alphaomega

One of my last drunks, I had 3 glasses of wine.

There is a chunk of time that I can not remember and something quite significant happened during that blackout. My girlfriends who were with me can't believe I can not remember it. As if its selective. They have given me a detailed play by play.

And it's gone. Nothing. I can not, despite my best attempts, remember any of it.

Gravel

Do I like to go there? I tend to think getting there can be fun. But I think we slip into them without someone saying, "hey, we are near blackout. Are you ready to enter or would you like a few moments to get ready?"

It's more like when a movie fades from one scene to another. The first close scene to a blackout was conscience awareness, then you go in and out of blackout, then the next scene might be total blackout at any given time.

I believe while intoxicated blackouts can be 'helped along' by your tiredness also. If you are wide awake you can be aware longer vs being tired you may slip into blackout faster.

This is just my opining and nothing is factual.

nomis

Blackouts are awful, terrible things to experience. I can't imagine anyone enjoying them. Many of us alcoholics also suffer from anxiety. Blackouts increase those anxious feelings ten fold. The next day waking up from one was akin for me, to be a living hell.

Nuudawn

Ya know in hindsight, the whole blackout thing is terrifying to me. But I think I would be lying if I said that I never drank like a lusty maniac desperate for oblivion. I know I did that sometimes. I didn't want to think..I didn't want to feel...I wanted to be dead.

spydermary

Since it is short-term memory loss, that would explain why one of my friends would tell me the same story over and over when she was drinking. She would have no idea she just told me it 5 minutes ago. But I am proud of her, she is now about 9 months sober!

PhaseTwo

I don't think anyone likes being in a blackout. When I drank I tried to get drunk as possible without reaching that point. That usually didn't work as I planned

Susan2984

I don't know that I have ever experienced a real black out and I'm glad for that. I would have mornings where the end of the night before is hazy - not remembering how the movie ended or sending a text message or sometimes (as much as I hate to admit it) no clear memory of climbing the stairs and getting into bed but waking up there. It would be "hazy" anyway. So I suppose I have been close to total blackout on nights where I would binge but thankfully not quite there I suppose.

MattyBoy

I only ever had one true black out during my drinking career. Sure I've had plenty of nights where I don't remember small things I said or bits of the evening but there was only one time I actually had a space of around 4 hours in which I just didn't consciously exist. I'd been in a house party and been kicked out with a group of mates. On our way to the next party I blacked out and woke up in a bush outside a rough council estate on the other side of London with no idea how I got there.

I never, EVER want to get to that point again....

BrandNewDay11

Spyder Mary--I would do the same thing! I'd be talking to my husband or kids and get the look like I had 3 heads and they'd say "We just talked about that 10 minutes ago". Susan 2984--I would get the "Hazy" thing for many years, if someone brought up what was said it would start coming back to me in a hazy sense, often it would feel like it happened years ago when it was just the night before. But true blackouts, there would be 30 minute blocks where I could not remember ANYTHING and no matter if every detail was explained, it wouldn't bring back even a hint of memory. That is the worse.

Ptcapote

I agree with most here: blackouts are scary as sh*t.

I actually blacked out the first couple of times I drank (hello, big neon warning sign!!!) and then not again for years and years. In my last two or so years drinking I blacked out almost 50% of the time. And, yes, sometimes I drank for the pure point of getting completely obliterated although I don't think I ever "wanted" to blackout.

The scariest part was that I travel so much for my job that I would blackout after a night at the bar and end up in a different freakin' country and have no idea how I got there. Seriously. I passed out in a bar in Cambodia one night and woke up in a hotel room in Thailand the next afternoon. Absolutely no (none!) recollection of how I got from Point A to Point B. Thank the Lord I had people traveling with me who took care of me but can you imagine if that had not been the case? And that wasn't the only time that happened. Turns my stomach just thinking about it now.

Blackouts definitely get worse and progress along with your drinking. Like AO, by the end two or three glasses of wine would trigger a blackout.

Scary, scary, scary. So very glad those days are over with.

alphaomega

This reminds me of Hangover 2.

Bangkok's got her now.

Funny in the movie. Not so much in real life. (((shudder)))

Susan2984

Yea that kinda blackout is super scary. I was upset enough that I would have nights where I didn't have a clear memory of going to bed or sent something stupid sounding via text or FB that I didn't remember.

jkb

Blackouts were a HUGE part of why I quit drinking. They scared me horribly and were becoming more frequent. I don't know anyone who likes them.

dwtbd

Man this thread, makes my brain hurt. Hundreds of blackouts over 30 years of alcohol consumption, you would think that kind of thing would make you stop and think, funny the sick things you can get 'used to'.

ODAT11

Blackouts....mostly no one I was with knew I was in one.. Like most of us, I was functioning..the scary part was waking up and seeing my text messages or voice mail from the man I was talking with ..or waking up and struggling to remember where I was the night before and having to call someone to find out... Oh yeah, good times for sure..(sarcasm)

tpoint

I can relate to this. I tend to fill in the blanks with worst case scenarios too, and sadly some turned out to be true. Waking up in the morning with feelings of shame about a night I can't even remember is insanity. I don't want to live in fear anymore.

Ncognito13

Over the years many blackouts. I've ruined more than one relationship due to my words and actions. I've embarrassed myself numerous times. I used to joke around that the most common phrase my friends told me was "you would not believe what you did last night".

I never liked being blackout drunk, but I knew I was going to get there or at least to a point where things got foggy. In college it was all part of partying and being social and young and stupid. Later it often happened alone at home and resulted in injuries and a lot of angry or sentimental text being shot out.

JustODAAT

I never intended to black out. I always thought I had it under control all the way up to the black out.

The post black out periods are the scariest, most shameful experiences of my life. I would wake up in a panic at 3am and imagine the worst until my husband woke up. Then I'd find out if he was speaking to me or not. I don't even like to think about it now, as the feelings associated are so awful.

silentrun

I got so bad at the end I started having lapses of memory even when I wasn't drinking. Now that is scary.

Mountainmanbob

blackouts are not as good as good old fashioned sleep
I didn't start blacking out until the end of my drinking years

here are my last two blackouts

#1
long story - cops took me away - bail was 75,000 dollars
cost me 7,500 for bail - got out of trouble but it wasn't easy

#2
blacked out and totaled my motor home into a business - prox total cost 100,000 dollars
thank God no one got hurt - thank God for insurance
6 years later - no wonder my car insurance is still over 2,000 a year !!


blackouts don't work for me

Mountainman