Casual Conversation

As a dry alcoholic, had I become addicted and physically dependent about 5 years later than I did, I would have been dead by now. Alcohol can be the fucking devil, but I am an extreme case of course, getting black out drunk every day. My tolerance was so high that I only stopped shaking at usually lethal doses. I was passive-suicidal. I am doing a lot better now, but this is a warning to everyone that there is almost no drug that will fuck up your organs as much as alcohol (not even heroin, meth, or crack cocaine).

Edit: Here is the price I paid:

• Pancreatitis
• Alcoholic Fatty Liver (thankfully my liver is an absolute trooper, so no cirrhosis and I am still young enough [31] to fully recover)
• Absolutely unbearable and life-threatening physical withdrawal (in the ICU, also I was given the max. dose of benzodiazepines) and still went into delirium, seizures, hallucinations, hearing voices and the fear of becoming schizophrenic (which thankfully didn't happen)
• The withdrawal traumatized me so much that I regularly have nightmares and wake up in an ocean of sweat
• It borders on a miracle that I came out of this without any disabilities
• Though there is a chance my brain will give out before my body does, or I eventually develop epilepsy

PS: If you know someone who can out-drink everyone else it isn't impressive, but incredibly sad.

PPS: DO NOT QUIT DRINKING COLD TURKEY, IF YOU ARE PHYSICALLY DEPENDENT

Really depends what you drink. Avoid sugar, and low quality stuff. Also, eat food and drink water.

I wonder how biology plays into this. I never noticed a huge shift in hangover intensity. Yeah they got a little worse in my 30s but nothing as debilitating as what I've been lead to believe would happen.

Drinking alcohol is always a terrible idea. It always damages your body, mind, and life itself. No, "small amounts of wine" don't fucking count. That nonsense has been entirely and thoroughly disproven.

Don't drink. That's like shooting yourself in the dick with a gun, on purpose. If you're a woman, you do it to your kids. Not literally, that an explanatory metaphor, dumbass. I know I have to explain that shit now because I know you've drank alcohol before...on fucking purpose no less.

Beeing a teenager definitely is a superpower you're not fully aware of or sufficiently appreciating at the time. Drink a bottle of vodka in one night and wake up and go for a run? No problem.

TBF it was never a good one.

Idk if hangovers are more intensive for me or if I'm just overly sensitive, but I've stopped getting drunk simply because of hangovers. I'm just past the point where the upsides of drinking alcohol aren't worth the intensity of the hangover after it. It's just not fun anymore.

And I don't understand how people the same age as me or older still get wasted and just shrug at the hangover, if they even have one. I still drink alcohol rarely, but probably never get wasted at memory-loss level ever again.

yep, I've been discovering the virtues of low-alcohol beer. perhaps they had it right in the middle ages with small beer

I've never tolerated alcohol well so for me it's just as bad now as it was when I was a teen. I just get sleepy which makes me want to go home at 12 and the day afterward I spend half my day puking, even after just a couple of beers.

Yeah as you get older you really need to make sure you’re drinking enough water before you knock out and probably get something in your stomach otherwise you’re in for a bad time.

Might be a placebo but drinking those “liquid IV” mixes have been a game changer since once I’m drunk enough I don’t like to drink regular water but I can convince drunk me to drink those at least and it’s saved me so many hangovers lol

I was always hungover when drinking young. Then I stopped getting hangovers because I had an alcohol problem. Then I stopped drinking. YMMV.

Once I hit my 30s I ditched alcohol and switched to weed. All but two of my friends stopped drinking once we entered our 30s.

Ya, whenever I think about having a drink, I immediately start calculating how long I'll feel like shit after. If I don't have an entire day I can set aside to feel awful I don't even. It's rarely worth it

I've never actually had a hangover. I have no idea what they feel like other than, from inference, bad.

And I drink.

I have been drunk in the past too, though I really don't like the sensation so try to avoid it.

Perhaps instead of age there's something else that's causing your hangover?

Yep totally not worth it, if I even get drunk to slightly merry the next day is a write off

You probably just need practice.

I haven't really gotten drunk in ages, with a few notable exceptions. Sure, I still drink beer, but rarely to the point of actually getting drunk.

Exceptions:

• On a work trip halfway around the world. After a looong day in the equatorial heat, some coworkers and I met in the bar to unwind. Upon trying to pay, it turned out that the ops manager had put his card in the bar and we all drank for free that night. My GF phoned me about something trivial later that night, and due to timezones she was expecting a normal afternoon conversation while I was severely hammeren and headed for bed. I vaguely remember warning her as I picked up the phone of my current physical state. I also vaguely remember being able to provide the answers needed from me.
• Recently I met up with a former coworker that I hadn't met in over 10 years. We went out for "a couple of beers". Yeah, I had trouble finding the subway after.

I'm 42, by the way.

I’m in my 40s and haven’t drank anything in over a month at this point. I never really drank heavily, but I hate how it makes me feel in general. I also looked around at the men my age and they all have dad bod with the gut. In the words of Radiohead: I’m “fitter, happier, more productive.”

Oh yes. I like to have a drink (obviously) but it has to be one drink, and early. No nightcap, no going to bed with any amount of buzz at all.

I can still tolerate drinking fairly well, but I probably drink too much. In general it is an immunosuppressant so it’s a bad drug to consume regularly. I grew up in a drinking family and a drinking area. I am deciding in my middle age that the benefits are too far below the costs. Sticking more to edibles for my unwind time after a hard day.

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