Question re: different alcohol and body damage
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 12
Question re: different alcohol and body damage
I was wondering, does it matter what type of alcohol the A drinks, with regards to how it ends up damaging their body, or not. Is it more the number of 'standard drinks' they end up consuming?
My AH's drink of choice is a cider, which is 1.4 standard drinks. I've tried before to try and find out what cider can do to the body, long term, but haven't had much luck.
My AH's drink of choice is a cider, which is 1.4 standard drinks. I've tried before to try and find out what cider can do to the body, long term, but haven't had much luck.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 821
Cider is just the sugar of an apple, some water and yeast.
Beer is just the sugar of the malt, some water and yeast.
Wine is just the sugar of the grape, some water and yeast.
It's all the same in the end. Some just take less to provide the same amount of alcohol based on percentages.
The scary thing about cider is that it's not as filling as a brew but packs more punch so people just keep on drinking it.
Beer is just the sugar of the malt, some water and yeast.
Wine is just the sugar of the grape, some water and yeast.
It's all the same in the end. Some just take less to provide the same amount of alcohol based on percentages.
The scary thing about cider is that it's not as filling as a brew but packs more punch so people just keep on drinking it.
Today is a New Day
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,766
I think it's simply the alcohol content.
I would also say that the timeframe is important (1 pint whiskey all day has less impact then 1 pint whiskey in 1 hour) due to the time your body has to absorb the alcohol.
And of course eating food supposedly helps while drinking on an empty stomach could damage it.
I'm no expert, but that's what I think.
(I also looked into the effects of mixing types of liquor, as I heard that has an influence, but apparently there's no scientific proof of that).
I would also say that the timeframe is important (1 pint whiskey all day has less impact then 1 pint whiskey in 1 hour) due to the time your body has to absorb the alcohol.
And of course eating food supposedly helps while drinking on an empty stomach could damage it.
I'm no expert, but that's what I think.
(I also looked into the effects of mixing types of liquor, as I heard that has an influence, but apparently there's no scientific proof of that).
Member
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: right here, right now
Posts: 6,516
I'm not sure at the end of the day it matters what the drug or drink is.
How it affects your alcoholic is really his/her problem.
What matters is how it affects you and whether you want to keep living with it.
How it affects your alcoholic is really his/her problem.
What matters is how it affects you and whether you want to keep living with it.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 12
Scientific proof or not, there's definitely an adverse affect from mixing liquor, I usually know straight away if my AH has had something other than cider. You can see and sense something is "different" from the 'normal' intoxication.
Thanks for the responses, Shellcrusher, that's a good break down of it!
Thanks for the responses, Shellcrusher, that's a good break down of it!
same planet...different world
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Butte, America
Posts: 10,946
Mav-
the book "under the influence' is an eye-opening read.
it's got a section about what happens in the body.
Hope that gets you started.
There's some stickies from the book
over in the alcohol forums.
it's more a matter what happens AFTER it's injested
that makes the damage.
the book "under the influence' is an eye-opening read.
it's got a section about what happens in the body.
Hope that gets you started.
There's some stickies from the book
over in the alcohol forums.
it's more a matter what happens AFTER it's injested
that makes the damage.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 167
Whatever form the ethanol you drink takes, the effects are the same:
One of the most rapid affects of alcohol is on the central nervous system (CNS), which controls a range of vital body functions not least the sense organs, muscles controlling speech as well as the sweat glands in the skin.
Under normal circumstances the CNS receives sensory information from organs such as the eyes and ears, analyses it and then initiates an appropriate response such as contracting a muscle.
But intoxication interferes with the CNS ability to analyse sensory information resulting in the typical symptoms of being drunk such as disturbed balance, slurred speech, blurred vision, heavy sweating and the dulling of our sensation of pain, which is why alcohol in the past was used as an anaesthetic.
High alcohol consumption can disrupt the brain's judgement of distances and heights
Alcohol also affects the outer layer of the brain, the frontal cortex, the region concerned with conscious thought which is why people under the influence of alcohol often lose their inhibitions.
Alcohol is also a diuretic, as it stops the production of the body's anti-diuretic hormone.
The kidneys direct fluids straight to the bladder, making you urinate excessively and speeding up the loss of fluid from the body causing dehydration.
Most of the nasty symptoms of a hangover including headache, dizziness, thirst, paleness and tremors are caused by dehydration.
Alcohol also affects the cerebellum in the brain which controls balance and coordination as well as eye movements.
Therefore high alcohol consumption can disrupt the brain's judgement of distances and heights and cause dizziness.
Alcohol
Alcohol has a battery of negative effects
The liver is the main organ that gets rid of alcohol by breaking it down.
It metabolises about 90% of the alcohol in our body while only about 10% is excreted through either our urine or breath.
The liver metabolises alcohol, at the rate of one to two units per hour.
A unit of alcohol is equivalent to half a pint of beer or lager, 25mls (a standard shot) of spirits in a pub or 125mls of red or white wine.
When a person drinks the body responds to large quantities of increased glucose in the system by producing more insulin which removes the glucose.
Once the process has started, the insulin carries on working removing glucose from the blood.
Low blood glucose levels are responsible for that shaky feeling, heavy sweating, dizziness and blurred vision. Low glucose levels also result in feeling tired.
To overcome this feeling of lethargy and tiredness the body will be craving a carbohydrate boost which is why many people feel hungry when they have been drinking.
A Few Hours Later:
Although people often seem to crash out and sleep after drinking, there is evidence to show that after drinking people's quality of sleep will be effected through dehydration.
People are still likely to feel tired after sleeping following drinking as they will have missed out on quality sleep
Alcohol also interferes with sleeping rhythms.
Therefore, even though someone who has been drinking might look as if they are crashed out, they will not be getting the deep sleep that is needed to recharge their batteries.
People are still likely to feel tired after sleeping following drinking as they will have missed out on quality sleep.
Alcohol relaxes the pharyngeal muscles, in the back of the mouth, increasing the likelihood of snoring.
The Next Day:
The liver is still breaking down alcohol in the body and therefore a breathalyser test could still be positive in the morning.
Alcohol plunders our stores of vitamins and minerals, which need to be in the correct balance for the body to function normally
The toxicity of alcohol can irritate the stomach causing gastritis (chronic stomach upset) often resulting in retching and vomiting.
The toxic effect of alcohol can also cause inflammation of the oesophagus, the tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach, causing heartburn.
Alcohol often affects the large bowel. The small and large intestine reabsorb salt and water but alcohol interferes with this process often causing diarrhoea.
Alcohol plunders our stores of vitamins and minerals, which need to be in the correct balance for the body to function normally.
It seriously disturbs the appropriate balance of minerals in the blood including potassium along with calcium, and sodium which are known as ions, is maintained by the kidneys.
The level of each ion must be maintained within narrow limits but dehydration caused by drinking, can affect the concentration of ions by draining potassium from the body, resulting in thirst, muscle cramps, dizziness and faintness.
The liver needs water to get rid of toxins from the body but as alcohol acts as a diuretic there will not be sufficient amounts in the body, so the liver is forced to divert water from other organs including the brain which causes the throbbing headaches.
Not only is alcohol toxic but the liver also produces more toxins in the body as a by-product during the breaking down process of alcohol.
When the liver is metabolising alcohol it produces acetaldehyde, a vinegar like substance which has toxic effects on liver itself, the brain and the stomach lining, resulting in severe headache, nausea, vomiting and heartburn and the feeling of being unwell.
Our bodies produce enzymes to attack these toxic agents but they only work at set rates thus the accumulation in our body caused by excess drinking and the build up that remains in our body the next day, makes us feel ill.
One of the most rapid affects of alcohol is on the central nervous system (CNS), which controls a range of vital body functions not least the sense organs, muscles controlling speech as well as the sweat glands in the skin.
Under normal circumstances the CNS receives sensory information from organs such as the eyes and ears, analyses it and then initiates an appropriate response such as contracting a muscle.
But intoxication interferes with the CNS ability to analyse sensory information resulting in the typical symptoms of being drunk such as disturbed balance, slurred speech, blurred vision, heavy sweating and the dulling of our sensation of pain, which is why alcohol in the past was used as an anaesthetic.
High alcohol consumption can disrupt the brain's judgement of distances and heights
Alcohol also affects the outer layer of the brain, the frontal cortex, the region concerned with conscious thought which is why people under the influence of alcohol often lose their inhibitions.
Alcohol is also a diuretic, as it stops the production of the body's anti-diuretic hormone.
The kidneys direct fluids straight to the bladder, making you urinate excessively and speeding up the loss of fluid from the body causing dehydration.
Most of the nasty symptoms of a hangover including headache, dizziness, thirst, paleness and tremors are caused by dehydration.
Alcohol also affects the cerebellum in the brain which controls balance and coordination as well as eye movements.
Therefore high alcohol consumption can disrupt the brain's judgement of distances and heights and cause dizziness.
Alcohol
Alcohol has a battery of negative effects
The liver is the main organ that gets rid of alcohol by breaking it down.
It metabolises about 90% of the alcohol in our body while only about 10% is excreted through either our urine or breath.
The liver metabolises alcohol, at the rate of one to two units per hour.
A unit of alcohol is equivalent to half a pint of beer or lager, 25mls (a standard shot) of spirits in a pub or 125mls of red or white wine.
When a person drinks the body responds to large quantities of increased glucose in the system by producing more insulin which removes the glucose.
Once the process has started, the insulin carries on working removing glucose from the blood.
Low blood glucose levels are responsible for that shaky feeling, heavy sweating, dizziness and blurred vision. Low glucose levels also result in feeling tired.
To overcome this feeling of lethargy and tiredness the body will be craving a carbohydrate boost which is why many people feel hungry when they have been drinking.
A Few Hours Later:
Although people often seem to crash out and sleep after drinking, there is evidence to show that after drinking people's quality of sleep will be effected through dehydration.
People are still likely to feel tired after sleeping following drinking as they will have missed out on quality sleep
Alcohol also interferes with sleeping rhythms.
Therefore, even though someone who has been drinking might look as if they are crashed out, they will not be getting the deep sleep that is needed to recharge their batteries.
People are still likely to feel tired after sleeping following drinking as they will have missed out on quality sleep.
Alcohol relaxes the pharyngeal muscles, in the back of the mouth, increasing the likelihood of snoring.
The Next Day:
The liver is still breaking down alcohol in the body and therefore a breathalyser test could still be positive in the morning.
Alcohol plunders our stores of vitamins and minerals, which need to be in the correct balance for the body to function normally
The toxicity of alcohol can irritate the stomach causing gastritis (chronic stomach upset) often resulting in retching and vomiting.
The toxic effect of alcohol can also cause inflammation of the oesophagus, the tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach, causing heartburn.
Alcohol often affects the large bowel. The small and large intestine reabsorb salt and water but alcohol interferes with this process often causing diarrhoea.
Alcohol plunders our stores of vitamins and minerals, which need to be in the correct balance for the body to function normally.
It seriously disturbs the appropriate balance of minerals in the blood including potassium along with calcium, and sodium which are known as ions, is maintained by the kidneys.
The level of each ion must be maintained within narrow limits but dehydration caused by drinking, can affect the concentration of ions by draining potassium from the body, resulting in thirst, muscle cramps, dizziness and faintness.
The liver needs water to get rid of toxins from the body but as alcohol acts as a diuretic there will not be sufficient amounts in the body, so the liver is forced to divert water from other organs including the brain which causes the throbbing headaches.
Not only is alcohol toxic but the liver also produces more toxins in the body as a by-product during the breaking down process of alcohol.
When the liver is metabolising alcohol it produces acetaldehyde, a vinegar like substance which has toxic effects on liver itself, the brain and the stomach lining, resulting in severe headache, nausea, vomiting and heartburn and the feeling of being unwell.
Our bodies produce enzymes to attack these toxic agents but they only work at set rates thus the accumulation in our body caused by excess drinking and the build up that remains in our body the next day, makes us feel ill.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 12
My AH can be intoxicated on cider, but if he adds in red wine (in fact any time he has red wine), he gets much much worse. Not hard to deal with, red wine just totally wipes him out, and he's not capable of anything more than extremely basic function, like walking (which isn't done properly). He can only have an extremely basic conversation, and even that can't be maintained.
I don't know why it's wine that specifically does it to him, he can have a large number of ciders and still be fairly functional, with walking/moving and talking.
I don't know why it's wine that specifically does it to him, he can have a large number of ciders and still be fairly functional, with walking/moving and talking.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 821
Originally Posted by Maverick28 
...red wine just totally wipes him out...
I don't know why it's wine that specifically does it to him, he can have a large number of ciders and still be fairly functional, with walking/moving and talking.
I don't know why it's wine that specifically does it to him, he can have a large number of ciders and still be fairly functional, with walking/moving and talking.
I would place both wine and cider on a similar scale of alcohol content. I can also boost the alcohol content of ciders, higher than that of wine. This is pretty normal practice to maintain a sweet fruity character but in doing so, there's more sugar for the yeast to eat resulting in a higher AC.
Again, the trick is that it doesn't taste like a high AC beverage and it's much lighter than beer. People tend to drink more of it, almost treating it like a beer.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Desert Southwest
Posts: 192
Bottom line it doesn't matter. Alcohol is alcohol. Or as Myheadhurts might say it more appropriately ethanol is ethanol.
My AH started off with bourbon and later switched to beer. The only difference I've seen is that it appears to take a bit longer for him to get plastered.
My AH started off with bourbon and later switched to beer. The only difference I've seen is that it appears to take a bit longer for him to get plastered.
Awakening
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Beautiful Texas hillcountry
Posts: 1,272
Originally Posted by Maverick28
My AH can be intoxicated on cider, but if he adds in red wine (in fact any time he has red wine), he gets much much worse. Not hard to deal with, red wine just totally wipes him out, and he's not capable of anything more than extremely basic function, like walking (which isn't done properly). He can only have an extremely basic conversation, and even that can't be maintained.
I don't know why it's wine that specifically does it to him, he can have a large number of ciders and still be fairly functional, with walking/moving and talking.
I don't know why it's wine that specifically does it to him, he can have a large number of ciders and still be fairly functional, with walking/moving and talking.
I always referred to red wine as her "kryptonite". She LOVED it, but even in relatively small quantities (750ml bottle) she'd lose it. Glass would drop from her hand, fall down, slur speech, wreck cars, fall off of things, and so on.
I drank PLENTY, but it never seemed to mater what I drank, it all had a similar effect on me.
Good old red wine, got me out of an untenable marriage, and got me sole custody of my precious daughter. I may just send her a case.
Thanks and God bless us all,
Coyote
To thine own self be true.
Join Date: May 2009
Location: U.S.A.
Posts: 5,924
Good old red wine, got me out of an untenable marriage, and got me sole custody of my precious daughter. I may just send her a case.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 2,052
It doesn't matter...
...and what I mean by that is why are you trying to determine this? It's about him, not you, and you didn't cause his drinking, you can't control his drinking, and you can't cure his alcoholism.
It really doesn't matter. It's just spinning your wheels for no reason. Why do I know this? Because I used to do the same kinds of things, and think the same kind of ways.
What matters is that his drinking is a problem for you. What matters is you. Please look into attending Al-Anon meetings in your area, without him, and try at least six meetings (some different if possible), before deciding if it will work for you. Here, let me help:
How to find a meeting in the US/Canada/Puerto Rico
Take what you want and leave the rest,
Cyranoak
It really doesn't matter. It's just spinning your wheels for no reason. Why do I know this? Because I used to do the same kinds of things, and think the same kind of ways.
What matters is that his drinking is a problem for you. What matters is you. Please look into attending Al-Anon meetings in your area, without him, and try at least six meetings (some different if possible), before deciding if it will work for you. Here, let me help:
How to find a meeting in the US/Canada/Puerto Rico
Take what you want and leave the rest,
Cyranoak
Originally Posted by Maverick28
I was wondering, does it matter what type of alcohol the A drinks, with regards to how it ends up damaging their body, or not. Is it more the number of 'standard drinks' they end up consuming?
My AH's drink of choice is a cider, which is 1.4 standard drinks. I've tried before to try and find out what cider can do to the body, long term, but haven't had much luck.
My AH's drink of choice is a cider, which is 1.4 standard drinks. I've tried before to try and find out what cider can do to the body, long term, but haven't had much luck.
Rising from the Ashes
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Republic of Texas
Posts: 451
I have a question; I don't know if it's on subject or off the topic. I've had my nights of social drinking and when I have had one too many or if I mix drinks, my stomach automatically, in the most nastiest way, disposes of it. I guess I'm lucky! But why do I have this reaction?
Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Waterford MI
Posts: 4,202
Cider is just the sugar of an apple, some water and yeast.
is cider sold in the US?
i was never quite sure what it was until you explained it here.
it sounds suspiciously like jailhouse hooch.
(my oldest son told me how it was made, and they got very drunk on it)
Beth
oh, and i drank beer mostly in my 20 years of drinking, but it would take 18 to 20 to get to the proper state. i am not sure about the differing content of different alcohols.
i used to drink wild turkey and pepsi, but those hangovers were like death.
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