Expert: Rebos - 6/22/2006

Question
About three months ago I had a pretty hard drinking weekend. I went out for drinks on a Friday night. Saturday morning I woke up and started drinking again. I drank until Saturday night and didn’t have a drink of water in-between. The next day I had a hangover but nothing really bad, but later on in the day around 7 at night my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest. I started shaking really bad and had major anxiety. I called my doctor and he told me not to drink. I waited about 3 weeks and went out drinking with some friends. The next day about 2 hours after I got up, the same thing, the shaking and anxiety started up really bad again. After that I didn’t drink again, but two weeks after that situation I went on a party bus with some friends. I did not drink yet later on in the night I started to shake really bad and felt so much anxiety I almost got off the bus in the middle of no were, due to feeling so much anxiety. I went to go see my doctor and he said that I got alcohol poisoning the first time and the drinking again brought it back on then being in that same environment brought it back on again. He told me not to drink and that it looks as if I’ve now had an allergic reaction to alcohol. He had me go get some blood work done and said that everything looked good. I waited over two months and had my first beer last night. No problems at first but in the morning around 9 hours later I started feel a little shaking again. My doctor gave me chlordiazepoxide, so I took it for the first time and I felt fine. The shakes were miner but I felt enough to wake me up at five in the morning. My question is, what can I do to have a drink again without having any problems? What exactly happen to me? I know my doctor said “don’t drink”, but that’s not a in-depth answer to what really happen and when I can have a drink again. I’m not an alcoholic, I’d only drink on an occasional weekend, yet I want to be able to go out with some friends and have some drinks again or go on a date and have some drinks to loosen up a little. I don’t need to drink, but every now and then, and I don’t have to get drunk anymore I just want to be able to enjoy a drink during the right situation again.
Please help.


Answer
Good morning Frank:

Thank you for your question.

Why is it that you just can’t and won’t accept the fact that you can no longer drink alcohol safely? In its simplest terms; if your doctor told you were allergic to lobster that every time you ate it that you swelled up, couldn’t breath, and itched all over until it drove you crazy, how many times would it take you to stop eating lobster before you accepted the fact that you could no longer eat lobster? If you say that you are not an alcoholic and feel better about it…then so be it, but did you ever stop and think about… why do you have to loosen up to become more sociable. For some unknown reason to me, I believe that you are looking for a change in your personality, and that is exactly what alcoholics do! If you feel a need to drink then something is wrong with you and until you find out what that something is you will continue to drink until it kills you. Basically, if drinking alcohol causes you problems then IT IS A PROBLEM no matter what you call it!

I hope that you know that alcoholism is a terminal disease. It has the effect of killing more people than all of the other diseases put together, including murders, car accidents, brain damage, liver damage, bleeding ulcers, seizures, and heart attacks etc. If a non-alcoholic found that their terminal disease could be cured by just not drinking, they would grab at the opportunity to extend their life. But, you say that you are not an alcoholic, and if you don’t believe that you are then you will have to pay the price.

If you would like to learn more about the disease I would be pleased to answer your follow-up question. Thank you, Rebos.