Question about units and alcoholism please

[whatnow47]

Hi everyone.

I have discussed this before on mumsnet a few years ago but the situation has not improved and now I am extremely worried.

My brother, I think, is a functioning alcoholic. From my own observations and information I am getting from his wife and daughter he is drinking about 100 units a week (50 pints a week), could be more unlikely to be less. I believe he has drunk this much for many years. He is generally a pub go-er and after asking his DD how her dad was coping with the pubs being shut she is very worried that her dad's alcohol consumption has actually increased. He is basically boasting that drinking from home is 'saving money' and the amount of empties she is seeing is quite alarming. She also says he texts late at night with gibberish messages and she knows he is drunk. He is a big man and such a heavy drinker it must take a lot for him to get to that stage.

I have a sinking, sinking feeling that this will kill him. I know this is a huge amount of alcohol to drink but what I would like to know (have googled but not really found a good answer) is 100 ish units a week enough to kill him? My sister says its not enough to kill him but I am still extremely worried.

(For the record we have all tried to help him but he is in deep denial...'social drinker', 'gets up for work every day', 'not as bad as so and so', 'I don't drink in the morning' etc).

Thank you for any answers, I appreciate that it is different for each individual. x

I would definitely say so.
Especially as guidance is not to drink more than 14 units a week regularly.

Oh and a pint of beer (depending on the beer) can actually contain 3 units. So it’s more like he’s consuming 150 units a week

I know someone who is drinking around 2 bottles of wine most days, so around 140 units a week. They're in their fifties and have been told they'll be unlikely to be alive to see 60. It is so incredibly sad.

That will more than likely kill him, eventually.

He will get progressively ill on that amount. Before dying though there's Korsakoff Syndrome and liver failure just to name a couple. Definitely not a peaceful death, and horrible for loved ones.

I was on about 150 units at the worst of my alcoholism and that's when my skin and eyes went yellow and began to lose feeling in my feet (alcohol makes it hard for the body to absorb vitB). The HCPs told me I was about a week away from dying, had I carried on drinking. Did a lot of lasting damage to my physical and mental health.

Encourage him to take vitB strong compound and thiamine, but if he's in denial there's little you can do apart from that until he has a moment of clarity.