How dependent are you on alcohol?

[Skallywag]

On 6/20/2023 at 4:36 PM, Lacessit said:

got me to thinking how many farangs here are dependent on alcohol.

I am not judgmental or virtuous about this, just curious. I have seen a few people die quite badly from their prolonged consumption,

More people are dependent on automobiles and motorcycles in Thailand.  

More fatal vehicular accidents than liver disease annually in Thailand.  20K - 17K

 

I quit driving many years ago, but 98% of other people I see or talk with say they would never give up driving... And as we see here, many people will give up alcohol. 

 

Off topic as numbers are for all Thailand, not just foreigners, but the idea of "dependence" got me thinking

 

Where I got the numbers

https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/thailand-liver-disease

 

 

[JimTripper]

10 hours ago, FruitPudding said:

Now, that I'm living in Bangkok, I drink once a week in a pub - usually about 5-6 pints - with friends when they are available.

 

When I lived up country, I would drink alone in the garden - usually about one bottle of beer a day.

5-6 pints in one night?

that would get me hammered even back in college. Take it easy.

[Toolong]

How dependent?

 

Too much I expect. But it is what it is. ????

 

Ol' blue eyes himself (Frank Sinatra, for younger members of this forum!) once famously reflected - about teetotallers - 'When they get up in the morning, that's the best they're going to feel all day'.

 

 This reflection is full of holes, in many respects I know (please don't crucify me!) but I kind of agree as it pertains to my experience and know from where he's coming from.  

 

Booze certainly makes those sharp edges in life a bit more manageable.

 

For me.  All I'm saying. Others my criticize that view. No prob. ????

[n00dle]

7 hours ago, Lacessit said:

"Make the effor to spell it right?" Thanks for a good laugh.

My errors are due to a lack of caution, not a lack of understanding.

[swm59nj]

Regarding the option Alcoholic.  Most people with a drinking problem will deny or not realize it. 
 

[richard_smith237]

3 hours ago, Skallywag said:

More people are dependent on automobiles and motorcycles in Thailand.  

More fatal vehicular accidents than liver disease annually in Thailand.  20K - 17K

 

I quit driving many years ago, but 98% of other people I see or talk with say they would never give up driving... And as we see here, many people will give up alcohol. 

 

Off topic as numbers are for all Thailand, not just foreigners, but the idea of "dependence" got me thinking

 

Where I got the numbers

https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/thailand-liver-disease

 

 

Interesting concept, but you’ve mixed up dependency & necessity. 

[chalawaan]

17 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Everything is relative, and determined by attitude. I've holidayed for a month at a time in shearer's quarters in outback Australia, it does not get much more basic than that. A shoebox room in Thailand is probably luxurious by comparison.

 

I'd suggest people who are skint, or on meager pensions, would find there are better options than drinking in bars, with a bit of effort.

Their choice if they prefer oblivion.

It's not cheap being a skint drinker! 

Fellas, quit if you can, everything improves, from your waist to your weiner, to your wallet. 

 

[Lacessit]

9 hours ago, Skallywag said:

More people are dependent on automobiles and motorcycles in Thailand.  

More fatal vehicular accidents than liver disease annually in Thailand.  20K - 17K

 

I quit driving many years ago, but 98% of other people I see or talk with say they would never give up driving... And as we see here, many people will give up alcohol. 

 

Off topic as numbers are for all Thailand, not just foreigners, but the idea of "dependence" got me thinking

 

Where I got the numbers

https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/thailand-liver-disease

 

 

An interesting link, thanks.

If I combine deaths from liver disease with that from liver CANCER, the number of deaths from those two causes is double that of vehicle accidents - 41K vs 20K.

IME there are several village idiots in my GF's moo baan, fetal alcohol syndrome is most likely the cause. Quite a few of the neighbors are heavy Lao Khao drinkers.

[Lacessit]

8 hours ago, n00dle said:

My errors are due to a lack of caution, not a lack of understanding.

Here's me thinking it was because your typing fingers moved faster than your brain - an Epimenides paradox, maybe.

[FruitPudding]

14 hours ago, JimTripper said:

5-6 pints in one night?

that would get me hammered even back in college. Take it easy.

Yeah, like that's just a few hours drinking.

 

The young ones go to nightclubs. I wonder how much they drink?

[save the frogs]

just watched an interview with Tim Newton, founder of TheThaiger.

he says he doesn't drink any alcohol ever. 

 

[Red Forever]

On 6/20/2023 at 6:23 PM, save the frogs said:

If it was listed as a carcinogen since 1989, I don't think too many people knew about it. 

Maybe now that aspect is getting more attention.

 

Another aspect I am interested in is what does it do to the gut microbiome? You know how when you have a wound, you pour rubbing alcohol on it? Alcohol kills everything, doesn't it? What is it doing inside the gut? 

 

Don't worry mate. Inside our guts are acids which break down all the bad stuff we imbibe. 

[EVENKEEL]

On 6/20/2023 at 4:48 PM, zzaa09 said:

Kicking back a couple for breakfast [with a cig] as we speak. 

A good morning beer buzz is underrated.

[Lacessit]

30 minutes ago, Red Forever said:

Don't worry mate. Inside our guts are acids which break down all the bad stuff we imbibe. 

Alcohol does not react with stomach acids, nor is it broken down there..

 

Alcohol is detoxified in the liver by various enzymes, the metabolism steps are alcohol - acetaldehyde - acetate - water and CO2.

Acetaldehyde is highly toxic, and a known human carcinogen.

 

"In the liver, alcohol is metabolized by the oxidative and non-oxidative pathway. In the oxidative pathway, the major pathway of alcohol digestion, alcohol is oxidized to acetaldehyde by various enzymes including alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1), and catalase"

 

Source: National Institute of Health.

 

[Tazmo]

I think it’s important to recognize that as humans we’re all addictive animals. Except our brain is more sophisticated, we can discriminate, control our desires etc whereas animals cannot. We also have a longer digestive system than animals, so meat for example stays longer in our colon ( days) compared to say a Lion. We also inherit genes not only from parents but ancestors, you can’t be here without having parents and they couldn’t having parents and you can go on for a few more generations and you get to 300 years of history. 
So that accounts for why we are all different and suffer different diseases. Some more self control than others. Behaviors and attitudes we see today are no different from centuries ago, just more sophisticated!

But the dopamine levels in our brain is what determines if we want more or less and plays a part in addiction. So some of us could stop or reduce a habit whereas others go until they hit “rock bottom “.

Then there is cross addiction, so you may stop gambling but take up alcohol, or Vice versa. Stop smoking but take up caffeine. Stop drugs but take up exercising, running, riding etc. It the same dopamine that is released when in the Gym and attendance then becomes compulsive. But considered more healthy. Food addiction, Sex Addiction, Gambling addiction, Love addiction, Post traumatic Disorder ( from soldiers who drink heavily), all here in Thailand, it’s all here folks.

Good if you can exert self control and rehabilitate your lifestyle before it’s too late. Many need professional help in a residential setting.

 

we’re all in the <deleted>, only the depth varies!

[sikishrory]

I used to enjoy the bar scene years ago.

It started to get quite boring and sad really. The Disneyland phase when you discover Thailand. Sitting in a bar with fake friends who wouldn't piss on fire to put you out.

How boring and lonely is it to go into a bar, buy a beer and sit looking out to the road hoping some chick will come and chat with you.

Taking girls home that are gone the moment you stop paying.

It's incredibly unfulfilling and sad.

When I got married it totally changed me and I stopped everything.

Even after divorce 6 years later I don't want to go back to that crap life.

Now I keep a shelf of good quality whiskey basically to admire and have a glass or 2 on special occasions very rarely.

I literally can't stand sitting in bars now. It makes me feel miserable. When I ride by and see some old dude sitting alone with a beer staring into nothingness in the middle of the day it looks sad and incredibly boring.

The only time I make an exception is when a friend from home visits and wants to do the whole tourist bar scene thing. Then I kind of put up with it.

I almost despise the scene. It's disheartening that 90% of the girls in dating apps online are bar girls/prostitutes or have a penis.

I get that lots of expats are happy to sit in bars all the time and have other expat mates.

Not my cup of tea anymore

 

[patman30]

we all know the 2s, 3s and 4s
are actually 1s, 2s and 3s
????

[Tropposurfer]

I'm too smashed to be able to answer that question with any clarity ????

[Freddy42OZ]

I quit drinking completely on New Years Eve 3 years ago. 

I originally intended to just not drink for "Dry January" but after not drinking for a month, I decided to keep going and now 3 years later I've still not had even a sip of alcohol.

I only drink water and the occasional protein drink.

 

[foreverlomsak]

On 6/20/2023 at 5:03 PM, richard_smith237 said:

- I drink when I want, either alone or socially, sometimes a lot, sometimes a little, at other times I go for weeks or months without.

well said that man, has been reading my mind

[Hummin]

High tolerance of alcohol in younger days and mid age, seems to catch up with some when they pass a fixed age, and they become messy.

 

Have a few friends who thought they could keep it going

Edited June 24, 2023 by Hummin

[Lacessit]

8 minutes ago, Hummin said:

High tolerance of alcohol in younger days and mid age, seems to catch up with some when they pass a fixed age, and they become messy.

 

Have a few friends who thought they could keep it going

IMO once we hit 70, reduce or give it away entirely.

There are a select few who can drink into their 80's and 90's, statistical outliers.

[Hummin]

3 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

IMO once we hit 70, reduce or give it away entirely.

There are a select few who can drink into their 80's and 90's, statistical outliers.

I have seen it from early 50 ies and up.

[Lacessit]

1 minute ago, Hummin said:

I have seen it from early 50 ies and up.

You must have seen some pretty hard drinkers.

[Hummin]

2 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

You must have seen some pretty hard drinkers.

Extreme sport arhletes who survived their young days living like the last day for decades ????

 

Well, at least some pulled themselves together and function fine today, the rest is dead or still drunks

[LaosLover]

Here are 3 great drinking memories:

 

A friend who I was treating in Vientiane didn't understand the currency and ordered a bottle of red wine for $150 -and it was only a half-bottle. Just a multi-layered wine cloud in my mouth, every tiny sip felt like enough. Worth the $75 for the not that full a glass apiece. And the restaurant owner had a cap-full.

 

In Japan in an inn next a sacred grave yard, we were told we couldn't have sex in the room due to ghosts ("even if you put a towel down"). At dinner, The sex-naysayer poured big, fatty Raku pottery mugs of sake made by monks from water filtered through granite. Like super-water, if super-water could be booze.

 

Last week in Pai, the bartender constructed a Pina colada out of 4 diff rums and a lot of fresh coconut. A PC should always be much more C than P. I'm going to say 80/20. Better than one in a 500 baht (++) rooftop bar in BKK. 150 baht. I rounded up to 160. For some reason, rasta/reggae bars usually make great PC's and Maitai's.

 

Liquor is like dessert to me. If it's something special, I'll indulge. But my days of throwing back well drinks are gone for good.

[digger70]

Bit off a strange question that is. 

I don't Depend on alcohol, I can Take it or Leave it.

My choice is to take alcohol every day, in moderation 2 maybe 4 cans of beer .

I hate getting drunk ,can' remember the last time I got drunk, years ago I think

My memory isn't 100% .

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, digger70 said:

Bit off a strange question that is. 

I don't Depend on alcohol, I can Take it or Leave it.

My choice is to take alcohol every day, in moderation 2 maybe 4 cans of beer .

I hate getting drunk ,can' remember the last time I got drunk, years ago I think

My memory isn't 100% .

If you can leave it, why do you choose to drink 2-4 cans of beer every day? When was the last day with no beer?

[save the frogs]

just watched a youtube vlogger in bangkok.

he says he gets phone calls from friends asking for money at 2 AM.

lots of folks in thailand partying like it's 1999 and blowing all their money on alcohol. 

Edited June 24, 2023 by save the frogs

[The Fugitive]

Used to drink lager (and wine with meals) only whilst on holiday. It's the temperature. Thirsty at breakfast time. Living in Thailand only drink lager when thirsty, wine is too expensive. Now in UK and have no desire to drink alcohol at all.