On the Effects of the Occassional Additional Beer on the Author

[danieldwilliam]

Enter your cut contents here.

I have noticed an interesting effect of alcohol on me over the last few weeks.

It is coincidentally linked to coronavirus outbreak both in general and specifically. It emerged at the time that the outbreak was obviously shifting from a problem happening somewhere else to a problem happening in Scotland and also, it happened at the time that I *may* have had the virus.

I drink a moderate amount. In fact, in terms of health advice I am probably an immoderate drinker as I probably drink more than the recommended 21 units of alcohol per week more often than not. Generally my drinking habits are that, most days I'll have a beer or a glass of wine when I get home from work or I'll have a beer or a glass of wine over dinner and if I've had a drink earlier in the evening I'll often have another after the Captain has gone to bed. Occassionally more and once or twice a week I'll have a whisky as a nightcap. Every so often I'll do all of that in the same day and end up noticably (to myself) affected by alcohol.

Most here is *not* a euphemism for every day.

So, I'm often drinking, occassionally tipsy, rarely drunk, once in a while noticably affected by alcohol.

What I've noticed since coronavirus became a thing is that my experience of being noticably affected by alcohol has changed and done so in an interesting way. To explain this will require another meander through my experience with my other mind altering drug of choice - SSRI anti-depressants.

I (have / periodically suffer from / occassionally experience) depression. When it is bad I take SSRI for a short period, that seems to nudge my brain back in to a non-depressed state. Oneof the side-effects I get from the SSRI is a sort of dissassociation, a feeling of watching myself from behind a plate glass window, or being inside cotton wool. I experience all the emotions but in a sense *I* experience them as a spectator of myself. The feeling is not awful in the short term. Better than being depressed, but bad enough that I try to stay off SSRI's as much as possible and only take them for a short period. The second side-effect of note is that I get what I describe as a lemon-sherbert feeling. Imagine the sensation you get on your tongue when you eat a lemon sherbert, but inside my brain and also sometimes physically in parts of my body with lots of nerve endings. Also, not awful but not desirable.

What I've noticed in the four weeks since I may, or may not, have had a brush with coronavirus is that if I have the one or two extra drinks in an evening that would ordinarily shift me from "having had a few beers" to "noticing the effect of having had several beers and a couple of drams" I get a very similar sensation to those two side-effects from the SSRI's. Just a little tingle of lemon sherbert and a slight feeling of disassociation from myself. It's different from the feeling I usually get when I'm aware that I'm drunk.

I am, for the avoidance of doubt, absolutely certain that I am not currently have a depressive episode. After quite a challenging year I'm actually having quite a relaxed time, feeling pretty positive and upbeat. Which is not to say that the last month hasn't been peppered with stressful or emotional moments but I am in good mental health right now.

So, I'm not really sure what's going on here. The sample size is small. Three instances that I've noticed but it's been all of the times I'd expect to notice I was a little drunk. Helpfully it's putting me off having an extra beer or an extra dram which is not a bad thing if it reduces the amount of alcohol I drink and through that the amount of calores I take when my exercise is reduced.

Comments

[mountainkiss]

Alcohol is, I think, known to be a depressant.

I am not one for telling people that they shouldn't drink. Partly I don't think it's really something that an outsider should have a vote in, and partly because for most people it's not a clearcut equation. I have on at least one occasion (YFJ) repeatedly suggested that someone would benefit from drinking more.

It is not clear to me that drink is good for you. I know you enjoy it, but I'm not sure you are weller and happier as a result. You are someone who needs to guard your well-being with care, and I think it drains energy, does have cognitive impact, and is probably the single biggest obstacle to your training goals. I might well be wrong about this, but I wonder if you should think seriously about reducing its importance in your life.

[danieldwilliam]

Alochol certainly is a depressant. That's how it works. I've never detected any particular role for it as a cause or trigger in my own depression. I know it does for some other people. Either a comorbity with alcohol problems or something more causal. For me, one of my other hobbies, politics is perhaps more acutely dangerous.

I avoid drinking anything when I'm ill. Particularly if taking medication. That's unhelpful. And I'm increasingly watchful about my mental health.

It's probably true that in some senses I'd be a bit better off if I were drinking less. Particularly beer. I'd be slimmer for starters. But also, I'd be much sadder because I'm not drinking any beer. I like beer and lots of the things that go along with beer, and wine and whisky. The social aspects, the economic aspects, the cultural aspects.
There's a very real sense in which my training goals are there to support the amount of beer I like to drink. Given a choice between moderating my weight by drinking much less beer or taking up a training regime I chose the training regime and beer. From time to time I notice that having a beer most nights has become something I've started doing almost every night and I make a conscious effort to reset.

It's a balance. Firstly a balance of good vs ill. I do like beer. I like sitting on a sofa with a book. I like hunching over small plastic models straining my back and my eye. I don't like being overweight or having tired eyes. I like rugby. I don't like pulling a muscle in my groin.

Secondly a balance of effort. Do I have the psychological energy to change how I interact with beer and co? And is that the best use of those limited resources. Were I drinking twice as much as I currently do, or drinking in more harmful way then I should certainly make a deliberate effort to reduce that on health grounds or social grounds. Is it probable that my long term physical health would be better if I shifted my routine so that I only had a beer on a minority of nights? It is probable. Would I find that hard and intrusive and the process itself potentially harmful? Also, probably true. Certainly it presents some risks.

So I'm mindful of it. I think I've got the balance about right on average. I can't see an obvious set of trades that I could make that would get me to a better state of overall well being.

[mountainkiss]

Why do you say "process potentially harmful"?

[danieldwilliam]

I find that kind of habit change really hard to do. It requires lots of mental effort on my part and I have limited tolerance for it not working.

[mountainkiss]

Fair enough. To each their own.

[cmcmck]

You clearly know what too much looks like and that's a good thing.

I have to say that I'm not a good adviser as I don't drink alcohol but I am aware what it looks like when others have been.

These are hard times- please take care of yourself.

Hugs

[danieldwilliam]

You too.

[alithea]

I have found taking antidepressants has reduced my already low tolerance for alcohol. But I do not get the side effects that you describe so I wouldn't want to generalise. I've never been more than an occasional drinker anyway because I don't enjoy being tipsy and what I really enjoy, a really good red wine, gives me migraines if I have more than a small glass.

Take care of yourself.

[danieldwilliam]

I am blessed and cursed with rarely suffering any sort of hang over or similar effect. I think if I did it would change the balance of my consumption.

Antidepressants and alcohol are not a good combination. Mind you, it seems like antidepressants and lots of things interact in unexpected way.

[alithea]

Yes, I'm lucky that mine mean no grapefruit, which I detest anyway, and having to be careful what antihistamines I take. Although the latter is somewhat inconvenient, I have yet to establish whether I can still take the ones that are vaguely effective for hayfever.