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Memory blackout

Old 08-06-2014, 11:26 AM
  # 21 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by JustB View Post
every single time I've ever drank in my life I lose my memory.

I'm scandanavian, it seems to vary with ethnicity.
I'm Scandinavian and from Minneapolis (no surprise there I guess). I have had blackouts but it's very rare. Probably less than 5 times in my life. In fact, the last black out, July 11th, caused me to quit on July 12th because I hadn't blacked out for years. It really scared me. If anything, I think being Scandinavian gives us a higher tolerance but it also depends on height and weight.

Now, the Am. Indians, of which there are the Sioux in MN, have a really low tolerance for alcohol as if evidenced if you go to downtown Mpls. So there is something to said there but I think people of Northern European descent have a higher tolerance than say, Asians and Am. Indians.

My mom never drank. She said it was because we had so many relatives with a drinking problem and they were all of Swedish and Norwegian descent and they could drink hard and heavy.

My grandmother, 100% Norwegian, never had wine or beer in the house, just vodka. It was always vodka and OJ. I don't have any memories of her being a raging drunk but she loved her screwdrivers. She lost many siblings to alcoholism, so my mom used to say we have the alcoholic gene. So she wouldn't touch it. Still won't. When we would look at old pictures, my mom was like, oh he was an alcoholic, she was an alcoholic...about almost everyone. Everyone loved their drink. My cousin, well 2 cousins, have destroyed their lives with alcoholism.
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Old 08-06-2014, 12:47 PM
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I don't know how I avoided it over 26 years of drinking but I never experienced a blackout. The next day I remembered everything I did and said the day/night before. I did have a tendency to get really nasty if I got angry while drinking. I could say some very mean and hurtful things. Never got physically violent, but a couple of people said later they'd prefer I punched them in the face than say what I did.
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Old 08-06-2014, 01:42 PM
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I don't miss blackouts - that's for certain.

Going out to the car in the morning to make sure, if it was, in fact, in my garage (which wasn't always a given since the barkeeps would take away my car key if they thought I was to drunk to drive the 1.2 mile distance to my home) was a scary endeavor.

I lived in fear about what I might find on the front part of my car.

Mercifully, I never hit anything but a street sign or 2.

But I sure talked to a lot of people that I forgot about (but that they didn't similarly forget).
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Old 08-06-2014, 02:23 PM
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Thank you OP. I needed to read your thread and some of the responses.

Blackouts were truly terrible for me. Usually accidents and problems for myself rather than others. I am thankful to be alive. And then I was aware of them and came home before they would happen, so at least I was on my own when I blacked out.

Thinking about this has truly shocked me and banished cravings this evening.

Thank you for helping me stay sober today
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Old 08-06-2014, 03:21 PM
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i have always believed the writer Robert Louis Stevenson, must of based his story dr jekyll and mr hide, on the effects alcohol has on some people. as i would change from dr Jekyll to mr hide with booze inside of me

once that substance entered me and i wanted more then that change would kick in, then in the morning when i was sobering up, then i had to try to remember what i did and that fear of it all was a nightmare
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Old 08-06-2014, 04:26 PM
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My first experience ended in blackout so did my last 20 years later. There is a hell of a lot of lost time in between I will never get back.

I gravitated to other heavy drinkers so it wasn't too much of a problem.

By the time I had a family and responsibilities I paced my drinking to make it home then sit up watching TV and black out on the couch. My early take on moderation and handling responsibility.

I sure don't miss that. How did I ever get anything done. This post was a good reminder.
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Old 08-06-2014, 04:44 PM
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A 3 to 4 hour blackout is what finally pushed me into doing something about my drinking. I feel a deep despair even thinking about it right now. It was Thanksgiving. I just remember two little snatches of the night. I was with a group of people and it is mortifying to think about what I might have said, done, and acted like. Thank God I've been sober ever since. Thank you for this thread. It is a good reminder of the fact that I am an alcoholic and as long as I stay sober I never have to go through that hell again or put anyone close to me through it.
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Old 08-06-2014, 05:14 PM
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Blackouts are the worst. I still cannot remember what happened during those times when I woke up and my drinking friends would tell me about all the stupid things I did. Yes, another downside of drinking.
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Old 08-06-2014, 05:38 PM
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Originally Posted by lillyknitting View Post
Anyone out there suffer complete blackout through drinking? Talking to my daughter this evening and for the first time she was telling me how abusive I was in drink. How I'd come home completely smashed, then an argument would ensue, that is, if anyone was still up, with me erupting in a massive screaming, hurl of abuse!!! I think I've done this in the past, on the phone to my husband but have complete memory blackout. I find this very, very frightening. They say murders can occur under the influence and the person know absolutely nothing about it! That being the case, one could drive home drunk, kill someone, and know absolutely nothing about it!!!! Really scary stuff.

Ps: this is so out of character for me that my friends would never believe it.
man driving in metro Detroit at 11 am slammed int ot he back end of a mini van killing everyone in the family but the father, only because he wasn't in the van.
murders do happen in a blackout.

a man died as a result of my drunken actions.
but it didn't stop me from drinking.

yup, pretty scarey stuff. just one more reminder of one of the consequenses if I picked up a drink.
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Old 08-06-2014, 05:45 PM
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Originally Posted by lillyknitting View Post

They say murders can occur under the influence and the person know absolutely nothing about it!
Please take your black outs very seriously
I know two in prison now who l met in AA
Who once were sober
Went back out
And did something terrible in a black out
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Old 08-06-2014, 05:47 PM
  # 31 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by lillyknitting View Post
Anyone out there suffer complete blackout through drinking? Talking to my daughter this evening and for the first time she was telling me how abusive I was in drink. How I'd come home completely smashed, then an argument would ensue, that is, if anyone was still up, with me erupting in a massive screaming, hurl of abuse!!! I think I've done this in the past, on the phone to my husband but have complete memory blackout. I find this very, very frightening. They say murders can occur under the influence and the person know absolutely nothing about it! That being the case, one could drive home drunk, kill someone, and know absolutely nothing about it!!!! Really scary stuff.

Ps: this is so out of character for me that my friends would never believe it.
Blackouts are frightening. Sadly, I've probably lost at least portions of my night hundreds of times. But I've probably had 6+ hour blackouts at least 20-25 times too, and these scared me half to death. I've done all manner of crazy things during them, woke up in different cities/towns, with people I didn't know, in public either outside or inside, in a jail cell, driven, gotten into arguments/fights, etc. This is why I can never drink again. Quit too and you won't have to worry about your blackouts becoming some of the nightmares that many of us have had.
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Old 08-06-2014, 06:23 PM
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luckily I've never had a complete blackout while drinking! Fuzzy memories, most definitely. But I've always been able to put together bits and peices from a particularly heavy night of drinking. Sounds like I need to get my stuff together and keep it that way before that becomes a reality for me as well.
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Old 08-06-2014, 06:33 PM
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Originally Posted by SoberHoopsFan View Post
Blackouts are frightening. Sadly, I've probably lost at least portions of my night hundreds of times. But I've probably had 6+ hour blackouts at least 20-25 times too, and these scared me half to death. I've done all manner of crazy things during them, woke up in different cities/towns, with people I didn't know, in public either outside or inside, in a jail cell, driven, gotten into arguments/fights, etc. This is why I can never drink again. Quit too and you won't have to worry about your blackouts becoming some of the nightmares that many of us have had.

Me too. Functioned for many long hours in blackouts dozens and dozens of times. Entire events, dinners, accidents, so many terrible blank spots of my life, so horrifying. I will never forget. Thankfully sober almost 3.5 years.
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