Did anybody see the Panaroma about binge drinking last night?

[Orangelight23]

Real eye opener for me. Women in their 30s being diagnosed with liver disease. I must admit I have myself been drawn into wine culture and drinking wine to relax.

It's made me have a real think about my alcohol intake to be honest.

I wouldn't use this thread to talk about reducing . Some posters on this thread do not agree with drinking anything. There are a few threads in health you could join.

Having a drink at a weekend is not having one drink for most people. Yes, you think this is how it should be but it isn't. People I know would have more than one or none at all.

You misunderstand me. I am saying that the way in which we speak about drinking is fall out from our cultural view of drinking and it influences how we think and feel about drinking. Saying I had ‘a’ drink, when in fact we had several is common and not the reality.

@Orangelight23, I'm going to echo @Wordau on the most important tip: NEVER have a drink because "you need a drink". This sense of needing alcohol is the biggest factor in alcoholism, even if you don't literally believe you "need" it.

Only have the drink you feel will enhance an already good experience. And if it doesn't - stop drinking it!

Wrt replacements: I'm a coffee addict, amongst other sins. But when I first went sober, I devised a concoction of fruit & leaf teas that had the right fruity-tannic flavour I missed from wine. But I was a recovering alcoholic trying to prove to myself that nothing's irreplaceable. Before long I was just drinking water, or those fruit-flavoured fizzy waters from the supermarket.

I'm not into sweetened drinks but, if you are, you're spoilt for choice. Otherwise, try posh mixers from Fentiman's & co or my favourite, cheapo lime-and-lemon flavoured fizzy water.

This!!

I recall a big study released at the beginning of this year saying alcohol is the second lifestyle (preventative) cause of cancer after smoking, and obesity coming in third.

We get it rammed down our throats about smoking and obesity causing cancer, but little is said about alcohol and its impact on cancer.

The media and general public seem way behind the curve (perhaps due to the lobbying power of the booze industry).

Same goes for plastics and environmental factors causing cancer … no one talks about this enough … focus is all smokers and obesity.

For breast cancer in women aged 50-59 it’s being bmi 29+ that’s the highest risk. But alcohol is there equivalent to hrt risk.

@compash (sorry it won't let me tag you for some reason) I wondered how you knew it was alcohol that caused your cancer? Were you told? It's very scary and you're totally right that smoking is utterly demonised but alcohol is rarely advertised as being linked to cancer in the same way. I hope you're fully recovered now.

I don’t think there are any tests to say when you have cancer what actually caused it. I’ve had cancer so I know this.

The only information we have is that alcohol raises the risk of certain cancers (7). And yes that risk is the equivalent to other lifestyle choices or it’s more or it’s less. And everyone has that information on risk and can make their own choices.

Smoking - lung cancer and melanoma - the sun. Are the only cancers where you can prove a direct link. Though obviously non-smokers can get lung cancer. And I’ve seen sun avoiders get melanoma.

Obestity raises the risk of 12 cancers. Most studies do put it ahead of alcohol.

Not claiming alcohol is healthy but it’s important we stick to facts.

And we mustn’t forget 30% of cancers are related to lifestyle- so those are the factors that you can influence.
10% are genetic and 60% environmental. So 70% of cancers we have no influence over.

I don’t like the victim blaming when it comes to cancer.

We should reduce our drinking and be as healthy as we can for all sorts of reasons. Heart disease for example is more of a risk than breast cancer for women over 50.

I watched the program out of curiosity. I grew up in a rural area, farming, very religious. My DF, DM and step-mother never drank, our house was teetotal. However, alcohol abuse was very common in the community, and this is over 30 years ago. The effects were visibile in certain families. And even a young age I was aware of the disconnect between what we saw in the meeting house/church versus outside. In addition to the impact on the drinker and their family I'm also aware of serious accidents, gross mismanagement of farms, animal neglect and so on. I will say that in those days it was primarily a male problem (at least where we lived).

I don't live there, but am back often. Today the issue is drugs. Depending on your farm, your support network and your other sources of income, it can be a difficult existence, so there is an appeal in drink/drugs?

Some people can manage recreational use of drinks, and some just can't. I feel very fortunate not to drink. I think I'd like it! So many interesting vinyards, wine types, horticulture, etc. It sounds like it could be a very interesting hobby too!

The " a drink" is a sort of colloquial short cut I think? " He likes a drink"
" I need a drink"
People, by enlarge are doing their best under challenging circumstances.

Yes, I guess it just pushes my buttons a bit because my husband always said he ‘enjoys a drink’. After a time it became apparent that he was/is an alcoholic. Alcoholics always say they like/enjoy ‘a drink’. Thankfully, mine has been sober for 5-years now aside from one relatively short lapse 18-months ago.

@AnnieSnap Did you drink alchohol before you realised your DH was an alcoholic? Or have you always thought drinking was a definate no.

I wondered because there was another poster, who seemed really annoyed with people saying they drank. I then saw in an earlier thread that they had started that they were heavily drinking in the past and it made them really ill.

I used to drink a fair bit in my teens and 20s when I went out, so not everyday. There was no ‘pre-loading’ in those days. So the first and last drink was in the pub, or club. My drinking became occasional from my mid 20s (after kids). I met my husband a few days short of my 49th birthday. At that stage my limit was two (smaller than these days) glasses of wine. After my 20s, I could always take it or leave it! I stopped altogether after he went into rehab. I like a glass or two of Port in the winter months and I like malt whisky, but not enough to drink them in recent years because I try not to have stuff that is bad for my health. I’m absolutely not against others drinking alcohol. It’s just what I know about the drug’s effect on the body, combined with my experiences with my husband’s and my patient's alcoholism, makes me wince at what a damaging drug it is. Many women I have/do work with are drinking to a level and in a manner that is damaging themselves, their relationships and sometimes their work even when they are not physically addicted. One made changes when I observed that the only people who were sober at the BBQ’s she and her husband held and attended with friends, were the young children.

@ivegoneswimming can I ask which poster you are referring to? It’s interesting that you’ve gone investigating someone.

I'm not going to say.

I was interested in why the poster was getting annoyed more than other posters.

Very underhand, if you are going to do that, at least give them a chance to explain maybe

@AnnieSnap thank you for sharing.

I'm definitely going to try to look after myself going forward.

OK, it was you.

Oh, I didn't know for certain - as other posters say, you can never tell - and teetotal vegetarians get it too! My BMI's about 25, no family history at all, I exercise daily and eat well...

One factor could be that I didn't have kids, so didn't have the protective factor of breastfeeding. But I do know that my BC was heavily oestrogen-positive (Allred score of 8), and that alcohol is 'oestrogenic' (which is why male alcoholics can get fatty breast tissue and impotence). I also noticed that, when I stopped drinking, my breasts got a lot less sore generally... 🧐

It may indeed have been random, it may not have been the alcohol at all. But the advice from the cancer charities is to cut alcohol down or out, and this is supported by myriad medical studies. So I want to do everything I can, and I found that not drinking was actually surprisingly easy for me because it had so many other advantages (mental health, sleep, weight, skin, energy, a sense of control - also, it was a fun adventure to see who I was without booze, a sort of second life!)

Others may choose to take that risk because the odd drink does add something to their lives like socialisation or relaxation. 🤷‍♀️

Thanks for the good wishes! 🙂

Had my suspicions, if it’s my thread about alcohol induced pancreatitis then I’m incredibly proud of it, it’s there to help anyone who might need it and it certainly received some fantastic posts. You got one major thing wrong though, I wasn’t drinking to excess, I was drinking in normal amounts to the people both around me and those that crop up on threads.

My other thread was about the hypocrisy surrounding people who drink alcohol judging those who smoke and partake in other drugs. I posed the question why do one set of drug users, alcohol drinkers, get to judge others who use other drugs. On that one a couple of posters understood the question, the rest just went mental, ignored the question and started defending their precious alcohol, saying such classics as I should go live in a Muslim country if I want to ban alcohol, I stated MORE THAN ONCE, that I do not want to ban alcohol, il go to the pub with my family, il serve and buy drinks, I’m happy for everyone to carry on, I just hate the hypocrisy.

I always knew alcohol was dangerous, the WHO have declared there is no safe level of consumption. I think it’s dangerous, as I apparently said in a ‘hysterical’ way on this thread, I just want to say that I am proof it can get anyone, I’m allowed to say it, but you and a couple of posters wanted to silence me when I asked no question or for a response.

Anyway, anyone reading who would like to check out my other alcohol threads please do, the pancreatitis one is there for support, the other is a wonderful example of closet alcoholics and nutcases derailing a thread.

@cookiebee I don't judge anyone who smokes cigarettes or cannabis. I have done both in the past but I do judge class a drug takers.

I haven't read that thread just the one about pancreatisis.

Did I try to silence you?

I have always thought that supermarkets should not sell alcohol.

I'm curious, why do you judge class A drug takers?

I've never taken it myself but the things I hear is that it's less dangerous.

I’d have some scrolling to do if I wanted to see if you did, but maybe you didn’t, but you did join in on the pile on towards me, so you weren’t nice enough to just ignore me but joined the mean girls (or boys). I will say thank you for saying it was me you were referring to just before though.