Text Size
Smaller
Bigger

Drinking without Hangovers

answered 04:12 PM EST, Thu February 02, 2012
-- filed under: |
My brother is a functional alcoholic. He drinks every night and gets up to go to work 5 days a week. He is visiting right now and last night we shared a case of beers. This is not something I do very often but it is something he does every day. Today I had the worst hangover I can remember ever having in my life. It is 8 in the evening now and I am barely able to take in solid foods even now! My brother has already been drinking for hours and he was up at 8 this morning working on the broken lawnmower I had been complaining about – right as rain.

Why can he drink and not get hungover? I am trying to understand why he drinks so much. Do alcoholics become so used to alcohol that they no longer become hung over after drinking. I cannot imagine drinking again for a long while after the way I felt today.

Melissa Borlie Says...

Melissa Borlie M. Borlie
MHR, LPC

The simple answer to your question is that all alcoholics build up a tolerance to alcohol. The human body becomes used to a level of alcohol and then it takes more to achieve the same effect. For example, after drinking one six-pack a night for a time, it later takes two six-packs to get as drunk. After drinking for many, many years, alcoholics can drink an incredible amount of alcohol.

On the issue of hangovers, some people have a hangover after drinking one beer and some people never have hangovers. It all depends on the person.

Subscribe Subscribe to this topic category

Page last updated Feb 03, 2012

This website is certified by Health On the Net Foundation. This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information.

Find Treatment
Browse by region »
Scan to call us
using your phone camera app