No alcohol for 10 days and no positive changes?

[Konstantine8364]

I had a very boozy December, Christmas and then a week skiing early Jan, so I thought I would have 2 weeks off drinking alcohol. Everyone bangs on about how much better they feel when they don't drink, but honestly at 10 days in I feel exactly the same. Was wondering if this is normal?! Am I being unreasonable and expecting too much after a short period?

I would usually drink on average around 3 bottles of wine a week, spread over 5 days. I don't drink mon and Tues to give my liver a rest.
I do a lot of exercise whether I drink or not and haven't noticed I have more energy. Skin exactly the same. Energy levels the same (although worth saying I am pretty high energy naturally, as is most of my family). I eat pretty healthily most of the time, mostly salads for lunch and mostly home cooked meals eg this week I've had veggie chilli and rice, seabass and stir-fry and cod with rice and asparagus and I don't have any digestives issues. I do eat out once or twice a week and would have whatever I fancy, but I don't eat cheap takeaways or fast food.
I know I should drink less, but I absolutely love wine and when I get no benefit from not drinking it makes it very hard not to!

I never do dry January or dry any month for that matter. It's boring yes, but also I find it stressful forcing myself to go without alcohol for so long and I think that stress is far worse for you than a glass of wine a few times a week. I get through a bottle and a half per week. I want to get it down to one bottle. I have tried forcing myself to go without for 2 days per week but find that just one small glass every night is what I need to get by, particularly after a stressful day at work. (NHS)

Very interesting hearing all the different perspectives and I actually feel better knowing other people don't seem to have any tangible benefits either. I'm 37 for the people who asked. I definitely don't want to give up drinking altogether at the moment, I enjoy it and as mentioned I don't really have any negative side affects (appreciate there are unseen benefits eg liver). I think I'll try and have more like 2 bottles a week instead of 3 when I pick up again. Ultimately I don't want to live to my 90s, I'd much prefer a fun life including wine and potentially die a bit younger!
Honestly I think the issue is wine rather than alcohol if that makes sense, I just adore the taste of good wine. If there was an alcohol free wine that tasted good, I could easily go sober. Other than alcohol, I pretty much drink water most of the time and orange juice at the weekend with breakfast. I don't like hot drinks so don't have caffeine, I have zero interest in beauty stuff it's all a chore to me, so none of the recommended swap your wine for a 'thing' are remotely appealing. I love chocolate/cakes etc but fairly sure those are just as bad for you as drinking, weight gain etc.
A lot of my friends are going through menopause or peri and are finding they need to massively reduce/give up drinking, so I'll just see what that brings, if I got awful hangovers or awful sleep or symptoms I think I'd be quick to massively cut down.

I don’t drink much now (I used to drink every single day), but I did go out with some friends about a year ago and had ONE large glass of wine and a meal. My watch measured stress (physical stress to body rather than mental stress) was insane compared to no drinking. I think that even if you don’t feel any difference your body does know.

Someone suggested kombucha to me, think you can get none alcohol and alcoholic, different flavours

I suppose if your health improves after stopping drinking what it really means is that the amount you were drinking before was enough to have a negative impact on your health. Stopping alcohol doesn't give you clear skin and more energy, it's drinking too much that gives you bad skin and low energy. Obviously no-one here can open you up and see what's happening inside your body, but it sounds like on the outside, there was no visible issues being caused by your drinking so there was nothing to go away when you stopped. 3 bottles of wine is 30 units so more than double the recommended amount, but everyone has different tolerances.

Giving up drinking is not going to make a big difference after 2 weeks. Longer term reducing your consumption to 2 bottles max from 3 is a good aim with 3 alcohol free days per week.

It is excessive. I was drinking around that much, had bloods taken and my Gamma GT (liver enzyme) came back raised (albeit not greatly). I was actually quite shocked and it caused me to knock drinking on the head altogether. I was also seeing other side effects such as sleep probs which helped with the decision.

My cousin drank about the same amount as the OP. Died last year in her 50s from liver disease. It’s not a pretty death.
Just because you can’t see what’s happening on the inside doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

I only ever noticed the benefit of not drinking once I got to 90-ish days.

I mean the benefits were there but it took my this long to truly notice and appreciate them. I mainly felt grumpy when I did Dry January etc.

On the upside after 90 days I felt so good I decided never to go back to drinking and have been AF for 4 years now.

To the lemony water poster: small cues like this that help you set your intentions and stack good habits are great. But your liver and kidneys are what clears your bloodstream and digestive system. You can’t cleanse these organs with lemony water, not even with the addition of cayenne pepper. Were that not the case, we’d have no need of dialysis units and organ transplants would we?

I stopped drinking a few years ago (I say stopped I have maybe 10 alcoholic drinks a year). I will have a drink when it adds a real enjoyment to an evening, sometimes that has been a glass of wine, others it has been three gin and tonics.

Big changes I saw were sleep quality within a month, skin improvements 3 months, memory 3 months, energy levels a month. I drank 2-3 bottles of wine a week previously.

It takes 3 months for your liver to recover minimum.

How old are you? I'm nearly 50 and now drinking even one glass makes me feel much more tired the next day. This didn't used to happen.

Ten days is nothing.

You are drinking exclusively and it will catch up with you.

@Coaly bless you. If it makes you feel good and you aren’t believing the bizarre claims that influencers spout then crack on.

I had two separate months off drinking last year and what I realised was that although I didn’t feel generally magically better for it, it was more the realisation that I feel worse when I do drink- not day to day but specifically that night and the following day as my sleep is much worse.

I have had a year off alcohol. I have lost some weight, sleep much better and have way more energy.

Returning to add - I’m 40, but went through early menopause due to cancer treatment shortly after DD was born. It’s not changed anything about how alcohol affects me, but I do know people who have noticed a lower tolerance. Funnily enough my mum went through the same thing (same cancer) and she has never noticed a difference either. She doesn’t drink to excess but does like a G&T on a Friday or a glass of wine with dinner. She’s in her 70s and other than the cancer in her 30s she’s in excellent health and looks younger than her age. I think some of it must be genetic so it doesn’t matter what you do.

I was having chemo over DD’s first Christmas and my consultant told me I could have a couple of glasses of champagne or a nice wine with dinner if I felt like it, because my liver was coping well with the chemo. I still exercised (running/cycling) as much as I could manage throughout, and I decided the odd glass of something I really enjoyed couldn’t possibly undo all the positive things I do. My liver results were still fine at the end of accelerated chemo (so a whack of it every two weeks rather than 3).

I’m not saying alcohol isn’t a toxin, of course it is we all know it is but I think sometimes on this site it is demonised to the point that anyone who enjoys wine and misses it when it’s cut out must be an alcoholic 😂 a couple of glasses of nice wine a week is no worse in my opinion than sitting on your arse all day and/or eating bad food.

10 days may not be long enough to feel the benefit. To be honest, it's a bit worrying that you're so raring for an excuse to get back on the booze...
3 bottles a week is about 27 units a week, so you are drinking double the recommended amount a week.

Drinking over double the recommended weekly units of alcohol is excessive.

I think the benefits of not drinking are a marathon not a sprint. I've never been much of a drinker, occasionally one or two social drinks, never at home, and haven't drunk at all for 6 years. Though I say it as shouldn't, I'm in better shape and health in my 50s than my peers who drink. I find it far easier to manage my weight, I don't carry belly fat, my skin is good, I sleep well and don't have niggly digestive issues that they seem to. I might just be lucky, I suppose, but there's research out there would suggest a link.
My point, expecting miracles after ten days is unrealistic. You might be too early in the game to be affected by alcohol anyway so there may be nothing yet to improve. However a long term commitment to very little or no alcohol will likely reward you later on in life.

I used to drink perhaps two bottles of wine a week, then around two years ago I dramatically cut back. I will drink maybe three small glasses every three weeks, when out with friends, as an average now. Frequently I will drink nothing for weeks. Those three glasses, when I do have them, make me feel WRETCHED!!! It seems very unfair, but actually I think my perimeters for 'feeling OK' have just shifted. Alcohol makes me feel like shite, and it always did. Being a very light drinker, mostly consistently, makes me feel significantly better.

Yeah, OP is not listening. She basically sounds very much like an early stage alcoholic and is making any excuse at all to get back to her precious alcohol because that's what addicts do.

If you are so desperate as to be gagging for alcohol and counting the days since your last precious drink, you're an alcoholic.

But you've decided you don't care and are absolutely determined not to hear anything that gets between you and the booze. So carry on.

And that's what she's admitting to. Heavy drinkers always (always always) underestimate the amount they really drink, and very rarely admit it to anyone, even themselves.

Absolutely! And quite a few with similar attitudes. Deluded.

I stopped for nearly a year and also didn’t notice anything different. The only thing I noticed was an increase in my like for chocolate!! I ate so much chocolate that year, and I found that much harder to give up!