Am I an alcoholic

[mabel12345]

As in the title. I worry I’m a high functioning alcoholic?? I am a 32 year old mum of a 2.5 year old. I have a husband, dog, I work part time, I am constantly a bit stressed as I’m sure every mum is to a point. Work, cleaning, cooking, sorting, organising. To wind down I drink 2 ciders or few glasses of wine. I do it pretty much every evening when I’m cooking dinner and my partner is giving our child a bath. I love this time so much, it takes the stress away, I’m on my own, unwinding and improving my mood. I never get drunk just generally feel a little bit better. I recently caught myself thinking about it during the day, just waiting for 6pm to have a glass of wine. It doesn’t affect my life in a negative way in terms of sleep, getting up early or anything really but overall not good for my health I’m sure. Please give me your thoughts! I hope I’m not the only one.

Yep but I think a lot of people are tbh .

Why not just stop for a week and see how you feel?

If you are dependant you are a FA .

I think it's quite a lot if you are drinking every night. Could you cut back so that you have a few alcohol free nights each week, maybe a drink every second night?

I’m sure many people are the same. The trouble is, you are creating a very powerful association of alcohol with “me time”, relaxing, a treat after the day. And in my experience it’s that which becomes difficult to break. I mean, it’s less about the amount of alcohol and what damage it’s doing, and more that you may begin to find you don’t relax, or feel treated without it. For that reason, I’d try to limit it to a couple of times a week.

You probably are not an alcoholic but that is too much alcohol. Do a dry month and see how much it has been affecting you (or not).

No. Just drinking regularly or every day does not make you an alcoholic. It's not a healthy path to be on, but in itself, it doesn't make you an alcoholic. This is Mumsnet, and you're an alcoholic if you have one bottle of wine a week.

Like a PP has said, trying cutting down - maybe just having a glass of wine once or twice week instead of every night.

I'm not sure I buy into the binary concept whereby one is either an alcoholic or they aren't. So can't say whether you are an "alcoholic" as such.
Alcohol is a great social lubricant and in the short term can feel therapeutic and aid relaxation. However it is highly addictive and my worry is that by having it habitually every night in the same way, your brain is forming a powerful neural link pathway which links the feeling of relaxing at the end of a busy day with the concept of the drink itself. That is not great to be honest and the longer it goes on for, the harder it will be to overcome that link, and in time you may find yourself needing more and more drinks to capture that initial feeling of calm/ bliss/ whatever it is. A slippery slope for many.
I suspect your experience is common, but that doesn't mean it's right and in your shoes I would be trying to break his now by having a spell alcohol free or limiting your drinking to perhaps one night at the weekend.

You can be an alcoholic on that level of consumption. However, that's not the relevant issue for you. For you it's that you are either dependent on alcohol or are developing a dependency. You would benefit from making sure you have frequent alcohol-free nights. How would you feel about skipping booze say on Monday and Wednesday nights and see how that goes? If that's not a problem then maybe have an extra alcohol-free night every other week.

Ahh, I see CardinalCat posted along similar lines to me while I was writing my post.

That seems far too much for an average woman, especially every night. You might be functioning well but I'd be concerned about other health risks like cancer and obesity. I have cut my alcohol right down as I've had 4 relatives diagnosed with cancer in the past few years. It is a known risk factor.

One can be an alcoholic drinking a lot less - it's the need for it that matters. I know in the normal course of the week I drink too much. So I regularly go off it - at the moment no alcohol for Lent. The first week is the hardest as it's a habit. Then I just stop thinking about it. The last few days I really look forward to that first glass! But I think because I can stop for several weeks and don't feel a real need/craving for it that's the difference.
Try going dry completely first and week or two.

Are you drinking because you want to enjoy the taste of the alcohol or because you need what the alcohol gives you?

I have had alcohol issues in the past. I could close to alcoholism but usually stay on the right side of the line. Warning signs for me are needing a drink not wanting it. Drink being the solution to everything. Good day have a drink. Bad day have a drink. It's sunny have a drink. It's raining have a drink and feeling like a should, and probably most of the time do, lie by omission or deliberately about the amount or frequency of my drinking.

How are you generally? I have a mental health condition and nearly every time I have a problem with alcohol it's because my mental health is poor again

It really comes down to whether you could stop. Could you go a week without touching alcohol? If the answer is no then you obviously have a bit of a problem.

Sounds a lot if you add it up over a week/month/year. Sounds more like habit but it wouldnt take much more to start becoming worse.

Not alcoholic but dependent on alcohol. No one should drink daily imo.

I think there's often a lot of unnecessary morality tied up in the way people respond to this.

Yes it's a lot.

If it's not causing you problems (tiredness/mood changes etc) and it's not gradually creeping up, then you just need to be aware of the health risks and decide if that is a worthwhile trade off for you.