I was mostly a blackout drinker. "Came to" in a police car once, and in a hospital bed twice. Not fun. Someone shared at a meeting on Saturday that he did time for murder and didn't even remember the accident that killed the person. Not something to look forward to.

Suggest you look into ways to stop drinking if that's what you really want. It gets progressively worse.

~Chris

Surely you have read enough to know it works like this
Open bottle
Drink till blackout
Pick fight, cry, get arrested

Now what don't you understand?

Hazel I know what you mean. A couple weeks ago I went back out for a short time. I remember having that first beer. I woke up the next day not remembering anything I found a bottle of tequila in my truck empty 24 cans of beer also empty. I did some stupid things with this last outing I HAD. I just don't remember what I did. I am back in AA again and working on me again. I think it is a good thing you are here welcome
PEACE,MARK

Gosh Hazel,

It's not often that i've read a person on this board with only 1 black out . I had them regularly. Not that you should take yours lighly. :) I am not sure what support group you were with on Ds, but of course we are here to help if you feel you need it. I believed black outs were pretty common to the alcoholic. Hopefully someone else will reply. Try and get some rest and hopefully you can eat something at some point.=!

It is a very scarey experience that can have disasterous results. I am glad you are home and safe. The fear of a bad hangover is very real and frightening. You will probably feel better after 1 or 2 days. Stay hydrated and try to eat and rest is my best advice.

Maybe call others you were out with?

Feel better soon. We are all here for you and wish you a great learning experience from this.

Best of Luck,
Pam

You say you are frightened and concerned? You might want to think about the "what-ifs", or the "not-yets" as I have heard them called....
I am sure you can only imagine...
You could have committed any number of crimes against yourself and humanity.
Please come back and get to a meeting.
It really does get progressivly worse. If you attend enough meetings, you will hear just how.
Jails, Insanity or Death.
I promise you that.
You don't have to live like this.

Yep, blackouts are terryfying have woken up in hospital, also woken up to find entire contents of fridge stirred in to a pot burnt and melted cooker. thank god fear of blackouts are gone for today.

Hazel79
My experience on one occassion. I woke up in Feburary, , lost about 3 months.

Thank you to everyone who has repsonded! Mindlight, I am not sure how to take care comment, but it came across as very sarcastic. This is a support group, not a put down session. However, to the rest of you, especially your comment Pam, I feel very supported and will continue to visit this site everyday - This was a very scary thing, but all I can do is to learn from it and move on. I also have a tendency to dwell on things as well, however, thats just life.

Quick question.Is it possible for the memories to return that I cannot remember now?

I am sorry If I was one of those who came across as sarcstic. I mean no harm, only to suggest that there really is worse to come, and that being scared is a good thing. It can save your life.
I can't say I experienced black-outs, but I am sure I did - I just don't remember. Awful!
Take care of yourself. Try to eat something and drink a lot of water.
Keep coming back.

I don't have much to say except for the fact that "yes" they are scary and it's terrifying to think of what you did the night before. As for memories? I've often had glimpses but I've never really reconstructed a memory from a blackout. Definitely something to avoid, and at this point I know of only one way to avoid it. I pray I'll stay on the path and that you will too.

I've had brown outs where I remember things but they are distorted or maybe out of order and occasionally had a memory I thought was gone come back.
But for the most part, some or all of most of the nights of my youth are just plain gone, much of that time I was "functioning". Driving, dancing, loving, fighting, spending money, making descions etc. If your having blackouts it ain't gonna get better from here my friend. Unless you stop drinking.

Blackouts began for me pretty much day one. I have no recollection of these temporary memory losses, and looking at the state I woke, I think that's a blessing. Some of the things I did under blackout I were told later, and it's pure dumb luck I'm here today. Many who abuse alcohol, let alone blackout don't make it. And tragically take innocent people with them.

For many, Alcoholism starts out as just a load of mates drinking more than their fair share, especially on weekends. Loads of fun and they feel they can stop anytime they want. Then one night one of them puts away their usual quota, and the next day, can't recall what they did after a certain point in time. Not 'passing out', but 'blacking out'. A temporary loss of memory, and a damn serious danger sign your on the road to Alcoholism, if not there already. Welcome back to DS Hazel.

Blackouts was the way it was. Not good. Lucky to be here. Some things I'll probably never know. If you're not going to commit yourself to a program of recovery, you probably shouldn't drink quite as much. Waking up dead is a real possibility these days. Not trying to be facietious - thats just the way life is now.
Hugs & prayers,
Dennis

Glad you made it home safely.

I think I had blackouts quite often, but I drank at home, and passed out at home, so I didn't notice so much. I do know that they got worse over time.

As you research black outs, you might want to research the other physical destruction excessive drinking causes. It is scary stuff.

I hope if you do decide to quit drinking you have an easy time of it. If you need support, we are here, and there are lots of other resources as well. Good luck.

I was a blackout drinker from my early teens. First thing to go in more minor ones was how I got from place to place. Many times I lost huge chunks of time completely.

The longest blackouts I had lasted several days including where I went to work for two or three days with no memory at all of doing it. I only know because of emails that I sent and work I had done, plus obviously people had seen me. I got to the point where I had to leave post it notes and lists at work because I knew that there was a pretty good chance that I would not be able to remember the next day what I had done.

The amazing thing is that during these times I came across as functioning relatively normally when I obviously wasnt. I even thought that I was ok - I sent text messages to my friends during my several day blackouts often saying dont worry about me I am sober. I dont know if I thought I was sober or if I was just telling them that to keep them off my back.

Blackouts were truly terrifying to me and it was almost unbearable to live a totally disjointed life. So much of my life is missing now and like others have said, though I could have some memory loss and recover bits of it, in those full blackouts it seems to be gone for good.