the GAINS thread

[skarlorn]

I did all my heavy drinking and drug use late teens and early 20s, and thank god for it. These days hangovers off 4+ drinks ruin the entirety of my next day. The buzz is not worth the come down.

It's easier for people who incorporate drinking into the daily lifestyle, though. Their bodies adapt to the poizon.

[Lhancelot]

Originally Posted by skarlorn [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It's easier for people who incorporate drinking into the daily lifestyle, though. Their bodies adapt to the poizon.

There are different types of alcoholics.

A binge drinker can go months without drinking a drop, but then go on a hardcore session of 20 shots in one night drinking to the point they reach near alcohol poisoning flying off the rails like a mad person. Binge drinking is extremely dangerous and this type of drinker can't stop once they down one drink.

Habitual alcoholics can and will drink continuously on a daily basis, obviously this is not healthy behavior either but the pattern of how these two types of alcoholics drink is very different from one another.

I tend to binge drink and so as I have gotten older learned the hard way that it's best I just not have any drink at all. All it takes is the thought or feeling of wanting to get drunk and once I drink one beer or shot that day is done.

The worst is the recovery after a drinking session due to the sheer amount of alcohol I will drink.

These binges can create other problems, typically I won't even remember much of the later points of the binge and I have done really crazy things that I ended up regretting.

Alcohol is a dirty nasty drug, and it's hilarious it's embraced yet weed is vilified as well as other drugs that are far less damaging.

On a side note, the worst withdrawals I have ever seen in the jail were from alcohol. I seen many heroin addicts go through withdrawals, and as bad as they are the withdrawal process of alcohol beats it hands down. It's a longer process, and much scarier when trying to manage them due to the alcoholic having severe hallucinations and becoming very aggressive.

The behavior of a years long alcoholic withdrawing from alcohol is identical to a schizophrenic having an extremely manic episode of hallucinations. They hear and see things not there, and they become very combative you can't even communicate with them properly.

At first when they start up, the first thing we do is refer them to mental health and place them in a single cell. Then the mental health director will have to watch and evaluate them over time to determine if they are a "mental" or going through alcohol withdrawals.

After a week or so, they come back to earth if it's alcohol withdrawals whereas if they are suffering from mental health issues obviously the behavior will probably go on for much longer until prescribed meds help.