Hey guys, I am currently in college, and as most college students do, I drink a fair amount. The one problem that I have been experiencing (especially this year) is that I black out fairly often. I really hate waking up the next morning and realizing that I don't remember big chunks of the night before, and I was wondering if anyone has any tips. Please do not respond with "drink less", I was hoping for something more creative and helpful, like ways you make sure you don't drink too much too quickly or something. Thanks in advance. Edit: Just so future posters are not confused, this post is for the purpose of me getting help and advice. The fact that I said "Please do not respond with 'drink less'" does not mean I am not willing to drink less, it just means that I already know that this is something that I need to do, and someone telling me that will not be productive at all.
eat before going out. make a sandwich or something. i know you dont wanna hear it, but drinking less is an obvious one. dont drink as fast. make each drink last longer.
drink less. edit: sorry, it was irresistable. that's almost the only thing you can do though, you can try eating something while you're drinking to soak some alcohol up but the real problem is that you can consume alcohol a lot faster than your body can process it. if you insist on not drinking less, try drinking slower. i pretty regularly drink rather heavily, but i do it slowly over about 5-6 hours time, and i don't black out.
get buzzed and smoke a bowl. then you'll just feel like drinking less. not a prob for me, though. My body says no no and vomits before my mind gives out like that. I guess I'm kinda missing out on those really fun out of control sorts of times, but oh well.
mix in drinking beer with hard alcohol. take a few shots then just chill with a beer. it's hard in college because every just wants to get as fucked up as possible but that's not fun if you cant remember it. also like the guy above said make sure your eat before drinking.
How often are you going out? More than just weekends? I'm a "weekend warrior" myself and party hard on the weekends, I drink a lot more than I smoke. However, I've been lucky enough to be able to handle large amounts of alcohol pretty well, but there are sometimes parts of the night that I don't remember. I second the eating food while drinking, or just snacking on some chips or salty foods. You don't always have to be 'that guy' I've learned from experience, haha. There is no super cure/remedy to allow you to drink a lot and not feel the consequences. Are you passing out/blacking out before the nights over? Or are you just having trouble piecing together all the events of the night the next day? You could choose to embrace it, if you love alcohol that much, just think of the blank spots of the night as moments of time travel. haha.
I have a big problem with booze and blacking out and getting violent and have been in legal trouble because of this since way back in 08. From what i've researched. You NEED TO Drink SLOWLY! and NOT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH. Those two factors will solve your problem 99% of the time. The major underlying situation here is if your blacking out from drinking, you have a problem controlling the substance which leads to addiction aka alcoholism. Which morphs into a full blown disease..not trying to scare you just giving you a heads up. From very personal experience of batteling this for awhile. Drinking in moderation is of course key, because if you drink one shot through the night you wont black out. However we all know this isnt what is going to transpire once the booze is flowing so, here is what I found that IS CONTROLLABLE. How fast you intake booze. One to two drinks per hour(maybe three if you have a good tolerance and are heavy set). A drink is either 12oz beer, 6oz of wine, or 1oz of 80 proof spirits. Be patient the buzz WILL COME! DO NOT DRINK ON AN EMPTY STOMACH. First it really does a number on your stomach, and secondly it innehbriates you so fast. The main thing booze does is inhibit your cognitive thinking which helps your make good judgement calls. So, you pound 3-4 shots on empty stomach and bammo your buzzin hard. This has now impacted your reasoning ability, thus making you drink more and make stupid situations like DRINKING MORE. Anywho man, I know where you're at, and i've been there. Follow my advice or don't, either way eventually you'll find your way to the gutter/jail or to fun times.
I really appreciate all of the responses. I think the first thing I'll do is eat right before I start drinking. I always eat dinner around 7 and don't end up drinking til around 10, so maybe I'll try eating dinner at the normal time, but eating a snack before I go out. Also, I really need to work on drinking slower. The problem is, I always take a shot or two, I'll leave the bar, then a friend will come up and ask to take a shot with me, and who am I to say no? I think I'll just have to teach my friends how to face rejection, haha, and teach myself how to say no to that kinda thing. I usually black out on Thursdays, because thats the party night at my school. I'm pretty good at holding my liquor, in that I almost never throw up (MAYBE once a year) or pass out in random places (once in my life) but its just the blacking out thats killing me. It wouldn't be that bad if I blacked out for a few minutes, but it always seems that I black out for a couple hours, and by the time I'm not blacked out, I've walked home. Overall, I think I'll just try to be smarter and more responsible, and throw some food into the mix too. Thanks for the responses, and wish me luck.
You could also try high potency B vite suppliments, such as Stresstabs Just so you don't end up with this, the long term alcoholic blackout. Ounce of prevention and all that... Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome Information Page: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Not to belittle anyone else, but this has so far been the best, and most informative post. As I said in my previous post, I will be eating right before I go out from now on, and I will definitely begin to drink slower. My problem often is that I start drinking after other people, so I decide to hit the ground running to "catch up" and as you said, that begins the vicious cycle of drinking more causing you to drink more. Another tip (for anyone who is reading this for their own help) that a friend told me about is drink a few shots before going out, enough to get a buzz going, then just drink beer the rest of the night. I think I might be trying this over the next couple of weeks, and if that still doesn't help I'll just have to set a limit for the number of drinks I enjoy in an hour. Thanks for the advice, more is always appreciated, and I hope this thread can help more people than just me.
lmao!!!! are you serious.your a drunk face it lol! no the best way to cure black outs...keep drinking. alcohol blackouts lol!
mixing lots of different types of alcohol also can help you black out. stick to all shots of vodka for a night, maybe. or just two types of liquor. this should also help with hangovers a little. remember: beer before liquor, never been sicker. liquor before beer, you're in the clear (or as my drunk friends say, liquor before beer, never been better!) but yeah, if you have a few shot then chill with beers for the rest of the night, it'll slow your drinking down. just remember that rule!
That was completely useless and condescending, thanks for wasting my time. I'll try to pick my poison for each night, and always start with liquor, thanks.
I've always tried to balance smoking with drinking, but my only concern has ever been how good do I feel? If I feel good, then I realize that doing either could make me feel "too good" which really just usually means not at all good. If I've just finished downing a bunch of beers at the bar, I'll often take a trip outside and spark up and then come back to drink water for awhile while I enjoy the alcohol buzz complimented by half a number. I guess I was in your boat at some point and just decided to try and actually think about my buzz while I had it, and try to resist overdoing it. After all, you're there to have fun, not to abuse your brain. Who cares how much fun it is if you're not going to remember the good times? I wholly encourage total abuse as long as it is in the interest of having a good time, and as long as you can put a brake on things when you start to feel like you're overdoing it. I would not be lying to you when I say that these experiences got so much better for me when I figured out my "sweet spot." Although I must say, any time I drink gin I risk blacking out. I don't know what's in gin that does that to me, but any time I include gin in an alcohol binge I black out and my friends end up telling me I was 10 times as social as I usually am. Which really pisses me off, because I'd like to be more social, but I can't even remember what it was like!
So you don't want to black out, and don't want to drink less? Spoken like a true college student; tell Cirrhosis that I said hi.
well i know blackouts are the begining signs of alcoholism.blackouts normally would occur for me anyways former alcoholic,when i would consume alot at once o binge drinking.after awhile the black outs will go away but your tolerance will skyrocket.then your thinking your ok wrong.this will lead to various other health and psychological problems that will run over into your everyday life.or maybe not you be one of lucky ones who knows.
Haha, yeah, I actually am willing to drink less, I just didn't want people responding with that because it is way too obvious of a solution. Thank you for giving a more thoughtful response, I actually do appreciate it. I've deduced that I just drink far too quickly, like drink 4 shots in a row, play a game of beer pong, then get 3-4 more shots, repeat. And while thats also far too much, I drink too quickly to realize and by the time I do realize, I've already blacked out. I think if I start to pace myself much more, I will be able to enjoy my nights more, while also cutting down the number of drinks I drink.
I don't see how some people can't control themselves. It's not a contest to drink the most, just have fun and stay in your safe zone.