I like the idea of this suite of threads, and I don’t see one about drunk types, so I thought I’d step into the breach.
I’m drunk. Looking back, I can see the first stirrings of an attraction to alcoholism when I was around nine. I didn’t really come to grips with it, though, until I was ten…and I’m still not officially “out” except here on the good old SDMB.
Like the other people who have started threads such as these, I don’t claim to speak for all the alcoholics in the world, but I’ll try to answer any questions forthrightly. As Esprix did in “Ask the Gay Guy,” I would like to ask that no one indulge in flaming or religious debate…other than that, anything goes.
What’s it like to be drunk? I’ve never imbibed myself. (Okay, I did sip some communion wine 13-14 years ago when my chorus sang at an Easter Morning service, but I swear I didn’t know it was real wine until my nose was down in it.)
Is it anything like being on that nitrous oxide the dentists use?
Why do drunks so often refuse to admit they’re drunks? The classic, “I could stop drinking any time I want… I just don’t want to right now.”
Where does the rational thought go to? I mean, obviosuly, it’s not there when you’re drunk… but when you’re sober, and ppeople are trying to get you to get help… what makes the drunk deny it?
OK, serious question, that maybe a Drunk Guy can answer.
I’ve never had a drop of alcohol in my life. I’m 22, and weigh 220 pounds. Given my size, age, and inexperience; what amount of alcohol would it take to get me drunk? 2 beers? 3? One really strong beer?
I’m not ever going to drink, but I’m really curious about this.
It’s 6:36AM and I’m still up drinking, but not really drunk. Would you, the drunk guy, have another SoCo before going to bed or not, if you were in my position?
‘Addiction is the only disease that tells you you don’t have a disease.’ You here that a lot at twelve-step meetings. Part of it is simple intoxication. Part of it is knowing that if we admit it, we have to do something about it, and that can be very frighteneing.
The only times I’ve been drunk, I was singularly unimpressed. I’d heard of people getting ‘hammered’, ‘smashed’, ‘plastered’, and any number of other verbs involving impacts of some sort, all through high school, but never did it myself. I did get drunk after turning 18, a few times. It was a big anti-climax. All that happens is you get dizzy and sing American Pie. I can do that without buying grog. You just turn around really fast. Not to mention that getting dizzy by natural means doesn’t cause awful headaches the next day.
The following was pulled from a vague memory (no pun intended):
When a non-alcoholic consumes alcohol, the liver breaks it down into two or three non toxic chemicals (no idea what they are) and flushes it from the system. Whatever gets past the liver (due to absorption through the lining of the stomach and when too much is introduced into the body) enters the bloodstream and slows the central nervous system. Enough alcohol stops the central nervous system. This is known as death.
When an alcoholic consumes alcohol, the liver, during the breakdown proccess, produces a chemical(no idea what it is) that takes the place of natural endorphins (sp) in the brain. This chemical fills the endorphin receptors in the brain responsible for making us feel “good” or at least normal. As a result, natural endophin production is slowed or shut down completely (the receptors are already full). When the chemical supply to the receptors is depleted, and no more endorphins are being produced naturally, the result is a strong craving to refill the receptors. This can now only be accomplished by drinking more alcohol.
A human being with empty receptors is an unhappy human being so alcohol consumption becomes the norm. When the supply of alcohol is discontinued i.e.when an alcoholic quits drinking, the craving to feel “normal” becomes intense. It can take years before the natural endorphins get the hint and begin production again.
Why this happens to some and not others is still being researched.
Kent - I don’t know where you get your information but it is flawed. Nearly everyone, alcoholic and non-alcoholic alike experience euphoria from drinking alcohol. That is why people drink it.
Alcohol is a drug, alcoholism is addiction to the drug alcohol.
Beeruser: I’m on my fourth beer of the night, and it will be my last. The reason is that I live in Kansas, where I cannot buy beer on Sunday. I had planned to buy beer yesterday, but those plans were derailed. Myself I plan to read a little and go to bed early. What do you do when you run out of beer?
ROFL!!! I always used to joke about the inevitable group of people who would link arms in a circle and sing along with this one at the end of the night when I was in college. I used to call it the “obligitory Americian Pie circle”.
I once got drunk in a pub in Dingle, Ireland, and was prodded by my (Irish) companions into singing “American Pie”. (That being the song drunk Americans are supposed to sing, I suppose.) I did my country proud.
