I have never had a 'black out' but when I heard the reporter ask the question, I immediately thought of passed out in sleep. I didn't realize that it actually meant walking and functioning, but not remembering what you were doing...that is very scary and regardless of black out or pass out - it was very irresponsible. Deb didn't use the words black out originally - she used drunk. The reporter used 'black out'....we can't be sure of how Deb took that and even then she only said 'it's possible'. To me, I originally took that as, when she went to bed, she fell into a deep sleep/passed out...
I would like to know by anyone here...if ANYBODY drinks enough will you 'black out'???
eta:Sorry Nursebeeme ~ sometimes I get caught up and don't realize where I am :blushing:
ot - I think it's very convenient the timing in this. I would understand if she had done this at any other time, but now just seems to cruel to everyone involved..just my opinion of course. I think taking advantage of her visitations would be a good first step and carrying on from that point. It just feels like she is taking advantage of a terrible tragedy and it makes me sad.
From what I've read (and experienced), no, not 'anybody/everyone' will black out if they drink enough. It's individual to the person. Some people, who are not frequent drinkers, will experience black outs after drinking a huge amount that is outside of their 'norm'. Some who are habitual drinkers experience them, but there's no pattern to the black outs (i.e., they can drink the same amount of vodka nights on end, but the black outs happen every once in a while...totally independent of how much they drank as their drink level is steady day in and day out). Some black outs are triggered by predicable events, some are random.
Black outs can be a symptom of alcohol dependency/addiction, but it can also occur in people without addiction.
When I was in college way back in the day, I learned that after drinking champagne, I had periods of 'black' over the course of a night. I would remember parts of the night's events (the beginning of the party, the middle, riding with a friend home...but the end of the party was a blank). After two successive New Year's parties with blacked-out periods, I simply stopped drinking champagne and did not experience a black out again...until a party as a working adult where I was served scotch. Now I have two 'no no' drinks that I won't touch.
DB stated that she did not remember checking on Baby Lisa before going to bed and had to be told by a neighbor that the lights were off by 11:30...that, to me, speaks of a black out, based on my own experience (or she's lying). In any case, if *my* child were in the custody of someone who had drank to the point of blacking out while being the sole person in charge of the household...you bet I'd be taking legal action. I don't know what RR's situation is, but I don't think it's 'convenient' for her to take action now...heck, I'd question her as a mother if she DIDN'T take action after learning that her son was being taken care of someone who...on the first night their dad worked late...drank so much that a large portion of the evening (based on DB's own words) are unknown.
And I must add...it's mighty convenient timing that the night DB drinks herself into what is, in my experience, a drunken black out, her baby is suddenly nowhere to be found.
I'm not convinced DB did anything other than drink. But I reserve the right to say that her drinking to excess when she was the sole caregiver was negligent, dangerous, and inexcusable...and, oh heck yes, I hope the boys' other parents aren't OK with that behavior.
Edited to add: A drunken 'black out' is not just passing out. The person who is blacked out is awake and 'functioning' on some level (though they are obviously drunk). It's called a black out because they cannot recall what happened during that time period even when prompted by others who witnessed their behavior/the events during the blacked out period. One of my champagne black outs included me literally dancing on top of a table (while wearing a grass skirt and motorcycle helmet)...I'd have thought my friends were lying if it weren't for the photos. Luckily for me, I was a 'happy' drunk...I had an uncle who drank heavily and would black out...he didn't remember the time he skinny-dipped at my cousin's graduation party, nor did her remember the time he punched a hole in the dining room wall because he was ready for the Christmas open house to be over (at 8 pm, an hour after it actually started...because he'd started drinking well before 5 that afternoon). I learned later that he would sometimes hit or shake my aunt after drinking. Sometimes he remembered and would minimize his behavior to my cousins, sometimes he'd ask when she'd fallen and bruised her arm/lip/neck.