I drink socially on fairly regular occasions. When I first began drinking alcohol, I experience the typical effects quite as expected; after a few beers, a noticeable buzz came on. If I had a few more, I would be approaching drunkenness, and certainly would not feel it was safe to drive. However, during the past two years or so, it seems to me that it is nearly impossible to beome “intoxicated” from drinking beer.
What generally happens is that I will begin to experience the familiar effects of the alcohol when I start drinking. This will last maybe 15 - 30 minutes. Following this, I stop feeling the “buzz”; I essentially feel quite sober. Generally, if I continue to drink after this point, I will not really get anything out of it for the rest of the evening.
I’ve tested out the sobriety thing by seeing if I could perform the usual field sobriety tests after having an amount of alcohol that would definitely severely impair the average person (say, a six pack consumed in a relatively short period of time). I was able to walk the line, not slur, and so forth without difficulty.
Anyway, I’m obviously curious about what causes this. I was reading something about alcohol metabolism recently, and wondered if this might have something to do with it. Alcohol seems to be broken down with the aid of an enzyme (I believe alcohol dehydrogenase/ADH, amongst others). Would it be at all plausible that I could somehow be producing an excess of this, or another enzyme which breaks down ethanol? If such a thing would cause the alcohol to be broken down more quickly, I presume that that would quickly end the feeling of intoxication. Also, might levels of these enzymes be indicative of any medical problems?
(Disclaimer: this post is not meant to solicit medical advice; I would always visit my physician before making a decision. I am simply looking for any information I could read up on to better understand this phenomenon.)
Dammit. I meant to post this in GQ (or possibly IMHO; I couldn’t decide which was more appropriate). If a mod would be kind enough to move it for me, I’d appreciate it.
Heh, I think I ruined my own thread by posting to the wrong forum. Is there a way to send a request directly for a move to another forum? I hate being that guy.
It would seem likely that people matabolize alchohol differently – it’s one reason why some people are alchoholics and others are not. People definitely have different reactions to it. Some of these are learned, but others seem to be innate.
In my case, I’m like you. If I drink someting alchoholic, I’ll feel it in a few minutes. If I stop, I stop feeling the buzz after about a half hour. It’s possible that the alchohol is still in my system, but it definitely feels like I’m sober.
Yeah, I know just what you mean occ. This has happened to me also. Unfortunately, this is often indicative of a ‘problem’ :rolleyes: , at least as far as the Meds will tell you. The issue would seem to be tolerance. You no doubt know the human body can only metabolize alcohol at a certain rate, and while that rate does vary among individuals, the end result of excess consumption is usually an increase in blood alcohol content. This is easily tested. Many drug and liquor stores now sell relatively inexpensive BAC testers so people can test themselves before they attemp to drive. They are similar to the ones used by police officers to do roadside checks. Buy a couple and test the theory: Am I metabolizing really fast, or is my BAC going up and I just have a wicked high tolerance? MANY moons ago, when I was younger, invincible and incredibly foolish, I was stopped a State Trooper and given the roadside test you refer to; I was intoxicated, but easily passed the test. Now these guys ain’t stupid; my responses just didn’t warrent an arrest, and I was sent off with a stern warning. I believe the new devices are a much more accurate way of determining intoxication. Just don’t ask about whether 2 drinks in a first time drinker is potentially more dangerous than 10 in a high tolerance career alcoholic! We’ll leave that to Cecil to expound upon.
We’ll leave that to Cecil to expound upon.