Getting Drunk Over Less Amount Of Alcohol. Physical Problem Or Just Age?

Posted on Thu, 16 Aug 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 Answered on

Fri, 7 Sep 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : I have always been able to drink a lot of wine or alcohol but rarely ever did I get drunk. During the past month, I get drunk after one bottle of wine and maybe an additional beer...really drunk which is not normal for me. Most people have never seen me drunk. Could this be a physical problem or just age? I am 52 years old and am a bit worried as I have never had this problem.

Answered by Dr. Ram Choudhary (46 minutes later)

Hi XXXXXXX
Welcome to healthcare magic!
Alcohol is a small lipid soluble molecule and it gets absorbed from the gut instantly and has got a good penetration in the blood brain barrier.
So if taken a regular effect it would produce a predictable effect depending on your habituation.
With prolonged use your liver learns to digest alcohol more fastly so the amount required the same effect is increased and the duration of action is less.
But you are having a reverse phenomenon.
This means your liver is damaged due to high intake of alcohol and you might be not having enough liver mass to process the alcohol.
You may be having serious Alcohol Liver Disease and you should undergo basic evaluation.
You need a physical examination by your physician and get base line investigations like Chest X XXXXXXX Electrocardiogram, Complete Blood Counts, Renal Function Test, Liver Function Test, PT,aPTT, Ultrasound Whole Abdomen.
This work up is expected to detect the underlying problem so a definite treatment could be started.

I hope this advise would be helpful for you.

Still if you have any queries or doubts, please write me back,
I would be happy to solve them.

Wish you a great health!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar