5 ms·

Quit drinking completely 6 months ago. Don't have any intention of picking it back up. Friends think I'm weird, but the mental clarity is worth it. Funny how al

by akyu 9y ago

Quit drinking completely 6 months ago. Don't have any intention of picking it back up. Friends think I'm weird, but the mental clarity is worth it. Funny how alcohol is so ingrained in our culture that it's strange not to drink it.

stinos 9y ago
Yeah, not really related to the study directly and being anecdotal, but I can attest that during periods in which I drank daily, and sometimes heavily, mental clarity was indeed the exact opposite of what I felt.
emerongi 9y ago
Recently I heard my mother utter something like (not about me): "Does so-and-so drink? He does? Ok, I was just afraid he is a weirdo." My father and mother and step-father all smash it hard on weekends. Like passing-out-hard. Most friends as well. It's absolutely ridiculous. There's way more interesting things to do in life.
- antisthenes 9y ago
  That isn't normal. Drinking to the point of passing out is alcoholism no matter how you look at it. Try to get them help if you value them.
  - stinos 9y ago
    I wanted to say that is too general of a statement and depends of your definition of alcoholism, but then I looked up the current definition [1]. In a medical context, alcoholism is said to exist when two or more of the following conditions is present: a person drinks large amounts over a long time period, has difficulty cutting down, acquiring and drinking alcohol takes up a great deal of time, alcohol is strongly desired, usage results in not fulfilling responsibilities, usage results in social problems, usage results in health problems, usage results in risky situations, withdrawal occurs when stopping, and alcohol tolerance has occurred with use So yes it's not a stretch to consider just drinking to the point of (almost) passing out alcoholism (ignoring whether or not the person drinks outside of these episodes). Doing that like twice in a year doesn't feel like alcoholism though. More like one of the many means to satisfying my constant urge and craving to 'go hard'. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholism
    - pcthrowaway 9y ago
      I feel like the lack of a decent framework for defining alcoholism is really at play here though. For example, I drink 5-7 drinks a week on average. Every now and then, I have a bad reaction to some alcohol. I haven't completely identified it, but IPAs seem to trigger it the worst, and drinking while already sleep-deprived, which I am more often than I'd like to be, also is more likely to result in a bad reaction. The bad reaction typically manifests most notably as an extreme flushing in my face (probably rosacea - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosacea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosacea), and sometimes flatulence or stomach discomfort. So "large amounts over a long time period" is pretty vague, but I'd wager the 365 drinks that I might have over the course of a year could satisfy that description. So is it fair to say that I'm an alcoholic due to those criteria? I think most people would agree that I'm not, but based on the medical definition alone it wouldn't be far-fetched to label me one.
      - electricEmu 9y ago
        5-7 drinks a week on average isn't 365 drinks a year. That's seven drinks a week. If you're drinking every day it's best not to sugar coat that; especially to your doctor. Alcoholic hasn't been an appropriate medical term for some time now. It's been split into alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency. The medical definition, posed elsewhere in the thread from the DSM definition, declares fuzzier criteria than numbers. There isn't a number. 50 drinks a year might quality someone as alcohol abuse if they only consume four times a year and 500 a year might be normal if no other criteria than tolerance exists. The whole thing is a mess though. You have a problem when you have a problem. This is compounded by the definition its self allows people to justify their intake in many ways. Listen to yourself, your body, and input from others. If you want to then talk to your GP doctor and seek an actual evidence based treatment. 12 Step programs are not, and shouldn't be, anyone's only option.
        pcthrowaway 9y ago
        I was taking the high end of that estimate. I don't think having one drink a day makes someone an alcoholic though. Heck, in France it's common to have a glass of wine with lunch every day. Though my own tendency is to have 0-2 drinks Monday - Thursday, and then 5-7 drinks on the weekend.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - synicalx 9y ago
    By that logic, most of the under 20's in Australia are all alcoholics. But only on Saturday nights.
sinap 9y ago
I've never drank and don't plan to. I just tell people I'm allergic to X in the alcohol. It's easier than trying to make up a reason for why I don't drink and people don't think I'm weird.
- Obi_Juan_Kenobi 9y ago
  While I do drink, I sympathize with you; there's a very unfair notion that abstaining is only the result of ignorance or backwards moral hangups, and given the derisive term teetotaling. Your decision is firmly your own.
2OEH8eoCRo 9y ago
As someone who started drinking from time to time later than most I don't know what clarity you're referring to. I've felt a much bigger change from quitting soda and sugary drinks rather than the occasional stiff drink. Completely anecdotal.
- ashwinaj 9y ago
  I concur. Small to moderate amount of drinking isn't as bad. Sugary drinks are the worst!
ivm 9y ago
Quit drinking 6 years ago. Mental clarity is definitely worth it.
cableshaft 9y ago
I can go that long in between drinks. I really don't enjoy the lingering effects of drinking heavily, so I usually only have one drink every once in awhile, like a single margarita or a beer or a rum and coke, usually no more than once a month. I don't usually get people questioning my lack of drinking, but then again I am in older social circles now. You can also just say you're on a diet and don't want the extra calories, that's an easy way to deflect it. There was this one girl I dated that was completely baffled by this, though. She only got one night a week completely to herself (single mother, had a babysitter), so she didn't want to waste it and would drink harder than most people I've hung out with, even when I was in college. At the time I went along with it and drank a lot more than I really wanted to. I'm glad I'm not still in that situation, though.

by akyu 9y ago

stinos 9y ago

Yeah, not really related to the study directly and being anecdotal, but I can attest that during periods in which I drank daily, and sometimes heavily, mental clarity was indeed the exact opposite of what I felt.

emerongi 9y ago

Recently I heard my mother utter something like (not about me): "Does so-and-so drink? He does? Ok, I was just afraid he is a weirdo." My father and mother and step-father all smash it hard on weekends. Like passing-out-hard. Most friends as well. It's absolutely ridiculous. There's way more interesting things to do in life.

antisthenes 9y ago
That isn't normal. Drinking to the point of passing out is alcoholism no matter how you look at it. Try to get them help if you value them.
- stinos 9y ago
  I wanted to say that is too general of a statement and depends of your definition of alcoholism, but then I looked up the current definition [1]. In a medical context, alcoholism is said to exist when two or more of the following conditions is present: a person drinks large amounts over a long time period, has difficulty cutting down, acquiring and drinking alcohol takes up a great deal of time, alcohol is strongly desired, usage results in not fulfilling responsibilities, usage results in social problems, usage results in health problems, usage results in risky situations, withdrawal occurs when stopping, and alcohol tolerance has occurred with use So yes it's not a stretch to consider just drinking to the point of (almost) passing out alcoholism (ignoring whether or not the person drinks outside of these episodes). Doing that like twice in a year doesn't feel like alcoholism though. More like one of the many means to satisfying my constant urge and craving to 'go hard'. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholism
  - pcthrowaway 9y ago
    I feel like the lack of a decent framework for defining alcoholism is really at play here though. For example, I drink 5-7 drinks a week on average. Every now and then, I have a bad reaction to some alcohol. I haven't completely identified it, but IPAs seem to trigger it the worst, and drinking while already sleep-deprived, which I am more often than I'd like to be, also is more likely to result in a bad reaction. The bad reaction typically manifests most notably as an extreme flushing in my face (probably rosacea - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosacea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosacea), and sometimes flatulence or stomach discomfort. So "large amounts over a long time period" is pretty vague, but I'd wager the 365 drinks that I might have over the course of a year could satisfy that description. So is it fair to say that I'm an alcoholic due to those criteria? I think most people would agree that I'm not, but based on the medical definition alone it wouldn't be far-fetched to label me one.
    - electricEmu 9y ago
      5-7 drinks a week on average isn't 365 drinks a year. That's seven drinks a week. If you're drinking every day it's best not to sugar coat that; especially to your doctor. Alcoholic hasn't been an appropriate medical term for some time now. It's been split into alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency. The medical definition, posed elsewhere in the thread from the DSM definition, declares fuzzier criteria than numbers. There isn't a number. 50 drinks a year might quality someone as alcohol abuse if they only consume four times a year and 500 a year might be normal if no other criteria than tolerance exists. The whole thing is a mess though. You have a problem when you have a problem. This is compounded by the definition its self allows people to justify their intake in many ways. Listen to yourself, your body, and input from others. If you want to then talk to your GP doctor and seek an actual evidence based treatment. 12 Step programs are not, and shouldn't be, anyone's only option.
      - pcthrowaway 9y ago
        I was taking the high end of that estimate. I don't think having one drink a day makes someone an alcoholic though. Heck, in France it's common to have a glass of wine with lunch every day. Though my own tendency is to have 0-2 drinks Monday - Thursday, and then 5-7 drinks on the weekend.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- synicalx 9y ago
  By that logic, most of the under 20's in Australia are all alcoholics. But only on Saturday nights.

sinap 9y ago

I've never drank and don't plan to. I just tell people I'm allergic to X in the alcohol. It's easier than trying to make up a reason for why I don't drink and people don't think I'm weird.

Obi_Juan_Kenobi 9y ago
While I do drink, I sympathize with you; there's a very unfair notion that abstaining is only the result of ignorance or backwards moral hangups, and given the derisive term teetotaling. Your decision is firmly your own.

2OEH8eoCRo 9y ago

As someone who started drinking from time to time later than most I don't know what clarity you're referring to. I've felt a much bigger change from quitting soda and sugary drinks rather than the occasional stiff drink. Completely anecdotal.

ashwinaj 9y ago
I concur. Small to moderate amount of drinking isn't as bad. Sugary drinks are the worst!

ivm 9y ago

Quit drinking 6 years ago. Mental clarity is definitely worth it.

cableshaft 9y ago

I can go that long in between drinks. I really don't enjoy the lingering effects of drinking heavily, so I usually only have one drink every once in awhile, like a single margarita or a beer or a rum and coke, usually no more than once a month. I don't usually get people questioning my lack of drinking, but then again I am in older social circles now. You can also just say you're on a diet and don't want the extra calories, that's an easy way to deflect it. There was this one girl I dated that was completely baffled by this, though. She only got one night a week completely to herself (single mother, had a babysitter), so she didn't want to waste it and would drink harder than most people I've hung out with, even when I was in college. At the time I went along with it and drank a lot more than I really wanted to. I'm glad I'm not still in that situation, though.