I cant get drunk...Why?

[kellibelli]

I drink, I get a buzz right away. I drink a few more, buzz goes away.

Sober as a judge, I drink a few more.....buzz is nowhere to be found.

Can anyone explain this?


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" I'm not crazy! I'm not crazy! I'm NOT CRAZY!!" -
Kellibelli upon hearing her furnace was indeed broken, the smell WAS NOT her imagination.

[mangeorge]

I can explain it, kb. You're drunk. :0)
Really, it's pretty common for people who are intoxicated to think that they're not. If you were to take a blood alchohol test the results would be positive. And you're reaction time and motor skills would be impaired. It just takes more for you to feel that buzz.
A word of caution. This feeling of "I'm mot drunk" can be a danger sign for alcholism.
Peace,
mangeorge


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Wow, 00, I made it! :)

[Mr Thin Skin]

::: Tigger's Voice and spelling :::

"You're definutely NOT the kind of girl I liked to date


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'00 - Yeah for us!

[Bricker]

How far have you taken this test? Do you throw up or pass out eventually, feeling sober as a judge (often no recommendation, by the way) until unconsciousness hits?

Alcohol affects different people differently. I'm willing to bet that the more you drink, the worse your reaction times, balance, and judgement will be. I would thus opine that you are, in fact, getting drunk.

What you're not getting is perhaps the only pleasant side-effect of pickling your brain cells: the buzz. And since you don't get buzzed, this would seem a good reason not to drink to excess!

Disclaimer: while not a heavy drinker at all, I am no teetotaller, and I enjoy my collection of single-malt scotches, although not to excess (at least as I see it). So perhaps I'm not the best authority on pickling. :)

Cheers,
Rick

[mangeorge]

Drinking also causes one to leave out apostrophe's, as in the word can't.
Actually, I just wanted to try this; :D
Peace,
mangeorge

[BigRoryG]

I would say that the feeling of "I'm mot drunk" is definitely a sign of alcoholism. Alcoholism is one of the leading causes of replacing Ns with Ms. So there, Mr. Apostrophe man.

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"C'mon, it's not even tomorrow yet..." - Rupert

If you need a graphic solution, http:\\talk.to\Piglet (http://talk.to\Piglet)

[kellibelli]

OK, ONE beer/glass of wine= buzz.
two=buzz
three=loss of buzz
4 through 8 - nothing.

I am sure my reaction time is no good, and I know my blood alchohol wouldnt pass, and I DONT drive.... but where is my buzz??

I only consume more than one or two drinks at a sitting about once a year. I have concluded its not a tolerance thing.

The last staggering puking episode was about 3 years ago...birthday...chasing tequila shots with beer...very wasted.

I dont want to get all pukey, but New Years Eve, I couldnt even get tipsy.

[Bricker]

Well, Kellibelli, it seems you just don't have what it takes to get buzzed on alcohol.

This is not a bad thing, in most circumstances. I suspect a more experienced amateur pharmacologist could suggest all manner of substances, controlled and otherwise, that would fix this... but as I have little experience in this arena, I must demur.

In short - why worry about it? You'll save beaucoup bucks on beer, your dates will see the futility of getting you trashed and stop trying, and you'll never again have to hug cold white porcelain at 2 AM. No expert I, but this seems like a fair trade-off.

Cheers,
Rick

[mangeorge]

"Alcoholism is one of the leading causes of replacing Ns with Ms. So there, Mr. Apostrophe man."
---BigRoryG
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Arrrgh. Ya got me there, Big. I guess the old synapses never grow back.
Mr. Smarty-pants bows out. :D
Peace,
mangeorge

[Zyada]

This could also mean that you're allergic to alcohol. My mom (who I swear is allergic to nearly everything) doesn't get drunk on alcohol, in fact it will keep her awake if she drinks it. When she discussed this with her doctor, he told her she was having a negative reaction to the alcohol and to never drink alcohol again. Which was no loss for her, but could be a bummer for you. You might want to talk to your MD.

Sorry, Kelli, I know sometimes ya just want to get sloshed.

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...in a state so nonintuitive it can only be called weird...

[RTA]

Then again, maybe she's such a habitual boozer that she has developed a robust tolerance; the brief buzz described might being nothing more than an ordinary placebo effect "expected" from curling the ol' armbone.

[Rainbowcsr]

You're not going to like this, but as one who has MUCH, MUCH experience with the fermented 'food of the gods', I think I can venture a reason.

For one thing, according to a recent post, you've experienced some emotional upset. In some people, when they are depressed, they drink and get a quick buzz -- the faster that first drink goes down, the better the buzz -- but then it fades because the emotional depression squashes it.

Probably, if you continue on, you might suddenly get all weepy and upset and cry all over the place or get angary and generally pissed off. Now, somewhat of a bad idea here, but if you're drinking wine, switch to beer or whisky. (By the way, wine leaves a NASTY hangover in the morning if you down a whole bottle.) Wine also comes in various strengths, from sippin' to elephant killer - 7% to 14% alcohol. IF you're drinking a sangria, it probably has only 7%, which means you can drink it almost all night with little results. A port, now, is usually 14% and a couple of glasses will give you a jolt. So is sherry.

A good mood adjuster for me was a beer with a shot poured in it and then downed quickly. Quick buzz and it could be maintained by straight beer afterwards plus, to me anyhow, it tasted quite good.

Now, WARNING! WARNING! You can buy wheat grain alcohol at something like 120% at the liquor store. It will burn with a blue flame if you light it. Added to coke it makes a kick ass drink, or mix it with OJ for a nice change. IT WILL GET YOU BLASTED QUICKLY!! If you over do it, it will make you REAL DAMN SICK! IF you are not a big drinker, then avoid it.

If you MUST try it, try to locate it in a 1/4 pint size, so you don't over do it. I used to mix it with bourbon to give the bourbon a better KICK!! (I also woke up on the floor a few times and not real sure how I got there or when.)

A good rule here: DON'T DRINK ALONE if you want to get blasted to feel better. Get a friend. Drinking alone can get you into trouble, I know. By the way -- just in case, buy some antacids because again if you are not a big drinker, the booze may upset your stomach and antacids help.

A QUICK FIX here. IF you get too blasted and want to sober up, STOP DRINKING, go and get a BIG glass of ice water and pound it down. Then, if you can, pound another one down. The water dilutes the concentration of alcohol, hydrates you -- alcohol DE-hydrates one -- helps flush the system and usually within 10 minutes one starts feeling more sober. (Your blood alcohol will still be quite high, but you'll feel better.)

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What? Me worry?'

[Surgoshan]

Well, looks like Rainbow (hey, do you go to Cornell?) goes to college. I don't have anything to add other than my condolences.

[NanoByte]

You can buy wheat grain alcohol at something like 120% at the liquor store.

Well, I don't think he goes to Cornell. I went to Cornell, and I know students there can get very drunk, but most people who attend Cornell know, even when very drunk, that it's very difficult to get ahold of anything that is 120% anything. Like how high a mathematics do you have to take to figure that out? You wouldn't want to settle for 120-proof, would you? :D

Ray (The proof is in the pudding -- 120% rum.)

Ray

[Imthecowgodmoo]

Maybe you need another cold one...

:::cow god slips KelliBelli another beer:::

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"People must think it must be fun to be a super genuis,
But they don't realize how hard it is
to put up with all the idiots in the world."
-- Calvin and Hobbes
(__)
_\/_

[PunditLisa]

Now, WARNING! WARNING! You can buy wheat grain alcohol at something like 120% at the liquor store. It will burn with a blue flame if you light it. Added to coke it makes a kick ass drink, or mix it with OJ for a nice change.

Nice change, my ass. Not unless you wanted to end up butchered on your own freakin' sidewalk!! My God, the woman's depressed, not SUICIDAL! You must be a --

Wait. What's that? You meant ORANGE JUICE? Oh. Never mind.

[TheDude]

Being allergic to alcohol would be, IMHO, fairly difficult as it is a poison. A remarkable enjoyable poison, but a poison nonetheless.

Actually, what you experience has everything to do with tolerance. Not the tolerance that you are thinking of (which I think is simply called metabolic tolerance) in which your body breaks down alcohol more quickly, but a tolerance called behavioral tolerance. This particular type of behavioral tolerance (buzz, then not feeling drunk) is a warning sign for genetic alcoholism. The rumor is that certain relatives of mine would finish half a keg of beer between them every week without ever appearing drunk.

That being said, I wouldn't worry too much. Enjoy the buzz while you can.

TheDude

[handy]

How a person reacts to alcohol depends on their liver.

You may not feel drunk at certain points but that does NOT mean your blood alcohol level isn't up.

[Eve]

Well, I AM allergic to alcohol—I get food poisoning symptoms if I have even what's in cough syrup or food (yes, even if it's been "cooked off"). Nausea, headache, etc. Even the aroma makes me a little queasy, just from remembering how sick it makes me.

It's not psychosomatic, as friends have tried to trick me by sneaking me food cooked in wine or something similar, and I always feel ill the next morning.

I've gotten used to it, but I have to be real careful in French restaurants.

[TheDude]

Eve,
Are you sure it's just the alcohol and not something else in alcoholic beverages? Some people are allergic to the other components, most commonly in wines. But the fact that you mention that it happens even after the alcohol has been cooked off seems unusual.

Also, some people have stronger interactions with alcohol for biological reasons that are not necessarily allergies (i.e. immune response). Not that this is necessarily what happens with you.

TheDude

[Eve]

Dude,

My allergy started when I was in college, and had to begin taking a certain medication—my doctor told me that an allergy to alcohol wasn't too unusual a reaction. As I'll always be on this medication, I guess I'm stuck.

I didn't start to miss drinking till the last couple of years, when I get home after a hard day and think, "gee, I could use a highball." Guess I'll have to make do with laudanum or opium . . .

[Eve]

Umm, thanks, Surgo, but I think I'll stick with ice cream and a good book.

Or a good man. Which is hard to find.

[Crystalguy]

Pure grain alcohol, if I remember correctly, is 180 proof. That translates to 90% alcohol. Might not get you high, Kellibelli, but in quantity it is almost guaranteed to kill.

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Crystalguy

[torq]

Pure grain alcohol ("absolute alcohol," not to be confused with Absolut vodka, which is less potent) is 200 proof.

It's hard to find because you have to jump through some hoops to make it... you can't just distill it to that purity. It's much easier to find the 190 proof (95%) ethanol/water azeotrope.

Denatured alcohol is basically pure ethanol which has had gunk added to it to make it unattractive as a beverage. Don't even think about drinking it... if you're lucky, you'd just get sick (at least one approved formula involves the active ingredient in Ex-Lax), but there are many different compounds used as denaturants and some of them are actually poisonous.

[ignatiusjreilly]

I tend to remember from high school chemistry (hey - I studied economics in college) that it's impossible to seperate denatured ethanol from the lab. That it's mixed with tne "gunk" (mainly methanol, I think) specifically to keep people from drinking it. Apparently, the very small quanities of the impurities don't affect the chemical properties but are significant enough to prohibit drinking. Am I remembering right?

[ignatiusjreilly]

Not that I have have a boozing dog or anything. Perhaps my post would read better if I referred to "denatured alcohol as found in the lab."

Though on certain weekends it's probably pretty difficult to seperate the ethanol from me...

[Surgoshan]

Eve, try cigarettes or pot, they might not be entirely good for you, but what the hell.

[PatronAnejo]

kellibelli:I drink, I get a buzz right away. I drink a few more, buzz goes away.
Sober as a judge, I drink a few more.....buzz is nowhere to be found.
Can anyone explain this?If you were constitutively unable to achieve inebriation, I would suspect some variety of hepatic hyperplasia (e.g., liver cancer).
However, as you claim the ability to catch an initial "buzz", I would be interested to know what you do for a living, especially if you do not consider yourself an alcoholic.
There are persons who are genetically endowed with a prodigious ability to produce alcohol dehydrogenase in extraproportionate response to alcohol intake (i.e., the more ethanol you ingest, your liver immediately produces excess of the enzyme responsible for detoxifying alcohol. Regardless, I would not be surprised to find extragenetic factors at work in your circumstance.

I find mangeorge's response to be irresponsibly facile:I can explain it, kb. You're drunk. :0)
Really, it's pretty common for people who are intoxicated to think that they're not. If you were to take a blood alchohol test the results would be positive. And you're reaction time and motor skills would be impaired. It just takes more for you to feel that buzz.
A word of caution. This feeling of "I'm mot drunk" can be a danger sign for alcholism.This assessment is both blithe and uninformed.
The likely biochemical explanation, in light of the clinical presentation
OK, ONE beer/glass of wine= buzz.
two=buzz
three=loss of buzz
4 through 8 - nothing.is that you posess a liver which requires a threshold BAC of approximately 0.1% to begin producing abnormally large amounts of alcohol dehydrogenase; once this threshold level is met, the amount of enzyme your hepatocytes produce is sufficient to neutralize most of the alcohol that subsequently enters your bloodstream.
Even your liver, however, can be outpaced by overwhelming alcohol consumption, as indicated by
The last staggering puking episode was about 3 years ago...birthday...chasing tequila shots with beer...very wasted.
It would be dangerous to regard your apparent capacity as a biological gift. As I've previously alluded, your superhuman liver function may result from some derangement of hepatic regulation. Such derangement may arise from a developmentally inappropriate exposure to alcohol or from occupational exposure to related toxins, such as ethylene glycol. Any such circumstance merits careful examination.

[Crystalguy]

Torq is right about the "pure" grain alcohol. Back in my wasted youth, we used to purchase some stuff called "Everclear." I don't remember if that was the brand name or just what drunken college kids called it. It was 180 proof (90% alcohol) and it would cause some really strange behavior.

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Crystalguy

[kellibelli]

WOW.
[b]patonAnego[b] Thank you for a very very,amazing ansewr to my op.

As far as where I work...I work in an office, at a newspaper actually. Aside from inhaling oil furnace fumes for the last 3 months due to a defective furnace, I am in very good health.

(still stunned that I understood what he said)

Kelli