I know it's been done to death but........ How much alcohol do you REALLY drink? And how much to you say you do in RL?

[Bumpandkind]

Just asking as I sit with my 2 nd glass of wine and plans for more. Since DS was around 9 m, I've found old drinking habits increasing.

I go through cycles. Sometimes I drink way too much, sometimes nothing at all.

This week I've had a bottle of wine that's lasted all week. Will have a glass later and then finish the bottle off tomorrow night.

It's also fairly common for me not to have any alcohol for months at a time. I go through phases where I don't fancy it.

Maybe once or twice a month if averaged out? It doesn't really work like that though, we have a wedding next month for example where I might have 2/3 drinks and dinner with friends where I might have 2/3 drinks so 6 in a week but then none for 3 months afterwards...

I have 2 small children and I job where I have to be very responsible and nowhere near drink, I also don't drink if DP is really so one of us is completely "on" if the kids get ill in the night etc, we don't have anyone to watch the kids so never go out too

I drink about 4-6 bottles of lager every night. Or occasionally a whole bottle of wine. This is a lot less than I was doing. I hate how much I drink. I gave up after Christmas for nearly two months, but it is creeping up again.

I buy those boxes of wine with bags in them. Previously, if I opened a bottle, it would go off by the time I finished it, so a lot got wasted. Now a bag-in-a-box (think it's 3 litres) lasts me weeks! Unless I have visitors and then it goes down faster of course.

It varies a lot. Sometimes in the mood for it, sometimes not. A couple of weeks ago I had a drink four nights on the spin. Of those, prob 2 drinks in a night on 2 of the nights.

But then none for a week. If we go out, might have 3 or 4. Don't go out more than once a month though.

No one really asks me in RL.

I will have a few drinks if I go out with friends or we have a dinner party, other than that I hardly drink.

Brabra, I could easily do this and used to. I got pregnant, stopped drinking entirely. Has Ds and BF'd but after all that my old habits, similar amounts to yours are quickly creeping back in.

I'll have a few beers on a Friday and Saturday evening. 5am starts two or three mornings a week mean being teetotal the night before, otherwise a glass or two of wine during the week. Probably about 25 units a week, beer and wine as I'm not keen on spirits. I like having a drink to hand, but a big glass of fizzy water works as well as a beer.

None. I don't drink because it doesn't mix well with the amitriptyline I am on.

I stopped drinking lots every night in February because of stomach problems and actually don't miss it. I still have maybe half a pint of beer on a sunny evening like this, but have no cravings or hankerings or feeling that i am missing anything.

I am a very calm person anyway, so no need to unwind...I have arranged my life so it is as stress free as possible, on purpose.

DH still drinks 3/4 beers every night (and has the stomach to prove it) but I have no control over him

I don't drink and that's what I tell people. To unwind I read, watch tv, mumsnet, have a bath, go for a walk... lots of things. I don't need to drink to help me unwind.

And yes, I have issues around alcohol from growing up with an alcoholic parent so I've never had the inclination to drink it myself.

Truth for me is this - I used to only drink when out and that was binge drinking in my teens/20's. Then I had the kids and basically stopped for about 4 years during the pregnancy/breastfeeding years. At the end of that period I hit 30 and moved back to my home town where all my friends are. Started going out a bit more then for some reason I started having the odd drink at home. It did seem to relax me. Over 5 years I built up to the point where I was drinking about 4-6 units most nights and when I went out I was drinking considerably more. Over those years (the worst being the last 2) I wouldn't even have considered myself to have a problem as everyone was having a few glasses every night according to facebook and what other friends said. But I realised it was getting bad when I was hiding the fact I was drinking so much from DH and would lie if anyone asked. I wasn't hiding bottles or anything just sneaking out to the kitchen to top my glass up etc.

Anyway this makes me sound like some raging alco but it didn't feel that way to me. However the habit was unhealthy so I stopped on New Years Day after a very drunken NYE. Haven't touched a drop since.

I would say to you OP just take a look at what you are doing and how reliant you are on this habit. Be careful - there is a fine line.

Bump on a short term basis, yes it affects my symptoms. I will generally be bloated, have the runs and maybe cramps the next day after drinking (even if I've only had a couple). The same sort of thing as if I have eaten something that disagrees with me.

However, I don't think it has a long term effect on the course of the disease.

Oh and to unwind now I do what I used to do before I got into the drinking habit - tv, reading, internet etc.

There's a pattern to these threads, lots of people who don't drink much / at all, quite happy to say. Those who drink more stay away!

I drink 3 bottles of wine a week, and a couple of g&ts.

A bottle a week. Half on Thursday, the rest Fri or Sat. But if we have a very rare night out then quite a lot of wine.

My parent had had a career where drinks after work every night were normal. Then after having children, she would start to drink once they had gone to bed. Then the kids got older so she began to drink when they got home from school. Then when they were in high school and she didn't have to do school runs anymore she could start around lunch time. By the time I left school she was on a least a bottle of wine each day and was onto her second by evening. It can escalate so easily without you noticing.

Once or twice a month I might have (what is considered on MN to be a small) glass of wine.
Perhaps 3 times a year I might be out somewhere, where I would have perhaps 3 glasses.
I wouldn't say any different in RL from what I'd say on here, which is what actually happens.

I am 5:2ing and purposely fast on a Friday to curb my Friday wine habit.

I probably drink between 10 and 14 units a week. I really enjoy a glass or two of wine or a couple of gin and tonics. I make sure I have at least two alcohol free days a week.

If OH is away I will make a bottle of wine last three days. I am mindful of not overdoing it, especially as BIL is an alcoholic, and don't like feeling drunk anyway.

More than I should. I have fallen down the "office worker in central location" rabbit hole where after work drinking on any given day is normal.

I suspect if I had to drive to and from work I would drink significantly less.

But suppose I'm only 25 once and when I do get pregnant that will all change.

Primal I 5:2 so that I can have the Friday night family pizza night and a few beers guilt free.

Pre kids i probably got through a bottle of wine a week, plus a few drinks on a night out once a week. Nowadays I just can't be arsed. I got out of the habit after two pregnancies and eight months of breastfeeding. I don't miss it at all to be honest... I don't miss the hangovers either!

I do have a couple of drinks if I'm out for dinner with friends. A glass of prosecco and a gin and tonic.

Since juggling my own family with caring for my parents my drinking has increased to every evening.