Blackouts

[Kristin Williams]

Hello.  I am a 3rd year college student and I have been "partying" since I was a freshman in high school.  I have always been able to control myself when it comes to drinking - that is, I usually can consume a decent amount of alcohol and not get too out of control.  I also don't consider myself an alcoholic - I drink when I go out to parties and bars and on special occasions, like any other college student.  Lately, within the last 2 years, I have found myself drinking basically the same amount of alcohol as I always have when I go out (usually 5+ drinks) and having "blackout" episodes more frequently.  On some occasions I don't think I even drink that much and parts of the previous evening are still blurry.  I tend to consume individual drinks pretty quickly, which I have thought might be part of the reason for my frequent blackouts.  However, I am now also starting to consider the fact that in high school, during my junior year, I experimented with a lot of drugs, namely methamphedamines, LSD, ecstacy and, of course, marijuana.  I am getting very worried - I like to go out and party with my friends, I'm young and I want to have fun.  But the fact that my memory is consistently failing me makes me think that I may have a problem or that something is wrong with me and eventually could place me in a dangerous position.  Do you have any suggestions?  Is this any sign of a significant health/neurologic problem?

[Ken , day two]

Kristen, first of all dont put your full name out on the internet for any reason.Secondly,I am not an expert, but I am an alcholic and I do know that if you are starting to experiance blackouts you are ,like they say in AA,"maybe not an out and out alcholic, but studying hard to become one". So if I were you I would definitaly watch yourself.You are young and have alot of life to look forward to.So dont ruin it. Good luck, Ken

[From Aunt Lindy to Mariah]

This may sound totally wacky but have you been tested for diabetes or hypoglycemia?  The same thing happened to me and they found I had low blood sugar. Just a thought!
Sincerely,
Lindy.

[barbara to pain and lortab]

In my opinion you definately sound like an alcoholic and are rapidly building a tolerance to more alcohol amounts. Blackouts usually continue each time an alcoholic drinks alot once they start.

I have never had any real blackouts but know many alkies who have and they only get worse. You are lucky they have not turned to seizures yet. Seizures are not only from alcohol withdrawal but also from alcohol poisoning, from too much in your system or your system not accepting it well anymore.

Your best bet is to quit now and start attending A.A. meetings to get some help. If you stop drinking abrubptly you may experience withdrawal and not understand what is happening to you. Talk to experienced alcoholics and they can truely help you stop if you follow the program and really want to stop. It's not too late to turn things around.

[Brian to Sick and Scared § ALL you guys]

Without a lot more information about you (height, weight, size, past medical history, frequency of blackouts) it is difficult to know for sure whether you have any additional problem aside from your excessive drinking.  It is highly unlikely your past drug use is contributing in any way to this problem.  I would suggest you simply tell your physician and have a physical and blood work done.  Why not reassure yourself that you do not have a medical problem and then you can focus on the drinking issue?

[J.B.]

I've had blackouts after drinking only a few beers and I believe that it has something to do with blood sugar levels. I have also had extended blackouts after drinking heavily for several hours and was still functioning apparently normally. I once drove over 900 miles in a blackout without killing myself. It is still scary to think about it! But like Brian said, you need to stay focused on staying away from alcohol completely. You know that booze is the cause anyways. Go to any AA meeting and you will invariably hear about some blackout catastrophy that ended in death and destruction. Thanks for listening!

[tommy]

I think your drug use and partying is slowly catching up with you.  And I think you need help, one person you can turn to for strenght is the Lord.   In college we experience new things, but we should be carefull what we do cause it can affect us deeply.
I hope you find help and chose to leave drugs alone.  Try hanging with a new crowd of friends and leave your old crowd of friends alone ( the ones you drink and do drugs with).  I drink ocassionaly one or two beers.  I have also smoked weed, I now feel that by using drugs keeps you from your goals and dreams.  I know I missed out on good job oportunities cause I smoked weed.  I haven't smoked for about 6 to 7 months and its cool cause if I need to get a job or advace myself I am clean.  As far as drinking is concerned my family has had many former drug addicts and alkoholics.  So I have to be very careful what I do cause I don't want to be come one.  I hope that you will use the advise to chill out and be clean.  Do something productive and don't become a SLAVE to your problems break free!

[fjstanbery]

I'm curious about if its possible that since ethor is the active agent in alcohol, can it artifically produce the same level of sleep (stage four) that night terrors occur, and is there a similarity between them?