How to party withOUT getting drunk....
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| Sun, 02-19-2006 - 3:22pm |
Last night dh, me and our posse went out. 5 married couples with kids who ALL needed a break. Big time. 4 of us ate dinner together at home and I had one beer (my usual would have been a beer and at least two shot to "get going" PLUS a drink for the road). Then we went to the drunkiest, lowest, hometown bar and played darts for two hours. I had one can of Nattie Light. Then we went bowling next door to the bar for two more hours. I had a pint of light beer and a club soda. After that, back to the seedy bar for pool. No drinks for me. So, from 7pm till 3am I had 1 regular and 2 light beers. Not bad since my regular party night would have included 8-10 drinks.
So, drunks have really bad breath. They stumble, they grope, they slur. They can't bowl, throw darts or shoot pool very well. They can't complete a sentence and when they try, they make no sense. They're annoying and boring. But they're my friends and I still love them. I just never noticed how gross the whole thing was because I was always right in the thick of it.
My dh says I don't act or look like the rest of them when I'm drunk but I'm not so sure. He needs to go out once sober with ME getting drunk and tell me honestly. Actually, I think all of our friends could use the experience I had last night.
What an eye opener. And how nice it is to have slept well and woke up fresh.
Lucky

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Your husband is sweet. LOL
I was horrified to see pictures of me drunk.
Hair messy.. make up smeared
a vacant stunned grimace,
Keep on sharing your journey... it's interesting.
Edited 2/20/2006 12:10 am ET by carol777
Lucky,
I agree with Carol, reading your journey is interesting. I'm curious about how you know what your limit is. Is it based on legal limits and driving? Is it your personal conviction of when you feel drunk? It sounds like you're doing pretty well--keep going. I have a hard time not drinking nightly when I am drinking. I don't usually get falling down drunk--2-4 is my limit but I just find I need it every day. I haven't read all your posts but am also curious about how frequently you drink.
Thanks for sharing. I agree 100% waking up sober is the best!! I have more to offer my children and those around me. Life feels good when I'm sober. :).
Frances
Why DOES our makeup smear when we're drunk?
Lucky
Hi. I drink every night. I never had a limit before. My goal is to eventually drink 1 per night and no more than 4 on a "party" night. Medically speaking it is fine for a woman to drink one drink per night. It helps with cholesterol and blood pressure. But drinking much over that just cancels all the good out. I'm loosely following Moderation Management guidelines at www.moderation.org. Right now I am focusing on "harm reduction". I've changed the most dangerous behaviors I had. I was drinking sometimes 7 drinks per weeknight about 3 days a week. Plus 8-10 (or more) on the weekends. I was also driving drunk (when I drove myself). I try not to drink on an empty stomach anymore but I still do occasionally. And I'm counting my drinks on MM's online counter called Abstar. If you want to look at my habits my row is called E30love.
It's interesting, but I never thought that someone who doesn't get falling down drunk and who had a limit of 2-4 would consider themselves as having a drinking problem. I have not read your posts (being only involved with myself right now) so I don't know your story. When I eventually climb out of my bubble, I will read your posts.
According to MM, the safe limit for women is 3. But I like their quote "It's a limit, NOT a goal." It really is a nice alternative to abstanance programs.
Lucky
Lucky,
My "goal" was not to drink more than 1-2 a night and then it changed to not drinking during the week -only on weekends. I was never able to maintain my goals. I also started having physical reactions to drinking after years of being a daily drinker. Heart palpitations and severe blotching. My kids were getting older and I seriously reconsidered what kind of image of their childhood would be left in the memory bank. Drinking a driving seemed incredibly stupid with children. I'm 43 and just decided life's too short for me to screw it up with drinking everyday. That's just me and I am no success story by any means. I find a great deal of life's wisdom and encouragement on this board and if there's anything I've learned "Life is a Process" and we're all on different paths.
Good luck,
Frances
I am only asking this for my benefit: how do you know that the physical reactions you started getting from drinking were from years of daily drinking? I have always heard that a small, daily drink is good for you. How long and how much were you drinking per day? When did you decide to quit?
I occasionally get a racing heart after one drink, but it's been that way all my life. I also get it occasionally from too much white flour.
I need to make informed choices, that's why I asked.
Thanks,
Lucky
Lucky,
I drank in my early years 17yrs-22. 4-6 drinks at a time just about nightly. During my 30's my at home drinking was about 3-4 glasses of wine a night. (should I say goblets :) . Anyway, I never had any reactions other than your typical hangover. Then about 3 years ago I noticed after just a couple of glasses of wine I would wake up in the middle of the night with my heart racing and it would last about 1 hour. Now I know it is correlated to drinking. It usually happens pretty close to 6 hours after I drink. If I have 1-2 beers I'm OK but anything after that I can bank on it. Also, I've drank rum for years and about the same time as the heart issue, I started getting severe red blotches on my neck, chest and back. Not blushing but big red blotches. It freaked my husband out the first time he saw it. I guess it's pretty obvious I've developed an intolerance to alcohol. I didn't have this problem until like I said about 3 years ago. SO, I tried to hold the amount down but have repeatedly failed and now this is just another reason for me to quit altogether. IT IS VERY HARD! But I feel in my soul this is the right thing for me. We're all different--that's a portion of my story-hope it answered your question.
Frances
Hi Frances,
Alcohol really messes with sleep. I try and make sure that I stop drinking early enough to metabolize the drinks completely to zero percent. According to some chart I read, one drink takes like 1.5 hours to get out of your system. Even if moderation isn't for you, if you are going to drink, start earlier and calculate the time it will take to be out of your system before you fall asleep. I'm not saying you should be drinking with the reactions you are getting but I am just trying to suggest a way for you to sleep. Sleep deprivation causes depression and anxiety which causes some of us to drink. Bad cycle. Maybe getting some quality sleep will help you abstain or cut down.
What do you think?
Also, you might think of taking vitamins that contain lots of B and C. Stress vitamins.
Good luck,
Lucky
Frances,
My DH gets dark red blotches on his neck, stomach and back when her drinks Vodka. Two drinks and he's covered with them.
I would always worry about him when he drank Vodka, if it's doing that to his outsides, what was it doing to his insides?
Anyway, he's now traveling the road of sobriety with me.
Just sharing.
Take care,
Hope
It is hard though when your friends still drink. I was so grateful when I quit smoking that almost none of my friends smoked anymore. It sounds as if you have a lot of willpower. Keep up the good work!
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