Your first ever time you drunk alcohol
 

And I'm not talking about a sip of wine aged 8.

I'm interested to hear in people's experiences, because for me I didn't get any euphoria, I think this is because at that point my brain wasn't aware alchol existed, it took me years (I wasn't a fan of drinking hence the slow progression) to 'get that buzz'.

So my first time, and indeed few times.

I couldn't stand the taste
It made me feel dizzy
Then sick.

No buzz or 'high' at all. I think smokers go through the same thing. So if you've read my other post, you'll see I believe the drug (alcohol) ups the need for a higher dose of dopamine, but it takes a little time for the brain to adjust to that higher level, when the brain balances out, then it's used to the higher dose = the cravings.

I think the reason why i didn't get high was because I was already perfectly relaxed. I tried an experiment some time ago, went off the booze for 8 days. On the evening of the 8th day, whilst perfectly relaxed and had zero cravings I drank. Nothing happened. All I got was drunk. This proved to me that the brain had balanced out again, and the need for the drug and elevated dopamine levels were not needed. Now before that, I drunk to end the cravings, it seems that's all alcohol was doing for me. It was the feeling of relief, which in the past I put down to 'alcholhol is helping me relax and take the edge off' when in reality it created that edge!

So, what was your first experience like?

Be well.

Nick

I was around 17 and had gone the pub with 'friends' from the new job I had started. I drank a jug of something called a blue lagoon and about 3 glasses in I quietly came to the realisation that I felt numb. All the pain I usually carried around with me every day, pain that had made me cut myself for years, suicide attempts, antidepressants, screaming into pillows to try and make that physical pain in my heart, that sadness go away....it had disappeared. I felt like I could actually breathe again, like someone had just cut through all the rope that was wrapped tightly around my chest.

Ofcourse the next morning I felt like I'd been run over but it was a small price to pay for that numbness.

If I could have fast forwarded my life and saw where I am now though, I'd do things so so differently.

yeah i think it starts off to relax then your hooked and you drink to relieve the withdrawel symtoms. smoking cigarettes is like that as well.

I drank for the first time when I was 12. I disliked the taste, but I was curious why adults kept drinking it, so I drank more and more until I felt its effects. It made me dizzy too, in fac very dizzy, I was unable to walk upright but it also made me feel warm, happy and relaxed. I loved that feeling instantly. I did it again the next weekend and the next and it didn't take long until this was the highlight of my week. My body got used to it pretty quickly so I could handle it better and was able to drink and then still face my parents without them noticing.

I could barely put down one beer when it was around in my teens. I hated the taste, didn't like the feeling, I honestly couldn't stand alcohol. It wasn't until I was about 19 when I started to come around to beer, then things slowly progressed from just being a hard partier with my friends, to drinking alone, to pretty much full blown alcoholism by 25.
Alcoholism is something that is progressive and only gets worse over time. I don't agree that there is a "reset" like button for alcoholics. Once that line is crossed, there is no going back.
This is a common reason for relapses that many think once they've got a solid amount of sober time down, that they can "just have a couple" and that their brain is fixed, only to find out they go right back to where they left off.

I would take a sip of my parents' drinks as a boy, and I was even then enamored with the notion of drinking.

I intentionally got drunk when I was babysitting and my parents were out drinking.

I guess I was around 14 or so at the time.

I didn't get bombed, but I got a good buzz, which I immediately liked very much.

I felt very sick the next day, but not particularly remorseful.

A day or 2 later, all I could think about was getting drunk again.

And so it went.

I would ride my bike to liquor stores with a $5 bill and ask people who looked like they may be sympathetic to the cause (usually people with long hair) to get me a bottle of cheap wine (Boone's Farm, Ripple, etc.) and buy themselves something as well.

And so it went until I reached the age of 31 and decided that I could no longer handle drinking and the consequences it wrought on my life.

Thanks for all your replies.

I must be in a minority then, as I didn't get any buzz. The room just spun, and I'd be sick.

Kinda questions why I stuck with it. Peer pressure? Wanting to be a grown up?

I also hated the feeling, it felt horrible. To me it felt like I was losing control, and that scared me.

I was 5,6,7 I don't know I drank one beer and was drunk. I drank my second beer at 12 and I was hooked. I had an older brother who is an alcoholic and my dad an alcoholic.

The 345678910 time I drank until I puked. Someone in AA spoke at or highschool but i said i drink beer in the parking lot not vodka 4 MIP .

17. I got a wicked good buzz and could not wait to do it again. I blacked out pretty regularly in college and every time I would swear I'd never drink again but always did.

I stopped drinking in my early 20s for about 5 years because I was a pretty serious anorexic/bulimic. Then I stopped doing that and went back to alcohol. It took me down fast and hard. I played whack-a-mole with my addictions.

I think I was 20. I had a real bad cold that I couldn't shake and I was able to "procure" a bottle of Jack. Didn't drink much beyond medicinal reasons for a few years after that. I think by my mid-20's I was drinking to get buzzed.

I don't remember if I felt euphoric at all, the first time I was drunk, but I do remember getting tipsy, falling over a lot, then blacking out and waking up the next morning with a huge hangover and covered in puke. I really didn't like alcohol that much early on, weed was my first drug of choice.

I was 14 and on vacation at my native country. I was a super shy kid and initially fell in love with the confidence alcohol gave me. I realized later on in life I grew up with fake confidence, since I depended on alcohol every time I would initially meet a girl

I was 14 and I drank 4 or 5 drinks, I threw up, and had an awful hangover. That didn't seem to deter me from drinking though.

Funny thing is is that I have only thrown up maybe 5 times in my life from drinking in 30 years. The last time was on my 18th birthday. So in my alcoholic days I never threw up once.

I was in 7th grade (how old is that?). It was at a dance and I remember having a huge crush on a guy in 8th grade. He, one of his friends and his friend's gf asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. I was STOKED because I didn't think he knew I existed! We ended up hiding behind a building and sharing a 6 pack of beer together. I didn't like the taste, but I was trying to act cool, so I drank it anyway. Not only was it the first time I drank, but the first time I was kissed. OMG, too funny!

Maybe 13, had 3-4 beers

Never drank much growing up, luckily.

Flashback of how horrible bourbon tasted as a mid-teen. Compare that to now when I sip 100proof rum sometimes walking the streets without water or juice for mix.

The first time I got drunk it was on accident. I was about 15 and a friend's older brother had a bottle of ice cold peppermint schnapps. Tasting pretty good and not knowing anything about it, I promptly got blitzed. I was hungover so bad and so sick I couldn't even brush my teeth because the toothpaste tasted like mint. My mom had to buy me a fruit flavored kind for children that I used for some time. I never drank hard liquor after that.

Fast forward a few years to age 19 when a buddy of mine had a six pack in an igloo cooler behind the passenger seat of his Toyota 4Runner. He picked me up and we cruised around, slowly sipping our Bud Light long necks... catching a very pleasant glow. That was my Waterloo. We both, along with another couple good friends, went on to all become alcoholics.

Nick...some folks say the first drink they took 'lit them up'...this was not my experience.

Many of my early drinks just allowed me to sit in a room/at a house party/in a pub without running out the door. That was the beginning.

People often said at the end of the night...'wow you don't look like you've drunk at all'...and that gave me a sense of quiet euphoria...the idea I was a 'good' drinker..could drink heavily and steadily through the night and handle it like a man.

Some of my early unsupervised drinks didn't go so well...and led to blackout. That's telling I think. I wanted to drink a ton without getting out of control. ..I didn't always hit this Mark.

My tolerance changed in my early twenties...around this time I started to experience more of a sense of euphoria but would become drunk quicker, black out more frequently and generally drinking was less predictable. That was about 8 years into my 'drinking career'. In hindsight the rate that I drank at changed around this time...I learnt to drink quicker and got a different effect.

P

I was 19 and living with some friends. We went out drinking, Boone's Farm. Got really drunk and then really sick. Didn't stop me from doing it again. :(

Glad I'm done with that now. :)