Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

[LillyE]

Hi all,

So, I've been puzzling over something and am just wondering if anyone has any insight. From personal experience, when I have a break from drinking when I drink again it almost seems worse. I've read this frequently here too. The other day I heard someone say he almost wish he hadn't quit for 11 months because when he relapsed he was drinking twice as much as he had been the first time around. It just got me wondering why this is?

One would think that after a period sober your tolerance would be decreased and therefore perhaps you'd drink less, but this doesn't seem to be the case. It's almost like the body is making up for lost time.

Any thoughts? And also, what are people's personal experiences with this? Have you found after a period of abstinence when you've relapsed you've drunk more, the same or less?

Thanks,

Lilly

[allswell]

Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

Hi Lilly,

I can say from my own experience I certainly drank more when drinking again after a quit. The progression was immediate. I can't explain it other than perhaps subconsciously I was saying to myself it's time to make the most of it before all of the booze gets taken away again. I would even go so far as to call old drinking acquaintances and get one last hammer session in with old "friends" before I'd start another quit and never see them again. Sad!

I'm so glad those days seem to be over for good.

[LibraryGirl]

Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

I haven't gone back to my previous levels, not by a long shot. I do not have the desire to drink every night anymore. I thought I'd never break those chains of the nightly habit, but I have and it is wonderful. I think being here and posting keeps me mindful of everything.

So far, I do not agonize about drinking. I don't battle with myself every day over whether or not I should drink. If I start going through that, I will reassess my goals.

Lg

[mauritiusdodo]

Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

This is taken from the Dry out now information I requested recently

“REINSTATEMENT AFTER
ABSTINENCE”.
“Reinstatement after abstinence” is the technical
term for almost immediate relapse to drinking at the
same old extremely damaging levels if you try to start
drinking again. For the purposes of translation it means
the following:
Situation: You have become physically addicted
to alcohol, and then spend a period of time
completely dry from alcohol:
• If you have just one drink again at any time in the
future, you will automatically start to consume large
amounts of alcohol, rather than small (healthy)
amounts of alcohol.
• The large amounts of alcohol you consume will be
similar in quantity to the amounts you were drinking
before you stopped drinking.
• It will take only a matter of days to progress from
drinking nothing to drinking at those same old
damaging levels.
• This will be an automatic process beyond your
control.
You may have spent over a year without drinking.
One day, you are stressed, the sun is shining,
and you see people relaxing and enjoying
themselves in the pub garden. One drink cannot
do any harm. In fact two drinks cannot do any
harm. You are correct – they cannot. However,
there is a problem here – your brain has at
some time in the past become used to drinking
at extremely high levels (“tolerance”). Your brain
also has an extremely long memory.
All of us have a natural tendency to adapt to our
environment. In this modern day world with its rapid
changes, if we didn’t have this natural tendency we
would simply not survive. All animals have to adapt
to their environment in order to survive, and human
beings are no different. This ability to adapt is a good
thing. Without it you and I would not be here today.
But in some cases, this automatic ability to adapt can
lead to unwanted side-effects. In the specific example
we are talking about at the moment (an environment
full of alcohol) this adaptation will lead to an automatic,
subconsciously motivated, return to alcoholic levels of
drinking.
Why? Because the very fact that you have become
physically addicted in the past means that you have
changed – permanently. All addictive drugs (including
alcohol) interact with the brain in order to cause some
kind of pleasurable experience (such as getting drunk).
As you drink more and more, your brain re-sets itself
so that you get less and less drunk at a particular level
of alcohol use. Eventually, your brain accepts that
this level of drinking is now what it can expect every
day, day-in, day-out. The nerves in the brain alter their
response to alcohol. Effectively they try to function as
though you were not drunk, even though you may have
drunk large amounts.
Now this is great in the short-term. You can drink
more and more without making a fool of yourself –
adaptation.
The problem occurs when you stop drinking – the
nerves in your brain are no longer used to this, and
now send messages to your body telling you that
something is very wrong – an emergency message is
sent, and the body reacts accordingly – it gets ready
to respond to an emergency. Your heart rate goes up,
your blood pressure goes up, you sweat in order to get
rid of all the excess heat you will generate in fighting
or fleeing, you tremor in fright etc.etc.. In the process
of your body reacting to this, you experience alcohol
withdrawal symptoms.
After several days, your body realises that in fact there
is no emergency to deal with, and things return to
normal – the withdrawal period is over.
However, your brain never forgets.
It has adapted to alcohol permanently.

However long you leave it (years in some
cases), the next time you have a drink, your
brain remembers the smell, the taste and the
sensation of alcohol. Whereas before it took
months and years for the adaptation to heavy
alcohol use to occur, this time it immediately
readjusts itself in less than a moment. As
it readjusts, you will find yourself drinking
more than you intended to. The next day
your brain will send you messages to drink
even more – simply because it remembers
that this is how is was in the past. The brain
never forgets addiction.
Within several days, you will be drinking as you
were before. You will not have planned or intended to
do this; and you will almost definitely feel devastated
that this has happened to you. But it is beyond your
personal control.
At some point along the line, if you are to overcome
alcoholism, you will accept that this disease (alcoholism)
is more powerful than you are – except in one case
– that is that you decide never to drink alcohol again
– ever. If you truly decide this, then you have beaten
alcoholism. If you hanker after the idea of being able to
drink again in months or years to come then you will
relapse.
Now this permanent change in the brain only occurs if
you have become physically addicted to alcohol. If you
do not experience withdrawal symptoms on cessation
of drinking, then your brain has not reached this point of
permanent change. But, if you have become physically
addicted at some point in the past, then it is highly
unlikely that you will ever be able to drink again without
relapsing to damaging levels of alcohol use.
Of course many of you will give it a try – drinking again.
And just a few will succeed in proving me wrong. I have
known people who have done this – returned to healthy
drinking when they have been physically addicted in
the past.
Maybe you will need to try this out for yourself. After
all someone has to win the lottery – it could be you. It
really could be you, there is no way I can say it will not
be. What I can say, without a doubt, is that the odds
are stacked against you. Just as many people play the
lottery, many alcoholics try having just that one drink.

It makes a lot of sense to me! After 12 months of abstinence during my pregnancy and breastfeeding I immediately resumed my drinking and was almost immediately back up to my old levels - scary!

[Nelz]

Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

WOW Maur......That is THE most informative piece of info I have read in a llllong time.....wonderful find, and thank you for finding and posting.

It really helps keeping stuff like that in mind, when the urges to take that first drink.

[mauritiusdodo]

Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

Nelz;1351047 wrote: WOW Maur......That is THE most informative piece of info I have read in a llllong time.....wonderful find, and thank you for finding and posting.

It really helps keeping stuff like that in mind, when the urges to take that first drink.

thanks, I found it very enlightening and just the sort of thing I need to keep re-reading to keep me focused on things

[aihflvt]

Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

According to conversations I've had with my family doctor and from what I've read, brain chemistry can return to normal and tolerance can be reset, but it is a very lengthy process. I couldn't pin down my doctor on a specific time frame since everyone's bodies are different, but he left me with the impression that it takes years, probably many years.

Also, I don't attempt to moderate anymore, BUT in the past, after a period of abstinence, I was actually successful at keeping things under control the first couple of times I drank. Inevitably, they always snowballed back into a bender (which is why I concluded AF is the only way to go for me), but rather than "hitting the ground running" after a period of abstinence, I "warmed back up" to the amount I would drink.

[Caper]

Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

Great post, Mauri… thank you very much. I just wanted to add my two cents worth if that’s okay - about the physical versus psychological aspect of addition. After drinking heavily (daily) for about 15 years, I was AF from Dec. 2011 through June. Thankfully, I didn’t have any physical withdrawal symptoms but it took months to stop toying with the idea of drinking again. I did drink on June 30th – a few Mai Tais on my husband’s birthday at our favorite Chinese restaurant. I’ve been able to stop again but since then, the thoughts are back. I can tell myself, “minor setback; no harm done” but for me, the truth is that the relentless thoughts of drinking again are nearly as debilitating as I suspect are the physical symptoms.

[mauritiusdodo]

Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

I know what you mean, I am so fed up of the constant nagging my brain insists on plagueing me with, go on have a drink, you can stop when you want to, you didn't drink yesterday so it's fine to drink today, you are doing so well, treat yourself blah, blah bloody blah

SHUT UP!!!!!!!!! (that was to my brain not you lovely people LOL)

[Sunbeam]

Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

Don't know why it is true, but it is for me at least some of the time. I can't reliably control when or how much I drink, so now I JUST DON'T DRINK.

[LillyE]

Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

Mauritus, thank you so much, that's just what I was looking for and so interesting. (Although I'd still like to understand why people frequently drink more after a break.) I'd googled a bit and couldn't find a clear explanation for this phenomena until now.

Like Aihfvlt, I can in fact sometimes moderate after a period off - as in, have a night or two or three where I just have 1-3 drinks but it's totally unpredictable and it can just as easily lead to a binge and almost always does eventually. That damn broken off switch...

Caper, thanks for that too, that's an excellent point - that the damage done in terms of the mind games we then start playing with ourselves can be just as great a risk.

I struggle sometimes with the 'physical addiction' part because a) I can quit for periods of time and b) I don't suffer many withdrawal symptoms when I quit. (Well, hangovers are technically withdrawal but we all know even non-addicted drinkers regularly suffer those.) Still, once I start drinking that's when the crazy cravings can kick in - though not always. I can stop but I struggle to stay stopped and once I start I can't stop.

Thanks again Mauri. And I sure relate to the battle with the voices in your head that try and tell you it's all ok. SHHHHHH….

[SAUSAGE]

Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

Mauritus

That article was great and explained fully what happened to me within days, every time I returned to drinking after a period of abstinence my levels were the same if not worse than before. I have now learned the hard way from bitter experience that I just cannot moderate.

[finallydone]

Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

I don't what to say to this thread other than. It's known for years know alcoholism is a progressive disease. And When you stop and relapse you quickly go back to the last level or go up a notch. The progression of alcoholism moves in that direction..it's not unlike any other drug.

[mauritiusdodo]

Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

I am so glad my post was useful to everyone, I have printed the article out and am adding it to my stash, I have started to collect information and to note down my thoughts about alcohol to give me ammunition in moments of weakness

[Byrdlady]

Why does drinking increase after a period of abstinence?

Some great food for thought...I never drank harder than the year I tried to moderate. For me, it was almost 'panic induced'. When I kept AL from myself, I wanted it badly....so when I finally allowed myself to have it, it was as if I were hoarding it. I thought," DAM, I better drink all I can now cause I may not get any more!' I was always pushing my limits, too. If I drank my old limit of a bottle and a half of wine...this time I would drink the whole 2 bottles...as if I was saying..'just how much CAN I take?' It was crazy. Wish I could describe it better...but "Panic" is as close as I can get. This is Addiction Head...(Dick Head, for short) B