1000 is not enough, 1 is too many

[ChristmassyCheers]

I'm drinking too much. Every night, it makes me feel good, I'm not trying to escape anything. Can I go to the GP and ask for help and would they be obliged to put it on my record? AIBU to ask for help? I just want to stop drinking as I know it's bad for me, and expensive.
I need tools to help, has anyone got a suggestion, I'm desparate

You GP would need to record the conversation in your medical notes. But these are private so unless you work somewhere that can access you medical notes (I know you need to to get a working at sea license) then it being written down shouldn’t be a problem.

How much are you drinking? Have you kept an alcohol diary to really face up to your problem?

Going to the GP is a great starting point.

@JamesWebbSpaceTelescope i have wine every night. About half to 3/4 a bottle
I'm scared to go. I need to try here to see if anyone has tools to help me to see if I can do it without going to GP

Alcoholics Anonymous- best help, support, understanding. No shame or guilt or bullshit.

Everyone there is going through the same experience.

Best wishes op. Addiction free life whatever is the soother, is absolutely the best life.

Find an AA meeting. Unless you live somewhere remote, there'll be one near you this evening.

Come over to the support chats on here - under Health, Alcohol Support.

There are 2 groups I can name in RL that can help - AA obviously and SMART.

I read a good book by Katie Herzog recently about The Sinclair Method- may be helpful.

I actually don’t think that’s a huge amount. I used to drink a bottle of wine almost every night (I tried to force myself to have an alcohol free night a week). I was secretly convinced that I was a functioning alcoholic and then I just stopped.

I’m not teetotal, I have a drink when I fancy and more often than not I only have the one. Having been the last person to stop drinking at parties I’m often the first person or even the designated driver!

I think you can access AA meetings online too

Please don't dress it up @LoveSandbanks - that is a significant amount. The UK medically recommended allowance is around 6 medium glasses of wine a week . a WEEK. And with two or three days alcohol free in between.

That's the medical profession speaking, not anecdotal findings from those who like to rationalise wine away as some sort of invisible calories and nil health impact.

Fair play to you reaching out. An amazing first step.

Definitely AA. But, need to ask. Do you feel bored without a drink? That can be the killer, it's just something to do, becomes routine. Something to break the habit could be amazing for you.

If the OP travels abroad, going to the GP for anything at all, can mess up insurance, esp alcoholism, would make getting travel ins very difficult.

What would the GP actually do? nothing, they wouldn;'t refer to the NHS at those levels of drinking but even if they did, could months before getting help.

Best thing is to contact AA and seek their help or Drinkaware.

Try recording your intake on an app such as Try Dry. I use this and it really did help me to drastically reduce my alcohol intake. Mine used to be very similar to yours. Recording it and seeing it there in black and white really made me be honest with myself. You can set goals within the app (such as x low risk weeks, x alcohol free days and so on). A year later and my alcohol intake is a fraction of what it used to be. Good luck xx

AA would be more useful than the GP. Please do something, though, OP. That is the kind of amount and situation that can have a seriously detrimental effect on your health, relationships, work and all of life.

I think many of us can say we have been there at some point or another in our lives.

Having one glass with dinner is considered acceptable but it depends how big your glass is.

Do you need to drink every night. Can you actually do a couple of nights with nothing? Is it a habit youve slowly fallen into. I.e having one when making/eating dinner and then gradually having another one and another one.

Do you feel groggy in the morning, is it impacting work, do you sleep ok?

There are lots of online resources to help, Forums to chat with people in similar circumstamces.

Actually, you’re completely right. It definitely wasn’t a healthy amount to drink and when I look back at photos I looked awful. My face was puffy and bloated.

I think what I meant to say was that it was still possible to cut down. I did have to get into
the right place, mentally, tho and that took a long time. Perhaps I should have sought help, but we’ll never know.

If the GP is concerned that your drinking may affect your driving, they will report you to the DVLA and you will lose your licence until they deem you fit to drive. It can be a long process to get it back. Just something to think about.

This.
Don't go to the GP. Go to a few AA meetings (they are all slightly different, depending on who else is there, so try some different ones if you don't like the first one you go to).

Yes to this, not necessarily due to drinking and driving but if they are worried you could be over the limit the next day if you're out early and driving - there are some horror stories out there. And if you have kids they may do a check with social services. Not saying this to scare you but it could happen. I realise it's AA for a reason ie the anonymous bit.

I think you can do this without the GP tbh, in fact I’m not entirely sure what the GP would do, probably prescribe bloody antidepressants as that seems to the the go to for everything at the moment. Never mind if you actually need them. That said, is there a root cause which might need treated, you say you are not looking to escape but sometimes the cause isn’t clear until much later. I stopped over 10 years ago and I was 2 years sober before I realised why I drank. I did it without the GP, I just woke up one day and decided to stop, I have no idea how but I just did it. It was hard at first and I was quite unwell the first couple of weeks but after that it just became quite normal. I have only had a couple of times in the sober period where I have really wanted to drink but I found a distraction and made it work. It can be had but the change in me is incredible since.

Well done for recognising this OP! Thats a brilliant first step. The fact you are using it everyday to feel good means, regardless of amount, it has become a crutch. As other PP have said it sounds like an AA meeting would be really helpful for you.

Thank you everyone! I will try to do these suggestions. Perhaps forgetting the GP as yes, probably not a lot they can do!!

This seems like it will put a lot of people off seeking help?

Might be no use at all but equally might help someone even if not you OP. Are you significantly overweight? Mounjaro absolutely wiped out any attraction alcohol held for me. I understand it's not unusual to have that as a side effect of WLI. Obviously no use if you would not qualify for/benefit from the licenced indication.

Could you try going to AA? You can just find one of the thousands of meetings that are held day and night. It's free, you just give a small donation of your choice towards tea/coffee/room hire.

You don't have to say anything at all. Just being in the room and listening to others you'll see you're not alone in your struggle with drinking.

Most AA meetings now are very secular and don't expect you to believe in 'god' in the traditional sense.

Yep, I went through a stage of drinking a bit too much - similar amounts to the OP probably - and it was basically because it was something to do to make domestic drudgery (that I felt I was doing an awful lot of), a bit more interesting. I kicked the habit by figuring out a circuit training routine I could do at home and doing it virtually every night once the kids had gone to bed. It just worked for me and I still do it now.