Alcohol consumption...

[staceyflack]

AIBU... to be drinking roughly a bottle of wine (10-12%) per night recently?

I think it's easily done, especially in these strange times. Way back at the beginning of the crisis I got into the habit of pouring an enormous gin and tonic for the 5 o'clock update. I quickly went back to my normal though, which is alcohol Friday to Sunday only. That helps me feel in control and has the added bonus of making the weekend feel different and fun. I don't know if it's a middle class thing but a lot of people I know drink wine every day....

I can easily and often do the same. I try hard to cut down or cut it out but find it very hard as DH also likes a drink. He likes to drink while cooking but can then stop but I like a few glasses watching tv so we keep each other company. Which is silly.

Managed not to drink on Monday night but did last night. So plan is none tonight. We have a lovely lime and mint cordial that I’m planning on making into fake mojitos with sparking water and fresh mint as we are having a bbq later.

I also quite like a spritzer made with low alcohol white wine and lots of soda and ice.

Really need to get out of the habit of drinking every night. Am very overweight so it really doesn’t help.

I'm 50... so should know better @Shir

Thanks all.... some helpful ideas 💐

I’m afraid so ! Like so many of us I
Love a tipple
But that much would make me ill
You know it too

OP, can I ask why you're drinking it? It is just because you fancy it - or is it because you 'need' something? And how easy would you find it to stop?

My alcohol has shot up over lockdown. I used to drink once or twice a week max. Now, I'm lucky if I have 2 af days a week. Usually a bottle of prosecco will last me two evenings, although I am also partial to fruity ciders frozen and ice cold. Yesterday for 3g I had 2 glasses wine and a cider. Not 'vodka on your cornflakes ' level but it has been increasing.

For me, I know I'm on a dangerous slope and have to be careful. I've always had a difficult relationship with it, having started dribling age 8 at family parties and knowing from age 13 or so that I shoildnt drink when I'm stressed or I'll find it hard to stop.
The reason I'm drinking is because I cant / dont want to use painkillers again. I've been addicted to those, I'm on a script,and last time I used it was horrible. But I want something to change how I feel, hence as soon as I get home before I even take off my coat, I'm pouring one. I'm making phone calls to service users with a glass of wine in my hand. My colleagues have assured me they've done this too, but it's still not healthy.

And frankly, anxiousness and lockdown is not a good reason to use alcohol to self medicate. Lockdown will end at some point, but those coping strategies will forever be burned in your brain. And alcohol is so so easy to creep up.

And addiction - or alcohol problems, as I fully believe it possible to drink too much at a life event eg a break up and go a bit ott, and then later return to healthy or safe drinking - is a continuum. It isnt either you're fine or you're pouring vodka on your cereal. You can drink a moderate amount but be doing it for the wrong reasons and for me, that is the kicker.
My few glasses of wine a night because I need it, is actually more damaging or concerning I believe than a student drinking 2 bottlea on a night out. It's all in the mind and the reasoning for mez the amount does not matter. I see it as healthier, addiction wise, to drink k a bottle of prosecco to be sociable or because its friday or because it's a birthday, than to drink 3 glasses a night because I need something to change how I feel or I look forward to it at the end of a day.