Alcohol overuse

[quisquose]

When I had cancer (Hodgkin's Lymphoma), the symptoms were only evident after a shed load of alcohol. The tumour would start to throb painfully, so off to the doctor I went. (It's a known but poorly understood symptom). So in my case excessive drinking of alcohol was definitely good for me. It helped me get an early diagnosis to cancer and possibly, just possibly, saved my life.

 

[Bonzo77]

When I had cancer (Hodgkin's Lymphoma), the symptoms were only evident after a shed load of alcohol. The tumour would start to throb painfully, so off to the doctor I went. (It's a known but poorly understood symptom). So in my case excessive drinking of alcohol was definitely good for me. It helped me get an early diagnosis to cancer and possibly, just possibly, saved my life.

 

 

The commedian who is pictured in my avatar pic (Bill Hicks) could only feel his tumour when he was on acid! Without taking the drug, he wouldn't have found out. Unfortunately it was too late for him!

[milquetoast1]

The commedian who is pictured in my avatar pic (Bill Hicks) could only feel his tumour when he was on acid! Without taking the drug, he wouldn't have found out. Unfortunately it was too late for him!

Have you seen American: The Bill Hicks Story?

[Bonzo77]

Have you seen American: The Bill Hicks Story?

 

I've not seen the new film, but I've seen all his stand up DVD's & got all his CD's. He was a genius, such a sad loss!

[medusa]

That's a scary answer medusa... so how do other factors such as coffee affect the liver on top of that... isn't caffeine a poison too?

And how much can the liver 'repair' itself..?

 

There are hundreds of factors which can have an effect on liver function, including dehydration, caffeine, exposure to heavy metals, age, hereditary conditions, all the different forms of hepatitis and hundreds of other things.

 

We're very lucky that we have massively over engineered bodies. If you damage your liver then up to a certain point your liver can repair itself, but once you're past the point where your liver can repair itself (bearing in mind that you may not know or have symptoms of liver problems at that point) then liver damage, from whatever source, is a terminal disease.

[medusa]

I've never heard the bit about ADH becoming less effective at higher blood alcohol levels.

10 units is approx 5 pints and if that reduces you elimination rate to <0.5 unit/hr you'd stay drunk for nearly 20 hours on 5 pints of beer. That doesn't seem to be accurate.

 

It's a curve, which is personal to each liver and is conditional on every bit of liver damage that you already have too.

 

Most enzymes have a range at which they are most effective and with alcohol the concentration is really quite low. For a young person with no liver damage, plenty of glucose in their system, other cofactors and substrates available and no fatty build up, drinking 10 units may be dealt with faster than 0.5 units/hour, but we cannot know that for sure without doing an ADH study on that individual.

 

With someone older (who's likely to naturally have a lower liver function) or who has previous liver damage then 0.5 units/hour is a generous estimation and they could well have detectable levels of alcohol for a full day after drinking, even if they didn't appear to have a total skinful.

 

BTW- having detectably raised alcohol levels is not the same as remaining drunk. We all have a base level of alcohol in our bloodstream anyway, but in someone who is a habitual drinker it is very unusual to ever drop down to the base level, even first thing in the morning if the drinker is drinking steadily through the day rather than downing it all in the evening.

[Cyclone]

Weren't we talking about binge drinking though, rather than habitual drinking?

 

I've got no argument with what you say, it all sounds very reasonable.

It would be interesting to perform an experiment on myself whereby I measure my breath alcohol level from the point of stopping drinking on a big night out, through the next day (obviously with a gap for 8 hours of drunken sleep).

 

Presumably from that you can estimate the blood alcohol level, you can chart how much you drank and at what time and thus estimate how fast you eliminate it. Useful information if you have to drive early the next day.

[milquetoast1]

How good is alcohol in the blood as an actual measure of drunkenness?

 

I've downed a pint quickly, and felt quite squiffy despite being under the legal limit. I've also driven in the morning after 5 pints the night before, not had any concerns about my abilities, but wondered that I might actually be over the legal limit.

[frob]

So we're told that the medical recommendation is 2/3 units per day - do you seriously know anyone who always just has one glass of vino? most of us will manage 2/3/4 (especially today lol). But you don't get advice about just drinking at weekends - presumably binge drinking... and then abstaining during the week (as i choose to...)..

 

I have a very close friend from Spain. In his village (in the foothills of the mountains near Geronna) All the old folk drink a bottle of red every night. I am not up on units of alcho', but I can tell you that many of the old folk are over the 100 mark (in years), and are fit as fiddles. Fitter than me, thats for sure!!!

 

It amazes me.

[*_ash_*]

I have a very close friend from Spain. In his village (in the foothills of the mountains near Geronna) All the old folk drink a bottle of red every night. I am not up on units of alcho', but I can tell you that many of the old folk are over the 100 mark (in years), and are fit as fiddles. Fitter than me, thats for sure!!!

 

It amazes me.

 

When you start adding different cultures into the mix, then the unit figures start meaning different things (or giving different effect results).