How Much?

Old 11-17-2009, 10:17 AM
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How Much?

Just finally catching up with posts this weekend and then last night I watched 2 episodes of 'Intervention' on A&E. The second episode was about a PTA mom who became an alcoholic. She would drink mouthwash because it has so much more alcohol than vodka or wine. She was completely wasted all the time. This got me wondering....

I know some of our situations are worse than others but I'm curious as to how much your AH/AW consumes on a daily basis and how well they function. Regardless, I'm not happy with my situation but I'm trying once again to talk myself out of being niave because my AH doesn't seem to have been drinking as much the past week since the ultimatum.

Here's my situation. He drinks about a litre of Vodka every 2 days and that's just what I see at home. He owns his own business so he drinks there too. He starts drinking around 9:00/10:00 a.m. Not quickly...sips all day on his cocktails which are made in tumblers and there is about 7 or 8 oz. in each drink with a splash of 7up. He seems to function well (I'm assuming that's what you all mean when you say a functioning alcoholic). Some days obviously, he comes home and heads to bed around 7:30 or 8:00 and stumbles. He doesn't slur or anything like that. To give you an idea...when we held an intervention for him, he blew .274 and the cop told me he would have never guessed the guy had a drink. For the most part if you weren't around him a lot, you would never know....OK, besides the smell.

I admit, I'm curious and don't know if I'm looking for more out of this question or not. I think a part of me is still in denial thinking...it isn't that bad. No hand slaps please...I know that's a stupid comment.
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Old 11-17-2009, 10:54 AM
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My xah, at his worst would drink 3 fifth's of kessler's... and be able to stand! He would usually have 3 or 4 half pint's in a day on a "good day"!

When he moved out of the house, and I moved in all of his trash was on the porches, I believe if I lined up all the bottles that I found, I could have gone around the 2900 square foot home.

Alcholism, is a sad sad sick thing!

Now my mother, she drink's at least a 12 pack of beer a day. She always has a cup in hand with ice, and beer.... and she keeps telling me the past few weeks, she's sick, and pukey... I think she thinks she's sick, I think her body is trying to tell her something!?!
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Old 11-17-2009, 11:05 AM
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oh and I watch intrevention... dvr it all the time... good show!!!
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Old 11-17-2009, 11:49 AM
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while my AH and I were dating and I was ignoring red flags, I was away for a weekend after an argument with him (red flag one, horrible argument), and he went out with friends and ended up getting a ticket for trying to drive a motorcycle drunk (he was just "moving" it..right... anyway this was in another country). He told me they breathalized him and he blew something ridiculously high, like so high it sounded absurd and impossible. I was pretty sure that meant passed out or dead for most people. I figured he was too drunk to remember the reading or it was broken. I should have believed it. My H drank a bottle of whiskey every night, sometimes more probably.. but we were bartending with a bunch of young partiers every night, I didn't really count or realize how out of control it must have been.

I'd be dead at any of the levels he can get to.
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Old 11-17-2009, 12:07 PM
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Your husband sounds like another fellow on intervention that I watched.. his name was Lawrence. He owned his own business, sipped on vodka too, most of the day.. and never seemed all that drunk.

You might want to watch that episode, here's the link to part 1, the other parts are on there too YouTube - A&E Intervention - Lawrence Pt. 1.

I was the drinker in my relationship, and I drank vodka 'all day' too. I went to the ER once with a .568 BAC, after the doctors got over the shock that I was alive, they also were freaked out that I was walking, talking, not slurring etc. I have no memory of that. My body should have given out on me. If I kept drinking like that (a 5th a day) I would have been dead within days, my doc told me. Regardless of how alcohol effected me and how I acted, it was quickly killing me, and would have.

For the record, mouthwash contains much LESS alcohol than vodka, it's just a desperate form of alcohol for many alcoholics. It's around 27% alcohol.
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Old 11-17-2009, 12:14 PM
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I've heard of mouthwash and vanilla with their alcohol content. Anyone heard of an alcoholic using nyquil or cold medicines as another form of depressant / source of alcohol?
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Old 11-17-2009, 12:29 PM
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When I started my relationship with my X, I had no clue exactly how much he drank, just that he kept "borrowing" money from me on a regular basis for food and drinks. When we moved in together and things got rough, I knew that he drank a 1.75 liter bottle of Jack Daniels or Canadian Club in 2 days. He usually began drinking around noon, which is close to when he got up.

When we moved here, we became "poor" (i.e. my X no longer had access to all the cash I had around because I was stripping to support us), so he cut back on drinking hard liquor and only drank beer.

Recently, I calculated that he drank 4 x 500 ml of Grolsch beer on week nights and more on week-ends (how much more, I don't know. He hid it). So that amounts to drinking 2 liters of beer daily, all which is consumed between 5 and 8 p.m. He functions perfectly well, goes to work daily, doesn't seem to be drunk or hung over etc etc. On the nights where he's "out with friends", he obviously drinks more than 2 liters since he's been hung over the following day.

To me, that's a ridiculous amount. I struggle to make myself drink my 2 liters of water per day, and I'm constantly getting up from my desk to go pee. Seeing as I'm mildly allergic to alcohol, I can't imagine drinking that amount on a DAILY basis.
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Old 11-17-2009, 12:31 PM
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my husband works 12 hour a day 4 or 5 days a week.(doesn't drink at work)....drinks 2 1.75 liters of bourbon a week, and also some beer.
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Old 11-17-2009, 12:37 PM
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2 drinks daily is considered "hard drinker"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Old 11-17-2009, 01:01 PM
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My AH drinks every day. He drinks beer. He drank a 12 pack a day and on some days more. Recently (like this year) there were days when he'd drink so much he stumbled or slurred his words. I can tell by looking at him and talking to him when he's been drinking but most people would not realize until he was around 12 or more. Since he got out of treatment he perhaps doesn't drink quite as much - yet. He's ramping back up - probably at around a 6 pack a day right now.
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Old 11-17-2009, 02:00 PM
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Thanks everyone. Hmmm...I'm amazed that some of our A significant others can function at work. My husband gets the shakes pretty bad. He used to pass out on the floor of his office (he owned his own business and didn't ever have to interact with anyone).

Thanks for the link smacked...I'll have to give it a look.
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Old 11-17-2009, 02:36 PM
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my boyfriend doesnt drink at all anymore - I mean he is trying to be sober but he lapses about once a month and when he does he gets WASTED.

Most of the stress actually comes from him Not drinking - he doesnt know how to manage being sober
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Old 11-17-2009, 04:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Cucumber2Pickle View Post

Most of the stress actually comes from him Not drinking - he doesnt know how to manage being sober
This is basically my hubby too. it's been bad enough that he's hateful when he drinks so much liquor, but now he's about as bad the following day until he gets that first couple drinks. It's like he can't handle sobering up. He has the shakes bad....
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Old 11-17-2009, 08:32 PM
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My xabf drinks 4 or 5 cans of beer and 4 or 5 glasses of wine on an average night. But watch out for party nights. Then you can add Tequila to the mix.
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Old 11-17-2009, 09:02 PM
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On his "bad nights" my AH drinks a bottle of Vodka (375 ml) and 2-3 40oz beers a night and gets pretty wasted... on his days off it's usually more because then he drinks all day and probably doesn't keep track anymore. On his "better nights", that is when he tries to control his drinking (as he has been lately, because he's "trying" to do treatment for me) he switches to beer. He can't seem to stay sober for longer than 10 days - and that's a record!

honorurself - Funny that you mentioned NyQuil - my AH has been trying to get sober (half-heartedly I think) and had a cold twice during his sober days. He ended up taking NyQuil and when I told him that I didn't think that was such a good idea because of the alcohol content, he defended it by saying that he doesn't take it to get wasted off of it. That might have been so, but sure enough the next day he started drinking again!
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Old 11-17-2009, 11:13 PM
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I used to drink a fifth (750ml) daily of whiskey. 3 fifths is beyond comprehension, that's about 60 shots (1.25 oz per) or mixed drinks a day (keep in mind the average alkie's mixed drink, if they mix it themselves, probably contains 2-1/2 to 3 shots). 3 pints a day I could see. I do know a fifth daily damn near killed me.

Also, mouthwash (20-25%), vanilla extract (5%) and other household substances generally contain no where near the amount of alcohol as whiskey or vodka (40% minimum).
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