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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Partner’s drinking...is it too much?

111 replies

HungryHippo1234 · 11/11/2020 07:48

Bit of background, been with my OH for 2.5 years, lived together for almost a year. We’re saving for a house.

We’ve had ongoing arguments because he drinks quite a lot of a week (in my opinion). It seems like he drinks every second day so one week it’ll be 4 days out the week and the next week it will be 3 days, if you’re counting out of seven. He’ll drink a bottle of buckfast and 4 cans of beer each time. He doesn’t eat when he’s been drinking so if there’s dinner planned, I eat alone. I don’t drink during the week and I’ve lost interest in doing it every weekend now. When we first got together we would get drunk in the house or go to the pub each weekend and a good time was had. He also used to drink every single night when he was married as a way to deal with how miserable his life was. This is a habit he got into and although he has cut down now, it irks me that he still drinks quite a lot.

After a huge fight over September weekend when he went out drinking to wet his friends new baby’s head and didn’t text or call to let me know he was staying out for 2 days, he promised he would stay off the alcohol to prove to me that he didn’t need it. He did do this but it seems like in the 2/3 weeks since that month ended he’s reverted right back to drinking every second night. I don’t enjoy being intimate with him when he’s drunk and I’m sober so our sex life has taken a big dip. And it’s also been affected because we always end up arguing about how often he drinks so we can go days not talking which also obviously affects intimacy. He’s a bad snorer anyway but after a drink he’s worse. I have a sleep disorder so I really need my sleep so him disrupting it with his drunken snoring is seriously annoying.

Apart from this one thing, we have a really good relationship. The month he spent off the drink was brilliant, no arguments, our sex life got back to the way it was in the beginning and we seemed to reconnect and I enjoyed spending time with him and just chatting and having dinner together, going to bed together at the same time etc. I felt excited by him again instead of dreading him coming home with a carry out.

He really is a good guy, he’s funny, kind, very hardworking, a good dad to his daughter, he’s more than helpful to my family, he joins in and makes an effort, we get on so well when we’re not arguing about his drinking and I know he loves me more than anything.

I guess my question is, does his drinking seem excessive to anyone else or have I just got a bee in my bonnet about it because of issues with his hard partying in the very early days of our relationship, I’ve equated it with him being disrespectful and prioritising drinking over my feelings in the relationship?

I do feel like I’m being slightly unreasonable, he works hard, is out the door at 6am every day and doesn’t get back till after 5 every night. But I just feel like every second night is a tad excessive.

I wouldn’t mind one night during the week and a night at the weekend and then I could join him. But I feel like because he does it so often, it puts me off enjoying joining in even when I do feel like it.

OP posts:
HungryHippo1234 · 11/11/2020 10:07

@onwheels he’s never had any issues with employment or anything like that, he’s been in the same job for 15 years. Not got any points on his licence which he’s had for 20 years but yeah, drinking till 9pm and then driving at 6am does worry me. He doesn’t take days off sick, he never lets his daughter down, if he promises to do something for me or my family, he does. PP’s thinking I’m sad or pathetic for acknowledging the positives is fair enough. But like you said, your husband drinks much less than before and that’s what I’m wondering about. If it’s possible?🤷🏽‍♀️

OP posts:
Mushypeasandchipstogo · 11/11/2020 10:08

He is an alcoholic. He will not change. Get out of this relationship now and do not even consider having children with him.

Newkitchen123 · 11/11/2020 10:13

He stops drinking at 9
He only gets in at 5
Does he open the bottle as he walks in?

Denny53 · 11/11/2020 10:15

I don’t think the drinking is particularly a problem but it bothers you so yes that makes it a problem
The bigger problem by far is staying out 2 days without letting you know he’s safe! That’s unforgivable

CovidStoleTheRainbow · 11/11/2020 10:16

Of a week?

Why do people say this?

Of an evening. Of a week.

What is ever wrong with "in the"?

Is "of a" more 'in' or has it always been around and I've only just noticed how annoying it is?

giantangryrooster · 11/11/2020 10:19

I wonder if once we buy a house and maybe if we had kids of our own, he wouldn’t feel the need to drink as much.

You are in denial, you think you can make him change his ways if you just provide the perfect setting for him. I don't think anyone on this thread can help you as long as this is how you think.

HungryHippo1234 · 11/11/2020 10:20

@Newkitchen123. Well I said it in the heat of the argument and went to bed. I’ve since then avoided him so don’t actually know what he’s thinking. I do feel bad because he was left with nothing after his marriage, (and I mean nothing, his family no longer spoke to him, he was even uninvited to family funerals because of her behaviour towards them. He only started talking to his mum again when I came on the scene. I’m very family oriented so I’ve tried to show him that it’s possibly to mend things. His ex wife still speaks about his mum in a derogatory way so I can see how it might have caused problems)

He ended up in a one bedroom hovel while his ex wife got to stay in their rented house that he decorated, with all their good furniture. She moved the man she cheated on him with in right away. This was quite a sore point for him as because the village is so small, the whole situation was the talk of the town for ages.

So throwing him out and leaving him with nothing again when he moved away from everything he knew to be with me, feels like I’m doing to him exactly what was done to him before and it just feels quite shit.

OP posts:
NC4Now · 11/11/2020 10:20

@CovidStoleTheRainbow it’s regional dialect. Makes the world more interesting.

Marchmarch · 11/11/2020 10:23

His primary relationship is with booze. Not you.

Bmidreams · 11/11/2020 10:28

He's not going to day that drinking is his priority though is he? He's going to talk the talk but not walk the walk. He'll tell you whatever you want to hear. You're even questioning yourself as to why you don't want sex with him! You've literally backtracking on all of it. Being with someone this reliant in alcohol is miserable. How old are you? I think you sound young, and he sounds a lot older.

Newkitchen123 · 11/11/2020 10:33

Saying something in the heat of an argument isn't quite the same as sitting down having a proper discussion.
My guess is he will see it as something you didn't mean. Unless it's discussed properly. Stop seeing what's in it for him in terms of your relationship and start seeing what's in it for you.

dangerrabbit · 11/11/2020 10:34

What were you hoping to get from this thread?

TheJourneyWoman · 11/11/2020 10:34

He also used to drink every single night when he was married as a way to deal with how miserable his life was. This is a habit he got into and although he has cut down now, it irks me that he still drinks quite a lot.

No. Reverse this. His marriage and life was miserable because of how much he drank. I have alcoholics in my family. Those few sentences stood out immediately.

Fluffycloudland77 · 11/11/2020 10:46

You’re making a lot of excuses for him. Not getting a hangover is actually a sign of long term liver damage.

Having a baby with him won’t stop him being an alcoholic, he’ll just be an alcoholic with two kids.

HungryHippo1234 · 11/11/2020 10:51

@dangerrabbit

I just wanted some outsider perspective given my propensity to tell guys to fuck off at the slightest hint of less than perfect behaviour.

And I posted about something similar when he went out and didn’t contact me for two days (though I knew where he was and knew it was likely to happen, but it got my back up) and everyone told me I was controlling and abusive towards him so I think it just depends on the day when you post what kind of replies you’re going to get 🤷🏽‍♀️ People aren’t that consistent on here tbf.

OP posts:
EveryoneRevealsThemselves · 11/11/2020 10:53

I wonder if once we buy a house and maybe if we had kids of our own, he wouldn’t feel the need to drink as much.
Dear lord, please do not think like this or base your life on it. He already has a daughter and yet that hasn’t stopped him drinking. Despite the fact that you seem to think her mum is rubbish. And he’s wasting thousands on the drinking when he could be saving faster in order to provide her with a home.
I’m sorry you won’t want to hear this, but you are in denial. Just because he isn’t an abusive arsehole, doesn’t mean you should be wasting your life with him.
Your posts are full of minimising language but listen to your gut. You wouldn’t have posted here if it wasn’t an issue. You don’t know why you’ve stopped having sex - you do. Because having sex with someone drinking like that isn’t fun. Especially when they know that their drinking bothers you, yet they haven’t stopped. And don’t minimise - it’s not every now and then. It’s every other night.

By drinking this much he is opening himself up to a lifetime of health issues and an early death. And that’s if he doesn’t kill someone on the roads first.

Suzi888 · 11/11/2020 10:53

How many units is it per week? I don’t know what buckfast isConfused.

EveryoneRevealsThemselves · 11/11/2020 10:54

I just wanted some outsider perspective given my propensity to tell guys to fuck off at the slightest hint of less than perfect behaviour.. There is nothing wrong with this. Find your backbone here!

user115632569541 · 11/11/2020 10:55

I think the replies depend on the context you provide tbh.

EveryoneRevealsThemselves · 11/11/2020 10:56

How many units is it per week?. It’s over 20 a day so if drinking every other day, between 60-80 minimum. The recommended amount is 14.

user115632569541 · 11/11/2020 10:57

So throwing him out and leaving him with nothing again when he moved away from everything he knew to be with me, feels like I’m doing to him exactly what was done to him before and it just feels quite shit.

It's not your job to rescue him. I don't understand the relevance of all his past suffering you keep going into unless you think you can rescue him from it and then the drinking will stop?

Swinging from telling men to fuck off at the first hurdle to trying to rescue the most broken man you can find isn't an improvement.

IamTomHanks · 11/11/2020 10:57

Not getting a hangover is actually a sign of long term liver damage.

No it's not. Getting bad hangovers easily is a sign of liver damage.

vertavahealth.com/alcohol/early-signs-liver-damage/

People aren’t that consistent on here tbf

Op, threads about alcohol, especially in AIBU attracts a certain type of poster who generally demonizes alcohol and its consumption. I would take everything said here with a grain of salt (and a shot of tequila).

The end of the day, if his drinking is causing problems in your relationship, then its a problem, how little or how much he drinks isn't the issue.

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 11/11/2020 11:02

Course, you could have saved £12k since he's spending about a grand a month on booze... but that's not the point

You're getting a robust time OP because this is such a common theme on MN. Women see the signs of a not-ideal relationship in a myriad of ways, and keep going and keep going with it, till 5, 10, or even 50 years' down the line they are posting in despair at a life wasted, children traumatised, money that might as well have been burned on a bonfire and (in the worst cases) abuse.

You don't have to accept this for your future. You can make another choice. If you don't want to be with a heavy drinker, you can leave him. But what you can't do is make him stop.

I know the culture you're talking about. I feel sorry for the men trapped in it, I really, genuinely do. You could be describing my childhood home. But that doesn't mean that the men affected by that culture have to stay trapped by it, and it certainly doesn't mean they get to drag a good woman down with them.

I'm going to leave it here because I understand how overwhelming it is to get 100s of voices saying the same thing Thanks---- (apart from to say I would not have said you were controlling and abusive to be pissed off about a two day drinking binge).

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 11/11/2020 11:03

Gah, sorry grand a year!

giantangryrooster · 11/11/2020 11:07

[quote HungryHippo1234]@dangerrabbit

I just wanted some outsider perspective given my propensity to tell guys to fuck off at the slightest hint of less than perfect behaviour.

And I posted about something similar when he went out and didn’t contact me for two days (though I knew where he was and knew it was likely to happen, but it got my back up) and everyone told me I was controlling and abusive towards him so I think it just depends on the day when you post what kind of replies you’re going to get 🤷🏽‍♀️ People aren’t that consistent on here tbf.[/quote]

So now it's mn posters that are unreasonable Smile.

As much as I think mn is too ltb trigger happy, it all comes down to what/how you post. If you post 'dp went to a celebration and stayed out as I knew he would', yes then some would tell you, you are controlling. If you ask 'my dp drinks 6 times more alchol than recommended, is it me', you are bound to get a different response.

If you want to test his commitment to your relationship ask him to go to AA and the gp. If he is willing to admit to the problem and stop drinking, not for a month but for good, then yes he might be a keeper.

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