Riversong

Just out of curiosity and obv see how bad I was in comparison how much alcohol did you drink per day at your worst?!

Dee74

Welcome back

I really have no idea - enough to be permanently blitzed from sun up to bedtime anyway.

I get you want to see where you fit in - it's a common thing - but honestly once you get to a 'too much' level all you can do is do something about it.

D

doggonecarl

The alcoholic equivalent of "you show me yours, I'll show you mine."

Whatever level you are drinking at, it will get worse if you don't quit.

least

The glass of wine I drank in the morning to stop the shakes was too much. The wine I drank to stave off withdrawals was too much. The wine I drank every day, all day, was too much. Waking up feeling like death warmed over and hating myself was too much.

It's not as important how much you drank, or what you drank, or when you drank it - what's important is what happens to you when you drink.

I couldn't stand what I became when I was drinking so I stopped drinking. It was hard at first but so worth the effort. I no longer wake up wishing I were dead.

I hope you'll do whatever it takes to get sober for good. It will only get worse if you continue to drink.

StartAnew68

We’re all so different that I don’t think it is possible to compare.

Riversong

Well I do want to compare! My worst nite was what lead me to look this site up! I wonder how I’m alive! A litre bottle of vodka that’s 26 units 26 shots I woke up with a dribble in the bottom of the bottle!!! Been trying hard since that day get my day 1 but swear that will never happen again! I don’t want to die!!!

cerd2000

I recently realized that once you are an addict, the first drink is always the worst. If you can resist your first drink, you win.

But if you drink one, you cannot stop anymore.

I never drank extreme amounts in a very short time. But I drink like 4-8 beers a day at average in a time periode of 5-6 hours. And this is going on since over 12 months and only getting worse with every month. I hate the taste of any other alcoholic beverages. Wine tastes disgusting to me and spirits are the worst. Always hated it since my teenage years. But if I start with beer, I can't stop anymore. I drink 1 and i will finish at minimum 5. On bad days I can get until 10-15.

But what I read online the type of alcoholic beverage is completely irrelevant to our addictive brain cells. The addiction process is identical, all studies proved that. You drink 1 bottle of vodka, I drink 10-15 beers. It's the same amount of alcohol in the end. That's all that matters to your brain. Everybody is different, but no matter what type you drink and how much you drink, you always and only have to resist the first one. Moderation doesn't exist. Not to us.

Be123

I would 'HAVE' to drink about 20 units a day - on a weekend or blitz I'd get up to 30 or 40.

But it wasn't the amount that made it clear I needed to stop - it was the:
low mood,
anxiety,
energy taken up thinking about drinking,
the hangovers,
the blackouts,
the arguments,
the red face,
the disrupted sleep,
the constant sweats,
the stinging, stale sensation on my mouth
the mental obsession,
the bloatedness,
the days lost in bed when I could barely move
the sickness and diarrhea,
the utter misery and despair

I'd say if you score more the ONE on my helpful chart above...you'd be better off without alcohol in your life

Dee74

I understand completely not wanting to drink that much again - even vowing - but if you're still drinking any amount, it can happen.

I could never tell how much I was going to drink, so not taking that first drink ever really was the way forward for me.

Kaily

The first time I drank the amount you are talking about River, I too was shocked. Before long I was doing it on a daily basis. It became my normal. I was a mess.

Be warned, addiction knows no boundaries.

Stay around and read, learn how insidious alcoholism is, learn about AV (alcoholic voice), join a class and above all get serious about getting sober.

Welcome River

Riversong

Well I’m never buying a litre of vodka again! Thinking that will do me 2 nights!!! I’m going to re read and re read until it sinks in how alchohol lied to me! Craig beck . It’s a poison ( I know that) it’s addictive ( god I know that!! ) so is cocain! That not socially accepted can’t be a I only use at the weekend??!! The book makes sense and did get to me. I don’t want to be a alcoholic rest of my life! I don’t want to be a recovering one either! I want to not want the poison!

cerd2000

The vicious thing about alcohol that I recognized so far is:

-It is socially accepted a 100%, it's cheap and it's easily available (at least in all of Europe).

-The active chemical (ethanol) acts very slow, but it will get you hooked at some point. It's not like cocaine, but it will dominate you at some point and once that point arrives, it will be like your master.

-Chemically, alcohol is a depressant drug. Tons of studies about that. People who are vulnerable to depression and anxiety are therefore even more of risk to have their disorders worsened by alcohol. But what makes alcohol even more vicious is the fact that before that depressant effect kicks in, it will make you forget your troubles for a very short time, but you will always pay the hefty bill after a few hours.

BeABetterMan

I drank .... so much. I never had a vomiting reaction to alcohol so there was nothing to stop me but loss of consciousness. After 28 years of drinking and 8 of it being described as very hard. And the last 2 years being end stage, the amount of alcohol I drank was ungodly. It was not uncommon to consume 2 handles or nearly a gallon of whiskey or vodka per day. Those days would be week long blackout with only fleeting memories during those periods. Towards the end the only thing that would snap me out of the blackout was police lights/sirens, or violence (either being committed on my or me committing violence). Once I woke when a paramedic was checking on me because they got a call for a dead body in the road. Once I woke in jail. Many times in custody. Once I came out of a black out with and empty bottle of Xanax and a pool of vomit in my bed with over ten undigested pills in it. Once I came out of a blackout as I was being wheeled I to surgery. Once when I fell and split me head open. Once when I was picking up my motorcycle to escape the scene of an accident. I could go on and on. I drank so much and so destructively, so compulsively, so often, it was a suicide mission. I truly believe if a person drinks long enough they will reach the levels I reached. Many go far beyond me and my adventures. Many die.

C0ntr0ls

I'm picky. It was only a certain beer of 18-24 [12oz] a day. If the brand I liked wasn't available then I wouldn't drink.

Hodd

If I’d read this thread three years ago, I’d have been looking for justification for the amount I was drinking. I would’ve found someone who drank more and felt that maybe I wasn’t so bad after all. Time for another!

It is 100% the wrong mindset to think this way. If anyone is dependent on alcohol, if they feel they must drink every day or they’ll miss it, they have a problem. The quantity isn’t the issue.

But as you asked, I drank a bottle of wine a day. The UK has weekly alcohol limit guidelines which are mainly to reduce the incidence of cancers, and my bottle a day meant I was at least five times over the recommended healthy limit. That’s a deadly amount of booze.

RecklessDrunk

My alcohol consumption was worse early on in terms of volume. Late teens into early and mid 20s in bars, pounding shots and beers til close who knows?

By my late 30s early 40s I was only a weekend drinker. Mostly, sometimes the obsession would get me on a weeknight here and there. I would typically be fine with just 10 to 15 units. Even though most nights I beat out the obsession I still had an allergy to alcohol. I never could control what was going to happen after that first drink. This could lead to a craving for crack cocaine at the drop of a hat. Then i need something to come down so that opens me up to heroin, usually only snort but have injected a couple times. I was functioning. I went to work everyday. I didnt drink daily. My AV loves these arguments.

If not for the drugs I never would've considered a life without alcohol. I'm so glad it worked out that way. I never would've have had that chance to climb out of the bottle and read the label. Even though functioning and not drinking everyday id be defenseless to anxiety and depression. Managing my weight woulda been more difficult and just looking good with a shirt on would've been acceptable. I still have and will always have work to do on my body. I hate to think of taking a step backwards over a drink.

ImNotThatGuy

"How bad you were" doesn't have anything to do with the amount of alcohol it took to get you there, to that "bad" spot, in my opinion.

As alcoholics go, I was a pretty light drinker. I probably drank two nights a week, maybe three. Almost never drank two days in a row and would take a week off if I did to let my liver recuperate. When I did drink, I had an enormous tolerance and could easily put down 15-20 units in an evening between dinnertime and midnight. I didn't always do that, but I could. This thing runs in my family. It's like I was born to (not) drink.

It didn't really matter how much I drank. The first drink would lead to a second and third and beyond, and by the third drink, I turned into such an insufferable jerk that it's amazing I was never stabbed, shot, or beaten to death.

It doesn't matter how much you drink. This isn't a pissing contest. If you're an alcoholic, the booze will find a way to kill you. It's kind of like being diabetic; some people are "more diabetic" than others, but the disease will kill you one way or the other if you don't manage it properly.

Obladi

There was a point in my long career of drinking that I decided to buy "only" a half pint (237 ml) of vodka each day. Apparently you and I are so common that there are a wide variety of options in the range of pints and half-pints. Somebody asked once with tongue in cheek but also with a ring of truth if anyone but an alcoholic purchases these smaller increments of alcohol. I kinda think the answer is, "Maybe a few? But certainly not the majority".

There came a point when the half pint wasn't enough for my daily fix, so I moved up to a pint. Then there came a day when the pint wasn't enough, so I started to go back to the store for a second one on a regular basis. Eventually there came a point where I just gave up and gave in - buying a handle at a time was much more efficient, less expensive, and somehow less "embarrassing" than going to the store daily.

Point is - it was already at its worst when I was at the 1/2 pint/day place. From there, I devolved into incomprehensible and complete demoralization. No amount of vodka was enough for me and it never would be. Any amount of alcohol would take me right back there. Perhaps incrementally, but there is no doubt in my mind that's where I would land. And you will too if you don't just make the decision to put it down altogether. We're not all that unique, you and me.

O

Wastinglife

I can easily drink a case of 24 tall cans of beer in one sitting. My tolerance was such that I needed this amount to maintain a 'buzz'. Although my blood alcohol level would be 4 or 5 times the driving limit, I could still have a coherent conversation with someone.

My ultimate worst period of drinking was my vodka years. A fifth at least everyday. A full handle to myself on a Saturday.

It's hard to compare the volume of alcohol consumption to another person to make a judgment on how bad one's drinking is. Body weight, gender, tolerance levels all widely differ and are key factors. I had very high tolerance during my worst drinking and probably hovered between 220-240 lbs. A case a beer was nothing to me.

thomas11

When alcohol became "medicine" I knew I had taken it too far.