Alcohol Problem?

Lucky7

Lucky7
Last weeks syns were fairly typical. 6 on food related items. 75 on whisky related items.

Just been on the AA website and did their questionnnaire. It says...

Did you answer YES four times or more? If so, you are probably in trouble with alcohol. Why do we say this? Because thousands of people in A.A. have said so for many years. They found out the truth about themselves — the hard way.

I answered yes to 8 of their questions, and am still uncertain. It's not like I'm pissed all the time, or get as pissed as other people I know. But, completing my food diary has been a real eye opener. I can see where my weight problem lies. I want to be slim. But even that isn't enough to rein me in. My O/H suggested the pub tonight. I couldn't say no, but agreed to 2 drinks. In the end I had three, but that was large measures so 12 syns. On a Thursday. Any normal 'slimmer' would say they'll make up for it over the next few days but I know I need my drinks allowance for each night.

And the way I resist sweets? Well, anything that's 2.5 syns. "Eeee, that's a whisky's worth" - then I won't eat it.

Sorry - this must be such a boring thread. I just need to get this out and down. I hope it ends up being useful to me at some point, but I know it probably won't be. I am master of ignoring what I don't want to see. Bloody useless woman!
 
my mum is exactly the same - it sounds awful this way but she can't sleep without 2 vodkas (and my dads measures are doubles at least) every diet she tries she knows its the drink but she could do alot worse if she drank lager or wine but she is happy with vodka and diet coke!! like yourself my mum isn;t drunk every night - she'll have a few more on the weekend or if she has company but i don;'t think she has a problem! if you wake up and brush your teeth with the stuff you have a problem if you'd rather use your syns on a whiskey rather than a mars bar thats your bag! i wish they had a chocoholics anonymous - i'd be checked in with no sign of release x
 
Thanks CherryT.
Am off to bed now, slightly less disgusted with myself than I was.

x
 
I did have a problem with alcohol to the extent of being so upset and moody if i did not have a bottle of wine in the fridge, i used to drink a bottle of wine 12% + alcohol content a night.
It took me a while to get used to not drinking it, but now i fancy a drink now and again but could go weeks even months with out a drink. I found it helped me sleep to, but latterly it gave me a sore stomach which helped me stop.

I know this might not have helped, but i thought i would mention about it also xx
 
I think fancying a drink now and then is one thing, but not being able to go for 24 hours without a drink is something else.
One doesn't have to be drunk all the time, or have to wake up and have a drink to have a problem...sorry to sound harsh but if you need a drink to sleep, or need a drink (or two) every day then that sounds like alcohol dependence to me x
 
Oh...and I'm not a tee totaler by any means - I'll see of a bottle of wine on a saturday night x
Just worried that you 'need' to drink...?
 
Hey, have you thought about speaking to your GP? They'll know the signs to look for, and may beable to offer you support, even if you just want to cut back a bit. How long can you go without a drink? If you need (and I mean NEED) it every day then you may be a little dependant on it. *hugs* to you. Does your OH drink every night too? Xx
 
Ahh - you see, it's not every day. That would be clear cut then. It's a social thing, but me and my OH have a lot a friends who we see by going out. This means going out def every Fri Sat and Sun. Last night he wanted to go out for Guy Fawkes. I had thought that when I go out I was 'choosing' to drink. Now I suddenly feel like it isn't a decision in that way. I don't want to stop going out and not see all our friends. BUT I don't want to be wasting all my syns on alcohol. Until I've had one drink that is. When I think back most of our money problems in the past were due to spending too much out (just going for a couple that turned into an all dayer with a curry at the end, etc), my weight would be easier to shift now without it so it has obviously contributed a lot to it as well, me and my OH have had our problems over the years and when I think about it most of those started through drunk arguments or similar.

I'd never really considered those things until reading the list on the AA site. I'd always thought, the same as Jesterstears and some others, that it's if you need a drink every day, which I don't. If I stay in it's not a problem. But I don't want to decome a hermit because I can't control myself! I stopped smoking cold turkey in the summer and haven't looked back. Now I just need to find that willpower again. It just wasn't in evidence last night, which suprised me.
 
so its more routine really. Can you not limit yourself, for example. A whiskey after having 2 soft drinks. Or a whiskey at a certain time of the night? Finding will power for anything is hard, and I've gone off the SW wagon before. So don't blame yourself for not having the will power right now, you'll know when it's right, just like the smoking...ibet it took a while for you to take the plunge with that. If its not all the time, don't worry, just keep an eye out and try to set boundaries, discuss it with yourOH too.xx
 
I have discussed it with OH - but he thinks I should 'just cut down'. What he doesn't get is that that's exactly what I've been trying to do - without success.

Plan for tonight - he can go out at the normal time. I'll get my Lit and Num lesson planning done before I go out. That way I go out later, but feeling extra good because I've freed up my weekend so I won't mind everyone else already being a bit tipsy when I turn up.

One BIG problem is our fave pub just on the corner of the street which serves the spirits in 35ml (4syn) instead of 25ml (2.5 syn) measures. I think I'm going to have to stick to coffee in the daytime in there. Evenings are just too tempting.
 
Last weeks syns were fairly typical. 6 on food related items. 75 on whisky related items.

Just been on the AA website and did their questionnnaire. It says...

Did you answer YES four times or more? If so, you are probably in trouble with alcohol.
I answered yes to 8 of their questions, and am still uncertain.

Any normal 'slimmer' would say they'll make up for it over the next few days but I know I need my drinks allowance for each night.

And the way I resist sweets? Well, anything that's 2.5 syns. "Eeee, that's a whisky's worth" - then I won't eat it.

I am no expert at all, this is just my opinion.

The first paragraph of yours which I have highlighted asks a question I guess, which is 'do you have a drink problem?'. as well as saying that you're not sure - despite the AA's own advice being that you have answered twice as many questions in a certain way to suggest you may have a problem.

Then within a sentence or two you say that 'I need my drinks allowance for each night' and going on to say that you basically arrange your syns around your drinking!

To the untrained eye such as mine, I would say that answers your question for you in a big way.

Good luck.
 
I think Laddiesboy's post is very good and I agree completely.
 
I think you have to ask yourself why you drink. And analyse when you drink too.

I have recently reassessed and completely changed my drinking habits, thanks to meeting my new partner. To be honest, I have never drunk alcohol purely to get drunk, although I know a lot of people who have just this aim. I used to have a drink at the end of the day and, when I started SW, save my syns for a couple of glasses of wine in the evening. On evenings out with friends I would drink...and drink and end up feeling yukk.

But I have now realised that I like the taste of wine, not the fact that it's alcoholic and if there was an alcohol free version with the same taste, I would choose that. I have done just that very thing with lager, having found a virtually alcohol-free one that to me tastes just as good (much fewer syns too!). I have also found an alcohol free, sugar free Pastis (aniseed drink like Pernod). I often drink a small glass of wine at lunchtime with my OH, rather than in the evening. And one glass is enough.

I am self-emplyed, working from home and I think I used to have a drink to mark the end of my working day. It's not like working in an office, away from home where you leave work and everything associated with it behind at the end of the day. It's easy just to keep working. That drink used to be alcoholic and inevitably lead to more than one. Now it's non-alcoholic.

Oh, I'm no angel - at family do's and with friends, I'll have a few drinks. But I haven't had a hangover in over a year. And I've lost over 3 stones in weight, most of which weight was probably caused by wine and cheese in the first place. I also eat less cheese now ;)
 
It’s an interesting and thought provoking topic!

I wouldn’t let myself say whether you do or don’t have a problem with alcohol – that’s for you (and perhaps your doctor and family) to consider and decide. But I do have to say, to me, I think you’re showing some danger signs.

There’s nothing wrong with planning your syns and allowing some for wine/beer/spirits or whatever, but when it takes over, that’s when it becomes unhealthy. I take your point about it being more about social drinking and you not being pissed all the time – but you don’t need to be for it to be a problem.

Most of us have our weaknesses…chocolate, haribo, ice-cream, bread, whatever, but the thing is, allowing syns for those things isn’t so damaging to the body as high levels of alcohol.

Before I started on SW, I was starting to worry about myself and my wine consumption. I love wine. My family’s business is wine related! I attend wine tasting events, go on wine tasting holidays, visit vineyards in France and Italy…it’s fantastic! That’s all fine, but I’d gotten to the point when I got home from work and the first thing I wanted to do was open a bottle and have a sit down before cooking or anything! I couldn’t really relax without it. OH and I would easily polish off a bottle in a night and do that 2 or 3 or 4 times a week…and then drink at weekend too. I wouldn’t ever have called myself an alcoholic, but I would certainly say I had a level of alcohol dependency.

Starting SW just prompted me into action really. I gave up drinking totally for 3 months! At first it was really hard but it only took a couple of weeks to get out of the habit and having all those syns to play with made my SW diet so much easier!!! When I did start introducing alcohol into my diet again, I did so in a much more restricted and controlled way. I still love wine! But now I have a much healthier attitude towards it.

Ok, occasionally I go a bit loopy on a weekend or at an event, and I pay the price diet-wise and hangover wise (which is not fun!)

I have totally rambled on about me…sorry about that! I just wanted to illustrate that you’re not the only one who is in that grey area…loads of us probably are! It’s up to you to decide if you want to do something about it. It takes a lot of willpower to change your habits, but if you really want to, you will
 
My dp is just getting over a 'drinking problem'. Just because you don't drink every night doesn't mean you are not alcohol dependant. he only drank when he wasn't at work (he runs his own business and often works away for upto 4 nights a week) BUT when he was at home, once he started he had another and another and another, it even got to the stage where i noticed in the mornings he was still pissed and he had no regard for me or the children. Yet as i say if he was working he wouldn't drink!!!

I also got to the stage where i could quite easily drink a bottle of wine a night without realising - and that was more or less just to be sociable with him, have a drink put the world to rights so to speak.

Hence my name I LOVE LOVE LOVE my wine, however i am now down to 1 bottle a week and i have that on my weigh in night.

If we go out for lunch i like Bacardi so i'll have a pint of coke with ice and order a shot seperate - i find it really does cling to the ice and the taste lasts all the way down (not sure what / how you drink your whiskey - but perhaps try that!?)

Don't get me wrong the odd time we go out for a meal we do share a bottle or so of wine - but it's got to the stage where we don't go out so often and if we do, i do as i said above!

Only you and your Doc can decide if you have a drink dependancy problem. If you cannot go out and drink something else or stop at one, then i personally would be of the opinion you have! - don't mean that to sound harsh!

But i also find it hard to believe that your hubby wanted to go out for a drink because it was Guy Fawkes - unless that really is a huge celebration to you both?

(((((hugs))))) xxxxxx
 
The way I see it - you took the time to go to the AA website, and answer their questionnaire. You are asking yourself the question - and I think you really know in your heart of hearts what the answer is.

You had the courage and intelligence to ask - now you have to use those same qualities to work out what to do about it. People here have made some suggestions which seem sensible, and if you went to your doctor I am sure that there would be lots of advice and help that he or she could give you.

Good luck.
 
Heya I just want to saw that when I was a student a few years ago I would defo drink silly amounts on each night out and go out several nights a week but I wouldn't say I had an alcohol problem it was just a mixture of routine and social circumstances.

The problem only lies if you NEED the drink, I had no problem whatsoever and now drink maybe once max twice a week and even then its only one or 2. If a big event is on then of course I will drink more but I just think you need a change of routine really! Maybe find other places to go - cinema or out for dinner rather than always the pub all weekend.

Good luck!

X
 
I think you know deep down that you have a 'problem' that's why you checked out the AA web site.

I urge you to see your GP and talk to him about it, or ring AA and have a word with them.

It is best to do something about it now, than to let it get totally out of control.

Take care now and I wish you load's of luck.
 
i think,no i KNOW i used to be you,any diet i tried the first thing i did was work how how i could fit my social life into it,and whilst that IS important,lets face it what i mean was drink!!!
Then my kids came along,and i have discoverd that babies and hangovers do not mix and my drinking has declined enormously. I do still like a drink but i know my limits now and know i will pay for it if i go over. I'm such a 'lighweight' now that I'm usually asleep before i can go over my limit anyway !!!
But i do look back and i see that in the past i really did have a problem,at times a pretty major one and i'm glad to be past it.
None of this helps you of course but i'm trying to let you know that i understand where you are comming from.
You have to decide 3 things,why you drink ? If you feel you could cope without it ? and how much do you really want to loose weight? i think the 3 go hand in hand.
You OH agrees you should cut down-can you enlist his help? if i say to my hubby dont let me have X Y Z -he wont !! no matter how much i stamo my feet. can he hold the purse strings when you go out for a few eeks? you both agree how much you are going to drink before moving onto soft drinks and he doesnt let you sway from this? or would it be practical to alternate alcohol and soft drinks through out the evening?
I dont think personally you have a major problem,you just enjoy your socializing and maybe just need to adapt it somewhat?

good luck anyway...Oh and Cheers !!!
 
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