Poll of the Day > Is drinking every night for 6 months alcohol abuse?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Hmmm?

no

Like getting drunk? Yes. Having a beer with dinner? Nah probably not.

Liquor or beer?

It's more than you probably should be drinking, health-wise, but whether or not it's "abuse" is more a matter of whether or not it's become a dependency. Take a break for a while and see how you feel. If taking a break is hard, make it more than a break and make a serious effort to cut alcohol out of your life entirely, because you're at a serious risk of becoming an alcoholic (if you aren't there already). If taking a break is easy, you're probably okay for now, though hold on to the philosophy of periodically making sure that you can indeed quit.

Can you be an alcoholic without ever going blackout drunk?

No it just means you're an american male over 30

OhhhJa posted...

No it just means you're an american male over 30

hell yeah brother

DirtBasedSoap posted...

hell yeah brother

Cheers brother! Time to pound some drinks and yell at my kids!

Stop drinking and see if you get the shakes.

Im so excited to drink tonight, im literally shaking

adjl posted...

If taking a break is hard, make it more than a break and make a serious effort to cut alcohol out of your life entirely, because you're at a serious risk of becoming an alcoholic (if you aren't there already). If taking a break is easy, you're probably okay for now, though hold on to the philosophy of periodically making sure that you can indeed quit.

Well if you apply this to everything, you should quit everything you enjoy cause it's hard to quit

Look, my Bpm is from 90-110 for the last two days. I quit drinking a month ago. Not sure if due to quitting drinking or maybe I just went from sea level to 2,000 ft elevation.

Depends on how much you're drinking.

Revelation34 posted...

Depends on how much you're drinking.

I was getting pretty drunk every night. Alcohol and shots.

acesxhigh posted...

Well if you apply this to everything, you should quit everything you enjoy cause it's hard to quit

Furthermore, adjl has all 4 possible True Loyalist GameFAQs badges, meaning he hasn't missed looking at GameFAQs for a single day for well over 4 years. Talk about unhealthy addiction!

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health
We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of alcohol use. It doesnt matter how much you drink the risk to the drinkers health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage.

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/alcohol/alcohol-fact-sheet
The evidence indicates that the more alcohol a person drinksparticularly the more alcohol a person drinks regularly over timethe higher his or her risk of developing an alcohol-associated cancer. Even those who have no more than one drink per day and binge drinkers (those who consume 4 or more drinks for women and 5 or more drinks for men in one sitting) have a modestly increased risk of some cancers.

https://blogs.cdc.gov/cancer/2018/04/02/3-weird-things-about-acetaldehyde/
When you drink alcohol, your body breaks it down into a chemical called acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde damages your DNA and prevents your body from repairing the damage. DNA is the cells instruction manual that controls a cells normal growth and function. When DNA is damaged, a cell can begin growing out of control and create a cancer tumor.

All types of alcoholic drinkseven red and white wine, craft beers, and cocktailsare linked with cancer. The more you drink, the higher your cancer risk. But its not just excessive drinkers at risk. For example, with each 10 grams of pure alcohol (less than one drink a day), a womans risk for breast cancer goes up 5% before menopause, and 9% after menopause.

captpackrat posted...

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health
We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of alcohol use. It doesnt matter how much you drink the risk to the drinkers health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage.

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/alcohol/alcohol-fact-sheet
The evidence indicates that the more alcohol a person drinksparticularly the more alcohol a person drinks regularly over timethe higher his or her risk of developing an alcohol-associated cancer. Even those who have no more than one drink per day and binge drinkers (those who consume 4 or more drinks for women and 5 or more drinks for men in one sitting) have a modestly increased risk of some cancers.

https://blogs.cdc.gov/cancer/2018/04/02/3-weird-things-about-acetaldehyde/
When you drink alcohol, your body breaks it down into a chemical called acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde damages your DNA and prevents your body from repairing the damage. DNA is the cells instruction manual that controls a cells normal growth and function. When DNA is damaged, a cell can begin growing out of control and create a cancer tumor.

All types of alcoholic drinkseven red and white wine, craft beers, and cocktailsare linked with cancer. The more you drink, the higher your cancer risk. But its not just excessive drinkers at risk. For example, with each 10 grams of pure alcohol (less than one drink a day), a womans risk for breast cancer goes up 5% before menopause, and 9% after menopause.

All this is either true or a hit job from the goats milk industry.

acesxhigh posted...

Well if you apply this to everything, you should quit everything you enjoy cause it's hard to quit

Anything with addictive potential (especially one where an addiction would harm your life in other ways)? It's not a bad idea, at least to get a better understanding of your relationship with it to help you mitigate that potential. Alcohol is just particularly high on that list.

TomNook posted...

Furthermore, adjl has all 4 possible True Loyalist GameFAQs badges, meaning he hasn't missed looking at GameFAQs for a single day for well over 4 years. Talk about unhealthy addiction!

I've definitely missed multiple days, since I only ever use this account on my desktop and that obviously doesn't come with me when travelling. Not sure what the badge actually indicates, but it's not uninterrupted use.

HornedLion posted...

Look, my Bpm is from 90-110 for the last two days. I quit drinking a month ago. Not sure if due to quitting drinking or maybe I just went from sea level to 2,000 ft elevation.

Probably the elevation change. I wouldn't expect physiological changes like that to only start this long after quitting.

HornedLion posted...

I was getting pretty drunk every night. Alcohol and shots.

Yeah, don't do that. Whether it's actually a dependency or not, that's just an unhealthy amount of alcohol.

adjl posted...

Anything with addictive potential (especially one where an addiction would harm your life in other ways)? It's not a bad idea, at least to get a better understanding of your relationship with it to help you mitigate that potential. Alcohol is just particularly high on that list.

Factor in that it's physically addictive as well as psychologically addictive.
People have, and will, die from alcohol withdraw.

shadowsword87 posted...

Factor in that it's physically addictive as well as psychologically addictive.
People have, and will, die from alcohol withdraw.

Indeed. That's why it's higher on the list.

captpackrat posted...

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health
We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of alcohol use. It doesnt matter how much you drink the risk to the drinkers health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage.

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/alcohol/alcohol-fact-sheet
The evidence indicates that the more alcohol a person drinksparticularly the more alcohol a person drinks regularly over timethe higher his or her risk of developing an alcohol-associated cancer. Even those who have no more than one drink per day and binge drinkers (those who consume 4 or more drinks for women and 5 or more drinks for men in one sitting) have a modestly increased risk of some cancers.

https://blogs.cdc.gov/cancer/2018/04/02/3-weird-things-about-acetaldehyde/
When you drink alcohol, your body breaks it down into a chemical called acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde damages your DNA and prevents your body from repairing the damage. DNA is the cells instruction manual that controls a cells normal growth and function. When DNA is damaged, a cell can begin growing out of control and create a cancer tumor.

All types of alcoholic drinkseven red and white wine, craft beers, and cocktailsare linked with cancer. The more you drink, the higher your cancer risk. But its not just excessive drinkers at risk. For example, with each 10 grams of pure alcohol (less than one drink a day), a womans risk for breast cancer goes up 5% before menopause, and 9% after menopause.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/in-depth/red-wine/art-20048281

That was me for pretty much all of March 2020 - May 2022. Then I just decided to stop and now I have only had maybe 6 or so drinks in the 15 months since then.

I haven't ever done more then one drink a night for like the last 15 years. I more just drink it because I enjoy the taste.

HornedLion posted...

I was getting pretty drunk every night. Alcohol and shots.

ask yourself these questions:

• Have you felt the need to Cut down on your drinking?
• Do you feel Annoyed by people complaining about your drinking?
• Do you ever feel Guilty about your drinking?
• Do you ever drink an Eye-opener in the morning to relive the shakes?

answering yes to at least one of these is concerning for alcohol abuse. given that you've been drinking daily to the point of getting drunk for 6 months, you're already going beyond the upper limit for how much men (and women) should be drinking in a week (14 drinks per week for men, 7 for women; these are already a pretty high amount for most people).

captpackrat posted...

binge drinkers (those who consume 4 or more drinks for women and 5 or more drinks for men in one sitting)

That seems like a really low bar for binge drinking, that is like just a normal night out with your friends, when I hear binge drinking im thinking 10+

Muscles posted...

That seems like a really low bar for binge drinking, that is like just a normal night out with your friends, when I hear binge drinking im thinking 10+

Yeah that's definitely not binge drinking.

Generally when I drink it's a couple strong beers or a few weak ones, i get a nice buzz. I have been shitfaced before and while it is fun in some ways, i much prefer just getting a healthy buzz and then chillin.

I work in a liquor store so I see alcohol all the time. I drink once or twice a week to get a good buzz but if I go over that I definitely know I should stop, and I do, for a while.

Muscles posted...

That seems like a really low bar for binge drinking, that is like just a normal night out with your friends, when I hear binge drinking im thinking 10+

Nope, that's the definition of binge drinking. Bear in mind that "binge drinking" is defined by professionals who have extensively studied the effects alcohol has on the body and identified a threshold after which acute damage occurs, rather than by laypeople who just set the bar based on social norms among their peer group. Those are also "standard drinks," which means 12 oz of 5% beer, 5 oz of 12% wine, or 1.5 oz of 40% liquor. A pint of beer is actually 1.33 drinks, or more if it's stronger than 5%.

seems likely

adjl posted...

Nope, that's the definition of binge drinking. Bear in mind that "binge drinking" is defined by professionals who have extensively studied the effects alcohol has on the body and identified a threshold after which acute damage occurs, rather than by laypeople who just set the bar based on social norms among their peer group. Those are also "standard drinks," which means 12 oz of 5% beer, 5 oz of 12% wine, or 1.5 oz of 40% liquor. A pint of beer is actually 1.33 drinks, or more if it's stronger than 5%.

5 drinks doesn't even get me drunk though while it could get someone smaller (or with a less tolerance) plastered, you'd think that would play a role in what's binging or not

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

It gets me to a nice buzz, it's not nothing but not drunk either. When I think binge drinking I think at least drunk, if not completely wasted

Muscles posted...

It gets me to a nice buzz, it's not nothing but not drunk either. When I think binge drinking I think at least drunk, if not completely wasted

Well good thing what you think isn't how things in real life work

sodium-chloride posted...

answering yes to at least one of these is concerning for alcohol abuse.

Tell me about it. What the TC does is childsplay....

Muscles posted...

It gets me to a nice buzz, it's not nothing but not drunk either. When I think binge drinking I think at least drunk, if not completely wasted

Binge drinking is constantly drinking alcohol. It can be just for a night out or it can be for everyday for over a year of your life. I'm not talking about a small amount of units a day too.

Not necessarily but you could be on your way. Everyone's tolerance levels are different.

The best way to get drunk is to fast all day and then take a shot or two. I've also heard giving blood then doing the same has a similar (or greater) effect.

Muscles posted...

5 drinks doesn't even get me drunk though while it could get someone smaller (or with a less tolerance) plastered, you'd think that would play a role in what's binging or not

Nope. Alcohol tolerance is exclusively a matter of your brain's ability to adapt to and mitigate the effects of alcohol. It indicates nothing about the effects alcohol has on the rest of your body, which remain the same regardless of how much "practice" you get because that only changes with your size/sex (and even then, the liver breaks down alcohol at the same rate whether you're 120 pounds or 360 pounds, so while the larger person's BAC won't increase as quickly, it'll stay higher for longer and that also affects the health impacts). The medical definition of "binge drinking" is drinking enough alcohol in a single sitting to have adverse effects due to the acute poisoning it causes, and what you feel is totally irrelevant to that.

If you don't feel much of anything after crossing the threshold for binge drinking, that indicates a chronic pattern of alcohol abuse. You should try to cut back.

I prefer to binge the Office

adjl posted...

If you don't feel much of anything after crossing the threshold for binge drinking, that indicates a chronic pattern of alcohol abuse. You should try to cut back.

I know how alcoholism works, I have known many alcoholics, I also know how addiction works first hand with cigarettes. I'm not an alcoholic, I have no dependency on or cravings for alcohol

It might be. But the important thing is how much it's affecting your liver. The good news is that your liver is amazing and even two weeks off can fully heal it if the fat on your liver is just at a mild level.

When people get liver transplants, I think about 60% of the liver is cut out and donated, and I'm pretty sure that it fully heals between a month and a half to two months. So put that into perspective.

Also gotta pay attention to how your body handles it. Dependency is different for everyone.

Muscles posted...

I know how alcoholism works, I have known many alcoholics, I also know how addiction works first hand with cigarettes. I'm not an alcoholic, I have no dependency on or cravings for alcohol

You can abuse alcohol without being addicted to it. That just entails drinking an unhealthy amount, and if you have to binge drink to notice the effects of alcohol, you're drinking an unhealthy amount.

I'm just going to add my input here and say if you're getting shitfaced every night that is very bad for you and your brain.