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Alcohol Advice on lowering alcohol tolerance?

A

amoore658

Greenlighter
Joined
May 15, 2017
Messages
5
Hi everyone,

I did search the threads and did see some results, although I don't know how much the original posters had been drinking, so I wanted advice on my own situation.

I'm 24, 6foot2 and weigh 180lbs.



In 2013 I developed a vodka addiction:
* Drank every night for 1 year. Each night I drank no more than 35cl. This made me BLACKOUT drunk
* In mid-2014, this increased to 40-45cl.
* This STOPPED in November 2014. Was rx Librium for w/d but didn't need them (amazingly)

Since then, I've been a weekend only drinker.

My tolerance climbed around October last year back to the 40-45cl mark, and in January this year, I quit for 14 days.

* After quitting for 14 days, 5 or 6 beers got me PISSED (or 20-30cl of gin)
* Was able to maintain this level of drinking until November when it suddenly climbed again, back to ~45cl

Surely my old tolerance should come back if I go off it for a few weeks or a month?

Any advice appreciated... thanks

(And nope, I've never taken ANY other drugs of any sort... I've smoked weed a handful of times but haven't doneso in years! (yes I'm boring haha))
 
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Sounds like you have a pretty low tolerance based upon you getting black out drunk on that amount. The way to keep it low is by having periods of abstinence. So if you're drinking to get drunk it's best to have at least a couple of abstinence days between episodes. Also not eating and a ketogenic diet will lower tolerance a lot but can cause more severe hangovers. Its best to come up with a harm reduction plan while youre young so you dont have to go through wds when youre older.
 
Hi BurritoJimmy! Thanks for the reply.

That's exactly what I've been wanting to do - harm reduction. But it just confused me as I only drink on weekends how my tolerance climbed - even though there is always a few days between each "binge"

I do agree that 35-45cl of gin is a small amount (at my recent christmas work dinner, EVERYONE practically drank more than that!). So if I take a few weeks off I should see my tolerance decrease?

Thanks again
 
I have been a hardcore alcoholic for about 10 years. I was sober for about a year and a half but have been chronically relapsing since about September. My tolerance remained unchanged after I picked drinking back up in September. It didn't take too long until I was back to square one, arguably even worse. You don't sound as bad off as me so maybe taking some time off will reduce your tolerance.
 
I think the fact that you get blackout drunk is what is causing your increased tolerance eventhough you only drink on the weekends. Some of the increase is going to be permanent from your original baseline if you drink to blackout, this is unavoidable even with infrequent episodes. However, abstaining a few weeks is definitely a good idea and should lower your tolerance since you're young and are not dependent on it yet.

I'd suggest drinking slower to avoid blacking out to avoid permanent tolerance increases as best you can. Also, if you're open to it drinking beer is a much better option to avoid blackouts and tolerance increases, but on you're drinking days if you're going to drink vodka and you know it then just stick with that. Maybe it's just me but if I start drinking alcohol and beer then it seems like I end up drinking more of both. So I'd be good with a pint of whiskey, or a six pack by itself, but or nights where I've mixed I've had 20+ standard drinks.
 
Very interesting about your tolerance never lowering aihfl. Was it ever low to begin with and how much did you drink?

From what I’ve read online I did get the impression it was impossible for your tolerance not to lower with abstinence. That’s what the HAMS: Harm Reduction site had said.

I maybe should limit the frequency of my ‘blackouts’ then.

Anyone else any other stories of tolerance ? Haha
 
Hmm I looked at kindling effect but according to a harm reduction site, to get kindling id need to be intoxicated every day for a long period of time (eg one month or more) and then stop without tapering or benzos.

But since my ‘vodka affair of 2013-14’ I have NEVER drank more than 3 days per week and ALWAYS with a 4 day gap between each episode (I don’t even have ONE drink throughout the week)

It’s all very strange. My friend, who drinks a lot more often than I would, says she gives up every so often to reset her tolerance. Maybe I’m just thinking into it too much
 
Hey amoore!

Had to reply as I think my anecdotal experience could be of use, though it's hardly scientific. Originally, I was what would be called a "binge drinker" medically, meaning I didn't drink every night but when I did, I DID. There would be times of 1-2 months without a drink, then weekends with 12 drinks a day.

After a year or so of doing this, one weekend where I went particularly hard I started to have what couldn't have been anything other than withdrawal symptoms on Monday morning. To avoid feeling this again I would take a quick nip in the shower on Monday and so on and so on, etc. etc. Started to drinking out of fear of the results of drinking, if that makes any sense (it doesn't.)

Point is, during this time, not only did my tolerance not decrease in periods of absence, but my body so quickly adjusted back to the old lifestyle that I could drink at peak binge-drinker levels and even have a hard crash/withdrawal, even after abstaining for a month or more. I found that if it I had a drink or two they'd hit me quicker, but once my mind caught that old 6-8 drink feeling everything else just adjusted.

~Avalanche
 
Avalanche

Thanks so much for your reply. That sounds bad!! What sort of W/d symptoms did you have?

Thankfully that hasn’t happened to me (yet) but obviously the potential is there.

It’s just a bit disheartening reading this all - especially because, according to HARM reduction tolerance can be prevented by absitinence and lowered by time off drink.

I thought the only ones with permanent tolerance would be those that drank ‘’profesionally’’ If you know what I mean hahahah. In other words, all day everyday at insane amounts.

It’s also annoying because I’ve never taken any other drug when drinking! (Except some weed about 7 years ago, which only happened a handful of times)
 
amoore658 said:
Very interesting about your tolerance never lowering aihfl. Was it ever low to begin with and how much did you drink?
Click to expand...
It was low when I first started habitually binge drinking at age 17. When I finally decided it was time to quit was when I drank 1.5L of wine and could not pass out; I was up all night and watched the sun come up. I started drinking again in September after an unpleasant interaction with the police. I have nothing but anecdotal evidence, but talking with people in AA we all seem to have the same story regarding relapses; that our tolerance remains unchanged no matter how long we had remained sober.

HAMS is a good website. I have used their taper guidelines more than once when I was in dire straits.
 
I have not been addicted to alcohol but I was addicted to Benzos for a few years. This is just my opinion and based on alcoholics I’ve talked to in rehab.

You’re alcohol tolerance will never fully reset. It may in the very short term but after a couple days of drinking you will be right back to your old tolerance.

The kindling effect makes it so you are more likely to get addicted again and the withdrawals will be worse. I get benzo withdrawals after a week of use whereas it took 4-6 weeks initially to get addicted.
 
As someone else stated in the thread, in my experience and that of others, your tolerance never really goes away. The only thing I know that diminishes it quickly and permanently is reverse-tolerance after your liver takes a beating, and you don't want that kind of reduction.

As far as my W/D symptoms, I never let it get far enough to risk a seizure or major complication. Following the weekend I mentioned earlier I first noticed a faster heartbeat, almost like I'd slugged a couple coffees (but hadn't). Maybe 10-20 minutes after that, sweating, and another 30 minutes or so and the beginning of the shakes hit me. About an hour later I started to feel all sorts of horrible, put two/two together and knocked back a drink at lunch, a few minutes after which I started to level out.

~Avalanche
 
Hmmm I remember when I was 17, I gradually built a huge tolearce on booze, which fell after I stopped, but was recreated rediculusly fast during my heroin use, when I would drink and take benzos to avoid taking large amounts of heroin as my tolerance on it grew. Same with heroin, when I returned to using after tolerance breaks depenadance seemed to rise much faster than before.
So, it seems to me, that our body never forgets a dependance. If forced, it can snap out of it, but is always ready to return in no time when you return to that substance.
So, since your habbit is still small, stop it from being a habit. I mean, it's ok to drink in a party or a special occation, but drinking on a scheduled basis will propably lead to a growing dependance.
 
its not realy suprising you didnt need librium, though alcohol wd is very serious it takes alot more than that. in my experience as long as your not staying drunk all day you probably dont need benzos, though i have been given them on numerous occasions.
 
Try drinking a glass of black tea (the tea bags you buy at the store) Make sure you get water close to boiling and steep the hell out of the bags (about 3-5 minutes) Drink this a half hour before drinking. Black tea basically cuts your tolerance in half and will get you drunker faster than normal off of a small amount of alcohol. So for instance, normally I would need 6 beers to be drunk and incoherent, after trying this I need 3-4 max! Plus it helps speed up the process of getting the alcohol out faster without harming your liver. So, drink less, and get the same amount of drunk. Win win :)
 
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