Alcohol Stops Working
A Day at a Time
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Grand Rapids MI
Posts: 6,435
At the end I was physically addicted so the only time I was not sick is when I was drinking. All the pleasure was gone I drank because I had to. I knew if I continued to drink I would die but I also knew I could not live without alcohol. I was in a very very dark place where suicide look like a viable option
Member
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,122
Reverse tolerance, in regards to alcoholism, is a phenomena that occurs when the liver can no longer process alcohol effectively. As a result, the one shot that you may have took will remain in your system considerably longer since your liver has been compromised.
This type of drug tolerance usually occurs in late stage alcoholism.
Glad most folks who posted have not experienced reverse tolerance.. scary stuff.
This type of drug tolerance usually occurs in late stage alcoholism.
Glad most folks who posted have not experienced reverse tolerance.. scary stuff.
Community Greeter
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Upstate New York
Posts: 51,560
I had the exact same experience BTSO. My answer was to switch to 100 proof vodka. Figured that would do the trick. It didn't. I just dug my hole deeper with every attempt to find the happy, high old times. Isn't it great to be free!
Member
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Auckland, New Zealand (Aotearoa)
Posts: 339
This has only happened once to me and I can't explain it to this very day. I went around to a girlfriends house. She and her boyfriend weren't in the mood to drink. I took around 2 doz cans of beer to share. I drank them all, left their house and drove home feeling completely sober. My brain was alert, it was bizarre.
Dud cans? who knows
Either way, it was just another stupid thing I did in those days
Dud cans? who knows
Either way, it was just another stupid thing I did in those days
Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 28
Yes, definitely. I think the first three years of drinking whiskey and coke gave me a euphoric, happy buzz. I enjoyed it. But over the last year and a half, the way it affected me changed. I started getting sick. At first, throwinh up once in the morning made me feel better. It got worse and soon, I was withdrawing the next day after everytime I drank. Worst thing ever. Best thing to do is listen to our bodies and get healthy before something worse happens.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 852
To me alcohol always worked. It always got me drunk and out of withdrawal and when I got drunk enough I started to be happy too. Even at my complete worst, alcohol would take me out of withdrawal and into a "normal" state. The booze never didn't work, I just had to drink more and more and become more physically addicted. The amount I was drinking daily, would of taken my life young. It's scary to think how it would of continued to progress. What I'm getting at is the alcohol would of kept "working" for me, but my alcoholism would of continued to progress and eventually would start destroying my health, relationships, college, etc...more then it already has. That's why I stopped drinking, not because the alcohol "stopping working".
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Bethlehem, PA.
Posts: 1,781
Toward the end I could not drink enough to stay out of withdrawal. I was buying vodka by the case of the large bottles with the handle and drinking about one of those a day. I would eventually get too sick to drink enough to avoid withdrawal. My last withdrawal was done in the hospital, that kind of drinking was insanity at its finest. I never did recapture those old feelings and gave up trying.
Guest
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 43
Originally Posted by NYCDoglvr 
Oh yes, it's always that way for alcoholics. In the beginning my spirits were up, I felt happy and peaceful. But it turns on you ...... you become a depressed, isolating person and continue drinking anyway. That's why it's called "the disease of insanity"
Member
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Southern California
Posts: 554
Originally Posted by Ionray
Ditto here. By the end, I was no longer drinking to feel good, only to avoid feeling bad. I only had two states to choose from... (1) withdrawal and feeling horrible or (2) drinking just to feel normal.
I get maybe an hour of buzz max then compulsively drink for the next 8 or 10 hours to no result
I'm glad that I found this thread
Day 1
Member
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 20
It's interesting reading all of this. I to would drink tequila a 5 th a day the buzz would last the
Hour then to beers then to sleep. The feeling of Euphoria was gone. 38 years of boozing
I can't believe I waited so long to stop. I can't believe how much better of been feeling
Mentally and physically. The isolation is going away and now I'm working on my people skills
Sent from my iPhone using SoberRecovery
Hour then to beers then to sleep. The feeling of Euphoria was gone. 38 years of boozing
I can't believe I waited so long to stop. I can't believe how much better of been feeling
Mentally and physically. The isolation is going away and now I'm working on my people skills
Sent from my iPhone using SoberRecovery
Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 143
Yeah I had/ have the problem where it used to be fun, then I did it to just get by the day. Wasn't fun at all.
My problems all stem from depression/ anxiety. I would get drunk on phone interviews because it relaxed me. Even did it for a couple in person interviews. They even offered me the position and had no idea. That is how "everyday" for me it was.
Think about, you will come across as more normal drunk than as an alcoholic you would going through withdrawls looking all nervous, jittery, and unsure of your answers.
My problems all stem from depression/ anxiety. I would get drunk on phone interviews because it relaxed me. Even did it for a couple in person interviews. They even offered me the position and had no idea. That is how "everyday" for me it was.
Think about, you will come across as more normal drunk than as an alcoholic you would going through withdrawls looking all nervous, jittery, and unsure of your answers.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: California
Posts: 2,693
Originally Posted by BackToSquareOne
Just curious but has anyone else on here ever reached the point where alcohol quit working for you? What I mean by that is that all the good effects, the warm glow, relaxed feelings and other positive effects just no longer happened.
I drank for over 3 decades, it always took more and more to have the same effects, I never experienced the reverse tolerance some speak of. When I finally threw in the towel for good, 6 or 7 years ago, alcohol only seemed to make me depressed, absolutely no positive effects at all. Has anyone else ever reached that point?
I drank for over 3 decades, it always took more and more to have the same effects, I never experienced the reverse tolerance some speak of. When I finally threw in the towel for good, 6 or 7 years ago, alcohol only seemed to make me depressed, absolutely no positive effects at all. Has anyone else ever reached that point?
I have read thousands of posts on here but this is one that really, really jumped out at me. I haven't heard people describe so perfectly how alcohol stopped working.
Yes. Alcohol stopped working for me too and this is why I could finally stop.
I believe it was more physical than mental. It wasn't that I didn't want to drink. I wanted to drink but I could not physically reach a buzz. It used to be that I would look forward to that first drink and would feel a wave of euphoria wash over me with the first. It got better and better until I passed out at night. Alcohol used to make me jovial, friendly, outgoing, relaxed, hopeful, imaginative, and creative. I absolutely loved it. I still enjoyed it even when the daily hangovers started to get serious. It was my reward and daily reprieve from the stresses of life.
Then something changed. Drinking made me feel anxious and my heart would beat rapidly as I drank. I would still have a headache as I drank and I was sullen and withdrawn even after five or six. I would continue on with my 12 units every evening but I could NOT REACH A PLEASANT BUZZ.
It felt like I was still going through withdrawals as I drank. When alcohol still made me feel awesome and free I didn't think I would ever quit. Ever.
This is fascinating to me because I used to think that when people said "alcohol stopped working for me" they meant they just got tired of it, like "Meh, nah, I don't like it anymore." Nope. Something physical in my brain or body (or both) stopped processing it for the nice buzz and escape. I felt just as crappy when drinking as I did when not drinking.
Thank God this happened. This made it relatively easy to stop in June. I didn't even have cravings really. What would I be craving? To feel like **** for a few hours and then battle a five day hangover? No thank you. It stopped working physically.
It is such a relief to read this thread. It really reminds me of why I stopped.
Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Nor Cal
Posts: 37
Originally Posted by Nonsensical
Yes. Toward the end I couldn't drink enough to get my brain happy before my body passed out. At that point I was just drinking to decrease the misery.
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