EvolutionHealth.care

Home
Main Forum
Managing Drinking
General Health and Wellbeing
Black-outs

Advanced Search Form

Black-outs

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1562

We are discussing about powerlessness in the other thread. To tie it to powerlessness, we totally forget about these consequences at the key moment that precedes the next spree. It all starts off with the thought of sense of ease that comes with just a drink or two.

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 421

Omg! Blackouts. I hate those things. They are the worst of the worst. I have done some bad things in blackouts and then come out of it which is scary also. You wake up....like a crazy person. Know you did something bad...it's like an echo in your brain. Let's see....I've been super rude to my husband, fell down and totally smashed my face, ran into the corner of the fireplace at full speed, hmmmm there are other less dramatic moments but those are my most cringeworthy.....oh yes, when I wanted to kill myself and scared the crap out of my husband and best friend there's that...nice. Let's not forget puking in the FRONT ROW of a rock concert. Nice. Blackouts.....the make me run in shame...they make me feel lucky to be alive.

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 154

Greetings,

I can remember...wait a minute, why did I just write the word "remember"? I'm not starting off very well am I, this string is about "blackouts and forgetfulness" which come from excess drinking? OK, I can vaguely recall, (that's better) and please do not interpret that I am intentionally making fun of a serious matter.

Not only would I completely forget (and I am deadly serious), but I would also have to ask my drinking buddies if I had a good time last night, and this I did pretty much regularly. Or, I'd ask them did I do something stupid to embarrass myself or others? Now that's pretty pathetic. Perhaps you guys have done something similar? It's downright "forgetfulness" at its worst. And those drinking buddies, weren't so much "buddies," they were more what I'd term "drinking partners."

Of course, my drinking buddies (drinking partners) used to take advantage of these stupid forgetful episodes of mine to practice their comedy routines and scare the living **** out of me. They would say one of a couple of things. For example, they would say, "Holy **** man, I sure hope you remember that you now have a date tonight with that really far-out crazy person who works in such and such a section, and if you don't friggin show up, she's going to mess you up good at the office on Monday."

Or, the real smart-ass drinking buddies (drinking partners) would say something even scarier like "If I were you man, I'd hide for a while." To which I would ultimately "bite," and respond, "Why?" "Why do I need to hide for?" "For crying out loud man, don't you remember what you did'? To which I would bite again and reply "No, should I?" "Well, you told this biker guy that you would pound the living **** out of him and his buddies tonight because they wouldn't quiet down and let you listen to the playoff semi-final NHL hockey game." So, I'd say something like, "Seriously are you ****ting me, or just screwing around with my head on purpose?" They, of course, would not even smile. They'd continue, by saying, "Look man, the dudes are coming by your house tonight, because you gave them your friggin address, you dumb ass." "You also included us in this whole BS thing, saying we all had martial arts training and black belts." Well, they'd tell me this at about 1:00 p.m. when I woke up from my drunkin episode, and being the nice "drinking buddies" (drinking partners) they were, wouldn't tell me the truth that I had done no such thing until about 7:30-8:00 p.m. Until that time, I pretty much **** my pants and drank about 8-10 beer, figuring if I was going to get the **** kicked out of me, I'd be better off plastered so it wouldn't hurt so bad.

Oh, those good old drinking days and "drinking partners"! What a bunch of sons of *****es! With buddies like that, who needed enemies? And then again, to be truthful and take full responsibility for my excess drinking, I really had no one but myself to blame.

But I digress a lot and apologize guys. The point is, as you guys have shared, it is a scary proposition when you drink to such excess that you experience these "black-outs", or periods of complete "forgetfulness."

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1562

Same here. Sometimes back in India where the roads where so bad with some many pot-holes and dark alleys, its amazing how I made it back home with no knowledge of how I dodged those conditions. Couple of instance when I swerved and skidded on my bike I remember, the first thing I would do was pull the bottle from my pocket and take a swig, wouldn't even bothering to see how badly I was hurt. The next day is when when I returned to consciousness I would realize the damage.

Another miss understanding was an alcoholic was a person who has lost it all and who lives under the bridge. Later on I realized, those were all the yets, I was there on the verge of losing all. Fortunately for me, something inside me made me realize that I can't go on like this anymore.

7 years ago 0 +0 / -0 54

When I originally heard the term black-out I assumed that meant passing out from drinking, rather than just falling asleep the normal way… Since taking more of an interest in studying drinking and alcoholism in order to deal with my own problem I’ve realised what it is people mean – it’s not physically passing out, it’s that stretch of time, and what we did during it, that does not seem to register in our memory.

I don’t get falling down drunk (or that’s quite rare now anyhow – may once every 3-5 years), and I thought I didn’t black out. However since understanding the above distinction I must admit I do recall some instances from my distant past where I did some late-night drunk-dialing and really offended a few people, without having the slightest recollection of it afterwards until I next spoke with them. When told of those calls only a slight, foggy memory of them came back, and even that may simply have been me imagining myself saying the things they claimed rather than actually remembering. Those things did really sound like my drunken evil twin talking though, and I do not doubt those people.

But all that was a really long time ago. I don’t get as hammered and I don’t black out anymore. Or so I thought. Ten days ago was the last time I drank (as of this writing). It was one of those days where I let myself go… Drinks with the guys in the afternoon then more at home afterwards. Not putting ‘em down so fast that I became wobbly or incoherent, they just really added up over the hours (like 14 or so over 8-10 hrs). Later that evening when discussing with my wife what to do for dinner the next day I suggested we meet at a nearby restaurant, and she agreed. The next day I felt tired but not ill per se from all the drinking. I got a phone call at dinner time from her “I’m almost there, are you on your way?” I had completely forgotten; in fact in retrospect I can only imagine myself proposing that dinner out, I (still) don’t actually remember it. I hustled on over there and didn’t make her wait, and we had a pleasant meal.

At least there was no offense given or taken in this instance, but I felt bad (and alarmed) about it nonetheless… The evening I had been drinking I did not even appear to be drunk – she would have pointed it out to me the next day had I been, and double-checked with me about that dinner plan earlier in the day if she had her doubts. And yet I had a memory black-out. It dawns on me: I do not have to seem smashed to have memory black-outs. They’re no doubt going to happen to people to varying degrees anyway as they start getting older, but there is no doubt in my mind that this one was alcohol related.

Reading this thread:

today's top discussions:

This Month’s Leaders:

Most Supportive

Most Active

Most Loved

Black-outs