Hi all, Hope you are all well and coping with our shared problem.
I write today about blackouts as three times in the last month I have woken up in a random area of London without a clue how I got there. I'm slightly worried about this as the regularity seems to have gone up. Can anyone suggest why?
You are only 'slightly' worries about this??? You should be more than slightly worried.
Alcohol (and drugs) cause impairment and disruption to the part of the brain that forms short term and long term memories. I believe that might be called the hippocampus (sp?) part of the brain.
Blackouts are usually caused by people drinking large quantities of alcohol in a short space of time, that the body is not able to cope with and it gets overloaded. Something usually experienced by binge drinkers.
Hi Joanna,
Yes you are right I'm quite worried! I have been to my doctor about getting help but was literally laughed out of the surgery. Going to try cutting right down now as a result of the blackouts
I noticed in the last year...also...blacking out everytime I drank.
I only know because my b/f tells me things that happened or things I said or did...and I don't remember anything.
I've told the story of the girl who blacked out and had a car accident resulting in 2 deaths..and she didn't remember. I still think and always thought it wouldn't happen to me....but I'm sure she didn't think it would happen to her and she actually doesn't BELIEVE it happened to her because she doesn't remember it.
The only thing for us to not blackout...I think once we reach the stage of blacking out in our drinking is not to drink 
.
Do you still have your girlfriend?
I wish you could quit tre....I really do....just like I hope I can stay quit....
I looked back at a post you wrote 5 months ago....and your "thing" seems to be worrying about what others think of you NOT drinking. I also wish you could let go of that because those people are not suffering the consequences from drinking that you (we) are.
I think it is stronger for a man to be firm in his decision....and that they wouldn't look at you as being weak. But, all of this has to come from inside you..just as it does me.
Have you made a complaint the practice manager at your surgery?
You have a right to be treat with respect and have an informed discussion with your doctor about any matters concerning you health.
Hi Missy,
Not sure I am that bothered about people thinking bad of me for not drinking, just that I find it difficult to not drink with drink around. I still want to be social though. The problem is social = drinking.
The best thing would be just to try and lock myself away for a few weeks to get completely dry and then take it from there. I can't believe how hard it is to be honest. It should be the easiest thing just to not go out or go to the shop and do something else. Would be good if I could get some help but you are dead right. It has to come from within.
Having said that even smokers get nicotine patches and stuff....I would like the equivalent for drink! It must exist surely?
It does, Tre. It's called The Sinclair Method. I've been at it for 6 months and I've had about 10 drinks within the last 30 days. Most of my days have been dry in that time. I used to drink around 80-90 beers per week. When you remove the unconscious compulsion to drink, free choice returns and you can drink without going overboard about it. Now, I occasionally get a vague notion to have a beer, but ends up being like when you're hungry for something and you can't figure out what it is.
So I just searched and found this...but I don't see it happening. I don't see the FDA approving a drug for people like this.
Imagine a substance that could mimic the pleasant effects of drinking without the downside. You could drink yourself silly on the stuff, and then reverse the inebriation with a “sober pill” and drive home safely. Hangover? What hangover?
If that sounds like fantasy, get this: Dr. David Nutt a professor of neuropsychopharmacology at the Imperial College of London, says an alcohol substitute may soon be a reality.
The substance would let you get drunk without alcohol by targeting specific neurotransmitter systems in the brain.
“We know that the main target for alcohol in the brain is the neurotransmitter system gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), which keeps the brain calm,” Nutt wrote in a post in The Guardian’s comment and opinion section. “Alcohol therefore relaxes users through mimicking and increasing the GABA function.”
Nutt told BBC Radio 4, “We can mimic the effects of GABA using drugs that are more selective and much less toxic than alcohol. And also, because they’re drugs and work on a receptor directly, we can have an antidote.”
Nutt’s plan to develop a “drunk without alcohol” drug dates back to 2009. But only recently has the neuropsychopharmacologist identified five Valium-like compounds that he believes would produce the feeling of relaxation commonly associated with alcohol. As Nutt sees it, the substance could be ingested even more effortlessly by placing it in a drink. That way, drinkers could still sip their favorite beverages, but, instead of ethanol, the drinks would contain the alcohol substitute.
Now, Nutt says, all he needs is to secure funding and test how subjects react to each compound.
Just how realistic is Nutt’s proposal? Some experts have their doubts.
“We would urge caution on this,” Emily Robinson, deputy chief executive of the U.K.-based charity Alcohol Concern, told the Telegraph. “We should focus on what is going wrong in our drinking culture rather than swapping potentially one addictive substance for another.”
stop drinking
I regularly had blackouts before I became indifferent to alcohol but my husband could drink more than me and he has never had a blackout
Missy,
Sorry. Maybe I didn't convey what I mean. I just meant something to stop the cravings, not something to go out and get drunk off!
When to see my doctor about this and he says this isn't available /doesn't exist. Not sure what to do next. He said I might be able to get counselling but if there is medication to stop cravings surely this would be used in conjunction with any talking therapy?
Nice one Andy. You'll be glad to know since reading this I have now quit drinking. Thanks mate who knew it would be so easy?!
Tre, are you in the UK or the US (or Oz)?
Yes, there is....Campral...I can't believe that I do not crave a drink.
The last time I drank...I was on Campral....I didn't FEEL like drinking... AT ALL....but I didn't know how to stop my brain....so I drank anyway.
I didn't get sick from drinking on it.....I got sick because I stopped it and continued drinking.
Really...try it...it REALLY WORKS
hi ADE....Acrompaste...(Campral)...is for cravings....the Sinclair method you still drink....I have no cravings with Campral at all.
I'm in the UK ADE. I think we are a bit less gung ho about giving out prescription drugs. Just winds me up that these things exist but I cannot get them as I think it would really help. I would love to be able to do it with sheer will power but if help is available I feel it should be given to those whom ask
Campral is available in the UK. You just have to be firm about asking for it.
I've been prescribed it, but you do have to be insistent.
Thanks mate this has just give me a little more hope. I don't understand why they make it hard to access. Will go back to my doctor