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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to enjoy wine every night?

218 replies

barnsleybelle · 25/07/2009 17:49

Been to a football gala today with ds and got involved in a discussion about drinking.
I probably drink at least 2 glasses of wine every night. Sometimes half bottle sometimes full.
DH works away so my nights when dcs are in bed are my time. I look forward to my wine.
Anyway equal amounts of mums at the gala either agreed with me or were horrified.
What's the general opinion on here i wonder???

OP posts:

expatinscotland · 29/07/2009 21:16

hope no one here's been in a sun bed. apparently those are as bad as fags.

MrsMattie · 29/07/2009 21:19

I couldn't drink every night.

I have periods (usually over the summer or on holiday) when I drink wine maybe 4 or 5 nights out of 7. I cannot keep it up for very long, as I start to feel tired, suffer with low level depression and get grotty skin.

My sensible limit - which I stick to most of the time - is to have a couple of glasses 2 or 3 nights a week max. Occasionally, I do go out and get bladdered and feel horrendous for days after, which is stupid. Reminds me that alcohol is a poison in large quantities, though!

daftpunk · 29/07/2009 21:22

i could drink 2 glasses of wine everynight...i'd love it!....but i don't.

horsemadmum · 29/07/2009 22:19

Have now read all the posts, i must be an alcohlic. However on the plus side, i have been pregnant for 2 of the last 3 yrs and breast feeding for a large period in between, therefore my liver has had plently of time to recover.. this means that i can afford to abuse it for a little longer.However, this is my last pregnancy, so will have to consider my lifestyle in the future.
PS Did you know that your liver is the only organ in the human body that can regenerate and repair itself !!!!!!! xx

Snorbs · 29/07/2009 23:15

The liver can indeed put up with an astonishing amount of abuse right up until the moment that it can't any more. And then you either get a transplant (and quickly) or you die.

Original poster

barnsleybelle · 29/07/2009 23:50

Hi all, Only just caught up with the thread. Thanks for all input... Had no wine for 2 nights now on a row as the guidelines say and plan on sticking with that from now on.

I still say however, that i enjoy a few wines on a night, taking into account that my lifestyle otherwise is very very healthy i still feel content and happy to pour a glass for the other 5 nights!!!!

OP posts:

alypaly · 30/07/2009 00:10

barnsleybelle
Why does it have to be alcohol,is it just a habit or do you genuinely want or crave a drink?
I used to have 2 small glasses at night and then i went on hols for big birthday and celebrated for 2 days and came home with pancreatitis. I thought you had to be an alcoholic to get that but apparently some people are more succeptible than others.
Believe me you dont want the excrutiating pain of pancreatitis...its devastating.............

SolidGoldBrass · 30/07/2009 01:08

Alypaly: why sholdn't it be alcohol that she chooses to enjoy? Just about everything carries some degree of risk, after all, and the OP has given no indication that her drinking is causing her to abuse her family, neglect her work commitments or spend more than she can afford.

MIFLAW · 30/07/2009 09:29

"I was only having a glass of wine each night" - if that really is true then there's your answer. People who "feel great" when they pack up drinking normally feel great because they were drinking absolutely shedloads and so really notice the difference. I don't think one drink a night is going to give you that "back from the gates of hell" buzz that some of us enjoy ...

Don't get me wrong, it'll still do you favours on the health front to drink less, but it might seem for a while like it's a sacrifice with no obvious payback.

MIFLAW · 30/07/2009 09:34

"Reminds me that alcohol is a poison in large quantities, though!" It's a poison in ANY quantity. That's why signs over pub doors refer to it as "inTOXICating liquor".

Most people are fine on it, of course, and the benefits for them far outweigh the risk.

But let's at least try to keep the discussion factually accurate, eh?

MIFLAW · 30/07/2009 09:39

"why sholdn't it be alcohol that she chooses to enjoy?"

A generous interpretation of the OP is that she's drinking 32 units a week (one night full bottle, one night half bottle, five nights two small pub measures = third of a bottle). An unkind interpretation could double that. For a woman (or indeed a man) that is heavy drinking.

No reason at all why she shouldn't drink that much, as long as she's happy being a heavy drinker. If she's not, then the advice to seek an alternative seems like very good advice indeed.

MIFLAW · 30/07/2009 09:39

Will shut up now, sorry.

8oreighty · 30/07/2009 10:04

had a small whisky last night anyway, sick of mundane chores and wanted to relax quickly and it felt great...so there you are. I do only drink one glass a night if that...but I also agree that might be too much, I'm quite small, and it does give me a buzz, and feeling slightly pissed every night is prob not very healthy...

MIFLAW · 30/07/2009 10:14

Sorry - hope I didn't imply that's too much! That wasn't what I meant at all.

What I meant was that, from a purely health point of view (liver, heart, brain etc) less is better - there is a bit of debate about whether a microscopic amount a week is better than nothing at all, but as a general rule that is the case.

But in order to actually FEEL better, ie wake up punching the air before dashing off for a shave with a Gilette and then skipping to work - the people who benefit most are those who were drinking regularly and probably fairly heavily and, without realising it, had a permanent low-level hangover. One drink a night won't do that (unless you're 10) so stopping that one drink a night won't create that particular benefit.

alypaly · 30/07/2009 14:49

Why does alcohol have such a fascination? dont get me wrong, I enjoy a glass of wine with a nice meal or cheese and biccys.........but if you could find a drink that tasted the same without the alcohol,wud u drink it or not

8oreighty · 30/07/2009 15:32

nope like feeling the buzz! It relaxes me and everything seems a bit nicer.

alypaly · 30/07/2009 17:01

seriously, does one whisky really give you a buzz..........wish i cud have been that lucky when i was younger..

j2xu · 07/08/2009 16:08

Hope you all accept the following for what it is: information. Not a judgement.
I was 15 when I started drinking and I enjoyed drinking for 15 years. The final 5 years were a complete nightmare for everybody associated with me.
I was then abstinent for some 20 years and 5 years ago I started drinking again, in a more controlled way.
(For those of you who are interested in such things, that makes me about 55 years old. Male, if it matters)
For the last five years I have been employed by an agency assisting people with drug and alcohol problems and for the latest 18 months I have been assisting people referred to me by the police. These people have been arrested and alcohol was a factor in the incident. The clients vary from a young lady aged 15, arrested for public disorder, to a gentleman in his 70's, arrested for drink drive. Lot of doom and gloom, destruction and death in between.
Random bits of information:
In England it is illegal to be drunk in charge of a child under 7 years old. (Six years old in Scotland).
If you have a drink and remain below the legal drink drive limit (and that is a very small drink indeed) you are twice as likely to have an accident. This rises to five times as likely to have an accident if you are an inexperienced driver (young or just passed your test).
Three bottles of wine has roughly the same number of alcohol units as a bottle of spirits, vodka, whisky etc. You may feel comfortable about saying that you drink half a bottle of wine per day (roughly two glasses at home) but would you be as happy admitting that you drink more than a bottle of whisky each week?
Alcohol is toxic. Your liver removes one unit per hour from your blood stream and during that time you are over working your liver. The more units you put in, the longer you are marinating your internal organs in alcohol and the longer you are over working your liver.
No one who drinks is an alcoholic because we all know that an alcoholic is that dirty bloke with a greasy coat in the local park drinking out of a brown paper bag. Well that bloke wasn't born drinking out of a brown paper bag, at one time in his life he was drinking less than you do now.
All I ask is that you think and take responsible decisions based on solid information, don't kid yourself.
I drink, I have the odd bottle of wine now and again, on all other days I have a bottle of wine that is not odd at all.
Take care of yourselves, think of your parents, your children and your loved ones. Alcohol should enhance an occasion. When alcohol is the driving force perhaps you should stop and think.

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