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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To drink two bottles of red wine on my own at the weekend?

91 replies

Rocktheboat73 · 30/07/2014 00:06

I drink three large glasses on a Friday, from 6pm - 11pm. Then another three on a Saturday again between 6-11pm. Then the remainder - around 2 glasses on a Sunday night. I don't drink alcohol Monday - Thursday and I class myself as a pretty healthy fit person. Am I unreasonable to drink this amount by myself?

OP posts:
Original poster
Rocktheboat73 · 30/07/2014 02:29

Thanks for the responses, they are really helpful. I am with someone when I am drinking, so I am not drinking into the depths of despair or anything like that! I just get confused with the units aspect and as such am aware my drinking could be classed as 'binge drinking'. I am not drinking to get drunk, it is just very relaxing and one glass can take me an hour to drink, so I am not exactly gulping it down either. I don't feel hung-over or unwell the next day from the wine. I exercise a lot and eat really healthily.

OP posts:
wisebutyoungish · 30/07/2014 03:04

I'm by no means a know-it-all here - just passing on what I know:

To calculate alcohol units accurately, you need to:

Take the Units in volume (i.e. the ml)

multiply by the strength (%)

i.e.250 ml Wine at 12%

= 250 (ml of wine)
x 12 % (strength of wine)
Divided by 1000 = 3 Units

The drink drive LIMIT for a woman is 3 units (men it is 5)

wisebutyoungish · 30/07/2014 03:09

I meant to add - each unit of alcohol takes 1 hour for the body to process - so please don't drive in the early morning after a late night of drinking. I would hate for anyone to go through what I did!

If in doubt, buy a breathaliser which can be used in the morning before driving. It might save your licence as well as a person's life.

Before people judge; I would imagine that at least 60-70% of people who get in their cars the morning after the night before are actually not under the legal drinking limit. Just saying, not judging x

Montegomongoose · 30/07/2014 05:28

Can I ask why you drink two bottles of wine every weekend?

Have you tried non alcoholic drinks instead?

How did you feel?

Is it habit? You don't need to be alone for it to have a depressive effect.

GnomeDePlume · 30/07/2014 05:34

I read years ago that the number of units was made up. Govt had paid for a panel to establish safe drinking levels. They couldnt come to a conclusion as the evidence pulls the answer all ways.

Eventually they pretty much went round the room and people said what they drank. They all felt that they werent problem drinkers.

Doesnt anyone ever wonder why the recommended levels are so easily divisible by 7 to get a daily number?

MomOfTwoGirls2 · 30/07/2014 05:40

Thanks for the info on how to calculate the units. I emailed the site I used earlier to advise them that a quick reference table they included was very misleading. (A national drink aware site!!!)

But feck it, now I have to cut down even more than I thought I did...

Iggly · 30/07/2014 05:42

I think that's a lot OP.
I'm guessing you didn't always drink that much. Watch it doesn't creep up.

Those with alcohol problems are usually the last to know.

Wherediparkmybroom · 30/07/2014 05:49

Sounds fine to me, sounds great to me but then I'm pregnant and not drinking at the minute.

TheLovelyBoots · 30/07/2014 06:02

It sounds about like what I would drink at a weekend. I try to teetotal 2/3 nights a week.

LoveBeingInTheSun · 30/07/2014 06:06

Technically it is binge drinking, personally I feel it's fine.

Original poster
Rocktheboat73 · 30/07/2014 06:09

I have actually stopped drinking in the past, for 3 years in fact when I was giving up smoking. I only started drinking again a year ago.

We don't go out, we tend not to socialise much either, I don't go out drinking in pubs, so I suppose it is a release for me to have a few glasses over the weekend to relax.

Because I now realise my levels of drinking units are quite high I guess I am concerned. Drinking one bottle over two or three nights is more acceptable maybe? Like I said, I consider myself to be a pretty healthy person, I am 41 and would not like the amount I am drinking to have an impact later on in life.

OP posts:
DrFunkesFamilyBandSolution · 30/07/2014 06:16

I wouldn't make a habit of drinking that much in one sitting, or every weekend.

If you were unable to drink for the next, say 6, weekends would you be ok with that?
I think using anything that has the potential to be really unhealthy (drugs, alcohol, binge eating, over exercising or whatever) as an emotional crutch to 'unwind' de stress etc can be bad so it's worth keeping it in check/stopping it being a habit.

ihatethecold · 30/07/2014 06:38

Do you think that you feel fine the next day because you have got used to it?
Personally I think you are storing up problems with your health in the future.

Also someone above said the drink drive limit for men is 5 units. I'm sure it's much lower than that. Possibly 3!

Original poster
Rocktheboat73 · 30/07/2014 06:46

Do you think that you feel fine the next day because you have got used to it?

It's possible, when I restarted drinking after my three year hiatus, I was pretty tipsy from drinking just one glass and I couldn't drink anymore than that in one sitting without feeling really sick.

OP posts:
nooka · 30/07/2014 06:51

No more than 4 for men, but there are lots of variables (weight, age, stress levels, metabolism, timing, what you've eaten etc). Personally I'd not drive after more than one drink, and that with food and with a time gap before driving too.

Two bottles of wine over three days for one person seems like a lot to me. Three large glasses are enough to make me feel pretty rough next morning, not something I'd choose to do two/three days in a row.

SolidGoldBrass · 30/07/2014 10:26

Yes, the whole guidelines/limits thing is made-up bullshit.
If drinking is causing problems (you can't afford it without sacrificing something else/you are not meeting obligations in terms of work etc/you behave badly to people around you when drunk) then it's a problem. If it's not causing problems, then it's no one's business but yours.

icanmakeyouicecream · 30/07/2014 10:28

I could do that and more Grin

Altinkum · 30/07/2014 10:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SirChenjin · 30/07/2014 10:36

Yes, the whole guidelines/limits thing is made-up bullshit

Daily limits are bullshit. The older weekly limits (phased on in the mid nineties iirc) were based on evidence and were not bullshit.

SirChenjin · 30/07/2014 10:36

out, not on

caeleth84 · 30/07/2014 12:41

IMO it seems like a lot. I would say it sounds unhealthy.

Softlysoftlycatchymonkey · 30/07/2014 13:02

It's possible, when I restarted drinking after my three year hiatus, I was pretty tipsy from drinking just one glass and I couldn't drink anymore than that in one sitting without feeling really sick

oh god me too after i took two years out. Pregnant, breastfeeding and new baby.

Soon was quaffing a bottle!

TattyDevine · 30/07/2014 13:15

Despite it being slightly over what a woman is "supposed" to have in a week in terms of units, it doesn't sound over the top from a health point of view and it doesn't sound terribly bad the fact you are drinking alone either - there are people who would never get to drink if they didn't do it alone. The older generation I have found think its "bad" to do that but our generation its not so unusual. I actually find it worse to drink "alone" in company - i.e be the only one who is drinking when nobody else is - than to have a drink completely on my own to relax on a Saturday or whatever.

Those issues aside, if you are otherwise healthy, having several alcohol free days in between etc I can't see it being a major issue if it stays the way it is.

If you were doing it every day it would be a problem but you are not. This means you are nowhere near drinking at dependent levels and not drinking so much regularly enough to give you significant risk of liver disease, though apparently cancer risk is elevated slightly/somewhat (but still a low risk) if you go much over the guidelines regularly (though I don't know how these guidelines are made but one presumes it should be evidence based or at least have a correlation)

externalwallinsulation · 30/07/2014 13:24

I am always amazed by how virtually teetotal Mumsnet is.

On Friday and Saturday, I'll have a G&T, at least half a bottle of wine, and maybe a whisky as well. And that is a moderate session - I might up it to an entire bottle of wine for a bit of a session. I am well aware that this is over the government recommended limit, BUT I enjoy it and I have been told by my GP (no less) that the recommended limits are a bit on the harsh side and not to worry too much provided I have a few days off in the week, which I do. I eat well and I exercise every day, apart from the odd time I have a chronic hangover :)

All of my friends drink about the same amount. I am not sure whether we're just a heavier-drinking demographic (generally childless writers, academics, and artists in our 30s/40s), or whether the idea so prevalent on Mumsnet that anything over one glass of wine a month will give you liver problems within a few weeks are a bit unusual.

SweetsForMySweet · 30/07/2014 13:28

It's binge drinking. No one starts out thinking they'll become an alcoholic but it can happen to anyone. Anyone can fall victim to an addiction. Just because you don't drink Monday to Thursday doesn't mean you don't have a problem. You could be a functioning alcoholic and think just because you hold down a regular job and can function on a daily basis that you can handle it and give up anytime you want but it's not always so easy.

Be honest with yourself:

ncadd.org/learn-about-alcohol/alcohol-abuse-self-test