Health penalties of 3-4 bottles vodka or whiskey/week?

Question

Certainly, I realize this is not healthy.

That aside; I lift weights 5 days a week, I train MMA 5 days/week. I eat very well. My cholest. #s (both LD&HD) are great. My blood pressure is great. I have 7% bodyfat.

In short, my lifestyle is perfect outside of alcohol. IN ADDITION TO the negative liver effects, what other negative effects am I currently suffering?

I realize I'll hear from the peanut gallery, but hopefully I'll get a couple of decent answers.

So far; the peanut gallery has had the best answer.

As far as any type of diabetes, my insulin response is fine. I don't eat much sugar which certainly helps. Recent testing on my liver and kidneys have shown no problems.

To those concerned about my heart; I've mentioned those #s already. "Sexual disfunction" in this case generally stems from blood pressure issues; so none there.

My doctors seem to think I'm perfectly healthy for the time being.........if the liver tests start to deteriorate I'll be concerned.

I'll continue to wait for an answerer who shows a little bit of intelligence.

To the metabolism remark -> your body cannot store alcohol calories. If you do not use them as energy your body simply disposes of them as acetate (which is created by the liver).

If the only calories a person took in were alcohol calories they could not gain weight.

Two points to Patrick:

1) Cro Crop would kick my head so hard I would bleed from the ears. I am 6'2", 200lb-----I'm not in his weight class. Even if I were, I don't have nearly the talent he does.

2) I'm happily engaged, have gotten all the skirt chasing out of my system. What is the problem if you remove the dangers of random sex?

Answer 1

Drinking this quantity of alcohol on a regular basis can lead to acute pancreatitis or chronic pancreatitis. Essentially, the digestive enzymes that the pancreas produces don't make their way down to the stomach, and will get blocked up around the pancreas itself, causing damage (necrosis). Most cases of pancreatitis are caused by excessive alcohol consumption on a regular basis, although there are other factors (hereditary considerations being one of them).
Blood testing for Amylase and Lipase levels can check for anything out of the ordinary.

Answer 2

Even if you're in good shape, drinking that much will give you a fatty liver which is a precursor to scarring of the liver tissues, a condition that never repairs itself. Drinking that much in a week, even if it was completely spread out, though I'm sure you're not drinking all day, will at least border on binge drinking. Those levels of alcohol in your system at once will cause loss of brain cells and stress on your liver, and over a period of time it will cause your blood pressure to rise and an increased store of body fat (besides the caloric value of alcohol, which I believe is about 110 calories per a shot of 80 proof liquor, your body needs fat tissue to store excess toxins it can't process at the time and so your body tells itself to store more fat). It can effect your mood, sexual functions, general health, and predispose you to illness. It's probably already effecting your mood and sleeping habits. Alcohol being a depresant, when it leaves your body you'll find yourself aggitated and on edge. If you're drinking before sleep, I bet you find yourself waking up early sometimes and not being able to get back to sleep.

There's really myriad reasons why you shouldn't be drinking that much, but I'm sure you know that. Just take all this stuff as motivation to cut down.

Answer 3

3-4 bottles of vodka a week? hmm... ur metabolism must be amazing, or ur flat out lying with your bodyfat percentage. 1 shot is about 15 calories. and you know that there are quite a few shots in a bottle. plus these are dead calories with no nutrients behind them. in any case, i think its stupid for lifter to drink this much, when your gains could be so much more with out the liquor.

your muscles are also being inhibited on recovery, because your not getting enough water to them. You think soda is bad for you? you would have to drink like 3 gallons of water a day to keep up with your liquor intake. like i said earlier, your really hurting your gains.

but... if you insist on drinking, and your cholesterol and blood pressure is good, and you already know about your liver problems (by the way, they have pills to help protect the liver), then i doubt your going to change your ways.

if however you do stop drinking, clean up, and get back to serious lifting, i see gains of about 10 lbs in your future. good luck.

Answer 4

Chronic drinkers may appear to be healthy, but if they do become ill or injured, they may find it more difficult to heal. Even modest alcohol consumption can cause blood pressure to increase. Of course, the usual liver problems, such as cirrhosis, and now a new Italian study links heavy drinking to the development of liver cancer. There is also stomach ulcers it depresses your immune system which makes you more likely to contract viral illnesses such as flu and infections. And long term use can lead to loss of appetite, vitamin deficiencies, stomach ailments, sexual impotence, central nervous system damage, and memory loss.

Answer 5

Cirrhosis of the liver is the worst effect. You will also get memory loss, black-outs, and eventual brain damage. Alcohol has a high sugar content and diabetes and circulatory ailments result from that. Stroke and heart attack are frequent accompaniments to alcoholism. You will lose your job, your marriage, your self respect and your life. You may feel perfectly fine now but you are killing yourself.

Please rent the movie Days of Wine and Roses with Jack Lemmon.

Answer 6

Brain cells are dying, besides cirrhosis of the liver, your kidneys
are wasting away.
I know of only one person that has so far survived, who drinks about two bottles a week, plus numerous bottles of wine, she's 82 and I don't know how she has survived that long, her body should go to science when she kicks the bucket or better the bottle. Every alcoholic in her family has passed away because of heart failure, liver, etc, only she's still around, sloshed from morning to night.

Answer 7

I would hardly call your lifestyle perfect drinking that much alcohol per week. You have some serious issues that need to be dealt with. You are only trying to hide from them by abusing alcohol. You are an alcoholic and you need to get some help. I don't know how old you are, but you won't live another ten years drinking that much.

Answer 8

As a matter of fact there is nothing wrong with a nip of the swertska every day. What you should do is double the dosage of Vodka you drink every day and so how far you can push it till your liver spews itself out of your body threw your rotten asophagus the next time you puke your guts out...

I'm just sayin...

lr

Answer 9

ur slowly killing ur liver, if ur drinking that much a week, u need to see a doctor about it and have all ur internal organs checked out. no one can stay healthy drinking that much liquor a week, im sorry to say it but it sounds like u maybe on the verge og having a drinking problem and should get help ASAP.

Answer 10

If you didn't train mma five days a week I would say you are an idiot. you wouldn't happen to fight like cro cop would you? dude, you have pretty much answered your own questions. you are asking us to read your mind and it appears you have already been to the doctor. you are in a pretty competitive weight class. you have to ask yourself two questions "how much alcohol can you drink before you permanently TAPOUT?" or "what would chuck lidell do?" he sure as hell wouldn't be drinking as much as your are. he's a champion and champions depend on their bodies.