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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think 12 units in 3 hours hardly makes you feel tipsy, never mind drink.

213 replies

TableFlowerss · 12/02/2021 23:02

With lockdown I’ve been drinking more on a weekend. Like many, I’m sure.

I only drink when DC are with their (with him 2/3 night a week. (totally understand that’s not possible for everyone - to drink when DC aren’t at home, obviously if they have NC with dad)

I never drink when I’m at work the next day either and it’s usually over 2 night a week only.

Since lockdown though, it feels like I drink more 😳 so to get tipsy, I’d now need about 10-12 units. I’m totally fine the next day, no hangover etc.... but what’s the norm to feel tipsy?

I feel like my threshold is higher basically. So I might drink a bottle of wine and a couple of vodkas one night (so 12 units) but then I’d have only a couple the day after. So no more than 20 units a week at the absolute maximum. Sometimes if I don’t fancy it, obviously I won’t drink at all.

I’ve got a friend who can drink a bottle of wine each night 😳😳 5/6 night a week, then go to work in a very responsible job the next day 😳😳 absolutely no way i could do that!

Again, I never drink when kids are home (at messy 4 night a week if not 5) and I absolutely don’t feel like I have a problem. Sometimes I just fancy a cup of tea!

But a recall at one point just needing a glass of wine to feel tipsy, not it’s nearly a bottle 🙈🙈🙈

What about you? Talking to my friends, theyr thresholds have increased too.

OP posts:
Createsuser · 13/02/2021 08:24

A bottle of wine is 9 units and two vodkas would push it up to about 12( guessing they are generous measures). That’s your weekly limit in one evening. It sounds quite high but lockdown is long and the weather is cold. I think it’s situational rather than cause for concern

Benjispruce2 · 13/02/2021 08:27

I’d fall asleep after 3/4 glasses.

TwilightSkies · 13/02/2021 08:28

I think it’s situational rather than cause for concern

It could be both.

RaidersoftheLostAardvark · 13/02/2021 08:29

That's probably more than 12 units (home measures of spirits are usually large), and if you're doing that 2-3 times a week your weekly consumption is more like 24-36 units minimum. You said 20 units a week- a Dr will assume you're underestimating and double that to 40, which does sound more realistic. At that level for a female you are seriously damaging your health. Increased risk of multiple types of cancer, heart disease, liver disease, stroke & dementia. You don't feel drunk because your liver is working to make more enzymes to metabolise the alcohol , which shows you've been drinking excessively for a while.

CherryRoulade · 13/02/2021 08:32

It’s a ridiculous amount to be drinking regularly. It’s near the weekly recommended limit.
If a bottle of wine and couple of drinks of doesn’t make you tipsy; it makes you drink - whether you realise it or not.

Cutting back would be a good idea. Your body will be noticing even if you aren’t.

notanothertakeaway · 13/02/2021 08:33

I think a whole bottle of wine, plus spirits, in one sitting, is too much (and I also drink too much)

AndThenTheDayBecomesTheNight · 13/02/2021 08:34

Agree with PP that this is binge drinking. I really don't think it's helpful for people to normalise it. Fluffycloudland is spot on. And 'the guidance' is a limit (not a 'safe' limit - a limit under which it's reasonable to suppose there may not be severe health effects - although there will always be effects), not a target.

(If I drank that much in an evening I'd be seriously ill. One 125ml glass of wine makes me fuzzy. Make of that what you will. But at the sort of levels you and others on this thread are drinking, the damage doesn't start with getting 'tipsy').

HelloDulling · 13/02/2021 08:35

I would be plastered after 12 units in 3 hours, and very very hungover the next day.

C152 · 13/02/2021 08:36

12 units in 3 hours is a lot.

What makes you tipsy will depend on how high your alcohol threshold is. If you've been drinking more than usual, it will take more to get you tipsy.

One glass is enough for me, but I don't often drink, so have a very low threshold.

poppycat10 · 13/02/2021 08:37

12 units in 3 hours? I would be in bed most of the next day if that were me (well if it was red wine I would, if it was white I might just about be able to function with a pounding headache).

I drink one 2 unit glass of wine a night, 5 or 6 nights a week, aim for 1or 2 nights off a week. So 12 units in a week.

KleineDracheKokosnuss · 13/02/2021 08:38

Yes your liver can regenerate. Slowly. Until the day it can’t because it’s been poisoned once too often.

Drinking has increased in lockdown for many, but you need to be careful. It’s easy to develop a problem, which is then very hard to fix.

Sexnotgender · 13/02/2021 08:40

I’d be horribly ill if I drank a bottle of wine and a few spirits.

Sexnotgender · 13/02/2021 08:41

@HelloDulling

I would be plastered after 12 units in 3 hours, and very very hungover the next day.
Yup, me too. I’d spend the next day vomiting pretty much😂
Thomasina2021 · 13/02/2021 08:43

You would be massively over the limit the next day btw if you drove (prob until about 3pm or so )

MissMarpleDarling · 13/02/2021 08:44

Op that's alot. Saying your friend drinks more is just an excuse. Your friend needs serious help but so do you. Your both trying to make having an alcohol problem seem normal.

shivermetimbers77 · 13/02/2021 08:45

Yep, you’re drinking way too much and risking your health OP. I think you know you need to cut down.

SecretSpAD · 13/02/2021 08:45

@AStudyinPink

Don't beat yourself up and don't listen to the people on here who are telling you that you are going to have strokes, liver disease, cancer etc because you are drinking a bit more than usual at a very stressful time in your life. What you'll find, when the world gets back to normal, is that you go back to your usual drinking patterns.

This isn’t great advice. She’s far more likely to retain her new pattern without a conscious effort to bring her tolerance down.

No. Unless someone is a genuine (as opposed to a MN diagnosed) alcoholic, the vast majority of people go through a bit of time drinking more and then return to their usual patterns. But hey, why stop the hysterical frothing that anything more than complete abstinence will kill you.
QueenoftheAir · 13/02/2021 08:50

12 units is a lot in 3 hours. It's about a week's worth of "safe" drinking. Are you sure you're not alcohol-affected (if not an alcoholic?)

Lifechange2020 · 13/02/2021 08:50

Pretty much exactly the same story here! Not had a drink for 6 months now Smile

Morten · 13/02/2021 08:51

Wow that's a lot and you can blame lockdown as much as you like but ultimately how much alcohol you consume is your own choosing.

I'd be worried about the state of my general health as well as my liver and aim to cut back as it sounds like you've built up tolerance if you're not even feeling tipsy after all that!

EllasAuntie · 13/02/2021 09:09

No. Unless someone is a genuine (as opposed to a MN diagnosed) alcoholic, the vast majority of people go through a bit of time drinking more and then return to their usual patterns. But hey, why stop the hysterical frothing that anything more than complete abstinence will kill you.

So where is the evidence that people go through a period of drinking more and then stop?

It's far from hysterical frothing to say what amounts to binge drinking and quote NHS guidance.

Or perhaps this from Drink Aware might help you?
www.drinkaware.co.uk/facts/drinking-habits-and-behaviours/binge-drinking

If someone posts asking if their drinking is too much, they usually know it is.

Some posters will come along and minimise it, mainly to make themselves feel better if they do the same.

Others are less emotional and point out the risks.

I just hope the OP gets help and appreciates she can change what she's doing.

AStudyinPink · 13/02/2021 09:17

No. Unless someone is a genuine (as opposed to a MN diagnosed) alcoholic, the vast majority of people go through a bit of time drinking more and then return to their usual patterns. But hey, why stop the hysterical frothing that anything more than complete abstinence will kill you.

I’m not hysterical, I am a recovering addict. Go and look this stuff up. I’m giving the OP the accurate (if perhaps unwanted) information that may help her cut down on her twice-weekly bingeing habit. I’m not judging her. I was worse.

piscis · 13/02/2021 09:20

I think that’s quite a lot, not good for your liver.
I’d worry that one bottle of wine doesn’t make you tipsy.
I also drink more since lockdown but spread more evenly. Before lockdown I used to drink maybe 2-3 days a week and now it is more nearly everyday, or 5-6 days a week, but just a glass of wine with dinner (a couple of Friday night).
It is not the same for your liver to drink a glass of wine each day than to drink a much larger amount in a few hours, even if the units at the end of the week are the same.

user85963842 · 13/02/2021 09:22

About 3 glasses of wine in evening? That would get me very tipsy! Tbh 2 glasses of proper wine would get me tipsy. I'm still 14 at heart and will buy a bottle of Lambrusco or lambrini or even one of the larger bottles of WKD (I'm a classy broad can you tell?!) and would have that over a Friday and Saturday night. Better for alcohol units but terrible for sugar so no martyrdom here 😂

waterlego · 13/02/2021 09:23

I would be hammered on that. I don’t drink wine at all because it makes me drunk very quickly and brings terrible ‘existential crisis’ style hangovers. I only drink beer and I feel tipsy after two so usually wouldn’t have more than 3 or 4 in one sitting. The last time I did that would have been last summer because I only drink in a social situation and we were allowed friends round in the garden last summer!

I totally understand why many people are drinking more in lockdown- most of us are feeling bored and/or anxious- but regular heavy drinking will make anxiety worse for many people. It has that effect on me so I’m better off not drinking at all during stressful times. I was the same after my parents died- I didn’t drink at all for months because I knew it would ultimately make me feel worse.