# I cant get drunk...Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 3, 2000, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-get-drunk-why/5779 "2000-01-03T22:28:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2000, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-get-drunk-why/5779/21 "2000-01-04T17:11:00Z")
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 . . . ---
**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2000, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-get-drunk-why/5779/22 "2000-01-05T06:30:00Z")
Eve, try cigarettes or pot, they might not be entirely good for you, but what the hell. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2000, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-get-drunk-why/5779/23 "2000-01-04T19:10:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Crystalguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@Crystalguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crystalguy)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2000, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-get-drunk-why/5779/24 "2000-01-04T19:26:00Z")
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. * * * Crystalguy ---
**Author:** ![torq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@torq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torq)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2000, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-get-drunk-why/5779/25 "2000-01-04T20:37:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![ignatiusjreilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@ignatiusjreilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ignatiusjreilly)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2000, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-get-drunk-why/5779/26 "2000-01-04T22:28:00Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![ignatiusjreilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@ignatiusjreilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ignatiusjreilly)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2000, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-get-drunk-why/5779/27 "2000-01-04T22:31:00Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![PatronAnejo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@PatronAnejo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatronAnejo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2000, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-get-drunk-why/5779/28 "2000-01-05T08:36:00Z")
**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. ---
**Author:** ![Crystalguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@Crystalguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crystalguy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2000, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-get-drunk-why/5779/29 "2000-01-05T11:09:00Z")
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. * * * Crystalguy ---
**Author:** ![kellibelli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e480ec/32.png) [@kellibelli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellibelli)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2000, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-get-drunk-why/5779/30 "2000-01-05T11:48:00Z")
WOW. **patonAnego** 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 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-get-drunk-why/5779.md?page=1)