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MedHelp Member's Question

Alcohol addiction

by Whiskey, Apr 08, 2002 12:00AM
Hello everyone i was wondering if any of you know the chemisty involved in the inheritance of alcoholism. What exact parts of the body seem to stray towards alcoholism in a certain family and why?
Member Comments (37)

by Seamstress, Apr 08, 2002 12:00AM
To: Whiskey
I am an alcoholic (actually dual addicted) and come from an alcoholic family.  I am the only one of my siblings who inherited the tendency.  It's been a long time since I was in school and studied this, but I believe it has to do with how the liver metabolizes alcohol which is very different in alcoholics.  And probably explains why I had this incredible tolerance from the very first time I ever drank.  I was not a cheap date :)

by Hinkster, Apr 08, 2002 12:00AM
To: Whiskey
Not to ignore you Whiskey but you've got me on this one. Hopefully there is someone here that can help you. There are alot

of knowledgeable and caring people here to help you, regrettably

I'am not one of them. Anything else I can do for you let me know.

Tom

by 1fortheroad, Apr 09, 2002 12:00AM
sorry, i don't know much about alcohol, except it is one of the hardest detoxes and needs to be done under a dr.'s supervision for sure.



by DMR, Apr 09, 2002 12:00AM
I was (or still am) an alcoholic.  I vowed never to take a drink again because of the horrible horrible withdrawl symptoms



When I was a heavy drinker,

I use to wake up in the middle of the night with chills and the shakes.  I tried to get alcohol to drink to calm myself but no store would be open or they wouldn't sell me alcohol because they were not allowed to sell during certain hours.



All the bars would be also closed.  I would even try to pop a few Benedryls or Sudafeds.  I would tough it out until 6:00 am I would again run to the 7-11 and buy booze while everyone else was buying coffee.  I needed to drink or I would have gotten seizures.  I would down the cheap wine or beer and go to work...I wasn't drunk but feeling normal.



At work, during lunch I would down a couple of gin and tonics that would hold me over till I got home at 5:30.  While I was driving home, I would stop at the liquor store and pick up a pint of Southern Comfort..



These would be daily ocurrances for a month until I got help...



Alcohol addiction is the worse

by GOD, Apr 09, 2002 12:00AM
To: DMR
I know EXACTLY what you mean. Thank God I was able to get rid of THAT addiction.(also many thanks to A.A.) -- now I just gotta get rid of my "Last Vice" -- Ultram (the "Non-addictive" pain-killer alterative to opiates.....) Right. It has all of the addictive properties and none of the fun. (No "High", but VERY addictive.)

by Francoise, Apr 09, 2002 12:00AM
Boy, you  really hit the nail on the head with this one. As bad as all the drugs are that we get into here, I don't think anything tops alcohol and cigarettes for destruction volume. I used to drink quite a bit, beer mostly, sometimes scotch, and it was getting to the point that my hangovers were just barely survivable. That's about when oxycontin saved me. Right! Saved me.



I am a chronic pain patient and will be taking oxy for the rest of my life I reckon. But you know, as soon as I got on the oxy, I totally lost interest in alcohol altogether. I know my liver is in better shape, too.



As someone has pointed out, coming off alcohol is dangerous. You just can't stop. You'll have fatal seizures if you do. I had a friend who was drinking about 64 ounces of burbon a day. His doctor told him to cut down to 62 a day for a week or so, then to 60, and so on, slowly. It took a couple of months to get down, but he held out and had his doctor's help and he finally made it. He dodged a bullet by getting his doctor involved. He was going to try it cold turkey.



Best of Luck

Francois

by DMR, Apr 09, 2002 12:00AM
To: Jesse § Francois
Thank God you guys understand !



I thought (at that time) I was the only one going through this so called alcohol withdrawl.....THE WORST WITHDRAWL OF ALL...



THIS TOPIC MIGHT BE OVERLOOKED IN THIS FORUM, BUT IT IS IMPERITIVE WE DISCUSS THIS



People who have not gone through this don't know it and probably think that hydro withdrawl is worse....but let me tell you all something, THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THEN ALCOHOL WITHDRAWL



During withdrawl periods, even if you have access to alcohol and need it to feel normal, it will be difficult to explain to people why your breath smells like whiskey at 9:30 am in the morning.  Especially if those people include your boss and co-workers.



Do you guys know of anyone who has gone through the DTs ???....DTs are the worst thing one can experience...it feels like there are numerous bugs and snakes rummaging through your brain and you just want to bang your head against the wall



I went through an inpatient detox for alcohol (twice) in the mid-90s...and it saved my life.  Each time it was 5 days long.  My liver is OK but not as healthy as it should be



PANCREATITIS:



This is the most painful internal organ condition one can ever experience.  I was in the hospital for 3 (THREE) weeks due to this condition.  A direct result of heavy drinking.



After being dry for 3 months, during one summer, I went through a week of heavy drinking (2 pints whiskey/day) combined with eating pizza and other nasty high fatty foods.  One night (around 2am) I felt a deep pain in my left side and rushed to the hospital...they admitted me and the pain was INTENSE !!!!  It was so bad that they had me on continous demerol drip for 4 days, which I have no recollection of.  when I regained consciousness on my 5th day in the hospital, I was screaming with pain, they again had to sedate me with benzos and narcotics.



This was 5 years ago, and to this day, my pancreas is only about 90% healthy.  Do anyone of you know anybody who went through pancreatitis ????

by skipper, Apr 09, 2002 12:00AM
hey people:



about alcohol...yeah, it's one of the real dangerious ones. it's

side by side with barbs and benzo's! yes i've been thru dt's. i

didn't get them from alcohol, got em from w/d of pentabarb. sodium! compared to opiate w/d they were real wierd. i spent 6

weeks doing the "berkly method," which is the most painful method

to w/d with. i did get off the barbs without any permanent brain

damage. i think this was one of the most frightening and out of

control periods of my life! i did have several siezures and "word

salad" (know what i'm talking about? if so, i feel sorry for

you!)for several weeks.



i gave drinking a shot, but it never worked out. junkys make aw-

ful drunks. i never was able to contol (modulate?) my drinking

like i could my intake of most other drugs. in 1978 i did my best

to be a lush....thank god i broke my leg (on the job even) real

bad!! it was sort of the beginning of the end for me and enabled

me to meet my wife and stay clean for 17 years. it's a long story

and i really doubt anyone wants to hear it, and besides i don't have time to tell it. i still love to go to AA, 'cause so many alcoholics get upset being included in the same group as drug adicts!!



keep an angel on your shoulder

kip

and dope fiends.

by Jagstarrr, Apr 09, 2002 12:00AM
My Mom's an alcoholic. she is in total denial. She has never been drunk in her life. right?? WEll, every night she is gone by dinner. She forgets phone calls and now that I've moved out, she forgets when my daughter is getting off the bus at her house or not. she says, "Oh yeah, you did tell me last night" stuff. Well anyway, alcohol is the most dangerous drug I feel for addiction. It's easy to get and hard to leave. ONe question, how the Hell can I help my MOM? She will not admit she is sick. does something have to "SCARE" her to stop and admit she needs help? She is labeled a funtioning alcoholic. Any ideas? Thanks People

by J.B. to Brian and Vicky, Apr 09, 2002 12:00AM
To: Whisky, Jagstarr, Skip and all
I'm back again and this sounds like an interesting thread to me. Many of my family and friends didn't have a clue as to my alcohol addiction.  Even my own kids were shocked when I entered the detox ward and started going to AA meetings after my release. My father and uncle are alcoholics and in the same vein as me.  



We could drink around the clock, literally, and still function!  My father has had two heart attacks, my uncle is now blind and I'm in need of a liver. Yep, it kills you one way or another long before your time. We had some pretty memorable times together, alcohol and me, but there is that price we must ultimately pay. And so it goes as well with any addiction. Oh, to be free again!  I can't remember the last time I felt....free. It's more of how we bound ourselves to these substances and struggled than the mootness of a hereditary condition that we can blame it all on.  There is no one or thing to blame except us and the drug.



J.B.

by 1fortheroad, Apr 09, 2002 12:00AM
To: everyone - this is funny!
i went to the chat room...i pop in there once in awhile always to find myself alone.  there was an actual person there.  we started to chat, and she asked what i was doing there.  i said, well i'm an opiate addict.  she says, "what's an opiate" - i thought she was kidding...she wasn't.  i guess it isn't an addiction chat room?  i laughed and laughed - it was so refreshing.  then i said, i'm a drug addict.  well, she was polite, but she got out of there fast...hahahahaha.



how come no one ever goes there?

by Francoise, Apr 09, 2002 12:00AM
To: Groovy
'cause I don't know how!



FT

by 1fortheroad, Apr 09, 2002 12:00AM
To: Francoise
hi - you go up to the top of the page, and hit "chat" - it will ask you for a log in name or something, so you probably would use francoise. &nbs