... Really?

LandsUnknown

LandsUnknown

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 3, 2014
Messages
1,077
Anyways, just how bad is alcohol for your liver. I know that it's potentially toxic and damaging, and I don't doubt that. One doctor claimed that 3-4 beers a night could cause cirrhosis of the liver in 4-5 years. While I don't doubt that's impossible, it seems like if liver damage from this seemingly modest quantity of alcohol would be rather uncommon or am I mistaken? It seems that there are many people who drink this amount of alcohol each night for decades without suffering any problems with their health whatsoever. I myself drink around 36-48 ounces of 6-8% alcohol beers each night. I rarely ever drink anything other than beer and sometimes wine (vermouth or port are the only wines I really like). While drinking is a bit of a habit of mine, I have never thrown up as a result of drinking since my sophomore year of college which was around five years ago. Would this level of drinking likely end up being dangerous in the long run or would it likely not cause health problems presuming that I don't begin drinking more and more? One online quiz I took called drink aware said this level of drinking wasn't relatively low risk liver-wise, is this accurate?
 
Last edited:
Well your doctor said you could get cirrhosis. He didn't say you would get cirrhosis. There are so many variable at play that we can't predict how your body will respond to that amount of alcohol long-term. You could drink that much and never have a problem, or you could drink that much and end up with serious liver issues.

However, you're doing yourself a big favor by looking into it more. Do plenty of research, and make sure that you understand how other drugs and lifestyle habits can worsen or improve your risk factors.

IMO, alcohol is not a good drug to be using. It's a major cause of many health issues including cancer. If you're just looking for a way to relax in the evening, I would reccomend looking into herbal alternatives like kava.
 
40 oz at 8% alcohol is pretty close to if not more than a 6 pack of beer per night, which in the long run is no good for your liver. Will it affect you negatively? Who knows. Many people drink that amount for decades and are fine, depends on the person. But to answer your question, it certainly strains your liver and any doctor would say its a risk. I used to drink about the same per night, usually more, but I've since quit drinking (2.5 months clean). I would also say, depending on age, it might hurt your brain more so than the liver.
 
Alcohol is VERY unhealthy for you overall(especially your liver) if you are consuming anywhere near the average amount that the average alcohol drinker drinks. Although...at the same time, alcohol has proven to be beneficial in small amounts(especially wine) every now and then(at most a glass of wine per evening).

To get an idea of how damaging alcohol is to your liver...take a look at the prevalence of cirrhosis of the liver before and during prohibition in the United States. It decreased by nearly 66% during prohibition(despite black market alcohol consumption).

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/16/opinion/actually-prohibition-was-a-success.html

I personally have NEVER liked alcohol....AT ALL. I feel it smells and tastes disgusting(like gasoline), especially liquors. I have consumed alcohol on many occasions despite that, mainly due to peer pressure, and vomited every time...even though I only drank very small quantities.
I feel lucky to have this natural "hatred" of alcohol as it causes death and disease to SO many people in SO many ways. It destroys lives....slowly...or in an instant(car accidents). It's ridiculous that alcohol is legal almost everywhere yet it is literally a poison to the human body...unlike SO many of the drugs that are outright banned.

My advice...don't drink. I hate the phrase we all hear so often..."Drugs AND alcohol."....as if alcohol isn't a drug. This phrase makes people think that alcohol isn't a drug and therefore makes them feel as if they have much less to worry about when consuming alcohol as compared to ... say.....marijuana( a schedule 1 drug).
 
LandsUnknown said:
Anyways, just how bad is alcohol for your liver. I know that it's potentially toxic and damaging, and I don't doubt that. One doctor claimed that 3-4 beers a night could cause cirrhosis of the liver in 4-5 years. While I don't doubt that's impossible, it seems like if liver damage from this seemingly modest quantity of alcohol would be rather uncommon or am I mistaken? It seems that there are many people who drink this amount of alcohol each night for decades without suffering any problems with their health whatsoever. I myself drink around 36-48 ounces of 6-8% alcohol beers each night. I rarely ever drink anything other than beer and sometimes wine (vermouth or port are the only wines I really like). While drinking is a bit of a habit of mine, I have never thrown up as a result of drinking since my sophomore year of college which was around five years ago. Would this level of drinking likely end up being dangerous in the long run or would it likely not cause health problems presuming that I don't begin drinking more and more? One online quiz I took called drink aware said this level of drinking wasn't relatively low risk liver-wise, is this accurate?
Click to expand...

I have been an alcoholic for 7 years (currently 5 months sober) as someone has also experiences addictions to heroin, amphetamines, cocaine and benzo's I can say FOR SURE that Alcohol is by far the worst. In all areas: your appearance, personal hygiene, functionality, physical health, mental health etc.

Having experienced WD from pretty much anything you can be addicted to over the years - Alcohol is deff the worst thing to WDfrom (including opiates). I have had over a dozen grand mal seizures due to alcohol withdrawal.. I also have had a TIA. Alcohol withdrawal can kill. My best friend and I went cold turkey on it once. We stayed together, suffering through withdrawals together in a large hotel bed. The second day I woke up to find him dead on the bathroom floor. Apparently he got up in the night to use the bathroom and he just seizured and died.

I have cut myself BADLY while intoxicated. Attempted suicide, ruined relationships and friendships, mentally devasteded my family - all things due to acute intoxication.

3 years ago I had extreme vomiting (couldn't even drink) and severe abdominal pain. I was hospitalized in intensive care and diagosed with "Acute Pancreatitis, complicted by alcohol withdrawal". I was in hospital for 3 months, lost over 30lbs (I was a skinny 120lb at 5'7 before the 30lb loss so I was skeletal. No grow man should ever weigh 90lbs).
My pancreas was almost destroyed causing me to become an insulin-dependant diabetic. My parents were told when I was in the ICU that my chances of survival were 20%.

Due to withdrawal seizures I have broken 7 bones, cracked all of my ribs several times. As a result I have a fractured spine, severe sciatica and two prolapsed discs.

I also have permenant damage to my shortterm memory and word recall (a type of dementia).

Two years ago I became homeless. I sold my body in exchange for alcohol, was raped twice, and gang-raped, and assaulted.
My life was like something out of Requiem for a Dream.

So, taking all of the above into account, YES alcohol deffinitely that bad.

Unlike many I have a happy ending (I hope) as i got sober 5 months ago and my parents let me move in with them. I'm addicted to prescription drugs worse than before but otherwise I am getting my life back on track.
 
I agree with JB; I hate the phrase "Drugs and Alcohol", like alcohol isn't a drug. I've seen alcohol do so much more damage than many other drugs. It is insane to me that marijuana is treated like some insanely risky drug and people are so afraid of it, but they think nothing of throwing back a couple beers or shots every single day.

My dad died from alcoholism, both of his parents died of alcoholism, two of his sisters died of alcoholism, and in watching his brother, another sister, and my own sibling follow in their footsteps. It's a terrible, tragic, lonely death. My father developed korsakov's dementia. By the end, I was just about the only one still standing by him. I spent every penny I had to send him to Hazeldon, and it gave me an extra year with him. I cherished every day of it, but I still only got a year. He relapsed at 9 months, in part because of that thinking that "it's just a beer, it's not heroin!" and having a beer is socially acceptable. Three months later he was drinking 4-6 icehouse beers a day, back in liver failure, look on 60 lbs of fluid, and couldn't live with it. He broke my heart. Three years later, I still don't allow alcohol in my house and I alternate wildly between hating him and missing him with all my heart.
 
Honestly your habit isn't that bad, but when I was in rehab I noticed the long term alcoholics seemed to be in worse health than the long term addicts. It just causes so many health problems. One guy was in his 30s and his legs looked like balloons, I guess from water retention due to kidney failure or something. I have always felt like alcohol was more poisonous to my body than heroin and other opioids, benzos, cocaine.... Maybe not meth but I only tried that a couple times. I always just felt so disgusting whenever I was drinking. Luckily, I don't do it anymore or any other drugs. I just stay on Suboxone maintenance and my overall health has greatly improved. Alcohol is literally a poison, remember that. Just cutting back to 1-2 beers a day would probably make you feel better. You probably wouldn't even get the shakes real bad or anything if you just quit.
 
Most people who drink and smoke daily appear fine because you don't see the people who are dead.

However, it's prob dose dependent.

30 beers can kill you in a night
3 beers might cause harm over decades
1 beer might never harm you over a lifetime
 
It is possible that that amount could cause cirrohsis but unlikely. Like you said, many people drink that much or more for decades and are fine. In jail one time I met an alcoholic who had been drinking at least 12 beers a day for decades, had his liver tested and his enzymes weren't even elevated. He also said he never had withdrawal from alcohol even stopping cold turkey due to being locked up. Other people suffer problems from far less.

If I were you I'd look into kava, It's a great alcohol replacement, and not toxic on the body. You could alternate between alcohol and kava if you want to stay healthy.
 
Ethanol's hepatotoxic qualities are over exaggerated and the liver is a very resilient organ..Aside from liver health, ALCHOL IS BY FAR THE WORST DRUG FOR YOU PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY. All of the research and anecdotal evidence is there bro...You think GHB is the biggest "date rate" drug? I'd disagree and say that alcohol is.
 
I've pretty much tried everything and The closest I ever came to harming myself or someone else was on alcohol, the stupidest things I ever did were on alcohol, some of the worst shape I've ever been in was due to alcohol poisoning and I believe it left me with the stomach problems I occasionaly experience to this day (pancreatitis at worst, stomach aches If i don't eat right). Despite it's thousands of years of being socially acceptable and legal I feel alcohol is one of the worst substances to abuse habitually and I thank providence every time the thought comes up that I simply don't like booze because I'd be screwed cause you can buy it ANYWHERE. Frankly I never found it a very comforting substance, plus the above mentioned history and the fact that drunk people get on my nerves badddddd. Drink like a gentleman or don't drink at all....
 
I think people who who aren't experienced drug users would find this very ironic. People with experience using many different drugs are saying a legal, socially acceptable drug--that sometimes isn't even considered a drug--is among the worst substances you can abuse.
 
EnlightenedOne1 said:
You think GHB is the biggest "date rate" drug? I'd disagree and say that alcohol is.
Click to expand...


I completely agree with this, and there's medical evidence to back it up. Even when we remove victims who report their assaults more than 24 hours after the fact, we find that in the blood of the vast majority of people who report "blacking out" and assert that someone "must have slipped something" to them, there is nothing more than copious amounts of alcohol.

Particularly when talking about women, of which I am one, there is a pressure at group events to "keep up" with the guys. However, the average woman get intoxicated much more rapidly and with a much smaller volume of alcohol than her male counterparts; there becomes even greater a disparity when there is a great difference in weight and muscle mass vs. fat mass. Even a thin, but not muscularly built, woman will have a greater amount of fat when compared to a male counterpart of a similar age simply because women's bodies are built for incubation and have a layer of adipose that similarly sized men, who have fat in "patches" dispersed throughout the body. That greater mass of fat - and lower mass of muscle - plays a role in how any intoxicant "hits". When we are talking about male victims of sexual assault, they are many - though not all - times smaller and younger than their assailants, making them more pliable and sensitive to the effects of even alcohol alone.

Tl:dr: Damn straight.
 
Correlation does not equal causation but despite taking drugs daily and rarely drinking 100% percent of my hospital stays involve alcohol
 
Slow_Mobius said:
I think people who who aren't experienced drug users would find this very ironic. People with experience using many different drugs are saying a legal, socially acceptable drug--that sometimes isn't even considered a drug--is among the worst substances you can abuse.
Click to expand...

They're free to believe whatever it is they'd like. I'm simply stating my own experiences and observations from almost ten years of substance abuse. Who in their right mind doesn't consider alcohol a drug?
 
Thejackal5654 said:
They're free to believe whatever it is they'd like. I'm simply stating my own experiences and observations from almost ten years of substance abuse. Who in their right mind doesn't consider alcohol a drug?
Click to expand...

Exactly. Alcohol is a drug, and it's only legal while more benign drugs are illegal because alcohol is ingrained in our culture.
 
Alcohol is one of the worst drugs when heavily abused but is actually quite safe when used responsibly, that is its paradox. Of course a great many people don't use it responsibly, that's for sure. But drinking a beer or two, or a shot of whiskey is actually pretty safe in comparison to taking drugs like cocaine or MDMA (go to the MDMA forum and read all the people suffering long term come downs, you don't see people suffering depression for months after drinking a few beers lol).
 
Well, that's true of almost everything. Even MDMA and cocaine wouldnt be too bad when used in moderation, but moderation means different things for different drugs. Some drugs a have higher therapeutic index than others, but almost every drug is safe when used responsibly and very dangerous when heavily abused.
 
well my point was that cocaine can cause heart attacks , even in moderation and mdma can cause hppd/ltc come downs even when used in moderation and observing safety measures (in some people) whereas alcohol tends to not cause those unpredictable effects.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top