Alcohol
Alcohol - booze, drink, liquor (USA), grog (Australia)
Effects:
- Increases a good mood, feeling happier, more affectionate, relaxed, sociable and confident.
- Worsens low mood
- Causes aggression
- Lowers inhibitions and affects your judgement, putting you at risk.
- Slows your reactions, slurred speech, lack of co-ordination, blurred vision, sleepiness, passing out.
- Being sick and dehydration (not enough water in the body, the main cause of a hangover).
- Risk of falling unconscious and choking on vomit.
- Blackouts (forgetting what's happened) from higher doses.
- Alcohol poisoning and possible death from very high doses.
- Heavy drinking can lead to problem drinking, liver disease, cancer of the mouth, throat and liver, brain damage and addiction.
- Physical addiction - one symptom of withdrawal is the shakes.
- Psychological addiction is a very strong desire to keep drinking.
Alcohol with other drugs:
- Other depressants (e.g. GHB, ketamine or valium): the double effect can make you pass out or affect your breathing or heart, which can kill you.
- Ecstasy: alcohol dampens the effects of ecstasy and the combination can cause deadly dehydration.
- Cocaine: alcohol and cocaine combine in the body, strengthening the toxin which harms the brain, heart and liver. Use together increases the harm of each and sudden death is more likely.
- HIV drugs: no significant bad reactions have been found, but if you are sick within an hour of taking medication you should take the dose again.
Sex on Alcohol:
- Lower inhibitions, feeling horny and more confident.
- Feeling less uptight, more affectionate, more sexually assertive and experimental.
- Difficulty getting hard and coming.
- Heavy drinkers can have loss of sex drive and be unable to get hard.
- Effects on your judgement can increase risk taking during sex and make getting or passing on HIV more likely.
- Less control over the kind of sex you have or forgetting what kind of sex you've had.
Staying safe:
- Sticking to one type of drink stops you getting so drunk and having such a bad hangover.
- Watch your drinks in case anyone adds a drug to it.
- Drinking water between drinks and before sleeping reduces dehydration and hangover symptoms.
- Coffee doesn't sober you up. This happens over time as alcohol leaves your body.
- Eating before drinking, especially carbs and protein, means alcohol takes longer to be absorbed but won't stop you getting drunk.
- Take cautiously if you get anxious, depressed or have sleep problems.
- Limit your intake to 3 to 4 'units' per day, up to 21 units per week. See www.units.nhs.uk for a guide to how many units are in different drinks.
