Stages Of Drunkenness

How Drunk Is Drunk?

Getting treatment for alcohol misuse is less stigmatized than it used to be, but there is still unfortunately a certain amount of stigma. When we think of alcoholics, we often get a picture in our minds of homeless people talking to themselves or violent offenders who are in and out of jail and prison. What are some stages of drunkenness?

These types of people make up for a smaller percentage of alcoholics. They may seem like they are the majority, but you’ll find out they aren’t at all once you dig a little deeper.

The majority of people who engage in alcohol abuse are young adults and middle-aged people who are able to cover up their addictions. Functioning alcoholics are probably the most difficult people to try and help. They are less likely to seek treatment, and even less likely to admit they have a problem.

When I finally attended treatment through Pathfinders, I was a shell of my former self. Luckily for me, they had seen the worst of the worst and were prepared to get me through my struggle.

The medical stages of drunkenness are pretty much the same for everyone. It starts out fun, but it doesn’t stay that way for very long. The longer you engage in drunkenness the more likely you are to become an alcoholic.

When I was in the thick of my alcohol addiction, I never imagined what it would be like to be clean. I didn’t even want to imagine it. When your that deep into it, you don’t want to hear about what it’s doing to your body and mind.

I knew my alcoholism was a medical emergency, I just didn’t know how quickly it would catch up to me. A lot of people drink, yet not everyone becomes an alcoholic.

There are functional alcoholics and non-functional alcoholics. Despite being able to function in everyday life, this does not mean being a functional alcoholic is without consequence. Your body and your mind do not care how well you do at work.

Eventually, the issues associated with alcohol abuse are going to come out. There is usually a high amount of enabling that comes from family members. This enabling helps keep a lot of addicts sick.

If a person’s drinking isn’t affecting their job performance or other responsibilities, it is easier to make excuses or explain it away. There are a lot of signs that someone is a functional alcoholic.

They may not be as obvious as a chronic alcoholic living on the streets, but if you have any experience with addiction they can be very clear. There are patterns that can’t be hidden by even the most experienced addicts.

It’s hard to imagine yourself living on the street or becoming a chronic alcoholic when you are at the bar having a good time. It all seems like fun and games. It all seems harmless at times. The longer you engage in this lifestyle, the more obvious the signs of alcoholism become.

Understanding the risks of alcoholism is key in order to avoid becoming an alcoholic. Even if you do recognize these signs, you can still become one. You don’t have a say in whether you are an alcoholic or not. It truly is an all-powerful substance. Understanding the stages of drunkenness and the stages of alcoholism can help you avoid succumbing to it.

The Seven Stages Of Alcohol Intoxication

There are seven stages of drunkenness that perfectly map out the arc of drinking and what it does to you. The first stage of drunkenness is sobriety or subclinical intoxication. This is usually defined as one drink. You do not show obvious signs of intoxication, but there are some signs of impairment.

Your judgment time might be slightly off, and you are likely to have that second drink, which will lead you into the next stage. The second stage is euphoria. At this point, you are a few drinks in.

The feelings of euphoria lead you to feel more confident, more talkative, and generally more upbeat. This is also when your inhibitions begin to go away. The signs of intoxication become more obvious.

The third stage is known as the excitement stage. At this point, your impairment is decreased and you begin acting more emotionally. This stage is defined by emotional instability, lack of judgment, and delayed reaction time.

Your speech may begin to get slurred at this point as well. The fourth stage is confusion. This stage is marked by increased disorientation. You may be unable to stand up or walk straight.

This is the stage when a lot of people experience blackouts. Blackouts are defined as periods of time that you cannot remember the next day. Now we’re really getting into dangerous territory.

That brings us to the fifth stage, which is stupor. This is marked by extreme intoxication and a greater risk of alcohol poisoning. In this stage, you may lose control of your blatter and/or bowels.

We’ve all heard the term ‘drunken stupor’. This stage can quickly lead to the sixth stage, which is a coma. Once you’ve reached a blood alcohol level of 0.3 or more, your body temperature drops and you can suffer from extreme respiratory distress.

Circulation is also severely affected. It’s scary to think that you can drink yourself into a coma, but it’s true. You can also drink yourself to death, which is the seventh and final stage.

Alcohol kills nearly 100,000 people a year in the United States. It’s hard to know what to do with alcohol poisoning symptoms. It’s impossible to seek help on your own if you are blackout drunk or passed out.

A lot of people succumb to alcoholism by asphyxiating on their own vomit. When you are in that state, more likely than not you are around other people who are in a similar state, and a lot of time people are too afraid to seek help. The people you associate with can be a big part of your downfall, and this can easily be one of those cases.

Drinking and Anxiety

I’ve had a drinking problem ever since I was in my teenage years. I have also suffered greatly from anxiety throughout my life. The combination of drinking and anxiety has definitely had a very negative effect on me over the years.

I drink every night, and I get bad anxiety hangovers. As soon as the buzz begins to turn into a hangover, my anxiety gets worse and worse. I never realized there was actually a term for hangover anxiety.

I have recently found out that it is commonly referred to as “hangxiety”. Getting anxiety the day after drinking is something that a lot of drinkers deal with. Worrying about getting through your day while dealing with a hangover is a tough task. It takes a lot of effort to just get out of bed and go about your normal routine. Imagine if you put that effort into cleaning up your act.

Hangxiety refers to the anxiety that you feel regarding an impending hangover. Once you’re drunk, you start to get anxious over how bad your hangover will be. You begin to feel the effects before they even happen.

All kinds of negative thoughts creep in, and all you can think about is how rough you are going to eventually feel once the buzz wears off. It’s common for most people to feel anxiety after drinking.

Most people are aware that if they overdo it, they will pay the next day. No one enjoys being hungover. If you drink all the time, and you are constantly hungover, it basically becomes like dealing with a chronic illness. You get used to feeling poorly all the time.

We drink because of the euphoric feelings that it gives us. It’s very easy to drink too much and not realize it until it’s too late. You want to keep that initial buzz going, but that initial buzz hardly ever lasts. If you feel anxious every time you drink, this speaks to a bigger issue.

Anxiety from drinking is usually not just because of drinking alone. A lot of people have anxiety issues they don’t even fully recognize. It becomes normal after a while and a regular part of your routine, whether you drink or not.

I used to constantly ask myself why am I getting hangover anxiety? Why do I blackout so much? What I should have been asking myself is what is a positive thing I can do about it.

It took me a long time to come to grips with my sickness, and when I finally realized I had a huge problem, I thought it was too late. The simple answer to that is it is never too late to get help.

I don’t care how old you are, how long you’ve been sick, or where you are at in life. There is always hope. We can and should never take away that hope from people who might have that desire to get clean.