Binge Drinking and Blackouts--It doesn't get better
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Join Date: Oct 2012
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Binge Drinking and Blackouts--It doesn't get better
I posted here in October/November of 2012 about binge drinking and blackouts. Despite long periods not drinking, I was having unpredictable blackouts. I took a month or two off drinking and started drinking again, moderately. I had a pretty good 9-10 months after that--you know, the fun kind of drinking, where you can get a good buzz and not drink to oblivion. [Read my old posts if interested.]
Well, 18 months later, I can say that things did not improve. Blackouts reemerged and became increasingly problematic. Besides the potential to destroy my life, the worst part about blackout drinking is that strange, gnawing sense of guilt and shame the days about a blackout. What did I do? What did I say?
I am 24 years old, three weeks sober, and I intend to abstain from alcohol for the rest of my life. And I am pretty damn happy about it.
Well, 18 months later, I can say that things did not improve. Blackouts reemerged and became increasingly problematic. Besides the potential to destroy my life, the worst part about blackout drinking is that strange, gnawing sense of guilt and shame the days about a blackout. What did I do? What did I say?
I am 24 years old, three weeks sober, and I intend to abstain from alcohol for the rest of my life. And I am pretty damn happy about it.
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Scotland
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Originally Posted by JRiverBlues 
I posted here in October/November of 2012 about binge drinking and blackouts. Despite long periods not drinking, I was having unpredictable blackouts. I took a month or two off drinking and started drinking again, moderately. I had a pretty good 9-10 months after that--you know, the fun kind of drinking, where you can get a good buzz and not drink to oblivion. [Read my old posts if interested.]
Well, 18 months later, I can say that things did not improve. Blackouts reemerged and became increasingly problematic. Besides the potential to destroy my life, the worst part about blackout drinking is that strange, gnawing sense of guilt and shame the days about a blackout. What did I do? What did I say?
I am 24 years old, three weeks sober, and I intend to abstain from alcohol for the rest of my life. And I am pretty damn happy about it.
Well, 18 months later, I can say that things did not improve. Blackouts reemerged and became increasingly problematic. Besides the potential to destroy my life, the worst part about blackout drinking is that strange, gnawing sense of guilt and shame the days about a blackout. What did I do? What did I say?
I am 24 years old, three weeks sober, and I intend to abstain from alcohol for the rest of my life. And I am pretty damn happy about it.
Well done on 3 weeks, and great decision to abstain indefinitely it's the best choice you could possibly make. Congratulations.
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
Originally Posted by JRiverBlues
I am 24 years old, three weeks sober, and I intend to abstain from alcohol for the rest of my life. And I am pretty damn happy about it.
Most people with alcohol use disorder can stop or moderate pretty much under their own power.
But there are some of us who find this impossible, no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we want to stop. We need extra help and a good solid plan for life. We can't handle alcohol, but for us it turns out we can't handle sobriety either.
At 22, having arrived in hell, I went to AA and followed the simple suggestions, and I haven't needed to drink since.
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 61
I am 36 and ive been a binge drinker since i was about 15. If you cant control your drinking and lets face it people like you and me clearly find it almost impossible, then just stop altogether.
I know you say you had a spell when you were drinking with out getting totally wrecked but it inevitably descends into drinking till you black out over time. If you can accept that you cant drink alcohol anymore while you're still only 24 then that would be a great thing for your life. Dont wait another 10 years like I did till you stop because it will be 10 years of going round in circles while embarrassing yourself through the daft things you say and do due to drinking ridiculous amounts of alcohol.
drink - feel like sh1t - recover - drink - feel like sh1t - recover - drink - feel like sh1t - recover...and so it goes on and on. Its not a good way to spend your life. Stop now and enjoy the rest of your life.
I know you say you had a spell when you were drinking with out getting totally wrecked but it inevitably descends into drinking till you black out over time. If you can accept that you cant drink alcohol anymore while you're still only 24 then that would be a great thing for your life. Dont wait another 10 years like I did till you stop because it will be 10 years of going round in circles while embarrassing yourself through the daft things you say and do due to drinking ridiculous amounts of alcohol.
drink - feel like sh1t - recover - drink - feel like sh1t - recover - drink - feel like sh1t - recover...and so it goes on and on. Its not a good way to spend your life. Stop now and enjoy the rest of your life.
You're smart to stop drinking while you're still young. You'll have fewer regrets when you get to be my age if you stay sober. 
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Upstate New York
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Hey JRiver. Glad to see you. Sometimes we need further convincing that we can't touch it. I'd love to go back to being 24 & relive my life without the alcohol. Things would have been so different. Proud of you for seeing what needs to be done and taking control of your life.
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 3,293
I know what you mean by blackouts. Their scary as hell. Since I always drink at home, I would wake up in the mornings with all these empty bottles and maybe an 18 pack of beer and don't remember getting them. If I keep going like this, I'm probably gonna end up killing somebody driving around like that, and not even remember it. That's guilt (and jailtime) I don't need. That's something I could not live with, killing someone, maybe a kid.
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: New Jersey, USA
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Originally Posted by PhaseTwo
If you haven't had morning withdrawals yet consider yourself lucky.
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Join Date: Jun 2012
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Originally Posted by gleefan
A progressively increasing number of blackouts are what made me seek sobriety, and the additional benefits of living clear headed has kept me sober. Congratulations on three weeks!
Agree ,I got to where I could not remember a darn thing I needed to .
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Join Date: Feb 2014
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I have seen countless sober people die, decades upon decades of being sober, they go back out and they drink. The progressive nature of our disease sits with us when we are sober as well. This explains why a 1000 year sober man, realpases and dies quite quickly after taking a drink.
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