QuitForSon

I just joined this site a couple of days ago and have been reading many of the threads, so many of them talk about blackouts and suffering from bad hangovers ETC. I drink after work 6-8 beers (usually 8) sometimes a bit more and probably 11-12 a day or more on weekends. The thing is I don't get hangovers hardly ever during the week days maybe only a very slight bit foggy in the morning which only lasts maybe an hour. On the weekends sometimes I do get a bit of a hangover but it is very mild and goes away within and hour or 2, very rarely will I get a head splitting hangover. I am wondering if there are other people like myself. I think I would prefer to get sick with a hangover in the morning as it would probably help me to quit or a least cut down considerably. I always usually get 8 hours of sleep so maybe that is what causes me to feel ok in the morning, or maybe I am just used to feeling the way I do in the morning and that is what I consider normal, I'm not sure. I only take the odd day off when it comes to drinking (maybe 5 -10 days a year) so I don't really know what mornings feel like without drinking the day before.
Sorry for the long post but I am very curious if there are a lot of people out there like myself or am I part of a select group of drinkers that don't suffer much at all.
Just thought I would add that I am 46 and have been drinking this way for 20+ years.

MandalayVA

A lot of it, I believe, depends on how old you are. When I was in my twenties I could down massive amounts of the hard stuff and wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the next morning. Now, in my forties, the same amounts lead to hangovers--not so much headaches as nausea and massive brain fogs--that take at minimum three days to dissapate completely. I agree that at least with me my lack of hangovers until recently didn't help lessen my consumption. But seriously, don't wish for hangovers. They suck.

LBrain

years ago - I mean YEARS ago I went on a weekend with a lady friend, she told her old man that I drank a lot. He asked if I had a hangover, yes, it was horrible she said. The old man - who was a minister and alcohol counselor - said, good, at least he's not an alcoholic.

Hmmmmmm? Could be at the time. The longer I drank the fewer hangovers I got. I could out drink everyone, they'd be gone hours before me and feel like crap the next day. Not me, I just got up, shook off the cobwebs and was back to normal in no time flat.

It means you are becoming "used" to drinking. Drinking is more normal than not drinking.

QuitForSon

That is what I am starting to think (took many years to realize) that I am so used to drinking and all the feelings that come with it I don't know any other way. I guess I need to do an experiment and quit for a few days or week and see how I feel.

doggonecarl

No, you'd probably be like the rest of us, where it takes longer to feel good, but when we do, we drink.

Feeling awful is a great motivator to quitting, but a poor recovery plan.

hokey

Wow ... you sound just like me! Even down to the age. For me, the pain and suffering was in my head, not my body. I think I just learned to live that way and I didn't know any different. Now (although only on day 10), I know what it feels like to wake up clear-headed and truly feeling good. I didn't think I got hangovers in fact I don't remember the last time I was actually physically ill (as in tossing my cookies sorry to be so crude), but I did ... it just took getting sober to realize it.

hopeful4

I noticed your username, QuitForSon. This indicates to me there must be someone suffering from the alcoholism, is that right?

paloverde

I didn't get hangovers and had a massive capacity for alcohol for many years. I'm 45 and didn't start getting hangovers until a few years ago. I started drinking earlier in the day to kill the lingering discomfort from the night before. That progressed to taking a nip in the morning to calm the shakiness and help me focus. That nip turned into multiple shots before work some mornings. Then a drink at lunch to keep things rolling. Somehow I stayed employed. Weekends were a free for all as my wife and I don't have children. Drunk by 1 or 2pm, a nap for a couple of hours, wake up and do a couple shots and start drinking beer again...

Alcohol definitely snuck up on me. I never dreamed I would become a morning drinker or have to go through horrible withdrawals when I tried to quit (auditory hallucinations, insomnia, shakes, sweats, depression).

lovesymphony

I was wondering the same thing. I averaged a bottle of wine, sometimes two bottles at night, always on an empty stomache, but no hangovers anymore. Unless lots of anxiety counts but I think a lot of that came from the realization that I had a serious problem I didn't know how to fix. Drinking water with the wine probably helped but lack of hangovers could also be related to how high my tolerance had gotten.

megacrankcase

I'm about to turn 53. In my twenties and thirties, I drank constantly. Unless I really overdid it, I would feel fine the next day. Great, in fact. All of that started to change in my 40's. Still I did not stop. Even when drinking was bringing me nothing but misery.

Nonsensical

I drank without hangovers for 25+ years, although I progressed from 3-4 beers to 4-6 beers to 6-8 beers to a pint of bourbon and a 6-pack to whatever I could get my hands on. In the end I would wake up still drunk.

It was the subtle effects of persistent alcohol use that I didn't realize I was experiencing at the time. Poor sleep, anxiety, depression, mood swings, obsessive behavior, arranging my day around drinking, sneaking, lying, hiding, etc. For years I was convinced I had to drink to get some sleep and relief from anxiety and moodiness. After 90 days sober I realized it was the booze that was causing it.

I didn't quit drinking to avoid hangovers. I quit drinking because it improved my life. I highly recommend it.

JimJim

I can't gather from this and previous posts if you are actually trying to quit? As you are here, you are thinking about it?

For quite a few years I had a good spell of drinking everyday in the evening. I kept turning up for work and plodding along. Nothing bad happened so I never even contemplated quitting.

Circumstances changed though and allowed me to review my relationship with alcohol. It's only with hindsight I can see the negative effects it had on my life.

Why not give it a try?

Nuudawn

I have known about a half dozen folks in my lifetime (some friends of my parents or relatives etc) who had died of alcoholism/scirrosis (sp?) of the liver who never appeared to suffer from hangovers. They had energy levels or constitutions of the energizer bunny.

grubby

This is a very confusing thread.......... i notice most of the posters here report not getting hangovers for a long time, implying that simply being young makes you "immune" to hangovers.

I find this wasn't true at all for me, i am 26 and towards the last year or so of my drinking career i was getting a LOT of hangovers. Once i started tinkering with the "hard" stuff like bourbon and vodka my hangovers got even worse. I stopped mainly because alcohol was making me very lazy and it was becoming a huge distraction, but also because the hangovers were becoming a regular thing and i found the hangovers to be rather un-pleasant........ heres how the last few weeks of my drinking typically went:

Monday
- heavy drinking

Tuesday
- hungover all day, foggy-headed, got nothing done..... but did not drink

Wednesday
- hangover wears off, do some more heavy drinking

Thursday
- another hangover all day, foggy-headed, etc...... no drinking done

Friday
- hangover wears off, and just in time! it's Friday and i do some more heavy drinking

Saturday
- another hangover, but it seems to wear off by afternoon........ so i drink later in the day

Sunday
- hungover all day

Monday
- repeat

Anyways, i guess its true that everyone is different when it comes to their reaction to the stuff............ just thought i would chime in with my experience, being young most certainly does NOT make one "immune" to getting a hangover

Then again, my health is not the best at the moment and hasn't been for a few years (sedentary lifestyle)........... i do have a few extra pounds compared to my peers......... so perhaps that plays a part in it all.

IOAA2

Hi. Obviously we are all different and alcohol reacted differently among us. I was a very functioning alcoholic, never having a bad morning or missing work. One day I related the above to someone and he, maybe accurately, said I never sobered up enough to have hangovers. Good observation.

BE WELL

WritingFromLife

If you are an alcoholic, it's progressive. The key word is "yet" if so.

Welcome!!!!

GracieLou

I didn't know any other way either. I am 45.

I could not quit when I tried. There were times I said I could but I just didn't want to, but I couldn't.

I never thought I had hangovers either. Just that fog but once I got sober I realized how foggy I was, all the time.

Try to quit for 30 days and see how it goes. You never know until you try.

Anna

I would be cautious here because just because you don't get a massive hangover, or any hangover, doesn't mean that the alcohol is not affecting your liver, your brain or your body in general.

I hope that you decide to stop drinking for yourself.