To think my sister has a drinking problem?

[deathwithdignity]

My sister had a lot of serious trauma during her childhood. So I understood the way she was as a teenager. She was a bit of a nightmare, always with the wrong kind of men, always in and out of jobs, using alcohol and soft drugs etc. At 19 she got caught drunk driving, not a surprise to our family and she obviously lost her license and was supported through it.

At 21 she gave birth to my lovely niece. She seemed to clean up her act and life went on, she worked, met a man, settled down, had more children.

She's 32 and on Thursday morning on the way to her work she was stopped and breathalysed. She failed and is now allowed to drive until her court date. She is extremely embarrassed and ashamed and keeps claiming that it was due to drinking too much with her husband on the Wednesday night and not eating. My sister doesn't eat much but since before she fell pregnant, alcohol hadn't played a big role in her life at all.

We were all ecstatic because we genuinely felt she turned it around. She now won't speak to anyone about her new DUI (for lack of a better term). She says it is a personal issue for her and her husband to deal with. The loss of licence will definetely result in her losing her job.

AIBU to think that a 'normal' drinker does not drink so much on a Wednesday night that they will still be reading above the limit on a breathalyser the next day? AIBU to think that there are still issues at play here?

Well yes, if she drank a few glasses of wine the evening before then it could still be in her system. It takes longer than you might think

Depends what time she started and finished drinking and of course how much. I think it takes 8 hours for a bottle of wine to leave your body.

Not really any of your business if she doesn't want to discuss it with you. But yes I agree, no one without a problem with alcohol gets a drink driving charge. Most people would either a) stop drinking before it became a problem b)'get a taxi the next morning c) ask a colleague for a lift d) walk or get the train or bus.

A person that feels confident enough to drink a bottle of wine and then drive the next morning whilst Barely eating has an alcohol problem.

And it's not her first drink driving charge but her second. Any employer looking at that would scream alcohol problem. If I were to receive an application with one drink driving charge on it I could see past it but two? And one fairly recently? Nope, no job from me as it is quite clear you are an alcoholic.

It's so easy to fail a breathalyser the morning after drinking, I don't think a lot of people understand how long even a small amount of alcohol stays in the system, how much was she over the limit by?
Unless she's given you any other reason to doubt her other than her past, then I can't see why you can't accept her explanation be supportive and hope she's learned her lesson.

In regards to drinking on a Wednesday night, I have 1/2 a bottle of wine every now and then on a school night & I've never had any issues with alcohol. (I don't drive)

AIBU to think that a 'normal' drinker does not drink so much on a Wednesday night that they will still be reading above the limit on a breathalyser the next day?

Yes YABU. Alcohol can stay in your system much longer than people think. If she drank a lot Wednesday night (as she said she did), went to sleep, woke up in the morning then it’s very likely she’d still be over the limit.

As for still having an alcohol problem, cannot tell. It would stand to reason though that this is first incident in over 10yrs, so probably not an alcoholic. So I would give her the benefit of the doubt in this case. You kind of need two dots to make a line. You only have one dot.