MovieChat Forums > The Lost Weekend Discussion > Does it REALLY get this bad??

Does it REALLY get this bad??

posted 14 years ago by learyblaine
33 replies | jump to latest

I've known only one honest-to-god alcoholic, and even he (from what I saw) wasn't as bad as what's depicted here. Does it really get like this?

I found the movie to be amazing ... not just "for it's time", but for any time. I watch a lot of movies, and I don't recall addiction being depicted this starkly and, well, nakedly. Scary stuff.

What an achievement for Milland! He exhibited every different aspect of the character -- the Ivy Leaguer, the writer, the gentleman, the addict, the charmer, the thief. And each was portrayed vividly and thoroughly.

Yeah, the ending was too easy. But that's probably the thing that's most indicative of the era in which it was made.

[–] rottenrelics 13 years ago

I'm only 29, and I've experienced full blown alcohol withdrawl/delirium tremens more times than I'd like to admit.
I can say from experience that the real thing is far worse than what this movie depicts. What it doesn't show is the constant tremors, and impossibility of sleep. Even if you do manage to doze off for a few minutes, you're most likely having a godawful nightmare, which is quickly interrupted by your body's own muscle spasms.

The hallucinations are frightening as well... for me I'd see worms crawling out of my pores, roaches spilling out of my mattress, and spiders crawling in and out of light sockets (auditory hallucinations are also not very fun; I was convinced of people hiding outside my window spying on me for several days). You get to the point where you crave another bottle of booze not to get drunk, but to keep these little horrors at bay.

[–] skylands 13 years ago

I've heard that pancreatitis can be scarier than just about any horror movie you can think of.

[–] benemlaw 13 years ago

OMG! Yes,alcoholism can get this bad and soooooo much worse. My grandma, in the dark days of addiction was put in a treatment center. Man o man, I saw people in there who made Don at his low point look like NOTHING! Probably the most terrefying case I saw was a man whose years of endless drink had turned him into something you would see in a black painting of Goya. His skin was paisty white and sunken into the bone, he had huge black bags around his bloodshot eyes, he had to stand completely hunched over, I soon found out it was because his liver was so bloated and enflamed that it protruded through his chest muscles and standing upright could push it back and cause extreme organ damage. If there is anyone reading this who so much as suspects they are developing a drinking problemn, GET HELP IMMEDIATELY. Uncontrollable aloholism is pure living hell.

[–] skylands 12 years ago

A surprisingly effective self-help method is a concept called "booze brain", for anyone who may ever need it.

[–] rwsmith29456 12 years ago

Hell yeah it gets that bad.

[–] agera 12 years ago

Yes, this bad and worse, much worse.

I've been around alcoholics drying out at home (not recommended). I don't know what they heard or saw but their screaming and yelling for hours at a time was really unnerving.

"I have had singing."

[–] sharon-17 12 years ago

Yes, it gets that bad. I started drinking in my mid forties and can't stop. I've been in the hospital, tried AA and everything else. I have had weird hallucinations where it seems like old tv shows are playing on the wall. I do still have the sense to never get behind the wheel of a car when i'm drunk. Thank God for that. I could never hurt anyone--except myself.

[–] mauveystah 11 years ago

good luck Sharon

[–] thepixinator 8 years ago

I just discovered this thread in 2016. How are you doing? I've been clean since 1989, if you need someone to talk to. You can message me.

[–] danzeisen 12 years ago

I grew up with alcoholism in the family and yes, it can get that bad. I found the movie moved me deeply. An alcoholic looses a part of their self to the bottle, and nothing else matters but the bottle. Children, keeping food in the house, personal hygiene, all take a back seat to the over riding obsession of the next drink. Yes, it sure can get that bad.

[–] rck_n_rll 11 years ago

I work around alcoholics and have been around them outside of work too. One time we had an alcoholic that was so bad that he would spit up blood in his sleep...his roommates (other addicts) were afraid for him! Plus he had the shakes. They would go to staff saying he needed to go to the hospital. The alcoholic just told us "Yeah, that happens sometimes."
Needless to say he didn't last long there and they sent him to a detox, and he never came back to the facility.

[–] rwsmith29456 11 years ago

Simply put, it is withdrawal. And yes it does get this bad.

[–] sth78 10 years ago

Yep. And Don is only at it for 4 days. If he went on a 10-14 day bender, we would really see what Hell is like.

This movie actually spares us for a great deal of things: Constant vomiting, no attention to personal hygiene or looks (notice how well Don is shaven and dressed for most of the time?), nausea, outbursts of violence, soiling of oneself while sleeping, waking up from tremors, and more. Those things would all occur, if Don's binge was allowed to go on for longer than these 4 days.

But the worst part of alcoholism is what we don't see: The withdrawals. We do see an (unrealistic) mouse and bat-scene, which is only added for dramatic effect - it would not occur, since Don is still drunk.

After 10-14 days of drinking and then suddenly stopping, you would develop withdrawal symptoms like shaking, sweating (cold sweat), insomnia for 3-4 nights straight, nightmares, and, in the severe cases, hypnagogia (dreaming while you are still awake), alcoholic hallucinosis (hearing voices and other sounds that aren't there), and finally possibly delirium tremens - hallucinations, disorientation, seizures, extreme hypertension. Actually a psychosis-like state.

[–] franzkabuki 9 years ago

Yeah, and on top of all that, such an extreme case of going cold turkey can also actually cause death (unlike, for instance, heroin withdrawal).

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] byor 10 years ago

They can.