How much can alcoholics really drink?

[Aeschines]

Now I think I drink too much at times, but the most I've ever drunk in one day is probably equivalent to half a bottle of spirits, or 375 ml. This level, however, will definitely cause me to drive the bus and leave me with a soul-crushing hangover the following day. More realistically, anything more than 4 standard drinks or so leaves me feeling poorly. I'm a lightweight.

But in the movie The Lost Weekend, the Ray Milland character drinks two quarts of rye whisky in one night. Two quarts is 1.892 l. Plus he has about 10 drinks at the bar, so it was as if he filled up a 2-liter Coke bottle with (presumably) 40% alcohol and drank it in one night. That's 67 30 ml/40% ABV standard drinks, btw.

Is that even possible?

I know that alcoholism involves a lot more factors than just volume, but how much do the really heavy-duty, how-do-they-do-it alkies drink?

[gum]

Ex-alcoholic speaking: I drank 1 U.S. quart vodka a day. My weight is 50 kilos [110lbs].

The amount Ray Milland was drinking is enough to give you an acute alcohol poisoning, imho.
Maybe he ate much, in between?


Oh: Don't try this at home.

[TheLoadedDog]

I have a friend whom we shall call Mark -coz that's his name, and he's quite upfront about his fondness for a wee dram or two.

Mark has come over to my house (though doesn't anymore because I got sick of some of his drunken antics such as nearly burning the place down) and we'd drink together. This involved me drinking to levels that are high for me. I'd have about twelve beers and maybe a glass of scotch (a biggish one). Hangover material. However, I'd be sober when we started in the evening. Mark would turn up drunk, and would have started at about lunchtime, or maybe in the morning. He would match me drink for drink, and when I went to bed at about 1am, I'd hear him cracking the tops off cans of beer. I'd wake up to get breakfast the next morning, and Mark would be passed out on the sofa. My movements about the house would wake him up, and he'd have three or four breakfast beers to keep him going until the pub opened.

Even when I was about twenty, I could never doo the drinking-all-day-and-all-night thing. I needed to sleep. Some people achieved it by taking speed-type drugs, which I never did. But others, like Mark, can just somehow do it naturally. He's about 38 years old, and a classic weak-eyed, slurring, ruddy cheeked alcoholic. Strange thing is, he has to fend the hordes of elegant, intelligent women off with a stick. Bastard.

The stories of people drinking litres of spirits a day are true. Some do it every day for years. It kills some of them. Others are lucky. It's similar to cigarettes in that regard.

[Tuckerfan]

Uh, I've actually drank more in one evening than that. Of course, I didn't do that the first time I ever got drunk, but I worked up to that level after years of practice. Mind you, I was not functioning very well when I did that (not that I remember much of that evening), but I did it. Also felt like shit the next morning, and I don't normally get hang overs.

[jovan]

Very minor contribution to the op but I once saw an old poster (c. 1900?) on sale in Paris that read something like:

"Beware! If you drink more than 4 litres of wine per day, alcoholism may be close!"

That's like five bottles.

[Aeschines]

Originally Posted by Tuckerfan

Uh, I've actually drank more in one evening than that.

You drank more than two liters of booze? How would that work?

[Aeschines]

Originally Posted by jovan

Very minor contribution to the op but I once saw an old poster (c. 1900?) on sale in Paris that read something like:

"Beware! If you drink more than 4 litres of wine per day, alcoholism may be close!"

That's like five bottles.

That would be close to 2 liters of 40% ABV booze. Youch.

[Tuckerfan]

Originally Posted by Aeschines

You drank more than two liters of booze? How would that work?

Well, I don't remember the details, but it was an hours long drinking session with me consuming at least one bottle of Jack Daniels, part of another bottle of some other kind of hard liquor, at least half of a 12 pack of beer, and maybe more.

[bat312]

Wrong time to get into this, but alcoholics build up at tolerance similar to all addicts. I personally would be shy to tell you how much I can consume with no/or little morning effect cas you would think I was bragging. Ever see Leaving Los Vegas with Nicholas Cage? As Frank Sinatra said “ I feel sorry for people that do not drink, cas when they wake up in the morning that is the best they will feel all day.” Or some shit like that. It may be a genetic thing, but some people can/or have to drink more than others if they dink at all.

I do not drink HARD booze much any more, but in the day, I would drink 5 to 10 beers with 5 to 10 shots of Jack a night (3-6 hours).

It did not kill me, however it did break up some relationships and dent the car.

[Excalibre]

Ok, so we know now that your tolerance goes up when you drink more. I assume the metabolic pathway alcohol goes through ends up getting more efficient with continued use. I understand that it involves two enzymes, and that they come from the liver, correct?

So how high can it go? Does some people's tolerance never get too high? If you're a real dedicated, sloppy, sad sack alcoholic, how much do you drink in a day? I used to work at a grocery store, and a man would come in fairly frequently, smelling of vomit and alcohol, and buy four fifths of vodka, although I don't really know how often he did it. Obviously some people learn to put that much away in one night. So how high can you go?

It'd be like training for a marathon, only you're sitting still, and you smell worse.

[TheLoadedDog]

Strangely, I feel worse if I drink the same amount over a longer period. So, if I were to have a couple of beers at 10am, another two with lunch, another in the afternoon, one more and a bottle of wine with dinner, maybe a few more in the evening, there are times over the course of that day I'd feel mellow, but I would in no way be ripsnortingly drunk (ie, an observer might not notice anything). However, I can guarantee I'd feel worse the next morning than I would have if I'd consumed the same amount over one evening session, and gotten plastered.

[gum]

Excalibre,

If you're a real dedicated, sloppy, sad sack alcoholic, how much do you drink in a day?

It depends on your weight and gender. For me it was a bottle of vodka a day.
That was: Sleeping - drinking, sleeping - drinking. Until it was time to stagger to the store to get a fresh bottle.

Mind: This was in my last 6 months of alcoholism. Before that, I could function reasonably well.

[Lobsang]

Originally Posted by bat312

Ever see Leaving Los Vegas with Nicholas Cage? As Frank Sinatra said “ I feel sorry for people that do not drink, cas when they wake up in the morning that is the best they will feel all day.” Or some shit like that. It may be a genetic thing, but some people can/or have to drink more than others if they dink at all.

I do not drink HARD booze much any more, but in the day, I would drink 5 to 10 beers with 5 to 10 shots of Jack a night (3-6 hours).

It did not kill me, however it did break up some relationships and dent the car.

Johnny Depp (and Benicio Del Toro (sp?) bolding mine)



I have developed a tolerance for roughly one full (75 cl) bottle of whiskey (I believe that is a 'quart', a term I don't think we have in the UK) meaning I can drink that much a night and still function and seem to be sober for work the next day.


Having said that I have managed to lose some of my dependency on alcohol so that I can quite easily not drink at all indefinately. It means I don't get much sleep, but I probably don't need much these days.

[jovan]

Originally Posted by Lobsang

Johnny Depp (and Benicio Del Toro (sp?) bolding mine)

Nope. Leaving Las Vegas with Nicholas Cage and Elisabeth Shue. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro.

[Number]

Originally Posted by Lobsang

Johnny Depp (and Benicio Del Toro (sp?) bolding mine)

No, you're thinking of Fear and Loating in Las Vegas. Leaving Las Vegas stars Nicolas "no 'h'" Cage as a man who drinks himself to death.

Several years ago I consumed the better part of a fifth (750 ml) of rum in one evening, but two liters would be out of the question. Maybe a very large man with a very efficient liver could accomplish it, but I'd tend to discount this as a Hollywood exaggeration.

[Blown & Injected]

I have been able to get a 750 ml down in a night during the Animal House like college days.

I have a friend that has been at the bottle since the early 80's. I have watched him down a 750 of 80 proof in about one hour and he was functioning quite well. He was pissed when he could not find his bottle. Actually got pissed at me when I told him I trashed it. I had to swear to him that I did it because it was empty.

I bet he could do 2 l in one day. In fact if you show up with the drink he would be happy to entertain you for the night.

[antechinus]

Chronic use of alcohol is thought to increases the number calcium channels in receptors to acheive neuroadaptive homeostasis. The brain learns to cope with the new chemical environment and thus not feel the depressant effects as well.

But wouldnt the enzymes in the liver become less effective at metabolising the ethanol due to impared liver function?

So an alcoholic would be less drunk on the same amount of alcohol, but would be less quick at getting rid of it. Maybe.

[TheLoadedDog]

Antechinus, all the anecdotal evidence I've ever heard is backed up by what I've seen with my own eyes in the case of people like my friend Mark whom I discussed earlier in the thread. This is, on the rare occasion Mark was sober when we'd start drinking together, he would be noticeably affected by alcohol after only two or three drinks, and I wouldn't. but then he'd seem to stay at that same apparent level for the rest of the night.

My layman's theory is that he'd look drunk to me because of his nervous, jittery sober self - he'd now be relaxed, talkative and expansive, so I'd notice the difference. Later on, the fact that he is such a high functioning alcoholic would kick in, and he'd appear to stay at the same level as I apparently overtook him and became messy.

[Popup]

Originally Posted by Aeschines

That would be close to 2 liters of 40% ABV booze. Youch.

Not quite. 19th century wine (especially the cheap stuff your average Parisian labourer would drink) was closer to 10% (or even lower). So four litres of wine would equal about one litre of booze.

Still quite a lot though.

[biddee]

My fiance who is a recovering alcoholic would drink 1/2 a bottle of rum or vodka before his friends arrived and then share another 2 bottles between 3 of them. That was before going out. He would go on 3 day benders where he would not eat or sleep, just drink constantly (and be functioning).

He would then come to my house to sleep it off (this was before we were going out, just friends). It was not pretty, but apart from being broke and beggin us for money for drink, he acted pretty much like he does now when he goes out and doesn't drink at all. Of course, he didn't have a job or a girlfriend then and his friends kinda disowned him, but then he went to rehab and now he has all of the above plus a beautiful 6 month old baby girl

[Achilles]

Originally Posted by Popup

19th century wine ... was closer to 10% (or even lower)

I don't usually do this, but could you please post a quote, or link to a quote, to back up this claim.

Thanks !

[Popup]

Originally Posted by Achilles

I don't usually do this, but could you please post a quote, or link to a quote, to back up this claim.

I believe I read it in On food anc Cooking, but I've been looking online for a confirmation now, without success.

It's possible that I'm getting confused with the wine of the ancients, which certainly was made from much more acidic grapes than today, and concequently less alcoholic.

However, Even today the cheaper 'vin de table' are about 10% (by volume).

[Achilles]

Originally Posted by Popup

I believe I read it in On food anc Cooking, but I've been looking online for a confirmation now, without success.

It's possible that I'm getting confused with the wine of the ancients, which certainly was made from much more acidic grapes than today, and concequently less alcoholic.

However, Even today the cheaper 'vin de table' are about 10% (by volume).

No problem.

[ticker]

The late, great Art Pepper claimed in his autobiography, Straight Life, that in one period of his life he consumed 2 gallons of red wine daily, just in order to get 'straight' enough to search out his next heroin fix.

[FilmGeek]

In my experience with Ardred working at liquor stores, one can drink more than that and still function enough to get back to the store for another bottle.

At his last job, he had one customer who would come in to the store twice a day and buy one or two fifths (750 ml?) of vodka (the really cheap stuff) each trip. He was riding his granddaughter's bicycle (made for a 10 year old, pink streamers, etc) because his daughter took the keys to the car.

I'm glad I didn't get that particular gene.

[cdnguy]

I'm not an alcohocic and rarely get rip roaring drunk anymore. However that amount of liquor doesn't seem like all that much to me. One birthday of mine I first went to a keg party, and had about 8 beers. Then we decided to go to the bar, a little hole in the wall type place that wasn't shy about serving you beyond the legal limits. I drank, according to my friends, 26 shots of tequila 3 shots of ameratto (sp?), and around 4-6 rye and gingers. I was very very drunk, and was eventually cutoff, the first and only time anyone we know has been cut off at this bar. So thats around 33 shots and 8 beers, no food in between.

[Skully]

When I used to work at a liquor store a woman came in and bought a magnum bottle of Georgi Vodka ($12 +tax) or 1.75ml. The guy with me on the counter asked her if it would last her the weekend, she said that she would be lucky if it lasted her the night. I hope she had friends over her house that night.

Another guy that worked in my store could finish of a liter bottle of Jose Cuervo or any liter bottle of vodka that was smooth enough.

[gum]

Originally posted by Filmgeek

I'm glad I didn't get that particular gene.

That's interesting that you should mention that. And you're right, ofcourse, about being glad you're not an alcoholic. After all my years of experience [hehehe] and studies about this subject, we're still not sure if it's in your genes, or a lack of an enzyme in the brain. But this is a hijack. Sorry 'bout that.

And I recognize the bicycle story. Only, I fell off of the darn thing too often, so I had to walk.


Oh, and I'm not gonna preach here. Eat, drink and be merry, and all that. Just realize years of heavy drinking - and I mean heavy - did ruin most of my innards and made my face look like one of Picasso's later works.

But then again: Maybe you guys don't have those genes / are the proud owners of the correct enzyme. In that case: Have a drink on me.

[/hijack]

[Bewildebeest]

Originally Posted by Excalibre

It'd be like training for a marathon, only you're sitting still, and you smell worse.

You've obviously never sat on the bus after a marathon.

[Cisco]

One of my dad's best friends drank 120 beers a day, combined with cocaine and other drugs, for the last couple months he was alive. Of course, he was a mountain of a man; strongest man in the southeastern US for several years.

I've seen my brother drink over 100 beers in one night and he's not an alcoholic at all. He also happens to be a monster though, at 6'7" 275lbs, and while not an alcoholic, he was in the Marines, which gave him some good practice.

I'm sure these are exceptions but not incredibly rare exceptions.

[quicken78]

Originally Posted by Cisco

One of my dad's best friends drank 120 beers a day, combined with cocaine and other drugs, for the last couple months he was alive. Of course, he was a mountain of a man; strongest man in the southeastern US for several years.

I've seen my brother drink over 100 beers in one night and he's not an alcoholic at all. He also happens to be a monster though, at 6'7" 275lbs, and while not an alcoholic, he was in the Marines, which gave him some good practice.

I'm sure these are exceptions but not incredibly rare exceptions.

[Joke]

What's the similarity between American beer and making love in a canoe

Answer: F*cking close to water

[/Joke]

However, from this site: http://www.realbeer.com/edu/health/calories.php

even the low end alcohol content for watery beers like Bud is about 4.0%

120 * 4.0% * 330 ml (small can) = 1584 ml of alcohol = 1.584 liters of pure alcohol = 4.0 Liters of 40% ABV.

I call BS. Sorry Cisco

[Cisco]

You can call BS and I have absolutely no way to prove it. All I can say is that I've never lied on this board before and I have absolutely no motivation for doing so.

About the closest thing I could get to a cite is anecdotal stories of Andre the Giant drinking 100+ beers and not catching a buzz.

[Cisco]

Originally Posted by quicken78

120 * 4.0% * 330 ml (small can) = 1584 ml of alcohol = 1.584 liters of pure alcohol = 4.0 Liters of 40% ABV.[/b]

Wait, I just reread this line. You can't believe 4 litres of 40% ABV a day by a 300+lb extreme alcoholic? It's not even nearly as far-fetched as it seems once you put it in these terms.

A guy that lived with me in high school drank a half gallon of rum before school one morning. He got kicked out of school and felt horrible for a couple of days but if a 170lb 17 year old kid can drink a half gallon in an hour then a 300lb 40 year old drinking a gallon in 24 hours sounds almost like child's play.

[quicken78]

Originally Posted by Cisco

You can call BS and I have absolutely no way to prove it. All I can say is that I've never lied on this board before and I have absolutely no motivation for doing so.

About the closest thing I could get to a cite is anecdotal stories of Andre the Giant drinking 100+ beers and not catching a buzz.

I am not saying you are lying. I am just saying that it sounds a bit like one of those exaggerated stories about 'some guy I knew who drank' that always surround discussions like this.

You weren't the first post in this thread that made me think of this, just the last one. Sorry to pick on you but I really haven't seen much substance in the responses to the OP except from, perhaps, [b] gum [/gum] and all the posters that actually have done it themselves. There is no way of demonstrating that they are/were the 'serious, heavy duty alchies' though (except for the fact that one thinks, 'My! That is a lot')

Perhaps the OP could be rephrased as 'What blood alcohol level can a given individual tolerate above which there is a 90% chance that it would result in severe long term damage or death from drinking during a 24 hour period?'. That should give you an idea about the upper tolerance limit of the serious alchoholics. Anyone know the answer to this?

Sorry Cisco . Perhaps I am being pedantic but this doesn't seem to the greatest thread on the SDMB in spite of the interesting OP.

[quicken78]

Sorry for the screwed up formatting on that last thread. Really must press 'Preview'!!

[Kalhoun]

My once 120 lb. sister-in-law drank a half gallon of vodka nearly every day for around ten years.

After she recovered from her coma, she got fat, her hair fell out, her skin became jaundiced, she lost all her teeth, developed acites (sp), had a shunt installed in her abdomen, was put on the liver transplant list, alienated most of her friends and family at one time or another... and then she died. Only 42 years old.

[Lobsang]

Originally Posted by quicken78

Sorry for the screwed up formatting on that last thread. Really must press 'Preview'!!

Interesting mistake, using the word 'gum' as part of some code. I love it when the brain malfunctions like that (adding a word from one train of thought to the actions of another)

[Mister Rik]

I can't match some of these stories, but, when I was at my peak of drinking, in the year of so before I quit, I was drinking at least 12 beers every single night, usually more. I was limited more by finances than anything else - I couldn't afford more than that. I would still be mostly functional after 12 beers.

[BurnMeUp]

I'm fairly certain i could polish off 2 litres. I don't drink often but when i do (I mean drinking, not a cocktail with dinner) I usually can polish off a litre in a 6 hour period with no serious ill effects the next mornign and only a minor intoxication. (Note: this is done with an evening at home... no driving involved).

I could probably finish off 2 litres and be a bit the worse for wear and have a bit of a hangover.

[dotchan]

Anecdotal, second hand information, so take with a grain of salt. (Like a martini! )

Guy was pulled over, passed all the sobriety tests, but the breath test revealed that he actually had 0.5 blood alcohol.

(My brother told me this story, and I asked him to repeat that last number several times. He said, very emphatically, that "half of his blood was alcohol". Of course, I was still skeptical of this conclusion, but I'm passing it on to you Dopers for your perusal.)

[JohnM]

dotchan, I don't doubt the number, as a small woman drinking 10 drinks in an hour can get to 0.5, but that is 1/2 of 1 percent blood alchohol concentration, not 50 percent.

[JohnM]

By the way, this page at Rutgers says that the LD:50 for alcohol is in the 0.40 to 0.50 range. That means that half of a group with that blood alchohol level would be expected to die of acute alchohol poisoning.

[gum]

Interesting read, that Rutger's page. JohnM. Thanks.

From that site: To place this in perspective, a 100-pound woman or man who consumed 9-10 standard drinks, respectively, in less than an hour would be in the LD[Lethal Dose]:50 range. A 200-pound man would have to consume about 5-6 drinks per hour for 4 hours to reach the LD:50.

Kalhoun, I'm sorry about your loss. Alcoholics are often egoïsts. I hope your brother wasn't hurt too much, by her death.
I guess I'm lucky.[?] I stopped in time. I still weigh 50 kilos.

Lobsang, I'm a code?

[Kalhoun]

Originally Posted by gum

Interesting read, that Rutger's page. JohnM. Thanks.

From that site: To place this in perspective, a 100-pound woman or man who consumed 9-10 standard drinks, respectively, in less than an hour would be in the LD[Lethal Dose]:50 range. A 200-pound man would have to consume about 5-6 drinks per hour for 4 hours to reach the LD:50.

Kalhoun, I'm sorry about your loss. Alcoholics are often egoïsts. I hope your brother wasn't hurt too much, by her death.
I guess I'm lucky.[?] I stopped in time. I still weigh 50 kilos.

Lobsang, I'm a code?

It was my husband's sister. It hurt everyone, but we all saw it coming. She didn't have anything else in her life but the booze. And her husband. She didn't have a job, hobbies, self-esteem...nothing. It was really quite sad. She had a heart of gold, but didn't see herself as worthy of a happy life.

[FlippyFly]

I have a question about all this drunkeness, specifically BAC, blood alcohol content. This is all theoretical.

I go out as a 150 lb. male who went to a big ten state school and drank my fair share, and I go out with a 150 lb. male who went to a private religeous school and didn't drink a drop in his life.

Now we both have foiur beers (he has decided to change his ways). Obviously, I am just starting to get tipsy, but my non-drinking buddy is drunk.

Later, we get pulled over by the cops, and they give us the breath-a-lizer.

Would you expect us each to have the same BAC reading of .15 (we had the same amount of alcohol, same amount of blood, after all) or would he be at .15 and I would come in at .05?

Basically, I am asking if tollerance means your body gets the alcohol out of your system faster, or if it means your body is better able to deal with it in your system? In a round-about way, is BAC a direct measure of intoxication?

[pakrat22]

Before I quit completely I could hit a pretty good consumption level. My brother tried a slow suicide (ala Vegas) by attempting to drink himself to death. We saved him, but barely. In his case it all beer but lots of it and very little, if any, food for a fairly long period of time (approx. 6 months).

I've witnessed some prodigious (and really stupid) drinking feats. I quit quite a while back because it seemed like everyone in my family was boozing to the point of self destructive behavior, myself included. it's a decision I'll never regret.

[zeus713]

I can drink a quart of vodka a day over a 10 hour time frame and not have a hangover. I got alcohol poisoning once. Scared the shit out of my family. That sucked but I convinced them not to call 911. Alcoholism runs in my family... It practically gallops! Not making light of it. It is what it is.

[srzss05]

3...2...1...

[Iggy]

Zombie thread, off and running. Somehow seems appropriate given the topic.

I had a roommate who insisted he was not an alcoholic.

His infamous quote, "Alcoholics drink three litres of whiskey a day. I only drink one."

[SiXSwordS]

Originally Posted by Iggy

Zombie thread, off and running.

The thread passed out and then woke up looking for another drink.

I can't find a link right now, but there are alocholics who have survived having a BAC of over .5. That's the dead zone. I seem to recall hearing it refferred to as the 50 club or somesuch.

Not only can alcoholics drink a lot, but there is research indicating that people who start off with a proverbial hollow leg--people who can drink more than others without getting falling down, sloppy drunk--are more likely to become alcoholics. (Sorry no cite, but I can look later if there is interest.)