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She may be small, Paul. :D It only takes me a glass of wine to get, uh, tipsy, and only a drink or two of other kinds of alcohol, also. Of course, I don't drink on a regular basis, so I don't know. But it just seems to me that different people process alcohol differently.
True. I don't drink much myself and feel it quickly if I have a tipple. I was grinning after a whiskey in the tea down at the allotment shed last week. HahaaaQuote:
Originally Posted by qimissung
I think I'm just not used to it. They make bartenders take a course here, you have to have this little certificate in order to be one, and apparently (according to that course), I'm not much drunker than anyone else my size, but since I'm not used to that kind of change in perception it seems more drastic to me. Useful course, that. I guess gender does make a difference in how drunk one gets because men have a lower percentage of body fat, which means they have more water in their systems and thus can tolerate more alcohol. Also, apparently the size of the person does make a difference since it's all about the volume of alcohol over water in your system, and big people obviously have more water to them.
Aside from one's metabolism and liver function (male metabolism's are also usually faster than female's), a lot of it actually has to do with your genes (or your biology). The most important factor in how one processes alcohol and the effects alcohol will have on a person is how much a person has of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH): This is the enzyme that converts alcohol to acetaldehyde through oxidation.Quote:
Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf
Asians, women, and other groups tend to have less of ADH, making them less able to metabolize alcohol, so they get drunk faster (versus people who have more of the enzyme). Also, another factor is how you experience alcohol, due to a different enzyme... some people feel sick after just a few glasses, or have awful hangovers... mainly due to the quantities of acetaldehyde in the body, which is toxic and makes you feel sick...
Anyway, that's what I can remember (on alcohol) really from the class I took in college on drugs and the psychological effects of drugs. Oh and I also remember the professor telling us that alcohol is the only drug that can kill someone during the withdrawal period... so, you can actually die from not drinking.
But yeah, Sancho, you are right about all that. The level of danger in a drug or its addictiveness is measured mainly by its overdose ratio but also by how quickly it can make you high (how quickly it enters into your bloodstream). One of the most dangerous drugs as far as overdose goes is acetaminophen (e.g. Tylenol), as the difference between the recommended does and a does that can cause permanent liver damage is not so great. Nicotine is considered as the most addictive drug.
Ok, I'll stop here because I am sure no one is interested anymore... :sleep:
Wow, I didn't even know alcohol withdrawl existed. With how many alcoholics I encounter in daily rural life, you'd think I would have at least heard of it. I bet it's like an elongated hangover.Quote:
Originally Posted by PoeticPassions
I've heard it referred to as delerium tremens. I haven't heard the term for a while so i thought it had dropped out of use - but there are links to it.Quote:
Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001771/
Aside from the occasional drink with friends, I've never been interested in drugs. I don't like the idea of my brain chemistry being altered to where I think and behave differently, or worse, where what I perceive with my senses isn't what's really there.
As far as categories, FWIW I put drugs in four: Common (nicotine, alcohol, marijuana), Opiates (Opium, heroin, cocaine), Hallucinogens (LSD), and Crazy Drugs (crystal meth, crack, PCP). Those are my purely laymanish distinctions. But there's a lot more drugs out there now than when I was a kid (I don't even know what kind ecstasy, et al are), so I'm probably way out of touch.
I've seen an alcoholic in withdrawal. He was having a seizure on the steps of the flats I lived in. Somebody gave him a drink to help him recover and then he was fine. Amazing! If I get drunk, I have a seizure the next day!
Just the caffeine that is found in coffee, tea, and soda, and those drinks are only taken in moderation. Maybe some ibuprofen occasionally, and percocet according to doctor's orders after I pass a kidney stone, but that is about it.
I've experienced plenty of kinds and levels of pain, but kidney stone pain is definitely not something I ever want to experience. Just the idea of it gives me shudders.
(And good to see you back, Bien.)
^Yeah, I was just wondering where Bien went this morning.
Haha, I like that classification.Quote:
Originally Posted by Calidore
It surprises me that you don't know what ecstacy is, maybe it's newish. Have you ever heard of the whole "Rave" scene (lame, glowsticks, techno music, pacifiers, neon colors, ecstacy {called "E," or "X" sometimes}, sweaty people, ect.)?
http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/p...44/th_rave.gif
That sounds horrible. It's like what I've read about heroin withdrawal, except with hallucinations and siezures - so really, much worse than heroin withdrawal.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulclem
Your mention of techno/rave music made me think of this:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AyRDDOpKaLM
Which came first, the music or the drugs? It's like the chicken and the egg question, only more confounding.
I take it you are also adverse to falling in love then ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Calidore
I've heard of raves--once in a while the papers would have a story about the police breaking up a rave party in a loft or rented-out club, or a kid overdosing in one.Quote:
Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf
As for ecstasy, no, I don't know if it's a hallucinogen or amphetamine-type thing or what. (That reminds me of a fifth category--do people even take uppers and downers anymore, or have they been obsoleted by newer and better stuff?)
What little rave music I've heard doesn't do much for me, either. Too much energy, not enough actual music. However, I do have to make an exception for "Speed" by a couple of local guys working as Alpha Team (20 years ago! Ack!). It's a most excellent rave-style remix of the Speed Racer cartoon theme, with sound effects and dialogue clips thrown in. It may help if you're old enough to have watched the cartoon religiously after school, as I did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyhyPLWJDFY
Just a bit different.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alexander III
It's like a feel-good sensory type drug. The chemicals released are the same as those released when humans feel that sort of excited-love feeling. You overheat get dehydrated quickly though, I think people actually dry out to death sometimes, and you grind your teeth and clench your jaw which would explain the need for pacifiers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Calidore
Apparently the next day you feel the exact opposite, really depressed. I've never taken ecstasy, it's too... touchey-feely for me. Also, it's practically synonymous with raves, which is an atmosphere I'd rather be kicked in the head than experience.