Drinking wine each evening

[Mamabear2424]

Is it ok to drink wine every eve?? I have a glass , sometimes 2 every evening and I love it, it makes me happy. Dh says mental health more important so if it makes me happy I should just do it. I am a healthy 40 something with a professional career. I just love wine.

Why? Why are you asking if it makes you so happy and DH is on board? If you want a sensible biological answer, talk to your GP? Is it only wine that makes you so happy? What really makes you happy?

Who on earth would drink half a glass??

I think you protest too much OP.

@soupofpasta, you can access the summary by searching for the UK Chief Medical Officer's Alcohol Guidelines Review, or you can download the pdf via this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/489795/summary.pdf.

OP, if you are drinking healthily and in moderation in the first place, it really isn't unhealthy to stop for a month.

Honestly, it sounds like you're a little more attached to it than is ideal.

Medical advice is not to drink alcohol at all. It adds nothing positive to your body and is literally a poison. I know I’m being a killjoy, but 2 glasses of wine for a woman each evening is unhealthy. I’m not judging - I’ve done the same at various points in my life too. Now I’m older I have an eye on future health and longevity so minimise alcohol consumption to an extent I never thought I would. I do feel much better for it.

Just out of curiosity how large is the measure?
Some pubs in UK are serving 175ml of even 250ml.
When I went to Slovenia 100ml was standard
So a glass can mean something very different to different people.

How would drinking wine make you more healthy?

How would drinking wine make you more healthy?

I think it's OK as long as your drinking stays at this level and you don't feel any ill effects.

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves Thanks for that. I have a decision to make I think. Reading more about this this evening, I am high risk for throat cancer (so in that sense should not drink at all, according to cancer research), but also high risk for high cholesterol and resulting vascular dementia (genetic not lifestyle, so in that sense, maybe I should drink a very little).

I'm going to really try to cut down further or stop completely. I have a private prescription for medical cannabis but I rarely order it so perhaps I will use the oils but again not every night.

@JanglingJack I am so sorry to hear about your situation. Please don't feel bad about it being self inflicted, it's so so common and normalised in society. To the point my family were up in arms at me about me not being happy for my DC to have their 'first drinks' on their 18th birthday! I hope you can get some treatment which helps you, hopefully research will come up with something more effective. I think I may have some neuropathy, nowhere near as bad as you, but when I was drinking a lot, I would get like phantom burning feelings in my feet, lower legs and wrists, as if someone was spilling too hot water on them but nothing was there. Also aching calves and wrists. It's calmed down since I cut down thankfully, but I still get the aching calves the next morning sometimes if I drink.

Was he an old boy in a dickie bow and tweed jacket?

Nonsense; unless you're a raging alcoholic getting withdrawals you can go cold turkey no problem. It's bad for you to drink every day full stop.

Look, if you're concerned, and trying to find excuses to feel less concerned, then that's not exactly a great sign. You can drink every other day, but every single day is too much simply because doing it increases the risk for having to increase the amount you drink.

Who on earth asks MN if they are drinking too much, you know the answers.

Jump onto Tattle you will get a more normal response

Nobody has claimed to be perfect on this thread. Or have I missed it?

This thread is about alcohol as a vice. Other vices and threads are available. Each vice is an independent risk factor. The others don’t reduce or increase the effect of alcohol.

OP, you are getting very defensive. I am wondering if you perhaps drink more than you are letting on? When I was training, the tongue in cheek advice was, when a patient tells you how much they drink, double it..

@kitsuneghost oh it's quite small, definitely not like the huge glasses we tend to have over here! But not tiny. They also have a little aperitif before lunch, a little glass of something. When I was a child my Grandad would come home for lunch, drink his wine and go back to work. Not massive quantities but a little each day.

Yeah. The look in my face when OH got half litre of beer and i got a thimble of wine!!!

Working as an ICU doctor I cannot tell you how many people I have cared for with fulminant liver failure who are in denial about their alcohol dependence as they ‘only drink wine, never spirits’.
Alcohol is a drug, one of the most addictive drugs in the world and if it had been discovered today it would likely be illegal. No amount is ‘safe’ and dependence is a dark, slippery slope.
Coupled with myths such as ‘red wine is good for your heart’ (studies have disproven this - the link was due to red wine being commonly drunk amongst the middle class and they tend to have lower rates of heart disease), people don’t view it as a drug.

Ultimately, it’s your decision. I’d suggest trying a month without, if you can do that great, if not then perhaps you may benefit from some support. Daily drinking, even if a glass or two, damages the body with cells needing to constantly regenerate - increasing risks of cancer and liver disease. Liver failure will give you no symptoms/pain until it’s too late.

I would be really annoyed if a doctor done that.
I don't want something passed as a result of drinking because you are assuming I drink double what I tell you,

Thank you @soupofpasta , I just have to get on with it and you've reminded me to take my meds! I'm too busy watching Dragons Den, thinking up Del Boy schemes 🤣
Can I say please, please, please be very careful now as you are right, the burning sensations are the first sign. I didn't know. It quickly moved on to stabbing pains and numbness.
I don't want to think of anybody's life going downhill in 6 months like mine has (although it's improved in lots of ways too strangely). The burning is definitely a warning that your nerves have been damaged somewhat. Don't let it go any further.
I can't tell you whether to drink or not, but it may only take a binge to damage the nerves further.

There you go, you can have my Friday night lecture!

All the best.

Thank you!

I'd love to know if that's a myth or closer to truth! I always answer completely honestly - I have a degree of health anxiety and need to know I've out everything 'out there' - but have sometimes wondered if I should halve it, if the doctor's going to double it!

Personally I feel like it’s too much but o only drink for special occasions.

what is more important though is their reason you drink.
if you drink because you’ve had a stressful day or because it helps you to sleep or help you forget something then this is a negative thing and is a problem.
If you are drinking because you like the taste or something like that then I’d say it’s ok.
id say be honest with yourself about your reasoning. Your husband is right in regards to mental health however alcohol is proven to make it worse.

Telling yourself convenient lies like this do point to emotional dependency on some level really.

I agree. I’m teetotal myself 😊