How much do you need to drink to have a problem?

[lilacclaire]

I know there's a few threads already on this, please bear with me.

Drink about 20 units (or more) 2 or 3 times a week.
Can't stop once i've started until all drink is gone.
Always feel guilty and terrible the next day, my son has missed school 2 or 3 times as i've been too hungover to get him there, Im so ashamed to admit that.

I don't want to drink anymore.
I don't think im physically dependant, but it's definetly psychological.
Any advice anyone?
Im off to get ds ready for bed and shall return in a while.

If it's any help I have decided to try and control my wine drinking habit, mainly for health reasons, so worried that after drinking for 35 years my liver would be scarred but having had a non-invasive liver scan recently I was relieved to be told that my liver was healthy.Now I want to take control and be strong, I don't want alchohol to rule me, I don't want my liver to become damaged,I have been off the booze for 1 week now, although it's tough at certain times of the evening, I can do it with the help of my partner as he has'nt got a problem. Good luck.

Thanks, will definetly check out that website.
How on earth did we get here! 3 years ago I drank nothing!
Thanks for all the messages.

lila I am having a minor health scare at the mo it hs forced me to address this situation.It just starts off as a glass then whoof bloody bottle is empty.beaware well done on your abstinence,I think I am going to get my liver tested congrats on your achievement

I haven't actually achieved anything yet, not had a 'test' as its not every night, the next week should be interesting though.
A bottle of vodka a few times a week isn't really doing me any favours, I really need a contingency plan in place, will get one down in stone tommorow when im at work.
Good luck to you too and everyone else who's trying!

Lila, I just posted this on another thread- try a supplement called KUDZU!!! You get it at the healthfood store or buy online, a natural way to curb cravings for alcohol! There have been lots of studies on this herb for use with alcoholics. It helped me come off booze! I am now tee total. It also worked for my Dad (now AA). I never felt right about AA myself for some reason.
I decided I was sick of being embarrassed and doing foolish drink related things. I took that stuff and I'll be damned if it didn't reduce my desire to drink and eventually I was able to stop. All natural, no side effects!! Google it for alcohol!
Good luck Doll!

It's a problem when it's a problem. Andbeing too hungover to get DC to school is a problem. AA works for some people, not others, some people just stop drinking when they recognise that they have a major problem. Good luck.

Hi Lila,

Well done for admitting what is a very common problem.
AA is not for everyone. I come from a family that drinks a lot albeit responsibly.
After a few wild years for me I am now married and settled with children but realised that I drink more regularly than most other mums I know.
Becoming teetotal seemed just too big an ask for me personally so I embarked on a personal mission to control it.
The two main points of this I try hard to stick to are:

1. Drink only light beer (1 st drink each can) and
2. wait til DCs are in bed (7 ish).

I try to buy only 6 ata time and only have two cold in the fridge for each night. It doesn't always work that way and I have more when I'm out but I'm having much much less than I was before I attempted a change.
p.s, I was a spirit drinker before, you get used to the taste of beer and less guilt and is easier on you the next day.
Best of luck with whatever you choose.

Kudzu will help you control it, you have one or two glasses of wine and then you just don't really feel like more. I can't explain it! I used to carry on and just couldn't stop before. Kudzu rocks, I highly recommend trying it. I could have kept on that way, by keeping drinking under control by taking kudzu supplements, just decided for me, quitting was best. My DH n I used to recall embarrassing things we did n thought 'don't want to keep being like that n waking up feeling like such a bunch of jackasses'

Goodtime, am very happy to hear of kudzu, will definitely be checking it out.

Eating dinner is the best way I've found to kill the desire to keep drinking.

Where do you buy this Kudzu, would Holland and Barrett do, quality good enough etc?

Lilac

Give AA a go.

I have to be honest with you - though of course it is only my opinion;

1. Yes, 60 units a week is fucking LOADS.

2. As other people have said, the quantity is a bit of a red herring anyway. How is it affecting your life? By the sounds of it, the answer to that is, it is lousing it up.

3. "Can't stop once i've started until all drink is gone" - TEXTBOOK definition of problem drinking.

4. Don't be scared of AA meetings - the biggest shock for most people who venture in is how normal and happy (and often laughing!) everyone looks.

5. The major problem with anything like kudzu, antabuse etc is not that it doesn't work - I understand they both do exactly what they set out to do - but whether, if you have a problem with drink (see above) you will take them. Paracetamol is an excellent painkiller - but it doesn't work if you leave it in the box. Can you rely on yourself, for the rest of your life, to take your medicine religiously? Or do you think a change in you might be more effective when temptation looms? If so, maybe AA is for you.

6. Lastly, a week of booze is great for your physical health. But please don't kid yourself it means anything at all in terms of "beating" booze. I haven't drunk for seven years and am exceptionally happy about that fact. I know, as surely as I know that boiling water on skin hurts, that if I drank again I would not be able to control it any more than I could seven years ago.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

MIFLAW - agree with the periods without alcohol. My uncle has been dry for 30 years and still describes himself as an alcoholic as he can't control his drinking. For some time before he quite he used to go for 3 months without drinking and then drink for 9 months and that proved to him that he didn't have a drink problem because a real alcoholic wouldn't be able to give up.

MIFLAW - fantastic advice.

Lilacclaire - Hope your getting on ok.