A few thoughts on alcohol:

TimeUp · 21-09-2019 2:08pm #1

- For some reason when you are in a situation when you'd usually have it, you start to feel a bit tipsy before it touches your lips. I've talked about this with a few people and it also happened to them.

- I once bumped into my sister on the street, I hadn't seen her for a month or so. For some reason I felt hungover for a brief second. After talking with her for a while she tells me she's horribly hungover. Nothing that'd betray it other than my inexplicable feeling.

- I never had much problem with alcohol other than the odd spree, but I haven't been drunk nor event tipsy for the last 2 years or so, because I realized I don't enjoy being drunk, and specially don't enjoy being hungover. Now, something I've noticed, related to the funny feeling of happiness I would have (if I wasn't too hungover) the day after having drunk. I had come to associate that sensation to a feeling of unsettlement, because I recognized it as being artificial and because when it disappeared it usually left me feeling pretty miserable. I keep experiencing the inexplicable happiness now, when I'm laying idle, have spent the night out or gone to bed late, but now it doesn't unsettle me because I know there's not gonna be a "withdrawal" feeling when the effects of alcohol disappear.

Does any of this happen to you guys? How do you relate to alcohol in general?

OMM 0000 · 21-09-2019 2:22pm

TimeUp wrote: »

- For some reason when you are in a situation when you'd usually have it, you start to feel a bit tipsy before it touches your lips. I've talked about this with a few people and it also happened to them.

- I once bumped into my sister on the street, I hadn't seen her for a month or so. For some reason I felt hungover for a brief second. After talking with her for a while she tells me she's horribly hungover. Nothing that'd betray it other than my inexplicable feeling.

- I never had much problem with alcohol other than the odd spree, but I haven't been drunk nor event tipsy for the last 2 years or so, because I realized I don't enjoy being drunk, and specially don't enjoy being hungover. Now, something I've noticed, related to the funny feeling of happiness I would have (if I wasn't too hungover) the day after having drunk. I had come to associate that sensation to a feeling of unsettlement, because I recognized it as being artificial and because when it disappeared it usually left me feeling pretty miserable. I keep experiencing the inexplicable happiness now, when I'm laying idle, have spent the night out or gone to bed late, but now it doesn't unsettle me because I know there's not gonna be a "withdrawal" feeling when the effects of alcohol disappear.

Does any of this happen to you guys? How do you relate to alcohol in general?

I feel like none of your sensations/problems have anything to do with alcohol.

Do you have any other issues like depression or mania?

vriesmays · 21-09-2019 2:25pm

Causes 7 cancers.

20Wheel · 21-09-2019 2:34pm

TimeUp wrote: »

- For some reason when you are in a situation when you'd usually have it, you start to feel a bit tipsy before it touches your lips. I've talked about this with a few people and it also happened to them.

- I once bumped into my sister on the street, I hadn't seen her for a month or so. For some reason I felt hungover for a brief second. After talking with her for a while she tells me she's horribly hungover. Nothing that'd betray it other than my inexplicable feeling.

- I never had much problem with alcohol other than the odd spree, but I haven't been drunk nor event tipsy for the last 2 years or so, because I realized I don't enjoy being drunk, and specially don't enjoy being hungover. Now, something I've noticed, related to the funny feeling of happiness I would have (if I wasn't too hungover) the day after having drunk. I had come to associate that sensation to a feeling of unsettlement, because I recognized it as being artificial and because when it disappeared it usually left me feeling pretty miserable. I keep experiencing the inexplicable happiness now, when I'm laying idle, have spent the night out or gone to bed late, but now it doesn't unsettle me because I know there's not gonna be a "withdrawal" feeling when the effects of alcohol disappear.

Does any of this happen to you guys? How do you relate to alcohol in general?

a guy on youtube online mentioned something related to this.
he was on a plane and said to his fellow passenger that he felt kind of strange, almost somewhat tipsy. turned out someone in the adjacent rows was knocking back the wine.
so yeah i suppose like any fume, alcohol fumes can travel a bit, be ingested and give you a bit of a buzz. depending on sensitivity/regularity of exposure.

OMM 0000 · 21-09-2019 2:38pm

Interesting, smelling alcohol does seem to have an effect:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-016-4221-1

elperello · 21-09-2019 2:43pm

There is a balance between being under the influence and enjoying a drink.
Find that and you have cracked it.

OMM 0000 · 21-09-2019 2:54pm

elperello wrote: »

There is a balance between being under the influence and enjoying a drink.
Find that and you have cracked it.

I think a lot of people can't do this though.

Some people are wired to be binge drinkers. Once they get a drink in them they want to keep going.

BarryD2 · 21-09-2019 2:58pm

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Some people are wired to be binge drinkers. Once they get a drink in them they want to keep going.

Nah, that's just a convenient self delusion with which to salve their conscience.

OMM 0000 · 21-09-2019 3:04pm

BarryD2 wrote: »

Nah, that's just a convenient self delusion with which to salve their conscience.

That makes no sense.

You sound like one of those people who think depression can be solved by just snapping out of it.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 21-09-2019 3:05pm

OMM 0000 wrote: »

elperello wrote: »

There is a balance between being under the influence and enjoying a drink.
Find that and you have cracked it.

I think a lot of people can't do this though.

Some people are wired to be binge drinkers. Once they get a drink in them they want to keep going.

I think these would be alcoholics

OMM 0000 · 21-09-2019 3:06pm

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

I think these would be alcoholics

No, there's a difference between a binge drinker and an alcoholic.

I'm a binge drinker but I only drink every few months. I don't crave alcohol or give a **** about it.

I have an ex who was in AA.

Although according to AA an alcoholic is anyone who thinks they're an alcoholic. So technically someone who has a glass of wine twice a week could define themselves as an alcoholic.

BarryD2 · 21-09-2019 3:17pm

OMM 0000 wrote: »

That makes no sense.

You sound like one of those people who think depression can be solved by just snapping out of it.

No it makes the same sense as it does for people who claim they are wired to be fat... whilst they tuck into their second packet of biscuits after eating a bag of doughnuts. A convenient excuse, can't help myself.

OMM 0000 · 21-09-2019 3:24pm

BarryD2 wrote: »

No it makes the same sense as it does for people who claim they are wired to be fat... whilst they tuck into their second packet of biscuits after eating a bag of doughnuts. A convenient excuse, can't help myself.

But food addiction is real, especially sugar addiction.

They're not wired to be fat, but they are addicted to eating crap.

Of course they can fight it.

Yer Da sells Avon · 21-09-2019 3:36pm

OMM 0000 wrote: »

No, there's a difference between a binge drinker and an alcoholic.

I'm a binge drinker but I only drink every few months. I don't crave alcohol or give a **** about it.

I'd be similar. I can easily go months without drinking or wanting a drink. I can sit in a pub for the night, happily knocking back the diet coke, or slowly supping on a couple of pints. It'd never occur to me to drink alone, but give me a bottle of wine at a party (red or white, I don't mind) and I'll make it disappear. Same with whiskey.

GloomyUnderstatedCrownofthornsstarfish-size_restricted.gif

OMM 0000 · 21-09-2019 3:51pm

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

I'd be similar. I can easily go months without drinking or wanting a drink. I can sit in a pub for the night, happily knocking back the diet coke, or slowly supping on a couple of pints. It'd never occur to me to drink alone, but give me a bottle of wine at a party (red or white, I don't mind) and I'll make it disappear. Same with whiskey.

So you're not an alcoholic, but do you have a "drinking problem" when it comes to wine and whiskey? Probably. But is it a bad one? I wouldn't think so, as you're totally in control of when you choose to go drinking.

I think being an alcoholic is a bit different. They feel they're not in control of their drinking. It needs to be in their life. I think one of the main tell tale signs of an alcoholic is secret drinking. If you're secretly drinking you probably need to take a serious look at your relationship with alcohol.

El_Duderino 09 · 21-09-2019 3:57pm

20Wheel wrote: »

a guy on youtube online mentioned something related to this.
he was on a plane and said to his fellow passenger that he felt kind of strange, almost somewhat tipsy. turned out someone in the adjacent rows was knocking back the wine.
so yeah i suppose like any fume, alcohol fumes can travel a bit, be ingested and give you a bit of a buzz. depending on sensitivity/regularity of exposure.

I think it's more about the psychological associations. I saw a brief experiment once on TV where they had 2 groups. put them in little "night club" rooms and gave them drinks, music dancing all that jazz. then asked them to rate how drunk they felt and do coordination tests. the coordination obviously fell with increasing drunkenness.

But, as you might have guessed, one group only had non alcoholic drinks, but the still reported getting drunk and had decreasing coordination scores. not as pronounced as the group that was actually drinking alcohol. But its fascinating. they believed they were getting drunk and so exhibited the symptoms of being drunk

Yer Da sells Avon · 21-09-2019 4:07pm

OMM 0000 wrote: »

So you're not an alcoholic, but do you have a "drinking problem" when it comes to wine and whiskey? Probably. But is it a bad one? I wouldn't think so, as you're totally in control of when you choose to go drinking.

One of my first thoughts (particularly where whiskey is involved) is... "do I really want the hangover?" or "can I afford to spend tomorrow being sick, crying with my head resting against the porcelain, promising a god I don't believe in that if he makes it go away, I'll never drink again?" More often than not, the answer is 'no', so there's a large element of control there.

Wine doesn't really give me much of a hangover, so the need for 'control' sort of goes out the window and I could easily put away more than someone who actually is an alcoholic. Which is definitely problematic - or certainly would be if it happened more than once in a blue moon.

L1011 · 21-09-2019 4:57pm

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

I think it's more about the psychological associations. I saw a brief experiment once on TV where they had 2 groups. put them in little "night club" rooms and gave them drinks, music dancing all that jazz. then asked them to rate how drunk they felt and do coordination tests. the coordination obviously fell with increasing drunkenness.

But, as you might have guessed, one group only had non alcoholic drinks, but the still reported getting drunk and had decreasing coordination scores. not as pronounced as the group that was actually drinking alcohol. But its fascinating. they believed they were getting drunk and so exhibited the symptoms of being drunk

Guy I worked with was pulled over driving home from a night in Shelbourne Park where he'd been on the Beck's Blue and all his colleagues on actual booze

Theres a small amount of alcohol in Becks Blue but he blew well under the limit. He had been weaving and driving incredibly slowly like someone completely sloshed, purely because he'd spent a night socialising and drinking something like booze with people who were knocking it back.

Think the Guards found it more funny then anything else!

JohnnyFlash · 21-09-2019 5:11pm

I think peoples tolerance to alcohol, and their ability to handle it, can vary wildly.

I could put away 12-14 pints during a session, and there wouldn’t be a bother on me the next day apart from rancid farts and a craving for fried pig. Other lads have 4 and are wrecked for a week. I know a few alcoholics in recovery and one said he knew he had a problem even though he only had a bottle of wine once a month.

SEPT 23 1989 · 21-09-2019 5:21pm

No shame in being a lightweight OP

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 21-09-2019 5:34pm

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

I think these would be alcoholics

No, there's a difference between a binge drinker and an alcoholic.

I'm a binge drinker but I only drink every few months. I don't crave alcohol or give a **** about it.

I have an ex who was in AA.

Although according to AA an alcoholic is anyone who thinks they're an alcoholic. So technically someone who has a glass of wine twice a week could define themselves as an alcoholic.

It's the but where you say "Once they get a drink in them..." that I'd argue is alcoholism. If you can't just have one or two and stop, something's wrong.

OMM 0000 · 21-09-2019 5:40pm

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

It's the but where you say "Once they get a drink in them..." that I'd argue is alcoholism. If you can't just have one or two and stop, something's wrong.

I definitely think they have a "drink problem" but I don't think a binge drinker is an alcoholic.

Of course there are some binge drinker who are alcoholics.

But the guy who goes mad on a Friday night but doesn't "need" alcohol or secretly drink or drink every day or two, I think he just has a bit of a drink problem when he drinks, otherwise he's normal. Whereas I think an alcoholic has a drink problem even when he's not drinking, because he's probably thinking about drinking or looking forward to his drink later that day.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 21-09-2019 5:53pm

OMM 0000 wrote: »

I definitely think they have a "drink problem" but I don't think a binge drinker is an alcoholic.

Of course there are some binge drinker who are alcoholics.

But the guy who goes mad on a Friday night but doesn't "need" alcohol or secretly drink or drink every day or two, I think he just has a bit of a drink problem when he drinks, otherwise he's normal. Whereas I think an alcoholic has a drink problem even when he's not drinking, because he's probably thinking about drinking or looking forward to his drink later that day.

Well... no one has a drink problem when they're not actually drinking...

OMM 0000 · 21-09-2019 5:55pm

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

Well... no one has a drink problem when they're not actually drinking...

But you can be an alcoholic when you're not drinking at that moment.

So I think a binger and an alcoholic are different concepts.

wakka12 · 21-09-2019 6:10pm

OMM 0000 wrote: »

I think a lot of people can't do this though.

Some people are wired to be binge drinkers. Once they get a drink in them they want to keep going.

Its not like its an unstoppable urge though, they just like feeling drunk so keep going

mr_fegelien · 21-09-2019 6:14pm

20Wheel wrote: »

a guy on youtube online mentioned something related to this.
he was on a plane and said to his fellow passenger that he felt kind of strange, almost somewhat tipsy. turned out someone in the adjacent rows was knocking back the wine.
so yeah i suppose like any fume, alcohol fumes can travel a bit, be ingested and give you a bit of a buzz. depending on sensitivity/regularity of exposure.

Well I'm pretty sure you can get drunk on alcohol vapors as inhaling it would transfer it directly to the bloodstream through the mucous membranes.

Anyway, for me, I no longer drink alcohol as I'm on an anti-psychotic. No it's not because my doctors says not to, I've actually felt less inclined. That's what risperidone does.

link to article.

cj maxx · 21-09-2019 6:24pm

One strange thing happened me.
I had no drink at all for about 10 days and even then only 2 pints. And while driving one night after a tiring day ,because I was so tired I kept 'tasting ' alcohol in my mouth.
I was actually feeling like I had a pint or two by them time I got home.

mr_fegelien · 21-09-2019 6:29pm

cjmc wrote: »

One strange thing happened me.
I had no drink at all for about 10 days and even then only 2 pints. And while driving one night after a tiring day ,because I was so tired I kept 'tasting ' alcohol in my mouth.
I was actually feeling like I had a pint or two by them time I got home.

gustatory hallucinations aren't uncommon with low GABA levels. Alcohol increased gaba in your brain then when you go off, your GABA decreases and neurons fire up in your brain.

Your brain could very well have fired up your taste parts.

kerryjack · 21-09-2019 6:37pm

It's a habit for a lot of people and the old pub is a kind of an escape. It's a friendly and welcoming place for people once you have a few bob in your pocket. I was quite fond of that lifestyle myself before the kids came a long but now don't have the time or the money for it and don't miss it.

A few thoughts on alcohol:

Comments