[neonihil]

Alcohol is a slow killer. Physical addiction takes about 10 years to form. First, it's barely noticeable. People think it's age, and "after 30 hangover lasts for 2 days". But that is not actually being hang over. It is the symptom of alcohol withdrawal. Mild one at first, but more severe as physical addiction settles in.

Drinking 3-4 days a week seems like "okay". However, it basically means drinking whenever withdrawal symptoms kick in. This is creating a feedback loop, that is very hard to notice, because it is mild, and also socially accepted.

If you really want to know how addicted you are, stop drinking completely for a week.

If you find yourself unable to sleep, or sweating all over the place, or having weird stomach or muscle pain, or have unexpected mood swings: you already have a physical addiction to alcohol.

[photochemsyn]

I agree with this. One aspect of alcohol addiction that isn't as widely known as it could be is that there are some shared opiate addiction effects, related to the body's built-in endorphin system:

> "Alcohol exerts numerous pharmacological effects through its interaction with various neurotransmitters and neuromodulators. Among the latter, the endogenous opioids play a key role in the rewarding (addictive) properties of ethanol."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9040115/

Hence, being addicted to alcohol is comparable to being addicted to opiates (to some degree) and that seems to explain why withdrawal symptoms are fairly similar.

Psychologically, I think it helps one quit if you think of alcohol as comparable to laudanum use and old-school opium addiction. Junkie or alcoholic, it's not that great of a life.

[drinker4321]

This rings true to my experience. I found recently that I was having really bad 2 day "hangovers": I was fine in the morning, but weird stomach ache in the afternoon and feeling like complete shit from there into the evening.

I thought it was just "I'm getting old and drinking a lot, this is normal", but it sounds like withdrawal symptoms are more accurate.

[tucosan]

Lots of people have hangovers. Not from addiction but from the side affects of alcohol ingestion:. dehydration, disturbed sleep patterns, inflammation and the toxic byproducts of alcohol metabolism.

These symptoms can arise even when you drink just once a year.

[jacobriis]

What is the amerimutt ethnic group?