To think Dry January is not all it's cut out to be?

[Throwingshade]

Ok I've only done a week (obviously as it's only a week into Jan!).

I feel fine, not struggling.

I drink a lot usually - 4 bottles of wine a week, then the odd blow out if we've got a party or dinner etc. So probably three times recommended limits? Not good.

I don't feel any different. Sleeping 'better' but only as in more heavily. But otherwise feel the same as before.

I'm going to carry on as need to change my drinking habits on a permanent basis. I'm an old bird and I don't want to create unnecessarily health problems so that my poor sons have to look after their old soak of a ma.

But anyone do a few weeks last year and feel a spring in your step, brighter eyes, brighter disposition?

I'm not asking all you peeps who don't really drink btw! I'm asking people who have a regular habit like me.

Interestingly I haven't had any withdrawal symptoms - apart from the itching, if that is a symptom.

If you want the whites of your eyes to look resoundingly, eat blueberries on a.regular basis (or blueberry jam)

Brighter, not 'resoundingly'

Chipsandpeas your drinking pattern is the same as mine- don't drink during the week but have too much on the weekend
I also find I can be good all week, but when I drink I eat all the crap going.
I think I will lose weight by doing dry January.

I was a heavy drinker, so far (and its early days yet) I sleep heavier but feel less lethargic when I get up, I am thinking more clearly and have more get up and go. I don't fall asleep in front of the telly spilling the leftover wine My eye bags are looking less puffy, I don't have the night sweats and combined with a healthy eating regime I have lost half a stone. hoping I can carry on and see the benefits of a healthier lifestyle.

Step away, half a stone is good!

yes, but still got 3 and half stone to go if only it would all come off as quick as the first half stone!

I am one week in to dry Jan. I was mainly doing it to inspire DH to join in as he is a much bigger drinker than I am and needs to cut down. He has declined so I'm going it alone. I'm definitely feeling brighter than usual this weekend. My skin has broken out in spots this week but I'm hoping this phase will pass to reveal glowing, youthful healthy skin, bright eyes and glossy hair

I am doing dry January, I did November as well, and frequently do lent. IME it takes a couple of weeks to really feel the difference. For me it is weight loss, better sleep and definately clarity of thought. I gave up for the 1st time in 2012 and I think my "baseline" drinking has reduced. I normally drink 3-4 (2 glasses of wine) units on a Friday and Saturday night, plus 1-2 (a glass of wine) on a Sunday, whereas before I struggled to stay within the 14 units. Over Xmas it has obviously crept up although we managed not to drink on the 27th or the 30rh. So glad to be "resetting".

I showed some above acceptable liver enzymes in a routine medical last year so stopped drinking completely for 2 months, which was how long it took for my liver function test to fall back into the normal range. I didn't drink at all during the week, but would have a bottle of wine and maybe a gin and tonic on each of a Friday and Saturday night, which I didn't think was a huge amount. Scared the living daylights out of me as my Dad died at 63 from liver cancer. Dry Jan for me is less about how much better I look and feel, but more about giving my liver a good break. This year Lent starts 10th Feb so I shall go straight from Dry Jan into Lent and so get a good clear 3 months without.

We're all individuals, but doing a dry June last year made a massive difference for me. I was drinking about 45 units a week, which was far too much, drinking more at the weekend than on weekdays. I was worried I was alcohol dependent.

I started sleeping better about 72 hours in, by the end of the month had lost about 8lbs and felt better in every way. Took up drinking again but only on weekends and inadvertently have found myself within the new guidelines, though obviously I had no idea they were coming or what they would be.

Now I'm 2.5 stone lighted than I was, 2 dress sizes smaller. I eat less crap, am more active because I have more energy due to better sleep. My appetite seems to have reset in general so I eat less for all my normal meals too. It takes time to break habits, but it really is worth doing. I'm planning to do a dry month twice a year and not revert to my old habits.

Yes, I am a twatty sober Pollyanna.

I think the itching is to do with your liver. If I remember rightly you can get itching when you're pregnant and that's something to do with your liver and proteins (vague memory - should google really)

hollow I eat tons of blueberries! My eyes are definitely off colour and blood shot BUT I think slightly less so then they were on 1 Jan!

I did dry January last year after a very heavy Christmas period, lost about half a stone in weight and my skin looked remarkably clearer. I also felt mentally more alert. I'm doing it again this year although December was much more gentle so I don't feel compelled in quite the same way as I did last year. I'm in my 40's now and have been drinking since I was 16, I didn't have my DD until I was 36 and I had a very active social life up until that point, I'm hoping to fix a little of the damage I inflicted as I reckon it was quite a lot!
I don't drink loads now but I can have up to two bottle of wine a week which is definitely above the guidelines, so a month off can't harm.

I usually do a long dry January - from the day after Boxing Day until around my birthday (11th February), although last year I went well into March. But as I only tend to have a bottle of wine every other weekend, I can't say I feel much different.

I can't drink because of the medication I'm on and I can't say that I feel any better than when I was able to drink. I used to have about two bottles a week which is a bit more than the guidelines but perhaps not enough for any beneficial effects when stopping. I would love to be able to have a glass of wine again
I quite like the fact that so many people are abstaining this January though. I felt a bit left out in December!

I am doing dry January & don't feel any different. The only benefit I have noticed is less puffiness around the eyes & I really wish I had taken some before pictures. I normally drink about 2 bottles of wine over 4 days but always have 3 days per week alcohol free.

I am also hoping to reset my drinking levels after this & generally consume less.

I gave up last year for a month after a similar amount op ( 3 bottles a week). No difference, although the mornings were easier I think.

I then gave up drinking during the week but found that made no difference as I drank a bottle Friday,Saturday and some on a Sunday.
So have gone to one night a week. I'm fine with that and wine tastes even more delicious. It also saves money.

I started doing dry January this year. Was starting the Monday but managed to fail starting it every single night.

But I have just managed dry Sunday! Yay.

I drink too much. 2 x 50ml gins with tonic every night. Maybe 3 at a weekend. Maybe a couple of cans of lager too on a Friday/Saturday.

I never actually feel pissed though. I never drink to get drunk. Just for the sake of having a drink.

I am 4 stone heavier than I want to be. I have worked out just cutting the gin out it would be over 2000 calories a week. Add the lager in and the extra gin ot 2 and thats probably equivalent to 1lb a week. Which is the amount of weight I would be happy losing.

Hopefully I will manage until around valentines day. Thrn I might have a couple on a weekend. If I am still.losing weight. I have quite an addictive personality and the dependence on booze to unwind was making me twitchy.

I did dry January every year for the last four years.tbh I didn't feel or look any different at all bar I was slightly bored on nights out with people that weren't doing it and I really fancied a gin by about week 3.
Not doing it this year, but not having any big nights out either so just having the odd drink here and there and trying to eat better and move more-which are the two things that I've found to make me feel and look different in the past as opposed to dropping the booze...

Just adding a cautionary note. I suffered from really bad itching, mostly on my back and usually in bed. I was a teetotaler (or twatty Pollyanna if you prefer) Within a month I was being held alive in a coma , literally waiting for the next available liver in the whole of Spain to become available for transplant within a 36 hour window. In other words waiting for the 24 year old man, who didn't yet know it, but who was going to die. I had had a virulent auto immune attack which. destroyed my liver.. the itching was one of the early symptoms of liver failure. Obviously I lived to tell the tale, but only just, and at the sad cost of someone else's life. If you are a heavy drinker and get this itching, talk to your doctor please.

Wow Deja - just wow

I am splitting up and my Dp hurled at me in a row the number of bottles in the green box - he has a point

Today u had the first alcohol free day in over a year and that was because I had surgery that day

I normalise my 2-3 glasses a day - and she. I drink a have a fag which worries me more
Good luck y'all

Very scary deja. I'm glad you are ok now and really hope that is not the cause of my itching (which seems a lot better now). I had a blood test last year which showed normal kidney and liver function, but I will mention it next time I see the gp.

Deja that is awful. I am so glad you are ok and it was caught in time. You poor thing!
Yes it is very scary.
I had a slightly raised liver enzyme reading about 5 years ago and did absolutely nothing about it. I'm going to my doctor this week for a check up. I've also found a lump in my breast so need to check that out.
Being middle aged is no fun! But need to start taking care of my health more.
I'm not overweight, I don't smoke but I think I need to stop thinking that will keep me safe!

I used to drink say, once a month, if that. Since I married, my consumption has risen and I KNOW I need to cut down. My DH was and is a social drinker who thinks nothing of having a couple of bottles of prosecco nightly. I'm NOT blaming him but, he did get me into the habit of a glass of red each evening almost like you'd have a cuppa. Now, I feel it's an effort NOT to have a drink when I settle for an evening.

I must try to cut down but cold turkey is not for me.

Good luck OP. I'm sure, over time, you'll look and feel much healthier!