Linz

Tolerance levels go up the more you drink, correct? At least, that's always what I've read or heard, and experienced... up until recently. I have stopped drinking in the past, and obviously that didn't last.
When I started drinking, I started out running. Whiskey, beer, wine, whatever, it's all alcohol, and I will drink it ALL. I only started blacking out about three months or so after I started drinking.
I was 115 pounds and my drinking quickly escalated from 5-10 beers with a shot or two a night, to 10-12 beers a night along with who knows how much liquor, all the way to a case in 24 hours, mixed with however much liquor I could get my hands on.

When I found out that I was pregnant last year, I quit for the whole pregnancy, and for about a month afterward. I started again but stick to beer only (I wish I could just quit!!!!)
I have four or five 8.5% beers in the evening, and black out almost nightly from that...

My question is how on Earth is it so easy for us (alcoholics) to black out? Normal drinkers seem to remember things!

Just curious.

Also, why is it that less alcohol can have more of an effect on an alcoholic? I mean, we appear to be hit harder with fewer drinks than normal, social drinkers....

Ken33xx

Never could get it quite right.

I'd be having a good time and everything was fine.

Then boom I'd wake up and not remember getting home.

Just never could tell when enough was enough.

desypete

for me i blacked out because i drank way to much, i couldnt stop drinking until i was totaly plastered and out of my brains
the next morning i would find it almost imposable to remember what i did last night

sometimes i would remember and other times i would only have my imagination telling me i did things wrong only to find out i didnt

the worse times i had after a black out is waking up in a police cell and trying to remember what on earth i had done
i had no where to hide either nor able to stop my name going into the paper with all the shame that would bring and worse i ended up going to prison, swearing to everyone i am not a criminal and please dont lock me up

no one listened as they all got fed up of me and my drunkeness and me saying i am sorry i will never do it again

you can bet your life i was scared in prison the sober me got locked up for the drunken me and the sober me had to pay the price and try to survive with people who certainly wouldnt respect your human rights.

even that didnt teach me as i drank and again and again and lost more and more

i would say to anyone who suffers from black outs with drink lets hope it will not be you who wakes up in the police cell as i have done my share of it.

today i dont dont drink and would you belive as i dont drink i dont wake up in police cells anymore either : ) and i can remember what happend last night with ease

doggonecarl

I don't know the answer to why you black out. But I hope you find the answer to the bigger question, which is, "How do I stop?"

desypete

ps
normal drinkers have an off switch that will not let them drink to much, i dont have it, hence i drink to much and black out.
normal drinkers wonder why i would drink so much, and i would wonder why or how they dont drink like i do

its just how it is, i am an alcoholic so just one drink will trigger a craving that normal drinkers dont have
when i look back at all my drinking and the amounts of times i got drunk and made a fool of myself and then swear i will never do it again it makes me wonder why i just didnt stop drinking and be good

but then i remember how lost i was with always thinking that the only real way anyone can have a good happy time in life was with drink
it never occurred to me people can be happy in life without a drink.
there was something wrong with these people who didn't drink as there missing out on the fun lol

clearly even the way i thought was so wrong but i just couldn't see it

DOCBOM

As far as your tolerance level going up not sure how accurate that is. As with many thing we use/abuse in excess will always get diminishing results. Then will feel the need for more…….3-4 drinks work at one time but now it takes several more. As far as blacking out or passing out that is your body saying enough……uncle I give. An alcoholic brain cannot make that decision, it just wants more and more.

I was a Black out drunk for years. In the end I became an alcoholic that was unable to get drunk….or get sober. That put me in a dark place that I never want to return to. I had to throw in the towel and surrender……..ask for help. God knows I was never able to do it on my own.

heath480

Alcoholism is progressive, you are experiencing it.

It always get worse over time never better.

If you are a daily blackout drinker with a young child,it is time to stop completely.

GracieLou

I never could get it right either and I practiced, A LOT!

One night would be as you described. Having a good time and then boom remember nothing the next day.

Then there were the times I remembered the entire evening and wished I didn’t.

I spent nights angry because I drank and drank and drank and could not get drunk followed by nights I had two drinks and was wasted and also angry because it was a party and I wanted to drink all night.

There never seemed to be any rhythm or reason other than I always drank to much. I never had an off button.

I tried switching up beer instead of whiskey but ended up angry because I could not drink enough to get a buzz, it just made me full and sleepy. I tried wine but needed a whiskey chaser to get me a buzz. I finally gave up switching and just went back to the whiskey.

We do not react to alcohol the same as a normal person. I normal person does not want to get drunk so they can stop themselves after one or two. I had no choice. Even if I didn’t want to get drunk I got drunk but I will say that the majority of the time that was my goal and my tolerance and craving made it easier to accomplish. Of course that was at the beginning. It was not that way after a few years.

I had no choice but to drink as I did not know how to live and function without it. It had to be in my life everyday. Even on days I felt horrible, the hair of the dog was my solution. Not drinking that day was not an option.

Anna

It happened to me, and I know it's because of the progression of the disease. Blackouts are so frightening.

least

How are you taking care of your child if you're blacking out most nights? I hope you can stop drinking.

PurpleKnight

I started to drink quicker and quicker, with stronger and stronger alcohol!!

It was a progression to destruction had I have continued!!

We can turn it around though Linz!!

newhope01

I have blacked out a few times before myself and they are not fun.

I remembering learning in one of my biopscych classes that blackouts occur when the brain is no longer able to fire action potentials (electrical impulses) the way that it is meant too as the result of an excess production of chloride. This then forces the brain to shut down higher functioning processes, such as memory.

So we are talking and walking like we usually do (which honestly may or may not be very well i.e. slurring or stumbling) when intoxicated but your brain is uable to record your memories of the night. This apparently is also the final stage before coma than death.

It seems as though, one of the reasons why alcoholism is a progressive disease is because the prior substance abuse primes our brain's receptors (GABA) to respond to alcohol a certain way over time. Meaning, that even if we return to it after a brief period or a long-term period of abstience, our brain's will still be primed to respond to alcohol as if we were still binging on it daily like we once were forcing the same excess release of chloride even after the first drink.

Combined with your body's inability to process the alcohol as well anymore as your body is no longer use to having it in present in your system, would make one more likely to suffer from blackouts as well as alcohol poisoning/OD.

Over-consumption of alcohol really is just not a good idea any way you look at it. Either physically, spiritually, or physiologically.

Linz

Just so I'm not worrying those of you who've asked about taking care of my little one while drinking: Her dad and I live together, so when he gets home, it's his time with her, and my time for chores/cooking/etc... I'm not solely responsible for her, or I would not be able to continue on this crappy path that I've paved for myself.

Taking5

Disclaimer - I am not a Dr. and this is not medical advice.

Tolerance is not related to blacking out. After you black out, you can continue drinking like a sailor on shore leave (high tolerance) for hours. During a blackout, you can function fairly normally, carry on coherent conversations, etc. - you just don't remember it. Blacking out is a brain thing, not related to how much alcohol you can consume.

Tolerance actually goes down when your liver starts to give out. Towards the end, my alcoholic uncle would get absolutely obliterated on an amount of booze a middle school girl could drink.

You have identified yourself as an abnormal drinker, now what are you going to do about it? Blackouts will never be an issue if you don't drink, obviously.

PurpleKnight

But surely you want more out of life for you and your family regardless?

You can turn this around with the right commitment to Sobriety, you don't have to settle for anything less!!

2muchpain

I told my psychiatrist that I used to drink a lot more than I do now, but I was having more blackouts while drinking less. It takes less now to go into a blackout than before. I don't remember the details, but he said that that will eventually happen to a long-term chronic alcoholic, and is a sign of late stage alcoholism. For a while, you need to drink more to get drunk, but eventually the reverse happens. This is definitely not a good sign and at least for me, something to take seriously.

sugarbear1

it's the progression.

stop drinking and stop blacking out, be fully present for your family.

nancylee

I started blacking out regularly, and that is when I quit. I think, and this is NOT scientific, that we black out because our brains are really sensitive, maybe even "soaked" in a way, which is why it took me less alcohol to black out.

I am really just thinking this, I have no evidence. But telling myself that helped me quit.

dwtbd

The first time I drank , I drank to black out ,had to be dragged home from a community event by a neighbor didn't remember a thing I had done. Perhaps I programmed my brain to recognize that state of intoxication as "drinking/drunk" and anything less as just getting close.
During high school I was the kid who got poured on to the porch weekend after weekend, and regaled with the tales of what happened after the fact. In my mid twenties I figured I had matured and had learned how to drink better, there seemed to be less drinking to passing out or blacking out. But as the years passed I became more comfortable with drinking to those levels again, and in the last years of drinking I drank enough ,most times, to not remember stopping or passing out and just bam , it was morning. Abusing alcohol in that fashion was for me a progression , and it seemed to really speed up toward the end. Whiskey in the morning to help with anxiety quickly became a very common occurrence , I don't know what would have happened if I didn't stop when I did. For me it was definitely a progression , years of seemingly level, though admittedly unhealthy drinking, to a point that was becoming uncontrollable . My point is not to get comfortable with blackouts, my first should have scared me , instead it lead to decades of abuse, don't be comfortable with it, it's not worth it.
I wish I could go back to that young teen and ask him why that **** didn't scare the crap out of him.

DoubleDragons

Dwtbd, your drinking pattern sounds a lot like mine. I remember a college friend acting shocked when I spoke non-chalantly about my blackouts. I think I thought they were a normal part of drinking since they happened to me almost from the get-go. My alcoholic extended family politely calls it wine amnesia. Now that I am sober over 10 months, I literally tremble at the thoughts of my blackouts and the crazy things I did when I had them.