Alcohol Alcohol Megathread

[negrogesic]

I'm a binge drinker and I most deffo do not hate myself.
Why do you hate yourself? Does binge drinking fuck with your life in ways other than the obvious negative health effects?

If something's causing you to hate yourself, I've found the best solution to be the rather obvious one....which, trust me, I understand is easier said than done, but well worth getting stubbornly into sorting out.

Out of curiosity how much do you drink when you binge drink? How often are the binges? Do you not drink on a daily basis?

 

[EphemeralOutlet141]

It's all about that sippin whiskey. I find if I take it slow and drink whiskey with ice and sometimes a little water I'm totally fine the next day. Unless I drink like half a bottle. Usually I'll have 2-3 glasses.

 

[ColtDan]

Hi Bluelighters.

How euphoric is alcohol? I have never been a heavy drinker, and I consider their euphoria quite poor. It doesn't even come close to the euphoria of a benzo or even Pregabalin, which causes quite similar effects to alcohol.

I feel a slight euphoria for about 15-30 minutes and then it makes me act confused and silly. Not to mention the hangover if you drink too much.

I've been a heavy Weekend binge drinker for 16 years. Booze can be moderately euphoric at best. Tbh the best buzz i get is from the first 3 pints. Im bad with pacing my drinks but there is a good Christ fuzzy dopamine style high to be had. I get sloppy Then i drink 8 more..... Why? To end up chasing the mild messy stimulate dissociative buzz and it leads to drunken embarrassment and feeling fucked. Great stuff with stims. Booze is at its best mixed with decent stinks. I've pushed the stuff hard and the worst is drinking off a hangover. The body and brain does not react well to drinking more than 12 hours last week I was puking and had the shakes and in bed 2 days

 

[Jopeth]

I used to love almost to compulsion to drink as much as I possibly could after my first drink, to the point of making dangerous decisions to go get more alcohol. Would usually drink until the alcohol I had was gone or I went to sleep.

Like I said earlier, now I get down 2 strong beers and im just meh...Although during this covid bs being out of work im drinking a couple drinks every day to split up the boredom, but still haven't actually gotten drunk. And honestly drinking so much beer just makes me have to piss so often its a nuisance, so ill have a couple shots instead. Get a couple drinks in me and a couple dabs and Im unstoppable at the new DOOM.

I take milk thistle when I drink, if not just once daily for normal diet toxicity. Is anyone familiar with exactly how beneficial it is? A lot of people swear by it, but I feel like it gives people an excuse to drink more so theyre doing themselves zero favors.

 

[ColtDan]

Hi Bluelighters.

How euphoric is alcohol? I have never been a heavy drinker, and I consider their euphoria quite poor. It doesn't even come close to the euphoria of a benzo or even Pregabalin, which causes quite similar effects to alcohol.

I feel a slight euphoria for about 15-30 minutes and then it makes me act confused and silly. Not to mention the hangover if you drink too much.

I've been3 a heavy Weekend binge drinker for 16 years. Booze can be moderately euphoric at best. Tbh the best buzz i get is from the first 3 pints. Im bad with pacing my drinks but there is a good Christ fuzzy dopamine style high to be had. I get sloppy Then i drink 8 more..... Why? To end up chasing the mild messy stimulate dissociative buzz and it leads to drunken embarrassment and feeling fucked. Great stuff with stims. Booze is at its best mixed with decent stinks. I've pushed the stuff hard and the worst is drinking off a hangover. The body and brain does not react well to drinking more than 12 hours last week I was puking and had the shakes and in bed 2 days

I used to love almost to compulsion to drink as much as I possibly could after my first drink, to the point of making dangerous decisions to go get more alcohol. Would usually drink until the alcohol I had was gone or I went to sleep.

Like I said earlier, now I get down 2 strong beers and im just meh...Although during this covid bs being out of work im drinking a couple drinks every day to split up the boredom, but still haven't actually gotten drunk. And honestly drinking so much beer just makes me have to piss so often its a nuisance, so ill have a couple shots instead. Get a couple drinks in me and a couple dabs and Im unstoppable at the new DOOM.

I take milk thistle when I drink, if not just once daily for normal diet toxicity. Is anyone familiar with exactly how beneficial it is? A lot of people swear by it, but I feel like it gives people an excuse to drink more so theyre doing themselves zero favors.

I've wondered on milk thistle. I've had some stuff which I swear was dodgy, if I mixed it with booze Madre me feel battered after, on it's on I felt wank. Some highly rated ebay stuff. I've now been trying this other stuff which seems to work. My booze tolerance rises faster. Makes me gag when I sniff the jar

 

[tweakerguy]

The closest thing resembling euphoria i get from alcohol is only attainable if I'm at some kind of social gathering, like a concert, rave, house party, etc. Somewhere with a lot of people.
Otherwise, drinking is only pleasurable as a brief, 30 min distraction from life.
Nowhere near even mild euphoria, drinking alone just removes general anxieties and makes life seem "not so bad" for a few minutes. I'm speaking as a "normal drinker" btw.

 

[FuckinAcidMan]

So, I drank for the first time in months the other day, all it took was two glasses of wine and I was singing along with Phil Collins lol, my wife was like, "You can't be drunk already," but I was!

So short lived though. By an hour later I was fairly sober. Society really needs to find a healthier social enhancement drug, the fact that you have to binge drink in order to keep the buzz going is just awful. When my liver was fresh and youthful I loved drinking I didn't get hangovers, but now....even just a few drinks and I wake up with a splitting headache.

Best to keep drinking to a low frequency. I also prefer cocktails now over beer, less substance to ingest, less dehydration and less processing and less calories. Plus a good cocktail can be like 50% alcohol and taste nothing like booze (y)

This whole comment is super on point in my experience. I really do enjoy drinking, but I feel like it's "old tech" with serious drawbacks and consequences. The goal of identifying it's shortcomings shouldn't be to closet it never to be used again but to be realistic about how much alcohol is really appropriate to be putting into ourselves.

 

[SunriseChampion]

^"old tech"....I like that. It sure is.

I think part of my problem is that I'm central European....it may be genetic.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Out of curiosity how much do you drink when you binge drink? How often are the binges? Do you not drink on a daily basis?

I do not drink on the daily. I rarely drink more than four times a month and usually the real binges are maybe two a month.

How much depends on who I'm with and what we're up to. Something like a match day with kickoff at, say, 16:00 followed by a rave at, say 23:00 starts with a couple of pints at home before the match, a good three or four at the match (15$each ffs), straight to the pub for dinner and drinks after where I might have another 4-6 pints with dinner....then we might go to someone's place for a bit and drink a couple more drinks then head to the party and have at least four more. Come home at 4ish and crack open the gin, wine, or some other liquor...then it depends on how awake we are, which is entirely a function of how late it is and not how much we've drank.

So, I don't know.....15-20ish pints, I guess, usually and some wine or liquor.

Wow, living it doesn't seem as terrible as writing it out.

A fake binge might be something like going to the local wine bar, splitting a couple of bottles of wine with a mate and then drinking like 4 or 5 Negronis....and then a pint or two at home.


...this can't be healthy.

HR message: drinking this much is damaging to your organs and causes structural changes to your brain. Don't do it, it's not worth it. Try mushrooms instead.

 

[burn out]

Not necessarily at all. Alcohol turns into acetaldehyde in the body which is very toxic to all organs. Getting fully drunk damages every internal organ including the brain. Even a single time in a month causes damage every time. Contrast that with MDMA... it produces some toxicity each time, yes, but if you take a dose to fully roll, once a month, you're not going to cause nearly as much damage as getting blind drunk once a month.

Alcohol is, sadly, a highly toxic substance. It's why someone can literally die of organ failure in the span of 20 years if they're daily alcoholics.

Having a beer or glass of wine with dinner is almost certainly less damaging than rolling once. Maybe even a daily drink if you keep it to one. But binge drinking is absolutely awful for you, even once. I've been doing it on and off for 19 years and it's hard to say since I've been doing a lot of other drugs at various times, too, but it has been the single worst thing in terms of damage to my brain and body, I think.

What kind of damage have you suffered and does it abate if you abstain from alcohol for a few months? The reason I think MDMA is more damaging, or at least riskier, is because I have seen so many posts in the MDMA forum about long term come downs and serious long lasting issues, often caused by a relatively brief period of abuse or in some cases after a single roll. You just don't see that with alcohol. The Other Drugs forum isn't full of people posting "I drank a six pack of Bud Light three months ago and ever since then I've been experiencing all these horrible symptoms that make my life a living hell".

Of course I realize how bad chronic alcohol abuse for you and I would definitely say it's much risker in terms of addiction potential than MDMA. But in terms of risk of damage from occasional rolling vs occasional drinking, I personally think the rolling is a lot more dangerous.

 

[MsDiz]

What kind of damage have you suffered and does it abate if you abstain from alcohol for a few months? The reason I think MDMA is more damaging, or at least riskier, is because I have seen so many posts in the MDMA forum about long term come downs and serious long lasting issues, often caused by a relatively brief period of abuse or in some cases after a single roll. You just don't see that with alcohol. The Other Drugs forum isn't full of people posting "I drank a six pack of Bud Light three months ago and ever since then I've been experiencing all these horrible symptoms that make my life a living hell".

Of course I realize how bad chronic alcohol abuse for you and I would definitely say it's much risker in terms of addiction potential than MDMA. But in terms of risk of damage from occasional rolling vs occasional drinking, I personally think the rolling is a lot more dangerous.

I think alcohol consumption is so normalised that people don’t think they are damaging themselves during binge drinking sessions and then pass off whatever health issues they have as other things.

I do believe however that binge drinking over the years is definitely damaging to your body. Definitely would impair brain function and the gastrointestinal system would get a big hit from it which then would have a knock on effect obviously.

Alcohol related deaths and injuries are huge!

I was a binge drinker in my 20s, I honestly always preferred drugs to alcohol though. On alcohol I was never in control, I blacked out, made shitty decisions, had a lot of one night stands, cut myself several times (not on purpose, from falling over) which needed stitching and I’m sure shit lots of other stuff. On drugs I was always hyper aware, I never drank when I rolled, I just enjoyed it. I’ve never once injured myself on drugs.
After affects of alcohol too were horrid, hangovers for days, depression lasting weeks, I’ve recently been diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis which I’m convinced was due to that alcohol abuse when I was younger. Alcohol absolutely destroys your gut and gut microbe. I had gastro issues in my late 20s and it’s only been diagnosed now, wait times with nhs can be a bitch.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve suffered the after affects from too much mdma in a weekend and having brain zaps for a week after and being a total mess but that was because I was irresponsible and took far too much.

So yeah in summary, I’d say you’re doing less damage rolling occasionally than binge drinking occasionally.

Here’s a link that’s interesting enough. Some of the linked studies in references are also pretty interesting.

Binge Drinking’s Effects on the Body - PMC

Studies have focused on the effects of chronic alcohol consumption and the mechanisms of tissue injury underlying alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis, with less focus on the pathophysiological consequences of binge alcohol consumption. Alcohol binge ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[FuckinAcidMan]

I do not drink on the daily. I rarely drink more than four times a month and usually the real binges are maybe two a month.

How much depends on who I'm with and what we're up to. Something like a match day with kickoff at, say, 16:00 followed by a rave at, say 23:00 starts with a couple of pints at home before the match, a good three or four at the match (15$each ffs), straight to the pub for dinner and drinks after where I might have another 4-6 pints with dinner....then we might go to someone's place for a bit and drink a couple more drinks then head to the party and have at least four more. Come home at 4ish and crack open the gin, wine, or some other liquor...then it depends on how awake we are, which is entirely a function of how late it is and not how much we've drank.

So, I don't know.....15-20ish pints, I guess, usually and some wine or liquor.

Wow, living it doesn't seem as terrible as writing it out.

A fake binge might be something like going to the local wine bar, splitting a couple of bottles of wine with a mate and then drinking like 4 or 5 Negronis....and then a pint or two at home.


...this can't be healthy.

HR message: drinking this much is damaging to your organs and causes structural changes to your brain. Don't do it, it's not worth it. Try mushrooms instead.

Damn dude that is going fucking hard with the booze on a "proper binge"

Central European you said huh lol

 

[SunriseChampion]

Damn dude that is going fucking hard with the booze on a "proper binge"

Central European you said huh lol

Yeah, it's kind of disturbing writing it down like that actually. I gotta tone it down. I'm glad I quit smoking last year with no issue so I'm half way to ridding myself of the evil combo.
I'm inspired by this old bloke in Manitoba I saw on the new a few months ago. Some centenerian. They did the usual asking for his secrets to a long life and his main response started with: Quitting smoking and drinking at 40.
So, I'm a few years away still.

Like I have an easier time not drinking at all than I do not binge drinking. That's due to the structural brain changes from binge drinking I have learnt. My friends don't help either. They're all just as bad as me, or worse.

 

[burn out]

I think alcohol consumption is so normalised that people don’t think they are damaging themselves during binge drinking sessions and then pass off whatever health issues they have as other things.

I do believe however that binge drinking over the years is definitely damaging to your body. Definitely would impair brain function and the gastrointestinal system would get a big hit from it which then would have a knock on effect obviously.

Alcohol related deaths and injuries are huge!

I was a binge drinker in my 20s, I honestly always preferred drugs to alcohol though. On alcohol I was never in control, I blacked out, made shitty decisions, had a lot of one night stands, cut myself several times (not on purpose, from falling over) which needed stitching and I’m sure shit lots of other stuff. On drugs I was always hyper aware, I never drank when I rolled, I just enjoyed it. I’ve never once injured myself on drugs.
After affects of alcohol too were horrid, hangovers for days, depression lasting weeks, I’ve recently been diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis which I’m convinced was due to that alcohol abuse when I was younger. Alcohol absolutely destroys your gut and gut microbe. I had gastro issues in my late 20s and it’s only been diagnosed now, wait times with nhs can be a bitch.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve suffered the after affects from too much mdma in a weekend and having brain zaps for a week after and being a total mess but that was because I was irresponsible and took far too much.

So yeah in summary, I’d say you’re doing less damage rolling occasionally than binge drinking occasionally.

Here’s a link that’s interesting enough. Some of the linked studies in references are also pretty interesting.

Binge Drinking’s Effects on the Body - PMC

Studies have focused on the effects of chronic alcohol consumption and the mechanisms of tissue injury underlying alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis, with less focus on the pathophysiological consequences of binge alcohol consumption. Alcohol binge ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

But you don't say how often you were binge drinking to have those issues. I also used to binge drink in my 20s and also had GI issues, horrible hangovers, anxiety, blackouts, etc but the thing is if I had been rolling anywhere near as often as I used to drink I would probably be in much worse shape now.

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

I take milk thistle when I drink, if not just once daily for normal diet toxicity. Is anyone familiar with exactly how beneficial it is? A lot of people swear by it, but I feel like it gives people an excuse to drink more so theyre doing themselves zero favors.

Have you seen the price of milk thistle man? I could get 2L of 9% Polish tramps piss or a half bottle of vodka for that money.

So yeh, never tried it... :D

 

[SunriseChampion]

Binge Drinking’s Effects on the Body - PMC

Studies have focused on the effects of chronic alcohol consumption and the mechanisms of tissue injury underlying alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis, with less focus on the pathophysiological consequences of binge alcohol consumption. Alcohol binge ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Fucking hell.....thanks for posting this link. It's a fairly comprehensive overview of what damage is caused by degen use of alcohol. Kinda scary.

I actually quit smoking last year because I kept thinking about long-term consequences and started tripping myself out. I think I should do the same with booze because the effects of my use are beyond disturbing.
I've quit meth and smoking because my use was bogus, I should probably do the same here.

Strangely, I no longer get the acute gastrointestinal issues post-binge that I used to. The post-binge anxiety is also pretty well gone, or at least is usually a very muffled and weak version of its former self.
I think I'm starting to get arrhythmia the day after though which is way more disturbing than the shits.

 

[MsDiz]

Fucking hell.....thanks for posting this link. It's a fairly comprehensive overview of what damage is caused by degen use of alcohol. Kinda scary.

I actually quit smoking last year because I kept thinking about long-term consequences and started tripping myself out. I think I should do the same with booze because the effects of my use are beyond disturbing.
I've quit meth and smoking because my use was bogus, I should probably do the same here.

Strangely, I no longer get the acute gastrointestinal issues post-binge that I used to. The post-binge anxiety is also pretty well gone, or at least is usually a very muffled and weak version of its former self.
I think I'm starting to get arrhythmia the day after though which is way more disturbing than the shits.

Yeah it’s a great study I found ages ago that I saved. There are some excellent studies in the references also if you read through them you can see if any of them would interest you.

Yeah gastro issues are no joke, if I eat the wrong thing I’ll have pain all day and night, if I do it mistakenly now I’ll just purge it because it starts to hurt nearly immediately. Definitely caused by my binging days because it came on not long after and I remember even back then throwing up blood due to stripping my stomach lining with harsh liquor.

And Burnout, I was probably binging every other weekend or once a month. Heavy all night binges. I drank for a full week once every night and had a miscarriage without even knowing I was pregnant. Was taken to hospital for a D&C and discharged myself ASAP and went out drinking again. All due to alcohol, that whole mess.

I started using drugs rather than drinking. Ketamine was a favourite and my behaviour improved from being a crazy idiot to much calmer and more fun to be around. I was also much happier not drinking.

I wish I had found drugs sooner but I was such a scaredy cat and thought I’d have an allergic reaction and die as soon as I touched them. But alas, twas not to be and I only found them just a few years before my son was born and don’t partake now unless super rare occasion when he’s staying with his grandparents for the weekend.

The drink though, harsh on my brain, my stomach, my uterus, my everything. I’m glad I stopped when I did.

And not to scare you sunrise, but to die due to alcohol abuse is an awful way to die. If you can give up I’d say try your best. My father died after decades of alcohol abuse, he basically shit out his insides, was soiling himself Without realising (it was literally blood clots coming out), became confused, hemorrhaged, went into a coma and died. He was 56 and it was horrible. He had previous strokes in Years previous, jaundice etc. He couldn’t give it up, he’d been an alcoholic for decades so he just went on as normal. Just a shame he never got to meet his grandson. Back when he died I thought he was old but now I realise he was too young to die. So if you can stop then stop. I wish you all the best and always here if you wanna chat!

 

[SunriseChampion]

Sorry to hear about your father. It sounds shit. I have a friend who is sort of half dead due to alcohol abuse (alcoholism) and it's fucking ugly. He's finally getting the message though which is good. He's getting married soon and just turnt 40 so he's starting to get serious with his health. His diet will probably forever be nonsense though.
I'm very far off from ever ending up like him though.

See, that's part of my problem too.....I get nothing but glowing health reviews from doctors. I've done full check-ups in the last two years where they test every thing from heart function to liver function to various levels of this and that mineral or whatnot.

I keep getting told "Don't change a thing." hahaha, who am I to argue with medical professionals?

My diet is good, I'm active, and I have no health problems that present symptomatically (or any at all that I know of) except maybe the brain changes that I can feel because after three weeks of not drinking my mind clears up substantially making thought easier. The drinking is like my stupid way of "golden middle road"-ing my health, I guess.

As I said, I've quit smoking and meth (years ago) without any issue and cold turkey, I still have a decent head on my shoulders and I can manage to fuck this off when I need to.

Thanks for your offer of help.


PS: Legit question: does the above sound like someone with a problem making excuses?

 

[MsDiz]

Ah I see, well I’m glad you’ve got good reports from the Drs and you’re healthy! At least you go to the Dr and I’m sure you’d make the change if you weren’t feeling well.

I’d like your posts but I have no idea how to do it. I’m on a phone maybe that’s why I can’t do it?

 

[SunriseChampion]

Ah I see, well I’m glad you’ve got good reports from the Drs and you’re healthy! At least you go to the Dr and I’m sure you’d make the change if you weren’t feeling well.

Most fucking deffo would be sorting it out immediately.

I’d like your posts but I have no idea how to do it. I’m on a phone maybe that’s why I can’t do it?

Fat fingers?