To stop drinking alcohol?

[naughty40me]

I think I need to stop drinking? I'm by no means an "alcoholic". I may have 2 or 3 drinks at home on a weekend but then feel a bit dizzy/sick and go to bed thinking what was the point of that??!

I do binge drink when with friends which is maybe once every month or so.

But I have anxiety and OCD which seem to magnify x 1000 each time.

Like now, I've had 4 beers and a bottle of wine with soda and I'm hammered! I mean this will make me feel rough for about 3 days now!

I take upmteen medications for various conditions so it's not great.

A colleague has quit drinking since Xmas 2024 and I'm thinking of doing the same? I just regret it each time! Anyone been in the same position?

How did u deal with the "pressure" from friends of having to drink?

Thanks all

I stopped drinking around 3 years ago. I was never a big drinker but just sort of went off it. Can't say that I miss it at all. You could probably count the times I do drink in a year on one hand and still have fingers left. Give it a go, you'll be surprised how much you don't miss it

We both stopped drinking. The surprising thing was, we didn’t miss it. We both felt so much better without it.

If your friends are pressuring you to drink, even if you don’t have a problem, you need new friends!

I gave up drinking, except for an occasional wine, in my early 20's. It made me feel ill the next day & I didn't like how it made me behave. It does affect how people see me. I was left out a lot, once not invited to a weekend away 'because I didn't drink enough '.

However, getting up early and going for a walk, or just feeling good, is worth it. Alcohol where I am is horrendously expensive, and I estimate DH & spent about the same on travel as some spent on alcohol fuelled nights out.

The irony is a LOT of those same people are now giving up drinking (bodies can't handle it any more) and singing it's praises!!

If it makes you feel rough then it's just not worth it. If you feel you need an excuse, just say it reacts with your medication.

This is what's genuinely happened to me. I started a new long term medication a few months back. On 2 occasions shortly afterwards I had just 2 drinks and felt absolutely foul the whole of the next day. Since then I haven't touched a drop, and anyone who's asked, I've just told them (honestly) that it seems to interact with my medication and makes me ill. The times I'd usually drink (the odd pub night or BBQ, or a Friday or Saturday evening at home, I have either a couple of alcohol free beers or nice adult soft drinks instead. I thought I'd really miss alcohol but I don't.

The alcohol is very likely interacting with your meds. Google the drugs and see about interactions. Obviously, if you're not supposed to drink while on those meds, you have to stop drinking.

The thing about binge drinking, even if it's just once a month, is it often increases over time. Next it will be twice a month and you'll tell yourself that's okay. Then once a week and so on.
It's just common sense that if something you're doing makes you feel sick, you stop doing it.

Thanks all. It not so much friends pressure me it's just kind of the norm, and you'd feel like the odd one out of you didn't drink.

But honestly, I'm wide awake now and lack of sleep and several toilet trips for a pee will just make me feel like crap for at least two days!

I already feel like the boring sensible one...hey ho, colleague was a big drinker but has found it great giving up so I may ask for tips! He says the Friday/Saturday pull of "needing" a beer at 7pm just wears off....he gets to 10pm/11pm and is glad he didn't bother.

There are some really good alcohol free options available. Husband meets up with friends every week and often has the alcohol free version of whatever it is he drinks (think real ale type stuff). He says if he didn't know it was alcohol free he would think it was the alcoholic version as it tastes the same.

Apart from the odd sip to join a toast on special occasions, I've been teetotal for over twenty years. I realised I'd become maudlin when drunk and like you it took days to recover.
I think I'd also got to the stage where I didn't want to go clubbing anymore or get steaming in a pub. My friends were similar ages and I simply didn't go if they were going out to get hammered. We socialised in many different ways.
It never bothered me being around others who drink, so they weren't bothered whether I was or not.
It can be eye-opening. Several times I've had a completely different narrative of quite serious events because I was sober. I also can't bear it when people get lairy. I'll make my excuses and leave if that happens and because I have my car because I'm sober, it's easy to escape.
Over the years my two closest friends have also stopped drinking, DH is a happy social drinker and our three adult DC don't drink. I think it's probably a lot more common than you think now, especially amongst my DC's friends. They just don't seem to feel the need to anounce it or get treated like a pariah anymore.

I’ve been sober for over 3 years now, as I found after binge drinking I would get intrusive obsessive thoughts (I also have ocd) that would consume me for days and leave me with a very low mood. It just stopped being worth it. I really don’t miss it but then I’m still up for a night out, as long as it’s fun enough to navigate while sober. I did find my friends pressured me a bit at the start, as in their view I was over reacting to become sober, but they didn’t see me in the days after drinking so I ignored them. With time it’s eased massively and now I just get the odd question about whether I’ll ever drink again.

I found it really easy to stop when I realised how bad alcohol made me feel (slept badly; woke up in the morning with extremely low mood; irritated my stomach). I went out last night with work folk; everyone but me was drinking. I had a bottle of sparkling water. Frankly, no-one gives a shit what you are drinking after a brief moment when you are ordering (really? just water? I make a joke: "yes, I'm the last of the big drinkers" everyone moves on).

I love a drink wine in the evening at the pub, Friday nights out with friends, sometime lunchtime a few wines. I’ve now developed a medical issue that means I can’t drink until after my surgery in 2 months and I went out on Friday, drank my water and everyone was so bloody annoying, and “stank” of beer and booze, all slurry and loud and just talking utter shite.

I think that may have been the same as getting the ick! To be fair I felt pretty disgusted and thought god sake that’s normally me!

I do think you kind of need a goal or a reason, as the feeling sick after isn’t working, are their weight or health goals that would motivate you to stop?

I’ve smoked on and off my whole life and quit after Christmas and im just baffled by my actions, why did I even think it was a good idea.. so I suspect I may feel the same after surgery and maybe not bother drinking again.

Partner has stopped drinking about 9 months ago and the knock on is I've naturally lessened my alcohol consumption.
Life is soooo much better not drinking! In every single way. Life feels easier to manage, there's a clarity you don't get when you drink (even small amounts), no anxiety etc. I don't think some people who drink regularly understand the impact on their mental health....I didn't for years!

I'm a former binge drinker. Last year I got pregnant and had to stop drinking cold turkey. I thought I'd really struggle but it was completely fine. There are so many good AF options and being around people who are drinking doesn't bother me, so I carried on socialising as normal. Now I have a baby to care for and I'm breastfeeding, I'm still largely off booze. I have the odd drink, but only ever one in a day, and because I'm limiting myself so much, I go for the nicest wine, so it's a drink to enjoy the taste, not to get drunk. Yesterday we went to a big social BBQ in the sun and I actually noticed that half of us were on the AF beer. More people are discretely switching to not drinking, it's definitely way more acceptable and normal now.

Give it a go, you may surprise yourself. I can't see me going back to the binge lifestyle now, mostly because I have a baby to care for, but also because I have no interest in it. In fact I cringe when I think about how lairy I was as recently as 12 months ago, and when photo memories from nights out pop up on my phone and I see the drunken glaze on my face, I have major ick about myself!

I have really cut down drinking. Like you I've just been wondering what the point is. Hangovers are shit but even a couple of beers or half a bottle of wine leaves me feeling really rubbish. It outweighs the enjoyment of drinking.