Alcohol Is there any way to regain the euphoria of alcohol once it has been lost?

[Troppo]

I am an alcoholic but have managed to cut my drinking down to every third night, smoking a small amount of cannabis on the nights I don't drink. At one stage I was up to 21 standard drinks every night but did a home detox under the care of an addiction specialist in 2010 and had 19 months alcohol-free. Unfortunately I never fully lost my desire for alcohol and so went back to it, but at a reduced quantity (10-12). I would have thought that having 19 months sober would 'reset' my brain but it didn't take long for the old tolerance to set in once more. I would like to keep drinking every third night but the problem is that I have nearly lost all euphoria from alcohol, and I have no idea of how to get it back. Alcohol used to make me feel happy at night, and allowed me to temporarily forget my treatment-resistant depression. I knew it wasn't a true answer, and that alcohol is a depressant, but just having a few hours at the end of the day to unwind and enjoy a drink was all I wanted. Does anyone know of any way to reset the brain so it can once again feel at least a bit of euphoria from alcohol, without having to drink ridiculous amounts (even doing that, I don't feel the old euphoria any longer). Cannabis doesn't really give me euphoria, and too much of it just makes me very anxious. I have tried various other substances but none of them is suitable for night use, as many of them have stimulant or sleep-disrupting effects. The latest experiment has involved drinking small amounts of 2-methyl-2-butanol (2m2b) as an alcohol substitute, and this can sometimes bring about a bit of euphoria, but most of the time I just end up sedated and not very happy, from either alcohol or 2m2b. I know I should just quit and be done with it, but I get cravings because I still remember the old euphoria when I first started drinking many years ago. If anyone knows of any substance or method that can result in regained alcohol euphoria I would be most interested in hearing about it, although sadly I suspect that there is no such method. I think the years of very heavy drinking have damaged my receptors beyond repair. Maybe if something can magnify the effects of alcohol, the euphoria can be regained?? I have thought of opioids but don't want to end up with an opioid addiction on top of my alcohol addiction. If there is no way to regain the old euphoria, is there any way to just relax at night? No offense but I'm not interested in psychotherapy or antidepressants, as I have tried both several times without success, and meditation does not appeal to me.

 

[TheLightBringer]

All things come to an end, if youve lost the euphoria from ethanol and its been like this for months then it will likely stay this way.

Its not coming back, adding other drugs into the mix to feel euphoria is stupid and will just lead to poly-substance addiction. Youll just be feeling the euphoria of that drug on top of the ethanol sedation/anxiolysis, until that vanishes as well.


Only way to truly get it back would honestly be to take a long break, the feeling of all drugs are also generally improved if youre taking care of yourself ie, sleep, diet and training are locked in. Easier said than done when drinking daily though

 

[danosaurous22]

I don't mean to hijack the thread but drinking is such a mess dude. I drank a tall six pack a day for years and only in the last few weeks has it become drinking beer whenever I can, basically whenever I'm not at work. It has become such a mess, I mainly keep to myself but I really fear for the health consequences especially combined with poor diet and sleep and lifestyle in general. I just got to a point where drinking is what I do when I have the time to do it, which could be before work, while I'm going somewhere, after work, in between errands, etc. I hate that quitting entirely seems to be the only solution, every time I try to cut down I'm right back where I was in almost no time at all. It really is a magic bullet for feeling miserable and bored with life, and allows me to force myself to sleep and not dwell on negative stuff any time I want. I'm dreading quitting because I know I will be so miserable without alcohol to take me from one day to the next. But I have to quit or else I'll probably have a severe health problem or fuck up bad somewhere.

The euphoria is mostly gone and I mistakenly replaced the euphoric aspect with cocaine years ago, and I am still locked into a horrific cycle of drinking and cocaine abuse. The drinking is to deal with not having cocaine, and it helps me to just get through the night without it. But the cocaine needs alcohol to help me stay calm and feel its effects to the fullest, so I basically end up drinking a shit ton every day without it and a metric shit ton every day that I have it. I never could've imagined drinking becoming as much of a problem as its become in combination with a cocaine addiction. Plus, drinking without cocaine will lead me to go to absurd lengths to get cocaine once I get drunk enough-- taking long journeys to a dealer, loans, wasting cash-- it is crazy how the two fuel each other. I have never messed with opiates, but the cocaine thing is so debilitating with drinking because it basically gives you these two incomplete pieces of a puzzle that will drive you insane if you can't have them simultaneously. But when you're actually doing it, it's also driving you insane because the euphoria is gone as soon as you begin to notice it (once you notice it you begin to torture yourself and ruin the high by imagining how much higher you could be if you did more). Suddenly the sedative sleep aid side of alcohol has been nullified, and as soon as you get to that point when you only have alcohol your brain will become possessed with a need to get coke and therefore keep you up as long as possible. I'm still keeping it together but I see a train coming towards me and I know I have to get out of the way or else I'm going to get totally obliterated. I had combined the two for a long time too, it just really escalated recently and its tough to slow it down once you've been going hard for a few weeks.

 

[Troppo]

I think I have finally accepted that the original alcohol euphoria will not return, and I'm better off looking at something else. @danosaurous22 I have to say that I was only miserable during the first 1-2 weeks of quitting alcohol back in 2010 and after that I actually enjoyed my life more than when I was drinking heavily. I was foolish to return to it. I tried AA but it just wasn't for me, although I know it helps some. I just used weed instead of alcohol at night. I have to also say that though I am not religious in the usual sense I did say a prayer or two to an unknown God (maybe a God who made so many coincidences in the laws of physics??) and that helped. I haven't used coke and alcohol together but I can imagine what it would be like. I have ADHD and am hoping that being put on proper medication for it may help me to stop seeking euphoria. My existing psychiatrist is useless, as he refuses to treat my ADHD purely on the basis that I have had other substance problems, despite the fact that I was on ADHD medication 5 years ago and never abused it. Time to find a new shrink. I am currently on Parnate for my depression but am slowly reducing so I can come off it, as it interacts with too many other things.

I think what I am really searching for is the feelings I had naturally when I was a kid, before I tried any substances. I always used to be so happy, a natural happiness that was far superior to any alcohol or drug high. I was lucky enough to have a great childhood.

I am going to keep drinking every third night but try to make it every fourth night, then every fifth, until I can wean myself off it that way. I have tried Campral, naltrexone, and Antabuse for my drinking and have to say that it is high time that the pharmacologists came up with some new medications for alcoholism. These three have been the standard pharmacological treatment options for decades now, and are all that are available here in Australia, as well as many parts of the world. I have considered asking my addiction specialist to try high-dose baclofen, as it has been reported by some to help with alcoholism.

 

[danosaurous22]

The childhood thing is very relatable. Something I've noticed when I've abused ketamine, cocaine, MDMA, and GHB at various times (mainly cocaine but there were heavy binges on the others just a month vs years) is I begin to feel certain things I haven't felt since early childhood. I'll feel the breeze and smell the fresh air from an open window and recall memories of specific days where I was a totally different person, and it makes me think about how much life I've lived that I've forgotten about completely. Sometimes it takes me back to how good I would feel on a holiday like Christmas or Easter, or how exciting it was to go camping or on hikes or trips with my family. I believe this is a big part of what I am chasing in drugs, it really unearths certain feelings and parts of myself that I had completely forgotten about. And this doesn't happen all of the time with them, it's pretty rare, but it is such a special thing that in the moment I begin to reflect on things in a way that isn't productive, but does give me a feeling that life has so much more to it than the depressed tunnel vision I acquired as a teen through now. It gives me some degree of hope that if I work hard at improving myself and look at things differently I can be refreshed and joyous in life rather than just looking down the barrel of it, seeing little to no value in anything except the very limited set of tasks and things I do day to day.

 

[danosaurous22]

If I had to expand on that, I think a big part of it is how easy it is to get manipulated by society and the media, and the people around you who have already been manipulated. When I was a child with my family, I really saw the world as a place of endless potential and something that always had something new around the corner or a new way to think about things if I was open minded enough. Then as I got socialized and continued through school I started to just see the bad of everything, and my mind got filled with so much doubt and fear and frustration around hot button issues like politics, religion, the social games we play, all of it. I feel like drugs and alcohol are so appealing to me because they remove those negative reactions to the dogma we're forced into, only for a little bit but they can really spin you out far enough that you aren't concerned with the social programming and feel like you found a good feeling that is yours alone and not dependent on how well you fit into everything. I know deep down though that it is possible to free your mind from all of that bullshit without drugs and alcohol, and that will actually be more satisfying, but it would require me to basically rewire my brain and swim upstream away from all that bullshit without a chemical aid that's become ingrained in me. It would basically be such a huge challenge that it's hard to even consider as a possibility. But that is really all I want from life in the long run, to take the world as it is and not let everybody force me into a negative and limited view of it.

 

[CfZrx]

I basically end up drinking a shit ton every day without it and a metric shit ton every day that I have it.

Is a metric shit ton an improvement on a shit-ton??? #americanprobs

 

[danosaurous22]

shit ton is like 10 beers metric shit ton is like 20 or more. I'm not into liquor and I'm sure others drink way more but I am always sipping on a beer whenever I'm not at work, and if I have coke then I will be sipping on beer for several days in a row without really ever stopping

 

[Troppo]

The childhood thing is very relatable. Something I've noticed when I've abused ketamine, cocaine, MDMA, and GHB at various times (mainly cocaine but there were heavy binges on the others just a month vs years) is I begin to feel certain things I haven't felt since early childhood. I'll feel the breeze and smell the fresh air from an open window and recall memories of specific days where I was a totally different person, and it makes me think about how much life I've lived that I've forgotten about completely. Sometimes it takes me back to how good I would feel on a holiday like Christmas or Easter, or how exciting it was to go camping or on hikes or trips with my family. I believe this is a big part of what I am chasing in drugs, it really unearths certain feelings and parts of myself that I had completely forgotten about. And this doesn't happen all of the time with them, it's pretty rare, but it is such a special thing that in the moment I begin to reflect on things in a way that isn't productive, but does give me a feeling that life has so much more to it than the depressed tunnel vision I acquired as a teen through now. It gives me some degree of hope that if I work hard at improving myself and look at things differently I can be refreshed and joyous in life rather than just looking down the barrel of it, seeing little to no value in anything except the very limited set of tasks and things I do day to day.

I was deliriously happy as a child during my primary school years. I hardly ever had a depressive day, although I had anxiety, autism, and ADHD from an early age (all undiagnosed). The happiness continued into early high school. I grew up with my grandparents and my grandfather Laurie used to take me on 7-10 day car trips around Australian states (NSW and Victoria) looking at railways, which I had an interest in from an early age. We would photograph all the stations and trains where we went, including old country lines that had long been closed. I also had a deep interest in astronomy, chemistry, and physics, and really enjoyed learning about the world and universe and observing the night sky. I too started to become depressed as a teen, particularly when bad things would happen on the news, such as people being burned in bushfires. That really got to me and made me question the world and human existence. I particularly remember 1983 here in Australia, as we had bad bushfires and a lot of people were killed. I think I was oversensitive to everything and had a utopian view of life, which was taken away as I learned of all the bad things that happen to people and animals. I was extremely lucky to have a wonderful childhood with my grandparents, and I never worried about my parents walking out early in my life. These days I am obsessed with feeling that way again. I now accept that pharmaceuticals will never allow me to regain those feelings, since recreational drugs are really the only ones that give genuinely good feelings. I intend to try ketamine soon, or the new esketamine nasal spray (Spravato), for my depression. I haven't tried MDMA or GHB but have been interested in both as alcohol substitutes at night, although I imagine MDMA may stop me from sleeping. GHB seems like an ideal alcohol substitute but it is hard to come by where I live. You need to be young and into the nightclub scene to come by it. GBL was available as a wheel cleaner many years ago but I don't think that is the case any longer.

 

[Pirrracetamol]

A loooonnnng break

 

[KurtAurelius]

I have to agree with everything I saw here, alcohol is a farce and a mirage. Losing the benefits is a gift because you can make it far easier to not drink.

I would use cannabis differently if you can, try making it more medical by researching the use of terpenes and using very low doses of THC with high doses of cbd and cbg.

Safely tweaking the GABA system is a shout.

I use Taurine, Theanine, Magnesium, and a decent list of Herbal stuff.

My favourite is passion flower, hops, and valerian.

These are far more sustainable than alcohol or other gaba drugs.

 

[Pirrracetamol]

My name is otto....and I luuuuuuŕrrve 2 get blotto

 

[Troppo]

A loooonnnng break

I tend to agree that taking a long break from alcohol use may be my only way to regain the original euphoria of alcohol.

 

[Troppo]

I have to agree with everything I saw here, alcohol is a farce and a mirage. Losing the benefits is a gift because you can make it far easier to not drink.

I would use cannabis differently if you can, try making it more medical by researching the use of terpenes and using very low doses of THC with high doses of cbd and cbg.

Safely tweaking the GABA system is a shout.

I use Taurine, Theanine, Magnesium, and a decent list of Herbal stuff.

My favourite is passion flower, hops, and valerian.

These are far more sustainable than alcohol or other gaba drugs.

I too have to agree that losing my original alcohol euphoria makes it far easier not to keep drinking. These days alcohol only makes me unpleasantly sedated, not euphoric.

I have spoken to my doctor about cannabis and she has referred me to a specialist who prescribed medicinal cannabis. This form contains roughly an equal amount of THC and CBD. I have not yet researched the effects of CBG but I will look into it.

I too am interested in trying a herbal mix of GABAergics instead of just alcohol, and in fact these herbal remedies have a superior effect than alcohol. I have tried other GABAergics including baclofen and diazepam and am interested in baclofen as an alcohol substitute. Diazepam is helpful in trying to get off alcohol. I have tried other benzodiazepines but have found that the shorter-acting ones tend to provoke anxiety as they wear off. I ended up having a problem with alprazolam and zopiclone (separately, not together) in that they created more anxiety than they cured. I have read about GABAergic herbal combinations as an alternative to alcohol and there is a marketed combination that is promoted as an alcohol substitute, I think by Dr David Nutt, who has done some research into these substances as an alcohol substitute in the form of a drink.

 

[Troppo]

My name is otto....and I luuuuuuŕrrve 2 get blotto

I spent many years getting blotto from alcohol, up to 21 standard drinks, and a lot more on occasion. I now find that getting drunk is unpleasant and depressing, rather than euphoric, and as such I find that using alcohol in this way is quite unpleasant. I am still drinking every third night but it is now an unpleasant experience, although on occasion it does lift my mood the next day.

 

[moonyham]

For me.. I don't really drink alcohol. Certainly don't make a regular habit of being intoxicated/drunk. I used to drink daily/most days when I was a bartender. At that time, the euphoria of 3-6 drinks was not there. I don't even know why I drank.. social I guess. But these days, drinking so rarely - 3-6 drinks with my friends I get a really solid euphoric buzz and often have a moment where I'm like 'This is why alcohol exists - this feeling!!'.

Between being a heavy drinker and getting to this point I had a 3-5 year(I cant remember exactly) gap where I didn't consume any alcohol besides maybe a glass of wine one or twice a year at a special dinner/occasion. So.. maybe it can come back. If youre anything like me you might just not be able to enjoy it more than once every few months and need to give it a break for a couple of years.

Oddly - I find my daily routine effects my alcohols ability to be a good or bad time more than anything these days. If I've eaten well, got some sun, exercised a bit and THEN have some drinks - boy, they feel really good. But if its been a bit of a shit day, I haven't really done anything, I haven't eaten properly, maybe I could be more hydrated - then yeah, I don't enjoy alcohol effects and its hard to even consume.

 

[Pirrracetamol]

Unless u try buzz light year you be buzzing off ye tits

 

[paranoid android]

Never been a alcoholic but i have been a benzo addict and that feeling you get off temazepam or whatever benzo you first loved never comes back sadly.

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

Yeah it sounds like the party is over for OP, alcohol-wise anyway.

Oddly, I have never experienced anything remotely like 'euphoria' from alcohol

 

[danosaurous22]

It's like almost all drugs imo. When I really reflect on my life I have really ignored just how much time I've wasted on drugs where I get less and less out of them with every use and there is nothing really new or worthwhile since I have abused them so much. I feel like we trick ourselves into believing that drugs keep working the same way after we really go hard on them for a long time. I feel that I've burned myself out on almost every drug, to the point where a break will make it feel better but once I try it again after a break I will get diminishing returns faster every time. Alcohol especially has become more of a maintenance thing, I will feel the euphoria or whatever I'm after when I've had a long day and finish my first beer but then I can't help but keep drinking and I will basically just get the sick feeling, coordination problems, no inhibition, feeling sad or worthless or hopeless. The negative effects get worse and worse and eventually it's just more frustrating than it is relieving or pleasurable. Similar experiences with weed, cocaine, MDMA, LSD, etc. There is always something that feels good or cool about it but it is just never going to give me that beautiful experience from when I could control usage and wasn't going into it expecting anything specific.