Why does this happen?
 

A lot of people on this board and AA
have said that as their alcoholism started progressing they never knew how the amount they drank would affect them.

For instance sometimes a bottle of wine would get them drunk, but other times that same bottle would bearly do anything. I also had that experience. Anyone know why this happens?
Google isn't helping me today😩

I think its called reverse tolerance. It is seen in alcoholics with fairly severe liver problems.
For me, what I've eaten, how hydrated I am, how long its been since I've drank, all effect how much I can drink. Even my emotional state. But basically, when I'm actively drinking, I can put a 400 lb male under the table (I'm 110 lb female....scary).

If you can get your hands on the book called Under the influence or if someone can post here he links to the excerpts from the book that are somewhere on the this forum, it will give you a good idea of why this happens.
Comes down to body changes and how our body processes alcohol.

I don't worry about those kind of things because I don't drink.

I do know when there is severe liver damage the liver can no longer metabolize the alcohol so you don't get drunk instead you get dead

This might help

Alcohol and Tolerance - Alcohol Alert No. 28-1995

I never experienced this at all, so I can't relate. For me, I only developed a your typical tolerance. But within a period of weeks to months, a 6 pack of beer always did the same thing, had the same effect.

Your body develops increased tolerance to most drugs over time, alcohol is no different. But then in late stage Alcohilism, tolerance decreases as our body and organs start to deteriorate. I cannot tell you medically why as I don't know, and even if I did we cannot give medical advice. But it's pretty universally accepted that when your tolerance starts decreasing again after years of heavy drinking that bad things are happening.

I found that having a bottle of wine did nothing so I would have two, and still not get the nice buzz I used to. But I still would forget entire conversations and do things I couldn't remember so must have been drunk. Weird.

Thanks for the input. I keep hearing good things about Under the Influence so I need to look into that.
I always wondered about this phenomenon and I don't know if it's related or not but every time I got super drunk and in trouble with the police what happened is that I was drinking and tolerating huge amounts of alcohol but then I took one last drink of something small and SLAM my body decided it wasn't tolerant anymore and I got intoxicated beyond belief.

I think what must have happened is that my blood alcohol was extremely high but since I was tolerant I was only buzzed and couldn't tell. Then I drank a little more and my liver said "No more" and so it hit me hard.
But I'm not sure.

I'm gonna be on trial soon where this stuff will be brought up and I'd like to know what I'm talking about, mainly so people don't think I'm making things up.
It's hard trying to explain alcoholic issues to non-alcoholics.

I think it's good to have an understanding why these things happen, but I think overall it's better to display a solid recovery plan. They'll want to know you are taking measures to rectify the circumstances because at the end of the day you chose that drink.
Best of luck :)

I agree with Del.

It will send a fair better signal for you to be in active recovery, rather than you being an expert on active addiction :)

D

Very weird. This happened to me too.

Unless you are in the medical field, or have "expert testimony" from someone
who is, very likely it won't help much to say that and they may even
think you are making excuses.

If you choose to do that, print and bring documented studies
but recovery and serious work towards it seems like best strategy.

By the way, I had the exact same thing happen as what you are describing.
Fine fine fine then wham with a little bit more.
Took it as a sign my body was breaking down and quit for good.

Good luck in court--really hope it goes well for you

I agree with what a lot of others have said. You're not going impress a judge by what you know about alcoholism and trying to find an excuse in it. You'll impress the judge by telllingq them what you're doing about it and why whatever you did will never happen again. And showing that by actions, not words.

The only thing the court cared about in my case was the actions I did while intoxicated. Not a smidgen about the reasons why.
And also simply being sober wasn't enough. I had to have proof to display of a solid verifiable treatment program I was working.

Just some thoughts.
On the bright side, if you never drink again you never run the risk of dealing with these consequences again. :)