I’ve got a drinking problem. Whenever I drink a lot of hard liquor, I don’t remember anything. I never had this problem before, but it started about a month ago. If I drink beer, I am remember anything. It’s weird, I was talking with my friend about a night we had when I lost my memory. He said, “You don’t remember that?! You weren’t even that drunk!” I can function completely fine, but I don’t remember anything. Why has this started happening to me? I figure I can’t do anyting about it, except not drink, or drink beer, but who wants all those calories? Any help?
What’s “a lot of liquor”? If you’re having alcoholic blackouts, you’re drinking too much, regardless of whether you friends think you’re “that drunk.”
its called a ‘blackout.’ YOu’ll move around and talk to people but have no memory of it.
Blackouts suck.
They don’t just suck. They’re downright dangerous, since you can end up behind the wheel and not know it. You’re probably allergic to alcohol. Quit while you can.
I think beer has about the same number of calories as hard liquor when you compare similar amounts of actual alcohol (maybe 12 oz. beer to 1 1/2 oz. liquor). If you add in a mixer like Coke to the hard stuff-- it probably has way more calories.
Stick to the beer or consider quitting drinking.
If you need help, check out www.unhooked.com
Ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, is the same chemical in all types of alcoholic beverages. The only differences between beer, wine, whiskey, whisky, gin, rum, vodka, tequila, moonshine, etc… are the percentage of alcohol by volume, and the flavor.
If you have a “drinking problem” with distilled spirits, you have a drinking problem. Period. There’s no difference in addiction and resultant side effects whether your poison is beer or white lightning… in other words, your brain and liver could care less about the flavor and calorie content of your booze.
If you’re really concerned about your health, stop drinking and start attending A.A. meetings.
Don’t depend on your friends who were also drinking to remember any more accurately than you.
How do you, or they, know that you could function completely well if you have no memory of that functioning???
If you enjoy blacking-out, and don’t really care whether you’ll be able to live a healthy life in the next 10 or 20 or 30 years (probable limit)… bottoms up!
Yes. Yes you do.
Ken, in all seriousness, you need to seek some help. You’re gonna drink yourself to death.
fixed my stupid url tags - ub
Just Quit! Quitting can do you no harm!
This advice seems a bit extreme to me. You’ve definitely got a problem, but it doesn’t mean you’re an addict. Quitting can have many negative consequences (i.e. lack of fun, loss of friends, etc.)
I encountered the same problem a few years ago. As I got more and more used to drinking (in college), my tolerance got pretty high. When you get used to it, you can drink quite a bit, and it’s easy to go beyond what’s a reasonable amount into blackout territory. Essentially, you’ve trained your body to defeat the pass-out mechanism that usually keeps you from drinking yourself to death. I recognized that this was a problem, and set a few rules for myself that have worked very well:
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know your threshold. Decide on what your limit is before you start drinking. Counting drinks can get tough after a few, so set aside a certain amount of cash if you’re at the bar, and stop when you run out. You might think of other tricks to keep track when you’re partying and not really paying attention to the count. I find the more people that are around, the tougher this is.
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avoid rum. Certainly you can blackout drinking anything, but I’ve found that rum is the worst. The benefit of beer is that you know what % each drink is. With liquor, it’s easy to mix stiffer and stiffer drinks the more hammered you get, because it’ll bother you less. Drink pre-mixed drinks, or use a shot glass to measure if you’re mixing your own.
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get in the habit of alternating booze - water - booze - water. It’ll help you pace yourself better and you’ll feel much better the next day.
Essentially what it comes down to is that you have a potential problem. If you’re constantly aware of the danger, and are able alter your behaviour to self-regulate, then it’s not a problem. If you continue to black-out, or have any other symptoms of alcoholism, then by all means, seek counselling. Otherwise, chalk it up as a known risk of binge drinking, and keep it always in the back of your mind.
:rolleyes:
I have a question…do you also smoke whilst you are drinking?..Just curious.
A friend of a friend of mine was sitting at home, drinking. He blacked out and woke up in jail, after being arrested for DUI while in a totally different neighborhood (which he had never even been to before).
So, yeah, I’d say that blackouts suck. If drinking causes you to black out, I would highly recommend that you quit drinking. That’s better than blacking out, and waking up to find that you’re in jail on charges of something like vehicular homocide.
In the medical community, blackouts are pretty clearly associated with alcoholism. Normal drinkers just don’t tend to get them.
And the proper way to manage alcoholism is to abstain from alcohol and other mood-altering drugs. By whichever means works best for said alcoholic. Mutual-support groups usually have the best results. They come in a variety of flavors.
QtM, MD
This part in particular is utter nonsense. Any friends you’d lose by quitting drinking are not true friends. I’ve had every bit as much fun sober as I ever did drunk, possibly even more, with the added benefit of no hangover the next day.
I ditto Geobabe. If you lose friends or fun because you don’t drink, you need to find a) new friends, and/or, b) a new hobby.
I have friends that drink and some that don’t. But it’s not the end-all be-all to any of them. I used to drink wine with every meal and belonged to several wine clubs. I love wine, and own a vineyard. When I was diagnosed with HepC, it was surprisingly easy to quit drinking all together. I don’t feel deprived in the least.
I now spend the same amount of time sampling teas and coffee beans that I used to spend tasting wines. There’s a whole, wide world out there to be had without alcohol.
And the rule of thumb is: if you find yourself questioning your alcohol use, you probably have a problem. Just something to think about.
Just some advice from your auntie truthbot…
I do not, and plan never to drink. I figure that if I am not having fun, or I am not fun to be around when I am not drinking, then chemicals are not the solution.
Besides, as a pasty geek I suspect that my mind and wit are the best things I have going for me, and it would be a shame to disable them.
Wow you guys really over-reacted. Having a few blackouts does not mean he’s an alcoholic. If he blacks out because he was drinking a 40 before breakfast I might say he has a problem.
kgriffey79 asked a interesting question and I’m dissappointed that no one could provide a realistic answer.
I drink a lot but I don’t think I have black outs. I do find that I have a harder time remembering stuff and my hangovers have gotten worse. {Not to joke, but I have also found that the same thing happens when I don’t drink.}
Don’t quit alcohol, and don’t go running off to some AA meeting. If anything, just scale back a bit. I find it a lot harder to get drunk off beer because its only 5%, but when I drink hard liquor I make stiffer drinks, dido for drinking wine.
One thing you might want to consider is the level of sugar you’re consuming (in all that mix). I’ve got a few girlfriends that swear by vodka and water (with some lime).
And remember, nobody ever started a good story with, “oh man, last night I was so sober…”
Getting so drunk one doesn’t remember what one did as one stumbled about in an alcohol-induced stupor is not a true blackout, people. A true blackout (and a strong indicator of alcoholism) is acting and behaving normally within minutes to hours of a few drinks, but later being unable to recall that time period.
Airline pilots have reported flying jumbo jets cross-country flawlessly during blackouts. Surgeons have done impeccable, elaborate procedures during blackouts. These individuals did not seem intoxicated to their fellows at the time.
These episodes can occur anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours or more after drinking.
QtM, MD
Once again, for emphasis, if you find yourself questioning your alcohol compsumtion, you may have a problem.
And Qadgop the Mercotan has pointed out the differences between a drunken soire, and a true black-out. Pay heed to his post in this matter, he knows whereof he speaks. “He’s payed to play a doctor on TV!!” “Not”
Personally, if I had ever had a blackout; I woulda shit my panty-liner. It would have been a wake-up call of the most-extreme measures. It would have scared me shit-less!
This is not a matter to be taken Holly-Go-Lightly, kgriffey; you need to get a handle on your control of mind-altering drugs. Which includes alcohol, pot and myriad other things that are available to you…
Yup. I’m assuming you are very young, and don’t know anything about drinking yet. I would strongly suggest you immediately quit drinking hard liquor of any sort. Many people are genetically alcoholic, but can avoid a problem if they resist peer pressure, and listen to their bodies. The question is not the mental state, because alternate mental states can be very desireable. The questions are (1) your understanding of and preparation for these states and (2) the simple physics of how a body metabolizes alcohol. Drink a light (American for instance) beer, then a glass of water, then a light beer, etc. You may be able to avoid draconian solutions. In my country, people’s fathers teach them how to drink, I’m not sure that is the case elsewhere.