Wine, do you think you are an alcoholic if..

[EatsYummySprouts]

How much wine (that‘s my tipple) do you drink per day and does drinking 3 normal size glasses of wine every evening make you an alcoholic?

YABU = yes
YANBU = no

Of course three glasses of wine a night doesn't make you an alcoholic! 😆😆

That’s at least 4 bottles a week so I think definitely problematic yes.

Yes that’s an issue or well on it’s way to becoming one.

Is it causing issues for you or your loved ones?

I'd say no but that puts me in the minority on here. I drink about the same as you most nights - though I water my wine down with tap water (always have since I was a teen - it tastes too strong otherwise) so I drink about 3 glares of wine diluted across 5 glasses. It's my only 'vice' & it's one I enjoy with my evening meal - cooking & eating it. Rest of my 50-year check up was gold stars.

I would say it's a problem if you do answer @Heronwatcher first three questions as yes.

On the other hand a lot of Mediterranean Europe drinks similar amounts with their evening meals every day & we're always obsessing how healthy the Mediterranean diet is.

Lots of people seem to think you can't be an alcoholic if you can hold down a job and function on day-to-day basis, or if you skip the odd day, or do dry January.

My granddad was a well-regarded university professor in his field. He lived into his nineties and was publishing papers just months before he died. He beat cancer twice. He lived to see his great-grandchildren. He was also an alcoholic and behind the façade, he had a lot of problems. You wouldn't know it to look at him, though.

An acquaintance of mine was more your typical alcoholic. She would binge regularly, mess herself, vomit all over the place and ended up in hospital multiple times before dying of organ failure in her fifties. When I first met her, I thought she was 80+. Alcohol destroyed her.

Two very different people, two very different lives - but both alcoholics with a lot of problems, both in terms of their health and relationships.

If you're having to ask whether you're drinking too much, you probably are.

Does it cause probems in your life?

• financial, eg do you ever go without something so you can but your wine
• family/partner, eg have they mentioned that they'd like you to ease up a bit, are you ever not able to properly fulfil a parenting/relationship commitment because you've been drinking?
• work, eg is your head heavy in the morning and you don't really do your best work before 11
• health, has anyone suggested you might feel better for a break from drinking
• habit, would it be simple to just not bother drinking this week, not for any reason but just because you know you can. Do you ever go without drinking for a few days? Does it make you feel worried/anxious/irritated to think about it?

None of the above? You're probably not a problem drinker.

Download the NHS drinking app log your units..see what it says! Objective

i drank a couple of glasses every night last week as we were on holiday and in France with lovely wine was just thinking how much better I feel this week not drinking at all. How do you keep that up?

It’s only a problem if it’s a problem!

I love wine. I don’t drink everyday but but when I do I’d happily have 3 (or more!) glasses.

I would feel pretty shit very quickly drinking that much every night. I would definitely put on weight and it would badly affect my sleep.

I love a glass at the weekend, I’m not teetotal, but health has to come first post 40.

That’s a lot of wine!
If you need it daily to wind down, that’s an issue. You need a different healthier vice.

The amount is almost irrelevant, though a bottle if wine a night, or 3 glasses as you call it, is a lot. It's the habitual drinking and dependence on doing so most days that's what makes you, and others who do similar an alcoholic. You say you can go without it, but how long for and how much would you thinking about having a drink, planning when you'll next have a drink, and so on?
Alcoholism isn't as straightforward as drinking a lot frequently. Far more people are alcohol dependent than realise.

You are recognising you have an issue. Do something about it before it takes over your life, and those of those you love, as it eventually will.

I know three people irl who have gone on to need support to quit alcoholic and two of those people haven't managed yet and they drank daily and when family raised concerns they insisted they could go without if they wanted to.

If your using alcoholic as a coping mechanism to deal with stress, I'd try and reframe it and consider the health risks and financial negatives of using alcohol to cope with life, with that amount of alcohol every day does the increase in serious health issues outweigh the benefit your getting from unwinding with alcohol every evening?.

All things in moderation etc but when it becomes every day it's a habit rather than moderation, and a habit puts you at greater risk of developing dependency or addiction. If you find yourself counting down until you can drink, or looking forward to opening a bottle or can't unwind without alcohol and people you live with notice changes in behaviour or you're moody and snappy without a few drinks I'd say you're on dangerous ground.

The word “alcoholic” is probably unhelpful. You may not actually be alcohol dependent but that doesn’t mean your drinking isn’t problematic. I think drinking at this level every day is problematic and it seems you do as well so I would focus on getting it down. Using alcohol as a stress crutch is a dangerous road.

3 glasses every single evening sounds a lot to me and that just be 2-3 bottles a week?

I guess the factor to find out if you're an alcoholic is to go for a week without it and see how hard you find it.

I would say if you need to have wine to unwind then you might have a problem.

3 glasses every night is quite a lot. You might not be a full blown alcoholic, but it sounds like you are dependent on it.

That much every single night? That's a lot. Could you stop easily?

Is your drinking compulsive?
It sounds a lot to be drinking every day , especially for a woman who have smaller livers.

Do you look forwards to “Wine o’clock” as some women call it?

If you think you have a problem with booze, to ask this question, you probably have!

( Alcohol strikes me as one of the worst drugs to have a problem with as it’s so readily available and accepted by society.

So that's what, 3/4 of a bottle? Personally I would worry if I was drinking that every single night, yes, but I've seen people slip into alcoholism and it's a slippery slope. If you have 3 or 4 nights off a week then it's probably fine.

I probably drink more than that because of the environment I am in (not uk) and it's Normal to have a carafe of wine with breakfast. (I don't do that ) but normal when In company to have a couple with lunch and then in the evening have a few more

Almost everyone does, I've never seen anyone drunk here

The daily recommended amounts were made up (Google it)

I don't ever buy alcohol to drink at home so obviously I don't need it so not too concerned

It also depends on why you are drinking. If you NEED it to wind down then it's an issue
Can you go days without it and not thinking About it?

When I come back to the uk. I don't drink at all as my family doesn't. I don't even think about it

Obviously it's not great to drink too much but I do think the you need to look at the reasons why

Someone who has to drink every night has a drink habit. Nearly a bottle of wine every night is a drink problem. Keep going and it can lead to alcoholism. If a taking a week off from drinking fills you with dread you have a problem and if going a night without gives you a feeling of lack then you have more of a problem.

If that's 5 bottles a week that's probably at least 40 a week on wine which is another reason that I've hugely cut down.

No, not an alcoholic, but too much to be healthy.
Try swapping the first glass each night for a non alcoholic wine and see if you can overcome the urge to have a proper one next! I’m just like you, a glass while I’m cooking is hard to resist, so I can empathise!

”I would say if you need to have wine to unwind then you might have a problem.”

This.

Many years ago I had painkillers prescribed.
I began to love how they made me feel, and was looking forwards to taking one, for the mood lifting feeling it gave.

As you seem to need it "to wind down" and you need to drink every night it's quite difficult to say you are anything but an alcoholic.

However, even if technically, you weren't, surely you can see that is a seriously unhealthy amount to be drinking ?

Why not give it a go, and see if you can go for a month without drinking, and prove to yourself you aren't reliant on it?