How do you know if you've got an issue with booze

[rottentomato2]

I know booze is a funny subject on MN.
I'm not here for judgement just discussion.
I like drinking but I don't think I'm dependent. It's just something I enjoy like I enjoy eating biscuits - also not particularly good for me.
I know I've overdone it this week. Three bottles of wine plus quite a few G&Ts over the course of a week. Is this bad?
I don't drink this much often but I do have designated drinking nights that I look forward to because I know it enables me to relax and gives me a nice feeling.
When does enjoying something become an issue?

I recommend this a lot but if you want to stop or cut down, Jason Vale's book is amazing.

I'm approaching it from the other end of the scale and I don't think you have a problem - at least not from what you have posted on here. But I have been in AA for many years and my "normal" both in terms of what I used to drink, and the former drinking habits of many of my recovering friends, makes a couple of bottles of wine over a weekend seem fine. In fact I recall my first sponsor saying that if she'd only drunk a bottle a night, she wouldn't have bothered with AA in the first place.

If you are asking the question, there may be a problem. DH and I share a bottle of wine on Friday and on Saturday nights, and on Sunday we have a shot each of whiskey. That’s it. No drinking during the week.

I do have designated drinking nights that I look forward to because I know it enables me to relax and gives me a nice feeling. This is problematic - pre-planning, self-medicating to relax.

There's a 7-8pm slot when the kids have just gone to bed that I usually yearn for a drink. As is this - cravings.

I can go without it but life just feels flatter somehow. As is this - a sense of loss at the thought of not drinking.

The UK is a country where these problematic drinking behaviours/feelings/associations are widespread - but the fact they are widespread doesn't alter the fact they are problematic.

I think if you're asking the question it could be a problem.

Reframe it as a drug - cocaine, or heroin or weed or whatever. If you were doing those with the same frequency would it be a problem? Why do you think alcohol is different? It's poisonous ethanol albeit nicely flavoured and marketed to get you hooked.

Could you go without alcohol for three months or do you think absolutely not - there's no way you could do that wedding/party/holiday without a drink? Could be a problem.

I think it's a scale and most people who drink alcohol are dependent in some way.

Can't remember which podcast chap said it - but if you can go four days a week without a drink, why not go seven? We know it's detrimental to our mental and physical health. Why bother moderating?

I used to drink a lot - a lot - and it was really really hard to stop at the beginning but it's getting easier.

3 bottles of wine plus gin is well over 30 units so over double the recommended amount. It will be having a detrimental effect on your health. Try to stick to the recommendation of 14 units per week, which is 1 bottle plus a couple of gins.

I've just seen it's quite a few gins. OP, you're probably having 40 units a week...

Not a week. This week. I know I've overdone it this week but it's not typical for me. A normal week would probably be a few gins and one bottle of wine over the course of the week, so still over 14 units I suppose but not my much.
It's more the thought processes behind it that I'm worried about. The desire to drink and the feeling it gives me is something I'd miss and I suppose that in itself is a problem.

You are drinking a lot. 14 units a week and over that is a lot and will impact your body. Boring but true. Could you decide what you think is an ok amount and stick to that? Not drink Mon-fri? Try the good gin alternatives instead?

I think it’s worth being aware of the link between alcohol and breast cancer for women. This from the WHO re European data. This is not about judgement but medical evidence that some might not know about.

Many people across the WHO European Region will celebrate 8 March, International Women’s Day, by raising a glass of an alcoholic beverage – oblivious to the fact that drinking alcohol is a major risk factor for the most common cancer among women, breast cancer* Low awareness of this link represents a significant barrier to cancer prevention and a challenge to women’s health across Europe.
According to a recent study, only 21% of women across 14 European countries were aware of the connection between alcohol consumption and the risk of developing breast cancer. Awareness was even lower among men – just 10% of the men surveyed knew of this link.
This fact is even more worrying given that the biological mechanisms linking alcohol to cancer are well-established and substantiated by decades of evidence from across the world.

How does alcohol cause breast cancer?The biological mechanisms through which alcohol causes cancer are complex and varied. The most important one involves the metabolism of ethanol into acetaldehyde, a metabolite that causes DNA damage and mutations that potentially result in cancer. In the case of breast cancer, alcohol consumption also affects estrogen levels. Estrogen plays a significant role in the development and progression of many breast cancers, and alcohol’s impact on these hormone levels could partly explain the heightened risk.
Additionally, substances often affect men and women differently due to differences in metabolism and body composition between the sexes. These distinctions underscore the need for gender-specific approaches in public health strategies related to alcohol consumption and reducing cancer risk.

Breast cancer cases in Europe higher than everBreast cancer represents a major health concern for women across the WHO European Region, with more than 600 000 cases in 2022. The role of alcohol as a preventable risk factor for breast cancer is critical. For women in Europe, breast cancer is the primary cancer caused by alcohol, making up 66% of all cases of alcohol-attributable cancers.
Research indicates that even relatively low levels of alcohol consumption can contribute to the risk of developing breast cancer. More than half of all breast cancer cases attributable to alcohol in Europe are not due to heavy drinking, and about one third of new cases every year are due to drinking the equivalent of up to 2 small glasses of wine per day.
Countries of the WHO European Region must protect their populations from alcohol-attributable cancers as the deadline to achieve the global targets for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) is closing fast.*

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/07-03-2024-shouldn-t-we-know-this-already--the-link-between-alcohol-and-cancer

Too much is when you can't manage without it, engineer ways to make sure you can drink at events, hiding how much you drink ... Overdoing at an occasion, or one weekend isn't the issue, having the reputation as the drunk one is!

I drink, I like drink but I take my car when it's more convenient to drive, don't at home on weekdays, also say no to another drink because i don't feel like another one ... I don't feel I have a problem even if I'm over 14 units some most weeks

I think for me it’s about how you’d feel if there was none in the house. Do you routinely buy it when you get your groceries?
Some weeks I drink a bit too much and I regret it. But I can decide to give myself a week or two off it - with beer or wine in the fridge - and not touch it.
Or I can open a bottle of red, have a glass or two and end up pouring the rest away a few days later because I haven’t fancied drinking the rest.
Some evenings, I admit, I will drink until I am drunk and it’ll take me a few days to recover.
Could I go three months without it? Probably. But I don’t really want to either.

This.