Does drinking a bottle of wine, alone and at home on a school night, indicate a drinking problem?

[guineacup]

Or am I over-reacting? I'm just concerned about a friend who causally told me this earlier...

Careful, somebody will be along in a minute to tell you that you most definitely are an alcoholic 🤣

I love wine and also sunbathe lots (also causes Cancer) and know plenty of people who do aswell who work in the medical field (Doctors, nurses etc). Ask your GP if they drink, sunbathe, eat junk food etc. I bet they answer yes to all of those. The key is everything in moderation.

It would be a very boring life if we had to question everything we do with ‘is it going to give me Cancer’. Like most families, I can think of plenty of people who are healthy and fit who still ended up with Cancer. Im certainly not going to deny myself a holiday in the sun with a cocktail by the pool just in case I get Cancer (I wont do it every week though) 😎

Of course it’s not healthy.
Neither is sitting there eating a massive bar of chocolate or an entire packet of biscuits but I suspect many posters have done these.

Ooh blimey, I've had 2 pints of blackcurrant squash this evening. Didn't realise I was overdoing it!

Am I allowed to drink a litre of water on a Saturday? Or is that too much fun

Sometimes me ans DH share a litre jug of tape ayer over dinner, is that okay?

There's a big difference between doing something that is not healthy on occasion and being dependent on it

Just because something is bad for your health doesn't mean you never have to do it. It's important to be aware of this risks, but most adults are capable of making an informed decision to drink or not and weighing up the harm/joy benefits. Life is pretty shit if you avoid everything that might harm you.

Isn't it weird that a large proportion of people think it's completely normal to drink, when it's been proved without a doubt that alcohol causes serious damage? The human urge to self-destruct is a powerful one.

It is normal to drink, in that lots of people do. Humans have been doing it for thousands of years, as well of lots of other things that carry a health or safety risk. They do those things because they are enjoyable, not because they have a powerful urge to self-destruct. Literally all of us could live a healthier life than we do, so why don't we?

I had a fat chicken burger and chips tonight and last night I had a kebab. Both incredibly unhealthy but I don't have an eating disorder, I just enjoy eating.

I wouldn't drink a whole bottle in a night, because it would make me drunk (which I don't like), and I'd sleep like shit and have an awful hangover the next day.

I enjoy prosecco. I drink half a bottle on a Friday over the course of the evening and with food. The other half on Saturday evening. The rest of the week I very rarely drink.

I think a lot of the problem with over-consumption is through increased measures. I have a small glass which holds 150ml and drink from this as it helps me keep a handle on the measure - as it is so easy to over-pour, especially if you have large wineglasses.

Need more context. My friend casually told me that he ate two large M&S trifles on his own on Saturday. Is that a sign of an eating disorder? Like the situation you describe, it depends how often she does it.

I love wine. And trifle. But I would quote literally pule before I got through a bottle of wine or one whole M&S trifle. But that’s me - I’m not the judge of what’s “too much” for someone else. From the casual nature of the comment, I’d be inclined to assume it was a treat/indulgence for her rather than a daily occurrence.

@SavvyWavvy Where did anyone say the originally question had anything to do with 'regularly'? We've no idea if this was a complete one-off or a daily occurrence as the OP didn't say and hasn't been back.

The overwhelming response here is that regularly would absolutely be concerning, as a one-off then less so, depending on context.

PS.. Where can I get those 375ml glasses you mentioned? They sound great

It's never beer, is it, it's always wine!

"What do you want on your cornflakes, darling?"
"Oh, I'll 'ave some wine, please."

Oh I can happily sink a few pints too 😂

Thank you, MrsRachelDanvers. I am sorry for what you went through, which sounds far worse than my experience.
@thefirstmrsrochester, I respect your view: but I was caring, rather than controlling. The denial was best countered by hard evidence.

Addiction. Not a choice. And for those who have never been in this most hideous cycle of self abuse, I would dearly love to know what it’s like.

I have drunk at most 2, now a bottle of wine, a night for over 20 years. Rehab 3 times. I know I shouldn’t but I don’t want to accept the truth a out my crap childhood, parents etc… it’s all just too painful. Every day is painful. But, I have a very good life now… which I created myself .. which I shouldn’t ever complain about.

Please don’t ever judge people unless you really know their reasons for their addiction.

If it’s a regular occurrence, yes.

From a former bottle of wine a night home drinker nearly 2 years’ sober now. The things we convince ourselves were normal makes me cringe hard now

It would ring alarm bells with me unless a one off. We recently discovered that my sister has end stage liver failure and is terminally ill. She would drink a bottle, sometimes two, alone at night. End stage liver failure is horrendous. It is a truly awful way to go, so, for that reason alone, I would talk to her about it. Women are more susceptible to it than men as they metabolise alcohol differently. They also are even more susceptible during the peri/menopause as this impacts the bodies ability to process alcohol.

Wine is the devil’s work

so easy to drink a huge number of units very very quickly.

Drinking 1L (or 750ml for the nitpickers) of water in one sitting is bizarre because it goes well beyond what's needed to quench thirst or what the body naturally craves. The context is also the fact you're sitting at home, and not right after a race on a hot day or something.

So the point being that there isn't any person who would happily sit down at 8pm every night and down an entire 750ml bottle of water. Simply putting that volume of liquid inside your body is unusual in and of itself. So the fact that someone can drink an entire bottle within a few hours is a huge red flag.

Seems like this thread hit a nerve with quite a few posters! If you wouldn't naturally drink that same volume of water in one evening, why would alcohol be ok instead?

Smeghead

There are ten units in a bottle of wine. The recommended number of units to not exceed per week for women is 14. Therefore even if she drinks a bottle of wine at home once a week she’s still several units below the recommended number.

Phew! Was beginning to worry no one would understand the reference

I was worried that the moderators might not get it and delete my post as a personal attack before you saw it.

So the point being that there isn't any person who would happily sit down at 8pm every night and down an entire 750ml bottle of water.

Very odd for you to so confidently claim that no one would drink 750ml water of an evening.

If you wouldn't naturally drink that same volume of water in one evening, why would alcohol be ok instead?

This is a completely illogical argument. It seems to assume that people drink wine because of thirst, which is not the case. It also seems to imply that whether drinking a bottle of wine is 'ok' or not is about whether the volume of liquid ingested is normal. That's not the case either.

Why has @guineacup not come back?

I am seriously considering that the 'friend' is the OP .

Why else would she post and never come back with more context about this person who drinks?

Please ask for help if this is about YOU, OP.