how much did you drink......

[DannyD]

I used to do the sums in my head. Didn't stop me. I could always find the money for another bottle when I wanted one.

[Finley]

Same here Danny - for both drink and fags Even crazier when I think that one of my biggest worries (which I tried to blot out through drink) was about my finances Still is actually, but at least I'm not wasting a fortune while poisoning myself on a regular basis into the bargain..

[Topcat]

Isn't it stupid what we were prepared to spend on booze and fags? Weird thing is, when I stopped smoking, I spent the money saved on extra booze Then I quit the alcohol and, rather than spend the savings (2 lots by then as it was fag money as well) on myself as a reward, I felt GUILTY spending it on myself and agonised about it. What was that all about for heaven's sake?

I'm pleased to say I've overcome the guilt issue now and do spend money on myself. Took a while though.

[DannyD]

Ah. Giving yourself permission. That's a whole new discussion.

[foxfeet]

I am not sure iI can even be truthful to myself about how much I really drank...let alone others. When i think about what i could have done with the money or the opportunities I missed it makes me pretty depressed. But then realistically I was never going to stop untill the point where i "had" to and the opportunities were ones I was never going to be able to take so its best to look towards the future.

[Dacha]

At its worst I would drink a bottle of red every weeknight and then around 3 bottles over the course of the weekend. This all meant that my performance at work, whilst being ok, was pretty lethargic and of course it was a pretty expensive habit to keep up.

I'd cut it down dramatically from there to maybe an average of 3 bottles a week or less but then just before Christmas I had a stupid binge of 2 and a half bottles in a night which must have damaged things a bit too much as I was ill for a whole week and had to take the following week off work.

In 2016 on wards I now try to have at least 3 AF days a week (working well so far) and probably average 1-2 bottles of wine a week, and am looking to cut this down further. It's a long struggle, but I'm feeling more confident about it than ever before, and places like this really help. A lot of the stories seem very familiar.

Weeks like this one, where the sun is shining and spring is starting nicely, it's amazing going to bed sober with a clear head and then waking up in the morning feeling fresh and sober too. It’s definitely a cause worth fighting hard for.

[Ed]

For about a year I was drinking about 100 units a week. Most of my drinking career has been 1 day on and 2 days off. Roughly a bottle to a bottle and a half of wine....or 4 to 5 pints of beer. 30 to 40 units a week I would say during periods of drinking. I have kept an online diary for the past 8 years and know pretty much exactly how much I have drunk in that time. On average its about 10 units a week...but that includes periods of sobriety.

[TheTrojan]

The last three weeks before I came to work (end Sept to mid October) when the wife walked out, two bottles of wine in the morning post 10:00am then a bottle of vodka early afternoon through to evening. Finally saw sense a few days before I was due to travel and somehow got myself into a fit enough condition to fly. Hence the teetotal, total abstinence vow.

Typically during my 35 days off, 26 to 30 bottles of vodka, probably a dozen to fifteen bottles of wine. Not unusual for me to drink a bottle of vodka at night while watching a movie & general TV, cook myself some food then hit the sack.

[Daisy1066]

Hi all
I wanted to ask your advice. I recently went on holiday with my friend for 4 nights. She is morbidly obese and doesn’t seem to be very healthy, out of breath, unable to walk for long periods. During the 4 days she managed to get through 5 bottles of vodka and 3 bottles of wine. She drank from 11am (from what I saw) until 8pm on 2 nights as she then went to bed early and from 11am till midnight the other two nights. She also admitted waking up in the night to eat toast at around 2am and said this was normal for her but a recent change to her routine. She said her body wakes her up because she only needs
5 hours sleep a night. My suspicion is that she drinks at 2am as well as eats. I’m really worried about her and wonder how she manages to work on this amount of alcohol. Would she need to detox before going to work or would she b able to sober up by herself without DTs before working 1 day after we got back from holiday? How long can she sustain his level of drinking before her career is effected? It has made me look at my own drinking behaviour and I am definitely going to cut down. Any advice would be much appreciated
.

[SueDenim]

My advice would be to suggest that your friend sees her doctor ASAP, if this level of drinking has been going on for any length of time.

I have no medical training, so am not in a position to give qualified advice; but I doubt if it would be easy to stop drinking at this level without symptoms, and as I'm sure you know, at times those symptoms can be dangerous.

How it will affect her work will depend on a number of things, including what she does for a living, and whether or not this is normal behaviour for her, or 'just' a holiday thing. Has a doctor told her that she is morbidly obese, or is this your diagnosis of her weight and state of health?

Honestly, I think that the best thing you can do is encourage her to get help, as only she will know the full extent of what is going on, and you could possibly do more harm than good if you don't have all of the information.

[Daisy1066]

Her doctor has told her that she is morbidly obese and as a result she will not go back unless she is very poorly. She has a very painful knee which has caused her to be immobile for a few days but won’t go to the doctors because she says they will blame her weight and she doesn’t need to be told when she already knows this.

I am not sure if it’s a holiday thing or if she drinks at this level all the time but she did say she has been drinking excessively lately so I’m assuming it’s a regular occurrence. She works in a police call centre so I know she worries about her drinking habits while working in this environment (not sure if she drinks at work) but not sure how she’s manage a shift without withdrawals if she is used to his level of alcohol daily.

She’s a lovely soul but I don’t want to question her to much because she closes up or becomes defensive and I’d rather her feel that she at least has me to talk confide in, so don’t want to alienate her and am trying to be supportive.

[SueDenim]

Her doctor has told her that she is morbidly obese and as a result she will not go back unless she is very poorly. She has a very painful knee which has caused her to be immobile for a few days but won’t go to the doctors because she says they will blame her weight and she doesn’t need to be told when she already knows this.

This suggests to me that she is unlikely to go to the doctor to be told that she is drinking too much, which she must know if she is drinking the number of units you describe.

I am not sure if it’s a holiday thing or if she drinks at this level all the time but she did say she has been drinking excessively lately . . . I don’t want to question her to much because she closes up or becomes defensive and I’d rather her feel that she at least has me to talk confide in, so don’t want to alienate her and am trying to be supportive.

Do you drink much yourself? If so, you could maybe bring up the subject that way, and say that you are thinking of cutting down and would she be interested in supporting you by doing it together? That way, she wouldn't feel judged, and it might encourage her to open up to you.

FWIW, my guess is that if you know she drank to those levels when you were away, there was probably more that you didn't see. When I was drinking and went away with friends I would drink the same as they did when we were together, but make sure that I had a stash in my room that I could drink in private, and I wasn't drinking to anywhere near those levels.

Unfortunately, there's not much you can do unless your friend is keen to give up for herself. No amount of nagging or concern will get through until then, I'm afraid.

[Daisy1066]

I did drink to much over the four days. I drank 2 days out of four one day on one day off but over the 2 days I had a bottle of wine which I mixed with lemonade and 3/4 of a bottle of vodka. I started at 2pm the first day and finished at 11pm and similar timings the third day.

I felt awful as I’d normally drink once a week on a Friday, but I am a binge drinker and even though I drink once a week I seem to not want to stop once I start. I’m so aware that it’s a slippery slope and want to make sure I have control over it and can moderate the amount I drink so have deceived to try and cut down from 1/2 bottle of vodka to no more then 2 glasses of wine. Ditching the vodka completely as it get me drunk very quickly which makes me not care about the amount I’m drinking of that makes sense. Hopefully on wine I’ll drink it slower and be more mindful. I’m hoping g to have a few weeks completely dry before this though.

I will take your advice and mention that I’m cutting down and not touching spirits and see if this is something she wants to do together, but I do fear that she’ll continue until she’s ready to stop.

This is a great site and has really made me think about where I am with my drinking as well as my fiends. Thanks for the advice

[Bluebottle]

At my worst I was drinking a bottle of wine (sometimes more) about 6 days a week. More recently I've been trying to moderate so I limited myself to 3 to 4 bottles of wine a week ie a bottle of wine every other day but I often went over this limit.

Ruby