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My friend wine.....

Posted , 10 users are following.

danielle61652
danielle61652

Hi...

I've always been a drinker, always enjoyed a drink but hate to feel drunk so will stop when I start feeling I've had enough. I love social gatherings that involve being able to drink and everyone knows me for 'loving a good drink'. I'm 32yrs old but I'd say for the past 18months, my alcohol intake has gone up a lot. It started from my Birthday. Everyone one I knew bought me a bottle of prosecco (my fave) along side another gift so I ended up with 20+ bottles on top of my cupboard. My birthday is also by the Christmas season so around 5pm whilst cooking the tea, I'd pop a bottle open and drink as I cooked, cleaned, done homeworks etc and can happily sip slowly and enjoy the drink. I'm NEVER drunk, always stop at tipsy! Since then, I started just openeing a bottle a day/evening. My husband would joke at how much I was drinking (He's not a drinker and when he does, he drinks to get drunk or doesn't see the point. He rarely touches the stuff and when he does, it's Brandy) As the time has gone on, I've been drinking daily, enjoying it and it's not an issue - or is it?! I do sometimes have a couple of wine free days but I hate it or crave the drink. I am used to a pattern of getting home from the school run, cleaning up, feeding the girls then openeing a bottle whilst i cook for my husband and I and if that runs out, he runs the shop for more as I have an off license 10 doors up. I've asked him if he thinks I drink too much etc and he says he undertsands I drink it cos it relax's me and i'm not getting drunk etc.I'm just worried what harm I am doing to my body and if it is more of a problem than i think?!

Thanks for any advice and reading my post. It's nice to actually get this off my chest :-) 

0 likes, 33 replies

33 Replies

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  • patricia44773
    patricia44773 danielle61652

    Posted

    Hi Danielle, I agree with what RHGB has said and if you are worried you could ask your doctor for a liver function test. 

    It doesn't sound to me as though you have a problem, but something is making you worry enough to post on here.  If you are only drinking as much as you say you are and it makes you relax, then I don't see a problem, just try to have more "days off".

    Hope you get the answers you need, we are all different.

    Pat xx

     

    • danielle61652
      danielle61652 patricia44773

      Posted

      Thank you Pat! I really is only the one bottle, I just sometimes say something like "Oh I can't wait for a drink later after a nice bath" and people reply like, "Didn't you have one last night too?" and it just makes me a little bit aware I am drinking more than some by the sounds of it. Will ask about the liver function test. xx

       

  • Misssy2
    Misssy2 danielle61652

    Posted

    And...what does license 10 doors up mean?  I'm from the US...sometimes you guys from the UK....use different descriptions for things...that I don't understand...smile
    • RHGB
      RHGB Misssy2

      Posted

      An off licence, it comes from the old days. When only licensed premises (pubs & restaurants) could sell alcohol. Some would sell alcohol to drink away from the premises - hence 'off licence'. It then turned into shops that were allowed to sell alcohol, and just sold alcohol and crisps, nuts etc. (or potato chips as you colonialists would call them).

      The nearest equivalent you would have is a liquor store. But it is now so informal here and just about every shop selling food, sells alcohol and you certainly are never given it in a brown paper bag.

    • Misssy2
      Misssy2 RHGB

      Posted

      Thank you....lol....AND in the US...the alcohol is still always in the brown paper bag...funny you mentioned that because it is so obvious you are carting alcohol...if there are brown bags in your car!

       

    • nicole36330
      nicole36330 Misssy2

      Posted

      In the uk the corner shops or offies usually give you a small black plastic bag that looks like a doggy poo bag,we have loads in our house
    • RHGB
      RHGB Misssy2

      Posted

      I know, that's why whenever I'm in the States or Canada, I always take a supermarket plastic carrier bag with me and swap it over at the counter.

      If you tried to give someone alcohol in a brown paper bag in Britain, they'd refuse it.

    • ADEfree
      ADEfree RHGB

      Posted

      Might be fun to take a staggering, wild-eyed walk home though, taking "swigs" off the bottle (with the cork still in). If a copper stops you, you could claim it's Performance Art.
    • RHGB
      RHGB ADEfree

      Posted

      And he could arrest you for drunk and disorderly.

      Police are not reasonable anymore, don't have a sense of humour and have targets to achieve. So I think I'll pass on that one.

      The police force has changed very much since I was a kid.

  • ADEfree
    ADEfree danielle61652

    Posted

    Danielle -

    If you're craving, that's not a good sign. Have a look at this article by Joanna, it talks about how to stop the cravings. This is the method I use and have decreased from a high of 15 drinks per day to 4 - 6 drinks, no white-knuckling or willpower involved. It's all about getting to a point of control where the cravings are quiet and you can freely choose to drink or not to drink:

    https://patient.info/health/sinclair-method-for-alcohol-use-disorder

    It sounds like you're in the UK, so it may be difficult to obtain the medication via the NHS, but there are other options.

    • danielle61652
      danielle61652 ADEfree

      Posted

      Thank you ADEfree, I'll read that up now 😊 Yes I'm in the uk x
    • ADEfree
      ADEfree danielle61652

      Posted

      I hope you'll find it useful. If you've any questions, I'll be happy to share what I know.
  • rachel20792
    rachel20792 danielle61652

    Posted

    You and I are in the same spot. As much as I'd like to deny or argue, even though I'm an evening drinker only and can go a couple of days, my cravings are a bad sign. The way I really found out...I went without for 6 days and I was a complete wreck. Depressed, mood swings, crying spells, nausea, vomiting, inability to sleep, etc etc. so at that point I knew I was an addict.

    Now I have to decide if I want to fix that or not, being that right now I'm fully functional but know this could change drastically sooner or later...

    • RHGB
      RHGB rachel20792

      Posted

      Some of what you describe is definately alcohol withdrawal symptoms, i.e. your systen has become acohol dependent.
    • danielle61652
      danielle61652 rachel20792

      Posted

      I really enjoy a drink so I know I'm going to find it tough. I went 5 days once and had had slight mood swings and felt a bit down but thankfully no sickness Etc. I am out Friday, say and then Sunday for mothers Day so I'm going to enjoy the next few days and then Monday is my start/goal. I have ordered a juicer, bought a vegetable juice recipe book and will try help my body get healthier along with my healthy eating. I don't want to be a heavy drinker anymore and I do feel guilty about it, I think about it too much to know this isn't normal.

      Do you have a plan Rachel?

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