Why I don’t drink alcohol
What have you got planned for New Year’s Eve (or what might you have had planned without COVID-19)? Many of us would say something along the lines of “I’m going round the pub with my friends” or “It’s a party at my mates’ house”, or “We’re out clubbing in Soho!”.
Alcohol (sometimes referred to as ethanol) has its place in lots of people’s lives. It can help us chill, relax, and can be a really social thing (although I shall not elaborate on how it’s also a depressant and negatively affects sleep). It’s a powerful psychoactive drug.
I used to drink. I wasn’t supposed to drink because of my epilepsy. I knew that I wouldn’t sleep well afterward and really knew that I might as well scream from the rooftops "Give me a seizure, darling!”.
"Give me a seizure, darling!”
Consuming alcohol didn’t always cause me to have a seizure, but sometimes it did. It often wouldn’t cause them to occur the next day or even the day after that, but it’d muck up my sleeping pattern and just lay the path for one later in the week. I didn’t know why at the time, but now I know that alcohol can alter the levels of some drugs in your body. It may have been altering the blood-levels of my anti-seizure medications.
Another issue was that my medications made me an absolute lightweight! This is because some anti-seizure drugs can reduce the human body’s ability to metabolise alcohol.
Drinking was a huge part of my career back in the day: people went out for drinks after work, there were events, and drinking was all part of that.
I felt the pressure of society to drink alcohol. I was also really underconfident when on a night out - but alcohol would temporarily “give” me that confidence. I even believed I could dance. Trust me when I say that I cannot dance!
Trust me when I say that I cannot dance!
A few years ago, after the whole brain surgery, time in psych hospital, and all that joyful stuff, I decided to just give alcohol up. I recognised it wasn’t doing me any good health-wise (neurologically, mentally, or physically), and that it wasn’t actually worth the money it cost either!
Drinking was costing me (£):
The drinks
The cabs
The entry fees to clubs
The chips/fries
The fry-ups in the morning
Drinking was also costing me:
Happiness (it being a depressant n’all)
The inches on my waist
The lack of quality sleep
The epileptic seizures
An increased risk of injuring myself due to seizures
An increased risk of rape or other assault when unconscious from a seizure
An increased risk of SUDEP
Through giving up alcohol I have increased my life expectancy. I’m not inviting epileptic seizures or SUDEP into my life.
I’m not inviting epileptic seizures into my life.
I can now plan my life more easily and not have to write off mornings/days due to hangovers. I don’t have those alcohol-related feelings of depression afterwards or during. I also don’t have to think back to those awful “dances” I used to do! I save money and time!
I have my cognitive function messed up enough as it is (from medications, seizures, missing brain tissue…). I don’t need alcohol (or what alcohol causes to occur) to impair that any further.
This Christmas, I was given a bottle of Champagne. It was very kind of the person who gave it…but I won’t drink it. My friends loved it though. For them, it was a very happy Christmas. :)
Torie Robinson
Keynote Speaker, Podcaster, Epilepsy Sparks CEO, Editor, Writer, et al.
Note:
I am very lucky not to be addicted to alcohol (I’ve known people with alcohol addiction over the years). If you have a problem drinking alcohol, contact your doctor or/and contact Alcoholics Anonymous.
If you are taking drugs for any condition, alcohol consumption can be an issue/even be dangerous and is worth bringing up with your doctor.
Some people with epilepsy don’t have seizures induced by alcohol. Good times.
Benzodiazepines and can lead to serious central nervous system depressant interactions with alcohol. Your breathing or heart rate may be slowed.
