Alcoholic blackouts

Hey guys. Don't know if this is in the right forum but I just need to get some help or advice from somewhere, I'm having a real problem at the moment.

Does anyone have any experience with repeated blackouts when drinking? Like, this isn't just a one off thing. It just happened to me again on Saturday night, last thing I remember I was in a pub in town a bit before midnight having a good night out and next thing I know it's 3am and I'm laying on a roadside a few miles out of town, not even on my way home. Don't know what i did or where I got to or how I got there, or anything about that time period.

This isn't a one off thing either, it's been happening for a long time. I used to be able to drink crazy amounts but after having serious concussion problems a few years ago it's changed the way I react to the stuff and like ... now I go out and sometimes I'm just drunk but sometimes I blackout, often with really self destructive, abusive and violent behaviour that I hear about later and just feel so sad about. I've said some messed up things and got into some scraps and been robbed and beaten up and passed out unconscious and still I can't seem to kick the problem. It's like ... if I go out for a beer I can't stop until I pass out or get knocked out or have police intervention.

I'm probably gonna talk to a doctor about all this at some point because I just feel like its all going too far and I'm out of control. I'm making a serious attempt to give up now, again. I did for a few months but it fell through and I ended up on it again. I'm just at a loose end on this one. I'm sure I'll get a few people having a go at me for it but I ... just needed to vent I guess and see what you can suggest. Am I likely to get classed as an alcoholic or something like that? It's all so embarrassing now.

Reply 1

biggles1

1

Stop drinking alcohol.

See your doctor asap, and mention the concussion as well.

Don't be embarrassed at all, just be glad you picked up on this sooner rather than later.

Reply 2

kumori

11

You should see your doctor for alcohol abuse, however how ob earth don't you know your limit :/

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 3

DiddyDec01

3

Don't be embarrassed, I was having the same problem about a month ago. So I changed what I drank, cut out vodka from my drinking habit and stopped blacking out (as often). But you should go to the doctor, just make sure there isn't anything else wrong.

Reply 4

Oldcon1953

9

Original post by IanDangerously

Hey guys. Don't know if this is in the right forum but I just need to get some help or advice from somewhere, I'm having a real problem at the moment.

Does anyone have any experience with repeated blackouts when drinking? Like, this isn't just a one off thing. It just happened to me again on Saturday night, last thing I remember I was in a pub in town a bit before midnight having a good night out and next thing I know it's 3am and I'm laying on a roadside a few miles out of town, not even on my way home. Don't know what i did or where I got to or how I got there, or anything about that time period.

This isn't a one off thing either, it's been happening for a long time. I used to be able to drink crazy amounts but after having serious concussion problems a few years ago it's changed the way I react to the stuff and like ... now I go out and sometimes I'm just drunk but sometimes I blackout, often with really self destructive, abusive and violent behaviour that I hear about later and just feel so sad about. I've said some messed up things and got into some scraps and been robbed and beaten up and passed out unconscious and still I can't seem to kick the problem. It's like ... if I go out for a beer I can't stop until I pass out or get knocked out or have police intervention.

I'm probably gonna talk to a doctor about all this at some point because I just feel like its all going too far and I'm out of control. I'm making a serious attempt to give up now, again. I did for a few months but it fell through and I ended up on it again. I'm just at a loose end on this one. I'm sure I'll get a few people having a go at me for it but I ... just needed to vent I guess and see what you can suggest. Am I likely to get classed as an alcoholic or something like that? It's all so embarrassing now.

Are you likely to get classed as an alcoholic? Take it from a 60 yr. old EX meth addict/alcoholic; you are most assuradley an alcoholic. You don't state your age or how long you'vr been drinking but it doesn't really matter. I could write you pages on what you should do but I'll just say this; if you value your future you must face the fact that you can never drink again. Sounds scary but there are millions of people who don't drink and they are quite happy. You said once you start you can't stop. that's the whole tamale right there. How do you become a non-drinker? That's the hard part. But the sooner you stop the easier it is. Not that it's easy in the first place. You need to start going to A.A. meetings even if your still drinking. Just don't go drunk. Listen to some of the stories. Then when you decide that drinking isn't worth throwing your health away for, check youself into a live-in rehab. Don't bother with out-patient programs. They don't work. I did the Salvation Army program in Oakland Ca. and it was great. Don't let the religion thing put you off. 1 hour of chapel a week and that's all the religion you have to participate in. It's a work program. 8 hours a day just like a regular job and AA meetings and classes at night learning about addiction etc. Alcohol or dope, it's all the same. Do it before you wake up in jail after having killed or hurt someone and wind up screwing up whatever good things you have going for you because alcohol will do it. I just can't say enough. DO IT NOW. Nothing you are doing right now, school, job, relationship, whatever, is more important. GOOD LUCK.

Reply 5

Tom78

18

Original post by IanDangerously

Hey guys. Don't know if this is in the right forum but I just need to get some help or advice from somewhere, I'm having a real problem at the moment.

Does anyone have any experience with repeated blackouts when drinking? Like, this isn't just a one off thing. It just happened to me again on Saturday night, last thing I remember I was in a pub in town a bit before midnight having a good night out and next thing I know it's 3am and I'm laying on a roadside a few miles out of town, not even on my way home. Don't know what i did or where I got to or how I got there, or anything about that time period.

This isn't a one off thing either, it's been happening for a long time. I used to be able to drink crazy amounts but after having serious concussion problems a few years ago it's changed the way I react to the stuff and like ... now I go out and sometimes I'm just drunk but sometimes I blackout, often with really self destructive, abusive and violent behaviour that I hear about later and just feel so sad about. I've said some messed up things and got into some scraps and been robbed and beaten up and passed out unconscious and still I can't seem to kick the problem. It's like ... if I go out for a beer I can't stop until I pass out or get knocked out or have police intervention.

I'm probably gonna talk to a doctor about all this at some point because I just feel like its all going too far and I'm out of control. I'm making a serious attempt to give up now, again. I did for a few months but it fell through and I ended up on it again. I'm just at a loose end on this one. I'm sure I'll get a few people having a go at me for it but I ... just needed to vent I guess and see what you can suggest. Am I likely to get classed as an alcoholic or something like that? It's all so embarrassing now.

I'd go to the GP and stop drinking excessive amounts if I were you, before you wake up in some dirty brothel with a man's piece up your rear.

Reply 6

Boomshanka

9

Oh Ian, I remember you from a long time ago (cyborg soc). Hope you're ok :hugs:

please go to see your doctor and get help.

Reply 7

brownbearxo

16

This happened to me on friday after two cocktails and four shots of Wray & Nephew. I read an article saying some people are more likely to do this than others due to genetics.

I usually always end in in my bed with my pjs on and my makeup off because my friends are champs.

:h:

Reply 8

ZÃ¼rich

20

Original post by IanDangerously

Hey guys. Don't know if this is in the right forum but I just need to get some help or advice from somewhere, I'm having a real problem at the moment.

Does anyone have any experience with repeated blackouts when drinking? Like, this isn't just a one off thing. It just happened to me again on Saturday night, last thing I remember I was in a pub in town a bit before midnight having a good night out and next thing I know it's 3am and I'm laying on a roadside a few miles out of town, not even on my way home. Don't know what i did or where I got to or how I got there, or anything about that time period.

This isn't a one off thing either, it's been happening for a long time. I used to be able to drink crazy amounts but after having serious concussion problems a few years ago it's changed the way I react to the stuff and like ... now I go out and sometimes I'm just drunk but sometimes I blackout, often with really self destructive, abusive and violent behaviour that I hear about later and just feel so sad about. I've said some messed up things and got into some scraps and been robbed and beaten up and passed out unconscious and still I can't seem to kick the problem. It's like ... if I go out for a beer I can't stop until I pass out or get knocked out or have police intervention.

I'm probably gonna talk to a doctor about all this at some point because I just feel like its all going too far and I'm out of control. I'm making a serious attempt to give up now, again. I did for a few months but it fell through and I ended up on it again. I'm just at a loose end on this one. I'm sure I'll get a few people having a go at me for it but I ... just needed to vent I guess and see what you can suggest. Am I likely to get classed as an alcoholic or something like that? It's all so embarrassing now.

Blackout drinking is not uncommon at all for young males tbh, but your behaviour when drunk is obviously self destructive and dangerous. I normally go out drinking at least once a week and I dont delude myself that the night wont end with me absolutely off my head, alot of my mates are similar. In London at least, there are a few joints that I know will be open until 6am and so I tend to pace my pints knowing that.

Bottom line is that some people are ''all or nothing'' drinkers, that's down to personality rather than alcoholism(although of course there is overlap). What is maybe worrying is that you said that you tried to give up drinking and came back to it. If you were able to simply decide to lay off the drink for a few months and had no issues doing so then quite simply you're not an alcoholic. But if you found that really tough and it was on your mind alot then that's possibly alcoholism.

Speaking from experience of when my own drinking was destructive a few years back, you need to learn to train yourself good drinking habits. Lay off the hard liquor , always found that **** escalates in an uncontrollable way if I'm on that all night. With beer things are more slow and steady really. Instead of doing drink after drink just space it out more, maybe tell a friend to encourage you to do that as well. After a while you'll simply get into good habits and lose bad ones.

Self perception is important too I think as well, if you relate drunkenness with violence and chaos than odds are that's subconsciously how you're blacked out self will behave.

Reply 9

ZÃ¼rich

20

Original post by Oldcon1953

Are you likely to get classed as an alcoholic? Take it from a 60 yr. old EX meth addict/alcoholic; you are most assuradley an alcoholic. You don't state your age or how long you'vr been drinking but it doesn't really matter. I could write you pages on what you should do but I'll just say this; if you value your future you must face the fact that you can never drink again. Sounds scary but there are millions of people who don't drink and they are quite happy. You said once you start you can't stop. that's the whole tamale right there. How do you become a non-drinker? That's the hard part. But the sooner you stop the easier it is. Not that it's easy in the first place. You need to start going to A.A. meetings even if your still drinking. Just don't go drunk. Listen to some of the stories. Then when you decide that drinking isn't worth throwing your health away for, check youself into a live-in rehab. Don't bother with out-patient programs. They don't work. I did the Salvation Army program in Oakland Ca. and it was great. Don't let the religion thing put you off. 1 hour of chapel a week and that's all the religion you have to participate in. It's a work program. 8 hours a day just like a regular job and AA meetings and classes at night learning about addiction etc. Alcohol or dope, it's all the same. Do it before you wake up in jail after having killed or hurt someone and wind up screwing up whatever good things you have going for you because alcohol will do it. I just can't say enough. DO IT NOW. Nothing you are doing right now, school, job, relationship, whatever, is more important. GOOD LUCK.

I'm sorry, I know you mean the best but this post is an overreaction. It's been shown that the addiction industry would classify most drinkers as alcoholics. I respect the great work they do for people in need but it's natural that they overreact and see addicts everywhere.

There's no prospect of a destructive drinker controlling their drinking? This has never happened before? Of course it has. My own drinking behaviour is unrecognisable from what it was a few years ago simply because I realised it was making me unhappy. I know lots of young guys in Britain, where the 'binge drinking' culture is very different to the USA, who slowed down their drinking hugely after their early 20s and still enjoy drinking without any of the stupid **** that they used to do drunk.

In my opinion you are not an alcoholic unless you show behaviours such as: spontaneous urges to drink, finding not drinking for a period such as 3 month a torturous and unthinkable prospect, making excuses to drink, struggling to turn down opportunities to drink, drinking alone, finding yourself drinking when you had not planned to, drinking at regular times in the week etc. If blackout drinking was a sufficient condition for alcoholism then a good 33% of British young males are raging alcoholics...

Obviously OP is a destructive drinker but to recommend an 8 hour a day work programme is way over the top. Of course it may be in his interest to stop drinking since at the moment it is doing him more harm than good.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 10

Amphiprion

16

Remember that alcohol is actually toxic to the human body. I'm a student and I go out and get outrageously drunk and do dumb crap all the time, I wake up not remembering large parts of it. I don't have a link but I read an article a while ago referring to a study which said it's not so much forgetting what you did as your brain wasn't "recording" in the first place. Could be a load of balls but makes sense.

Long and the short of it is, you should stop drinking obviously. Easier said than done I'm sure. If you feel the sort of symptoms Zurich posted* then I think you should consult your GP and investigate AA meetings. If you just get caught up in drinking on a night out because "everyone else is still going" I don't think it's alcoholism, that's exactly what I tend to do and I'm certainly not alcoholic, I get swept away by the social opportunity to have a good time and get on with it. However, having said that, it's an irresponsible and dangerous thing for you to be doing if you know this is happening. Given the frequency of it happening that you've described I think you should stop all together, or at least never go beyond a pint or two for social events. You need self control to do that.

*

In my opinion you are not an alcoholic unless you show behaviours such as: spontaneous urges to drink, finding not drinking for a period such as 3 month a torturous and unthinkable prospect, making excuses to drink, struggling to turn down opportunities to drink, drinking alone, finding yourself drinking when you had not planned to, drinking at regular times in the week etc. If blackout drinking was a sufficient condition for alcoholism then a good 33% of British young males are raging alcoholics..

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 11

the bear

20

well OP you and alcohol are not a good mix. stop drinking.

Reply 12

pjm600

18

Get better friends. Seriously, who leaves their friend passed out on a road outside town?

In addition, see your doctor.

Reply 13

Mr_Sinister

Sounds like me...I am just not violent, I am just super cocky and confident and think everything is a great idea.

I also don't pass out, I am physically fine in terms of motor function...just really really drunk in my head.

I am actually not going to binge drink for April, I am going to have a few social glasses of wine when out and that is all. Done one weekend of that so far and it went well. Got a birthday event this Saturday and then next which I will do the same....hopefully then the following two weekends I won't drink at all. Then I will go from there and see what direction I want to go in.

Also come May something I am de-activating my facebook. Going to give my twin my password, make him change it...then de-activate it.

May should be a good month.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 14

scriggy

20

Original post by pjm600

Get better friends. Seriously, who leaves their friend passed out on a road outside town?

In addition, see your doctor.

I really doubt his mates just left him in the gutter. He'll have ran away from them or something.

But yeah, is there no way you could moderate the drinking when you're out? Skipping rounds, Beer instead of spirits, occasional soft drinks etc?

I used to be similar regarding the blackouts (but I end up on top of the world and not violent, so not as much of a problem) but I've pretty much got a handle on it now with practice and using the above methods. I still get very drunk, just not absolutely hideously drunk.

Reply 15

Oldcon1953

9

Original post by Zürich

I'm sorry, I know you mean the best but this post is an overreaction. It's been shown that the addiction industry would classify most drinkers as alcoholics. I respect the great work they do for people in need but it's natural that they overreact and see addicts everywhere.

There's no prospect of a destructive drinker controlling their drinking? This has never happened before? Of course it has. My own drinking behaviour is unrecognisable from what it was a few years ago simply because I realised it was making me unhappy. I know lots of young guys in Britain, where the 'binge drinking' culture is very different to the USA, who slowed down their drinking hugely after their early 20s and still enjoy drinking without any of the stupid **** that they used to do drunk.

In my opinion you are not an alcoholic unless you show behaviours such as: spontaneous urges to drink, finding not drinking for a period such as 3 month a torturous and unthinkable prospect, making excuses to drink, struggling to turn down opportunities to drink, drinking alone, finding yourself drinking when you had not planned to, drinking at regular times in the week etc. If blackout drinking was a sufficient condition for alcoholism then a good 33% of British young males are raging alcoholics...

Obviously OP is a destructive drinker but to recommend an 8 hour a day work programme is way over the top. Of course it may be in his interest to stop drinking since at the moment it is doing him more harm than good.

Alcohol is alcohol no matter where you live. Alcoholism is a progressive thing. It DOES NOT get better without a change. I've read a lot about bindge drinking among the youth in Britain. Please don't think that in the decades to come it's results will not be felt or that 33% of British youth are somehow immune from becoming raging alcoholics. I do realize that my tone may seem a bit "over the top" and all I can say is that as I read the gentlemans comments I was reminded of the THOUSANDS of stories I've heard. Instead of going on and on I'll just repeat my advice to the gentleman and urge him to ignore all else and please get himself some help if he can't quit on his own.

Reply 16

Mel1215

10

Always happens to me, but its because I don't know when enough is enough like most people. Thats why I can't drink alcohol :/

Reply 17

Oldcon1953

9

Original post by Mel1215

Always happens to me, but its because I don't know when enough is enough like most people. Thats why I can't drink alcohol :/

A VERY wise woman. (lovely pic)

Reply 18

odkfn

14

Original post by IanDangerously

Hey guys. Don't know if this is in the right forum but I just need to get some help or advice from somewhere, I'm having a real problem at the moment.

Does anyone have any experience with repeated blackouts when drinking? Like, this isn't just a one off thing. It just happened to me again on Saturday night, last thing I remember I was in a pub in town a bit before midnight having a good night out and next thing I know it's 3am and I'm laying on a roadside a few miles out of town, not even on my way home. Don't know what i did or where I got to or how I got there, or anything about that time period.

This isn't a one off thing either, it's been happening for a long time. I used to be able to drink crazy amounts but after having serious concussion problems a few years ago it's changed the way I react to the stuff and like ... now I go out and sometimes I'm just drunk but sometimes I blackout, often with really self destructive, abusive and violent behaviour that I hear about later and just feel so sad about. I've said some messed up things and got into some scraps and been robbed and beaten up and passed out unconscious and still I can't seem to kick the problem. It's like ... if I go out for a beer I can't stop until I pass out or get knocked out or have police intervention.

I'm probably gonna talk to a doctor about all this at some point because I just feel like its all going too far and I'm out of control. I'm making a serious attempt to give up now, again. I did for a few months but it fell through and I ended up on it again. I'm just at a loose end on this one. I'm sure I'll get a few people having a go at me for it but I ... just needed to vent I guess and see what you can suggest. Am I likely to get classed as an alcoholic or something like that? It's all so embarrassing now.

Vitamin B1 deficiency causes short term memory loss, coupled with alcohol (which makes everyone forget, given sufficient quantities) is probably why.

I'm not as bad as you, but I can safely say on 90% of nights out, the next day I don't remember anything between 9pm and 9am. I've started drinking a lot less lately, though. If it's a toss-up between drinking less and my long term health, health wins.