to think I'm an alcoholic

[Swiish]

I'm wondering if I really am an alcoholic.

I've always liked to drink and being drunk. A bottle of red is the only thing that relaxes me.

I think about alcohol all the time, throughout the day, and really perk up when I know I can have a drink.

I do limit myself to around two bottles per week, on average, and can resist not drinking but find it incredibly difficult.

I've always been known as a big drinker.

does this describe someone with a problem?

[QuietNinjaTardis]

It's not just how much she drinks its her attitude to alcohol that's concerning. She needs to flag it up with her gp even if she can't access further help now. Plus if she's anything like my mum she will have lied about her consumption anyway. (Apologies op if this isn't true)
My mum probably drinks less than op now though can still put it away if she is socialising but she's still an alcoholic. And always will be.

[Swiish]

Sorry, I meant to say, yes i'm a woman.

[BegoniaBampot]

Oblomov - Your attitude to alcohol sounds nothing like the OP's. It's not the amount that is the issue here but it could be if the loosens the reigns.

[Helltotheno]

Op were you completely honest with your gp about your alcohol consumption, ie did you tell him or her what you've told us? I ask because people tend not to be in these situations. I can't think of any other reason the gp would have told you those raised levels were not down to alcohol or at the very least, that it was a possibility.

Anyway I wish you the best of luck wherever you do. ...

[Crunchymunchyhoneycakes]

The only requirement for membership of AA is a desire to stop drinking. You don't need to 'know' you're an alcoholic to attend AA, if you think it might help go to a few meetings and listen out for identification, you'll soon know if you're in the right place or not. It's nothing to do with how much or how often you drink.

[noddyholder]

My dp is an alcoholic he gave up drinking over 20 years ago It isn't about volume or daytime drinking it is about what alcohol does to you and the op has admitted she can't just have one or two without a compulsion to continue.

[TheRealFellatio]

Two bottles a week does not sound excessive to me but if you find it almost impossible to just have a glass or two and then leave the rest of the bottle alone, or find yourself opening a second one just for you, at home, in order to relax, then that is not a healthy relationship with alcohol. Even if it is not on a daily basis.

[Featherbag]

It would be sensible to repeat your LFTs even just because of your historical abnormal result. Regarding the alcohol, you do not have to be dependent on alcohol to have an alcohol use disorder, and based on what the OP has said, it sounds like she may have one. I also wonder if the 2 bottles a week is entirely accurate, as people with AUDs very often minimise their drinking while 'confessing' other aspects of their lifestyle in order to gain reassurance that they don't have 'a problem'. There are many agencies that can help you OP, you do not have to be alcohol dependent and a lot of people don't get on with AA's spiritual element. Your GP can certainly carry out LFTs and signpost you to an appropriate service to help you progressing along the spectrum of alcohol use disorders.

[ImagineJL]

Oblomov it's not about the amount consumed. It's about the manner in which it's drunk and the emotions surrounding it.

Someone walking along a cliff path could just be someone having a relaxing stroll, or they could be someone about to jump off the cliff. It's not the walk that is worrying, it's the mindset they're in that can be dangerous.