Why do I get drunk so easily?

Are you drinking on an empty stomach?

How old are you and how long have you been drinking? From what I understand there are two ways this can happen. First: you have been away from alcohol for a long time and you have no tolerance. I have experienced this, I was a vegetarian and riding mountain bikes like 2–4 hours almost every day. I was in the best shape of my life and an extremely cheap drunk. 1 beer and I felt a buzz.
Second, your liver is damaged and has lost it’s ability to process alcohol.
It takes about six months for your liver to regenerate so unless you have cirrosis I think I would say you have just lost your tolerance through living healthy.

You’re just out of practice. Be glad your new bod has better sense than you.

Simply because you can.

Everybody handles alcohol differently depending on age, height and weight, and numerous other physiological and mental reasons.

OK I’m confused by what you write. You stress (in bold yet) that youve given up alcohol for good.

But then you’re wondering why your tolerance is so low now.

So, you changed your mind about giving it up? If so, then you actually didn’t give it up for good.

Anyhow, from what you’ve written, I’m assuming that the bad incident to which you refer came very close to you ending up six feet under like your unfortunate friend or suffering very serious damage from drinking too much.

So why not go back to REALLY giving it up for good this time (and really stick to it)? There are tons of people who have a great time at parties and enjoy life thoroughly without the aid of any alcohol at all.

And I’m not only referring to formerly active alcoholics. There are lots of other people who eschew alcohol for various reasons, many of them health related.

Why not join them again and enjoy life without booze? For years I was a teetotaler because I grew up in an alcoholic household.

Then for a few years I would only drink socially on special occasions. Now I have to do without alcohol again due to clashing with other necessary medicines I must take.

Truth be told, it’s just not that big a deal for me. I can take it or leave it and enjoy life equally either way.

But, if you feel you simply must drink for whatever reason, then you should be grateful that your body is placing limitations upon you. Rather than regretting it, be thankful for its protective effect.

I mean, do you really need to be drinking the copious amounts you used to and killing off more brain cells and doing further damage to your liver?

You learned a valuable lesson on the destructive potential of excessive alcohol, why not continue to just leave it alone and continue to build an enjoyable life for yourself.

Just remember, “those who fail to learn from the past will be condemned to repeat it.”

And, to answer specifically on why alcohol effects you differently now, I’m guessing that your body just had enough overload of alcohol.

So, I see this as having a protective effect against a repeat of the past. In other words, as someone else expressed, your body is smarter than you are :)

Listen to it.

@Dutchess_III No, not at all.

@ARE_you_kidding_me I’m 20, I started drinking occasionally since I was 13, and I had a problem with it during the last two years of highschool. My liver is okay, I’ve had tests (for other reasons, but still).

@Buttonstc I have stopped drinking, I have absolutely no intention to return there. I’ll only take a sip of beer with my french fries, and that only occured once lately. My question is based on this, plus another occasion when I was invited to a bar and ordered a 330ml beer only to drink ⅓ of it and offer it to a friend. Which made me wonder of course, am I healthier or just damaged. I don’t miss drinking, I’ve never even been tempted to “forget” about my troubles (the drunk cliche). I sure am safe, I don’t feel the need to go drinking alone anymore, and I won’t take anyone’s drinking habits and shit anymore. Choosing who my friends are way more carefully. I was just wondering :)

OK, @Lemley Alchol is like ciggarettes. If you go longer than you’re used to without having one, say a whole day or something, when you take that next first hit it’s like wham!! The rush hits you between the eyes. When you smoke regularly, you don’t even notice it. I mean, you still get it, which is what keeps us addicts hanging on, but you don’t consciously notice it.

So what I think is happening is your body is all detoxed. Then you take that little bit of alcohol, which it’s no longer desensitized to, and wham!

When I drink beer I don’t really notice the effects one beer has on me…unless it’s the only beer I’m going to have. It’s odd, but if I only have one beer in the fridge, and don’t have any others to follow up, that’s the only time I notice the effects of a single beer.

So, that’s my 2 cents. It’s either that or you have destroyed your liver, ¾ths of your brain cells, most of your intestines, not to mention your pituitary gland, which is what happens when you eat French fries.

@Lemley

Good for you.