The "process" of long-term excessive use of alcohol

This is the kind of a Winter Holidays related question: How is the "process" of long-term excessive use of alcohol during the holidays called in the US and GB?

The Multitran dictionary gives me these phrases:

• barrel fever
• skull cramps
• hang-over
• bottleache

But I don't really sure if these words are of a wide use in the US.

P.S. I'd also like to know how is the "recovering" from the "process" mentioned previously called.

Two terms that come to mind are...

Binge [drinking]
and
Bender

In my experience, binge is more likely to be associated with rapid consumption of large amounts of alcohol in a relatively short period of time, but either can also be used for extended heavy drinking over a week or more (while on holiday, for example).

When the extended drinking spree finally ends, you'll be on the wagon, drying out, detoxing, etc.

Marathon drinking sessions could describe concentrated drinking episodes lasting anything between lasting several hours to several days.

Google books offer instances of the expression being used here, here and here.

Alternative terms that are well-known in both the US and the UK are

• drinking bout

• toot n. a binge, esp. a period of drunken revelry. v. to go on a drinking binge

  We spent the whole holiday tooting
  We spent the whole holiday on a drinking bout

The period after an intense bout of heavy drinking is typically called hangover.
Wikipedia

A hangover /ˈhæŋoʊvər/ (medical terminology: veisalgia) is the experience of various unpleasant physiological and psychological effects following consumption of alcoholic beverages and is generally characterized by a feeling of severe discomfort that may last more than 24 hours. Typical symptoms of a hangover may include headache, drowsiness, concentration problems, dry mouth, dizziness, fatigue, gastrointestinal complaints, sweating, nausea, hyper-excitability and anxiety.

Sobriety is however the term which describes the period of abstinence from alcohol. Wordnet defines it as, the state of being sober and not intoxicated by alcohol.

Sobriety may refer to being clear of immediate or residual effects of mind-altering substances, referring to a specific substance that is the concern of a particular 12 step program (alcohol, opiates, marijuana, tobacco). "Clean and sober" is a commonly used phrase, which refers to someone having an extended period without drugs or alcohol in their body.

^Wikipedia

For me, it's been a week-long piss-up.

Now it's over, I'm on a detox.