<p>no one actually does this…unless they are COMPLETELY stupid. You talk about it, you say you are going to do it, you drink alot, throw up, and stop at around 11…</p>
<p>I did 19 shots for my 19th birthday. Not even a hang over. what a champ.</p>
<p>This thread’s making me want to vomit, but I’m dealing with it…still reading, trying to figure it out…yeesh</p>
<p>My (adult) crowd in Texas aspired to running a mile for every year of age on their birthday. I missed the 21 shots thing and I was right in the middle of all the high school and college drinking scene.</p>
<p>“I did 19 shots for my 19th birthday. Not even a hang over. what a champ.”</p>
<p>High (and increasing) tolerance is one of the four signs of incipient alcoholism or a tendency toward same.</p>
<p>I agree with Mini, and (as is the case with Mini) have worked extensively in the alcoholism field.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Oh good, so I am not at high risk then. I get a buzz starting with my second glass of wine…and my third sip of Margarita at a certain restaurant I go to! </p>
<p>Just curious, what are the other 3 signs?</p>
<p>Withdrawal symptoms; increasing frequency of drinking (not necessarily larger amounts), but often an attempt to “feel good” - avert withdrawal symptoms; inability to stop despite negative consequences.</p>
<p>Wow, so some people drink a lot on their 21st birthday. What a fascinating study. Maybe if we lowered the drinking age and stopped making it such a taboo in our society people would feel the need to binge drink so much in this country.</p>
<p>"Signs and symptoms
Before treatment or recovery, most people with alcoholism deny that they have a drinking problem. Other indications of alcoholism and alcohol abuse include:</p>
<p>Drinking alone or in secret
Being unable to limit the amount of alcohol you drink
Not remembering conversations or commitments, sometimes referred to as “blacking out”
Making a ritual of having drinks before, with or after dinner and becoming annoyed when this ritual is disturbed or questioned
Losing interest in activities and hobbies that used to bring pleasure
Feeling a need or compulsion to drink
Irritability when your usual drinking time nears, especially if alcohol isn’t available
Keeping alcohol in unlikely places at home, at work or in the car
Gulping drinks, ordering doubles, becoming intoxicated intentionally to feel good or drinking to feel “normal”
Having legal problems or problems with relationships, employment or finances
Building a tolerance to alcohol so that you need an increasing number of drinks to feel alcohol’s effects
Experiencing physical withdrawal symptoms — such as nausea, sweating and shaking — if you don’t drink
People who abuse alcohol may experience many of the same signs and symptoms as people who are dependent on alcohol. However, alcohol abusers don’t feel the same compulsion to drink and usually don’t experience physical withdrawal symptoms when they don’t drink. A dependence on alcohol also creates a tolerance to alcohol and the inability to control your drinking."
[Alcoholism:</a> Signs and symptoms - MayoClinic.com](<a href=“http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alcoholism/DS00340/DSECTION=2]Alcoholism:”>Alcohol use disorder - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic)</p>
<p>“Wow, so some people drink a lot on their 21st birthday. What a fascinating study. Maybe if we lowered the drinking age and stopped making it such a taboo in our society people would feel the need to binge drink so much in this country.”</p>
<p>Binge rates, heavy drinking rates, alcoholism rates, alcohol-related death rates are higher in every northern European country with a lower drinking age.</p>
<p>Thank you Northstarmom. I see now that I may be developing an addiction indeed, just not to alcohol. I may be developing a problem with college confidential.</p>
<p>That will be my last post…for today. If I become irritable tomorrow morning I’ll know it is a serious problem.</p>
<p>the tradition here is to down a 26 (750mL bottle) for adulthood.
never done it, never intend to.
(allergy to beer and grain-based alcohol. so not given a choice in this matter)</p>
<p>“Maybe if we lowered the drinking age and stopped making it such a taboo in our society people would feel the need to binge drink so much in this country.”</p>
<p>The below counters that idea:</p>
<p>"Excerpts from The Surgeon General’s Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking</p>
<p>All text in this fact sheet is excerpted directly from The Surgeon General’s Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking, a 2007 report from the Office of the Surgeon General (emphases added)…</p>
<p>Binge Drinking by Teens Is Not Limited to the United States. As shown in Figure 7, in many European countries a significant proportion of young people ages 15–16 report binge drinking. In all of the countries listed, the minimum legal drinking age is lower than in the United States. These data call into question the suggestion that having a lower minimum legal drinking age, as they do in many European countries, results in less problem drinking by adolescents ).
[Characteristics</a> of Underage Drinking](<a href=“http://camy.org/factsheets/index.php?FactsheetID=28]Characteristics”>http://camy.org/factsheets/index.php?FactsheetID=28)</p>
<p>Well yeah, but at least it can better monitored. Not to mention, this is an infringement on one’s liberty to do as they wish as long as it does not infringe on another’s liberty.</p>
<p>“As shown in Figure 7, in many European countries a significant proportion of young people ages 15–16 report binge drinking. In all of the countries listed, the minimum legal drinking age is lower than in the United States. These data call into question the suggestion that having a lower minimum legal drinking age, as they do in many European countries, results in less problem drinking by adolescents ).”</p>
<p>You’ll notice it is higher, usually much higher, in every northern European country. The long term effects too. Much higher rates of cirrhosis and liver cancer deaths, much higher rates of alcoholism. The only thing lower is alcohol-related traffic fatalities per 100,000 miles traveled - not so much because there aren’t fatalities, but because they drive much less.</p>
<p>21 drinks isn’t a big deal of you space it out. I did it between 8 pm and 2 am, 6 hours at the rate of 3-4 drinks an hour. I was really hammered at the end and ended up stumbling around, but I had a great time. It was actually only my 20th birthday (I turn 21 later this year) so I did 20 drinks. Also, I mixed in beers and shots with meals and socializing, its not as if the entire focus of the party was on me pounding shots. I had a marker to mark how many drinks I did at the bar. </p>
<p>Its important for kids to drink before they turn 21 and get experience with alcohol, especially if they want to attempt the 21 shots at 21. </p>
<p>I think the biggest issue is kids trying to drink way too fast.</p>
<p>disagree with#97. The biggest issue is that kids (and at 21 most people are still “kids”, at least to a certain degree), think drinking 21 shots is cool or that it’s something they have to do. And, that there is so much peer pressure to participate.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s one thing I always find particularly stupid. Do you say that the stocky Scottish guy who can down innumerable Scotches on his first night of drinking an incipient alcoholic?</p>
<p>That sign of alcoholism is only clinically (or otherwise) significant in combination with at least one of the other signs.</p>
<p>funny how this thread was created exactly 10 days before my 21st birthday. and i’ve never drunk my whole life (no exaggeration here).</p>