Hangover Effects Lingering
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Join Date: Nov 2007
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Hangover Effects Lingering
Hello All,
I am experiencing something very odd and frightening, and I hope that some members of this forum may be of some assistance. I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but I believe some detailed background may be necessary.
I am a fifty year-old man, in overall good health. In my youth I was quite the hellraiser and a heavy drinker. I was never alcohol dependent, as I understand the concept, but I enjoyed the social aspects of drinking, the conviviality, laughter, and general high spirts. I always had a high tolerance for alcohol when drinking, but the flip side of that coin was that I also frequently suffered from vicious hangovers the following day, often ending up incapcitated for 24 hours. In my early 30s I returned to school and reduced my drinking substantially. I very seldom drank to excess, almost always limiting my consumption to 1 or 2 cocktails, glasses of wine, beers, etc. I did this for many reasons, one of the primary ones being that I just could no longer tolerate hangovers; they were just too debilitating. Until last week the last time I drank to excess was in March 1999, when I attended a very festive wedding and reception, and during the course of about 10 hours I drank a gallon or so of red wine. The following morning I awoke with the most incredible hangover I have ever experienced, and I nearly went to the emergency room to seek treatment. I managed to make it through the day (although I confess I did drink two beers during the day to cut the edge) and I struggled through the rest of the week feeling absolutely horrible. I did see my physician later in the week, and he told me that when one is not accustomed to heavy drinking a binge can result in an accumulation of toxins that can take significant time to dissipate. I was in no position to dispute this diagnosis, so I just carried on the best I could and after about 10 days the headaches, shakiness, grogginess, and general malaise cleared up. "I'll never do that again" I vowed, and meant it. Thereafter, I limited my alcohol intake to around 2 -3 drinks per week, with no difficulty whatsoever. I simply no longer like the way a "buzz" feels, and will have a glass with friends on purely social basis and that's that.
Well, that was that until this past weekend. Last Friday, I attended an informal reunion of friends that I had known in my hellraising youth. Three of us stayed at one of my friend's home in the area of the reunion, and we were having great time reminiscing and reliving the old days. We had purchased a case of different wines to sample over dinner, and we began tasting around 6:00 p.m. I've done this many times over the past 8 or 9 years and didn't give the matter a thought. Mistake. I have no idea what happened or why, but we ended up drinking every bottle we had, and then tackled the cooking wine, not stopping until around 3:30 in the morning. I don't know how much I drank, but I would guess at least 3.5 bottles, and probably more. I awoke with a savage hangover, much like the one in 1999, but worse. I was virtually bed-ridden for the next day, and I could finally move about only on Sunday. I flew home the following day still feeling hungover and nothing much has changed since then. I am still shaky, groggy, dizzy, depressed, and generally out of it. I am bitterly ashamed of what happened, for many reasons, and I'm also concerned. Obviously, one's ability to recover from any trauma decreases with age, but this is ridiculous. So my question is: has anyone ever had a similar experience? Browsing this forum I came across information for both "wet brain" and "PAWS," yet both of those conditions appear to be the result of long term abuse and not a single session of drunkenness. Any advice or information will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Mabbish
I am experiencing something very odd and frightening, and I hope that some members of this forum may be of some assistance. I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but I believe some detailed background may be necessary.
I am a fifty year-old man, in overall good health. In my youth I was quite the hellraiser and a heavy drinker. I was never alcohol dependent, as I understand the concept, but I enjoyed the social aspects of drinking, the conviviality, laughter, and general high spirts. I always had a high tolerance for alcohol when drinking, but the flip side of that coin was that I also frequently suffered from vicious hangovers the following day, often ending up incapcitated for 24 hours. In my early 30s I returned to school and reduced my drinking substantially. I very seldom drank to excess, almost always limiting my consumption to 1 or 2 cocktails, glasses of wine, beers, etc. I did this for many reasons, one of the primary ones being that I just could no longer tolerate hangovers; they were just too debilitating. Until last week the last time I drank to excess was in March 1999, when I attended a very festive wedding and reception, and during the course of about 10 hours I drank a gallon or so of red wine. The following morning I awoke with the most incredible hangover I have ever experienced, and I nearly went to the emergency room to seek treatment. I managed to make it through the day (although I confess I did drink two beers during the day to cut the edge) and I struggled through the rest of the week feeling absolutely horrible. I did see my physician later in the week, and he told me that when one is not accustomed to heavy drinking a binge can result in an accumulation of toxins that can take significant time to dissipate. I was in no position to dispute this diagnosis, so I just carried on the best I could and after about 10 days the headaches, shakiness, grogginess, and general malaise cleared up. "I'll never do that again" I vowed, and meant it. Thereafter, I limited my alcohol intake to around 2 -3 drinks per week, with no difficulty whatsoever. I simply no longer like the way a "buzz" feels, and will have a glass with friends on purely social basis and that's that.
Well, that was that until this past weekend. Last Friday, I attended an informal reunion of friends that I had known in my hellraising youth. Three of us stayed at one of my friend's home in the area of the reunion, and we were having great time reminiscing and reliving the old days. We had purchased a case of different wines to sample over dinner, and we began tasting around 6:00 p.m. I've done this many times over the past 8 or 9 years and didn't give the matter a thought. Mistake. I have no idea what happened or why, but we ended up drinking every bottle we had, and then tackled the cooking wine, not stopping until around 3:30 in the morning. I don't know how much I drank, but I would guess at least 3.5 bottles, and probably more. I awoke with a savage hangover, much like the one in 1999, but worse. I was virtually bed-ridden for the next day, and I could finally move about only on Sunday. I flew home the following day still feeling hungover and nothing much has changed since then. I am still shaky, groggy, dizzy, depressed, and generally out of it. I am bitterly ashamed of what happened, for many reasons, and I'm also concerned. Obviously, one's ability to recover from any trauma decreases with age, but this is ridiculous. So my question is: has anyone ever had a similar experience? Browsing this forum I came across information for both "wet brain" and "PAWS," yet both of those conditions appear to be the result of long term abuse and not a single session of drunkenness. Any advice or information will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Mabbish
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Right here somewhere
Posts: 509
Hi Mabbish-
Im sure someone,a ctually many people will be here to tell you that they have had a very similar experience. why? Because what youhave described is alcoholic drinking at almost its worst.
Ever see a horse eat? It will eat and eat and eat and eat until its stomach becomes engorged and literally explodes its stomach lining. Now, you dont see THAT happen cus owners dont usually allow thier animals to kill themselves that way....but that is the nature of the animal is to eat itself to death.
That too is the nature of the alcoholic disease.....to drink yourself to death, or something like it. Drink and drink and drink and drink til you pass out, black out ,fall down etc. Its the allergy to drink. Just like eating shell fish, if your allergy, your gonna itch and itch and itch....
Alcoholism is severely progressive...it will never get better...an alcoholic can never go back to controlled drinking.....I wish you good luck and a lot of wanting to get sober.
Im sure someone,a ctually many people will be here to tell you that they have had a very similar experience. why? Because what youhave described is alcoholic drinking at almost its worst.
Ever see a horse eat? It will eat and eat and eat and eat until its stomach becomes engorged and literally explodes its stomach lining. Now, you dont see THAT happen cus owners dont usually allow thier animals to kill themselves that way....but that is the nature of the animal is to eat itself to death.
That too is the nature of the alcoholic disease.....to drink yourself to death, or something like it. Drink and drink and drink and drink til you pass out, black out ,fall down etc. Its the allergy to drink. Just like eating shell fish, if your allergy, your gonna itch and itch and itch....
Alcoholism is severely progressive...it will never get better...an alcoholic can never go back to controlled drinking.....I wish you good luck and a lot of wanting to get sober.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 3
Originally Posted by Miss Pink 
Hi Mabbish-
Im sure someone,a ctually many people will be here to tell you that they have had a very similar experience. why? Because what youhave described is alcoholic drinking at almost its worst.
Ever see a horse eat? It will eat and eat and eat and eat until its stomach becomes engorged and literally explodes its stomach lining. Now, you dont see THAT happen cus owners dont usually allow thier animals to kill themselves that way....but that is the nature of the animal is to eat itself to death.
That too is the nature of the alcoholic disease.....to drink yourself to death, or something like it. Drink and drink and drink and drink til you pass out, black out ,fall down etc. Its the allergy to drink. Just like eating shell fish, if your allergy, your gonna itch and itch and itch....
Alcoholism is severely progressive...it will never get better...an alcoholic can never go back to controlled drinking.....I wish you good luck and a lot of wanting to get sober.
Im sure someone,a ctually many people will be here to tell you that they have had a very similar experience. why? Because what youhave described is alcoholic drinking at almost its worst.
Ever see a horse eat? It will eat and eat and eat and eat until its stomach becomes engorged and literally explodes its stomach lining. Now, you dont see THAT happen cus owners dont usually allow thier animals to kill themselves that way....but that is the nature of the animal is to eat itself to death.
That too is the nature of the alcoholic disease.....to drink yourself to death, or something like it. Drink and drink and drink and drink til you pass out, black out ,fall down etc. Its the allergy to drink. Just like eating shell fish, if your allergy, your gonna itch and itch and itch....
Alcoholism is severely progressive...it will never get better...an alcoholic can never go back to controlled drinking.....I wish you good luck and a lot of wanting to get sober.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Highlands, TX
Posts: 1,192
It sounds like alcohol poisoning to me. I had several rounds with that especially towards the end of my drinking. God I get the shivers just thinking about it. I would be sick for DAYS from a whole weekend blackout drunk involving a gallon of whiskey. The intent would be to buy a big bottle so I could save money and have enough for a week or more. Then I'd wake up on a Sunday and to my horror the whole thing would be gone and I'd have no recall. Then the puking, shaking, quaking, stomach cramps and headaches from hell would kick in. Sound familiar?? I would just barely get around, wouldn't eat for 4 - 5 days and be ready to pass out everytime I got up to move around. I'd drink my usual pint in the evening so I could pass out but the daytime was awful. As bad as it was and as bad as I hated it and swore I'd never do it again it happened repeatedly. I had to totally stop drinking and embrace sobriety to be released from the hell I found myself in. I wouldn't wish those days on anyone.
Anyway I hope you find the answers you need and hope you find a way to not repeat the experience again.
Take care,
Kellye
Anyway I hope you find the answers you need and hope you find a way to not repeat the experience again.
Take care,
Kellye
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 3
Originally Posted by Kellye D
It sounds like alcohol poisoning to me. I had several rounds with that especially towards the end of my drinking. God I get the shivers just thinking about it. I would be sick for DAYS from a whole weekend blackout drunk involving a gallon of whiskey. The intent would be to buy a big bottle so I could save money and have enough for a week or more. Then I'd wake up on a Sunday and to my horror the whole thing would be gone and I'd have no recall. Then the puking, shaking, quaking, stomach cramps and headaches from hell would kick in. Sound familiar?? I would just barely get around, wouldn't eat for 4 - 5 days and be ready to pass out everytime I got up to move around. I'd drink my usual pint in the evening so I could pass out but the daytime was awful. As bad as it was and as bad as I hated it and swore I'd never do it again it happened repeatedly. I had to totally stop drinking and embrace sobriety to be released from the hell I found myself in. I wouldn't wish those days on anyone.
Anyway I hope you find the answers you need and hope you find a way to not repeat the experience again.
Take care,
Kellye
Anyway I hope you find the answers you need and hope you find a way to not repeat the experience again.
Take care,
Kellye
Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 1,697
I would suggest that you just drank too much, and have poisoning...or the toxins like the your doctor suggested in the past.
If the feeling continues, you may want to consult a doctor.
IMO, heavy drinking does not make one an alcoholic. Now, if you find this happens often, and sometimes you drink like this with every intention not to (like if at the beginning of the night you said "I will only drink 1 bottle") or if you cannot stop your intake once you start drinking, then there is something to look at.
I am not too quick to label what happened as 'acoholism'..
If the feeling continues, you may want to consult a doctor.
IMO, heavy drinking does not make one an alcoholic. Now, if you find this happens often, and sometimes you drink like this with every intention not to (like if at the beginning of the night you said "I will only drink 1 bottle") or if you cannot stop your intake once you start drinking, then there is something to look at.
I am not too quick to label what happened as 'acoholism'..
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: some where / no where
Posts: 1,019
Welcome to the forum, Miss Pink
Welcome to the forum, Mabbish.
I suggest that you avoid binge drinking. I think I'd be concerned if I learned this lesson in 99, but did this to myself again. I'd wonder why I didn't stop myself before I drank so much to suffer from a horrible hangover.
My name is chip, and I'm an alcoholic. When I drank, I repeated a behaviour hoping for different results. I was suffering from my drinking, but I kept doing it anyway. This is insane behaviour. I find it interesting when people talk about causing themselves suffering because of drinking. Why drink at all? When I was drinking I didn't have a choice. When alcohol was in my system, sooner or later, I'd drink too much. It was only a question of when.
You and I may be very different people. We both know that the only %100 effective way to avoid binging and hangovers is to abstain. Practicing restraint when drinking can keep you safe from a hangover....but....some people have a very hard time doing this sometimes. In my case, I lost all control and I binge drank every day. In your case, you seem to have the occasional binge. We've both suffered because of drinking and this is something we have in common.
Here's some tough questions for you:
Once you got started, and got into the wine with your friends, did you think about what happened to you in 99? If the answer is "yes", why didn't you stop before you went too far? If your hangover in 99 was as bad as you said, I'd find it hard to believe that you didn't think about it at all.
Here's what I'm getting at:
If you find that you cannot avoid the odd binge, and you know the results are horrible, you may need to make some different choices. It might be best to identify times when you are prone to over drinking (ie. weddings or reunions) and choose to abstain during these times. If this doesn't work, then you may need to abstain at all times.
In any event, I hope you never have to go through this again. I hope I don't come accross as being judgmental or too harsh. It's disturbing to watch a person hurting when it can be avoided. It sounds like you are here because you don't want to suffer like this again.
I urge you to speak with your doctor, and do whatever you need to do to avoid this. Alcohol can kill. You don't have to be an alcoholic to die from alcohol poisioning. I'm not a doctor, but it sounds like you have trouble metabolizing alcohol. You could really damage yourself by over drinking. This is a serious matter, and I hope you will be cautious.
thanks for joining us,
chip
Welcome to the forum, Mabbish.
I suggest that you avoid binge drinking. I think I'd be concerned if I learned this lesson in 99, but did this to myself again. I'd wonder why I didn't stop myself before I drank so much to suffer from a horrible hangover.
My name is chip, and I'm an alcoholic. When I drank, I repeated a behaviour hoping for different results. I was suffering from my drinking, but I kept doing it anyway. This is insane behaviour. I find it interesting when people talk about causing themselves suffering because of drinking. Why drink at all? When I was drinking I didn't have a choice. When alcohol was in my system, sooner or later, I'd drink too much. It was only a question of when.
You and I may be very different people. We both know that the only %100 effective way to avoid binging and hangovers is to abstain. Practicing restraint when drinking can keep you safe from a hangover....but....some people have a very hard time doing this sometimes. In my case, I lost all control and I binge drank every day. In your case, you seem to have the occasional binge. We've both suffered because of drinking and this is something we have in common.
Here's some tough questions for you:
Once you got started, and got into the wine with your friends, did you think about what happened to you in 99? If the answer is "yes", why didn't you stop before you went too far? If your hangover in 99 was as bad as you said, I'd find it hard to believe that you didn't think about it at all.
Here's what I'm getting at:
If you find that you cannot avoid the odd binge, and you know the results are horrible, you may need to make some different choices. It might be best to identify times when you are prone to over drinking (ie. weddings or reunions) and choose to abstain during these times. If this doesn't work, then you may need to abstain at all times.
In any event, I hope you never have to go through this again. I hope I don't come accross as being judgmental or too harsh. It's disturbing to watch a person hurting when it can be avoided. It sounds like you are here because you don't want to suffer like this again.
I urge you to speak with your doctor, and do whatever you need to do to avoid this. Alcohol can kill. You don't have to be an alcoholic to die from alcohol poisioning. I'm not a doctor, but it sounds like you have trouble metabolizing alcohol. You could really damage yourself by over drinking. This is a serious matter, and I hope you will be cautious.
thanks for joining us,
chip
Last edited by chip; 11-23-2007 at 11:13 PM.
same planet...different world
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Butte, America
Posts: 10,946
I'm a borderline diabetic.
Besides the obvious poisioning incident you're asking about -
the description of the days on end hangovers -
Fits exactly what I used to experience.
Which partially explains why I rarely chose to drink.
I was 43 before I picked up alcohol and began to drink like the alcoholic I am.
Within five years, I was dang near literally dead on my feet.
And still drinking.
I've now got the body and physical/emotional/mental/damage that anyone who drank for over twenty years has.
Age doesn't make anything exclusive.
Not with alcoholism.
Sounds to me like you don't know about moderation ...
Sounds to me like you've got some more ... pertinent questions to ask yourself.
Do let us know what you discover!
Besides the obvious poisioning incident you're asking about -
the description of the days on end hangovers -
Fits exactly what I used to experience.
Which partially explains why I rarely chose to drink.
I was 43 before I picked up alcohol and began to drink like the alcoholic I am.
Within five years, I was dang near literally dead on my feet.
And still drinking.
I've now got the body and physical/emotional/mental/damage that anyone who drank for over twenty years has.
Age doesn't make anything exclusive.
Not with alcoholism.
Sounds to me like you don't know about moderation ...
Sounds to me like you've got some more ... pertinent questions to ask yourself.
Do let us know what you discover!
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