Has anyone suddenly "gone off" alcohol

[LoftyMintCat]

Hi, this may sound strange or perhaps not, but this year for some reason I have totally gone off alcohol. I'm 39, and usually would enjoy a bottle of prosecco over a weekend, or a couple of glasses of wine once Friday eve came, even looking forward to it to destress after a busy week. However, I would say since last Xmas I've totally gone off it. Its really odd, I can still fancy it, especially in the hot weather we recently had, even went to the shop specially 🤣 to pick some up, got home, poured a glass, had a sip, didn't want it. This is how I've been all year, when I've been out to a pub, not one alcohol beverage took my fancy, and I ordered a lemon flavoured cocktail in the end to shut everyone else up. Anyone else gone through this, like even earlier on today I thought I'll have a glass, but then here I am writing this, only after I got curious, googled and the only hits I can see about going off alcohol is advice on withdrawal if you have an alcohol addiction. I'm just curious really, is there something wrong with me 😅.

I hear you so curious to follow this post.

Yep! Prior to menopause I was a very enthusiastic consumer of alcohol. Last year I took a break to try and lose some of the meno weight and it's like a switch has flipped. Just can't be bothered with the thought of it. Haven't had anything to drink since June 2024. I like posh cordial in the house, or if I am out I will have a gingerbeer, or a 0% gin and tonic or a Becks Blue. Don't miss it!

I went straight off it at 53 and have been teetotal for 10 years Even a sniff makes me want to throw up.
I have no idea why.

typical perimenopause and menopause symptom.

Not off it altogether but I used to love whiskey and now think it’s rotten. Some cocktails I would have gone for are now too sweet and too expensive and Prosecco bloats me. Red wine can cause night sweats. I do a dry month here and there and don’t really miss it. I think this is normal in your early 40s?

Me — I used to have a glass or two most nights, and even worried I drank too much. Am perimenopausal and on HRT, and in the last few months I’ve just gone right off it. Even when I have a glass it just doesn’t seem to taste nice, and I rarely finish the glass. Sometimes it even brings on a hot flush or nausea quite quickly and I feel unpleasantly woozy rather than relaxed.

I’m a bit pissed off about it to be honest, as I have few other small pleasures in life, and a nice glass of wine with dinner was one thing I actually enjoyed! I’ve heard that it gets better again after menopause, but I don’t know if that’s true.

I went off it too OP. It triggers a hot flush and headaches nowadays. I used to love the occasional drink.

I went off it before I knew I was pregnant

Yep. Looking back, I think I may have been in the start of perimenopause. My tolerance just disappeared, even half a glass of my favourite red, would make me feel terrible and I'd have to have a lie down.

6 years now for me so not interested anymore but did miss it at first.

I used to be able to drink like a rugby player in my late teens and 20s, through becoming a parent on my rare nights out, right up until I was about 34. I was absolutely convinced that anyone who said ‘you just can’t drink in the same way when you’re older’ or ‘you just lose the taste for it’ was lying.

At nearly 40 I a) have a three day anxiety and heartburn hangover after two glasses of wine 😄and b) just don’t get a ‘buzz’ or enjoy the taste much any more. So I very rarely drink - a half of cider or beer on a hot day in a pub garden (but often a 0% one instead) or a glass of fizz at a wedding. I don’t miss it at all!

Yep. Used to enjoy lots of different drinks from Baileys to a margarita. Now two glasses of NZ sauvignon blanc and I'm done, the third irritating my bladder, gut and head. I had two glasses last week at lunch. Poured a gin and tonic in the evening and couldn't drink it.

I went right off it both times I was pregnant. Coffee too. Unfortunately my taste for alcohol came back. Coffee didn't.

Me too it tasted of salt. I poured it away, tried another bottle, same result.

I initially went off alcohol when I developed a distorted sense of smell after a bad sinus infection. Alcohol tasted horrific. By the time my sense of smell recovered, over a year later, I had a newborn and didn't fancy drinking. I remember having 2 glasses of wine one night and feeling like death the next day and thinking it wasn't worth it. Add to that my mother is an alcoholic, and her addiction has ramped up in the last 10 years....it's enough to put anyone off drinking. I made a conscious decision to stop drinking when I was 38. Family pressured me to have a glass of bubbles on my 40th, which I very much did not enjoy. 5 years later I have not touched another drop, and do not miss it. I actually can't stand the smell of it any more, so I wonder if that aspect is peri-related.

Almost every woman I know, including me, went off alcohol as they started perimenopause. It is most likely the same for you. Have you noticed anything else?

I used to enjoy half a bottle of wine with a relative who comes over once a week and cooks a meal. There are 6 units in a bottle of wine - so thats 3 glasses once a week. No big deal. However I began to feel lousy the day afterwards and have since been diagnosed with a liver complaint. Ive never been a big drinker - the liver is due to an autoimmune imbalance. I gave up alcohol overnight and do feel a lot better for it. We now have a nonn alcoholic drink instead,

Yep. Used to be an enthusiastic drinker but generally feel it’s not worth it as the after effects are too great - anxiety, headaches etc. I now limit myself to a very i
occasional drink. Partly changed when I had kids but really is a perimenopause thing.

As a student I packed away a bottle of white wine, no problem. Then I got a job that restricted how I drink (0% alcohol in my blood whilst on shift and spot testing), then I got pregnant, once, and I couldn’t do that anymore! Got into pints because wine started giving me heartburn! Now 47, and rarely go to the pub (cost of living crisis) and can’t be arsed to haul a four pack in my shopping home from the supermarket for some reason. I am genuinely am not bothered anymore. I am peri too.

its been fairly common for women I know to have gone off alcohol during perimenopause. Either the6 just couldn’t tolerate it anymore, like a glass of wine would trigger a really epic hangover or just went off the taste. Most of them have got over it to a certain extent after a while.

Perimenapause put me right off alcohol.

Another similar story here, was a proper binge drinker in my late teens to probably about 30, nothing for weeks and then 10 drinks on a night out.
Reduced the frequency over the next 10 years because I was finding the hangovers were getting worse/my tolerance had decreased.
I’m 40 now and rarely fancy a drink, if I have one it’s either a glass of red wine or a vodka soda with fresh lime (not cordial). And it’s one glass of really good wine that I enjoy or 2 vodkas, both drunk alongside plenty of water! So although I still enjoy an occasional drink from time to time it’s rare that I fancy one. Dh still drinks at the weekend but unless we’re out somewhere and I want one I don’t partake.
the hangovers and hanxiety were crippling me and I now have swimming and other exercise classes booked in over weekend mornings which I look forward to more than wanting a drink the night before.

I always enjoyed a drink (a couple a few times a week) until the menopause. I stopped enjoying the taste and it started to make me feel so rotten the next day that I gave it up for a while. Everything felt better from my energy levels, getting up in the morning, no more swollen joints, less aches and pains, lost the bit of weight I needed to and my skin, hair and nails were all better.

I'd always thought that I'd give up drink because of the worry of what it was doing to my health. I actually gave it up because of the positive effects of not drinking. Not sure that makes sense, but I know what it means.

It was like I no longer got on with an old friend. I have happy memories, but know I'll never get back in touch.

It was long covid that did it for me - couldn’t tolerate it

I find myself warming to it the older I get. As my late father used to say, "It's a good friend but a terrible enemy". Never get drunk, though, & dislike being around drunken people.

used to love making and drinking cocktails. Now in my seventies, havent enjoyed alcohol for years. I will occasionally have a sip from my partners wine glass; but even then i dont usually like it. the only downside is that many lose weight cutting out alcohol, but I have none to cut out.