How much is too much (Alcohol)

Destination · 21 Oct 2016 at 17:43

[TFU] Thegoon84;30129483 said:
Damn, do I neeed to join some hippie camp for rehabilitation ?

Nope, but with the double binge of 10 units a night you might be in trouble after 30 years or so.
Given you have nothing in between might be a saving grace but your 10 units on each night mean it is more than a bottle of wine at each sitting.
Not great, spread evenly over the week and you are probably okay.

Everyone is different, how long have you been following this pattern?

Shocky-FM · 21 Oct 2016 at 17:55

A bottle of my favourite spirit a week is pretty normal for me and probably for a very large potion of the population, it's just part of the weekly shop now.

regulus · 21 Oct 2016 at 18:23

[TFU] Thegoon84;30129471 said:
As the title suggests really.

I used to enjoy a good few pints/cans out over the pub etc.... . However the last year or so I prefer to be a hermit and stay in and watch a TV series or some PC gaming, I initially used to drink cans, but after a while I started to really hate large, so moved over to Whiskey/Rum.

Currently I'm drinking a 70cl bottle of whiskey or Rum a week!

My logic is that I only have 10% spirit and 90% diet coke, so I've worked out 60 cals instead of 300cals a drink. I'm slim with a bit of dad bod, I think not drinking larger has kept the weight off me.

I usually do half a bottle on a Wednesday night and finish the rest off on a Saturday.I don't drink any other time apart from this. I've become quite immune to its effect, so much so I am completely coherent and would be able to do pretty much the same thing as if I was sober... Which has lead to me think if that would be considered a "drink problem".

I spoke to a recovering alcoholic by chance a while ago and he summed it up, "if its more than money you lose, then its a problem".

Anything thoughts, its Friday and I'm bored mwahah.

Try stopping cold turkey for 3 months starting right now. If you can do that without missing the drink, then no, you don't have issues. If you can't, well that's probably something to consider.

Jumper118 · 21 Oct 2016 at 18:33

one drop is too much

ScoTTyBEEE · 21 Oct 2016 at 18:34

Shocky-FM said:
A bottle of my favourite spirit a week is pretty normal for me and probably for a very large potion of the population, it's just part of the weekly shop now.

This. It's normal.

The government say it's not normal, but lets face it; the government are idiots.

It's normal. Enjoy your life. If you worry about it, like I say take a few months off after Christmas and your liver will repair itself.

You need to remember life is there to enjoy yourself.

jsmoke · 21 Oct 2016 at 18:36

Is alcohol a natural taste for a human, remember when you were all innocent and pure when younger and smelt say whisky or beer, your fundamental instinct was to gag, so I have to ask.

Destination · 21 Oct 2016 at 18:41

jsmoke said:
Is alcohol a natural taste for a human, remember when you were all innocent and pure when younger and smelt say whisky or beer, your fundamental instinct was to gag, so I have to ask.

Same as coffee, one acquires the taste due to the pleasant side effect.
Nothing wrong with that.

This nice bitter red I am drinking at the moment, tastes divine, on first glass, no stociousness involved. I like it. Not that I like it, but my palate knows it's good for me later

OP, quit for three months. You seem to think you don't crave it, but dependency and craving are completely separate.

moon man · 21 Oct 2016 at 19:11

i drink 3 bottles of red wine per week ( 1 bottle a night 3 nights in a row)
yes i would struggle to stop because i really enjoy it , the taste the smell .feeling relaxed then in my case a pretty big buzz , everything i enjoy becomes amplified ie blu rays youtube
so 30 units a week and not wanting to stop probably unable to stop

Diddums · 21 Oct 2016 at 19:19

Zethor · 21 Oct 2016 at 19:21

[TFU] Thegoon84;30129471 said:
As the title suggests really.

I used to enjoy a good few pints/cans out over the pub etc.... . However the last year or so I prefer to be a hermit and stay in and watch a TV series or some PC gaming, I initially used to drink cans, but after a while I started to really hate large, so moved over to Whiskey/Rum.

Currently I'm drinking a 70cl bottle of whiskey or Rum a week!

My logic is that I only have 10% spirit and 90% diet coke, so I've worked out 60 cals instead of 300cals a drink. I'm slim with a bit of dad bod, I think not drinking larger has kept the weight off me.

I usually do half a bottle on a Wednesday night and finish the rest off on a Saturday.I don't drink any other time apart from this. I've become quite immune to its effect, so much so I am completely coherent and would be able to do pretty much the same thing as if I was sober... Which has lead to me think if that would be considered a "drink problem".

I spoke to a recovering alcoholic by chance a while ago and he summed it up, "if its more than money you lose, then its a problem".

Anything thoughts, its Friday and I'm bored mwahah.

You drink roughly 40g of pure alcohol per day. Things are not looking good for you in the long term:

In a Danish study, self-assessed alcohol intake was determined in a prospective cohort study of 13,285 men and women (aged 30-79 years). The diagnosis of alcohol-induced liver disease was observed. An estimated relative risk of developing liver disease was determined at an intake of 1 - 6 alcoholic beverages per week, with a steep increase in risk above this intake. Women were found to have a significantly higher relative risk of developing alcohol-related liver disease than men. At 7-13 alcoholic beverages per week for women, and 14-27 for men, the relative risk of developing liver disease was greater than one. [U.Becker et al. Hepatology (1996) 23(5)].

An Italian cohort study looked at the prevalence of chronic liver disease. 6534 subjects aged 12-65 were fully examined, and their alcohol intake evaluated with a dietary questionnaire. The risk threshold for developing liver damage was found at ingestion of more than 30gms alcohol/day (both sexes). 21% of the study group were at risk, and 5.5% of this risk group (74 individuals) showed signs of liver damage. Alcoholic cirrhosis was diagnosed in 2.2% of the risk group (ratio men:women, 9:1) and non-cirrhotic liver disease in 3.3%. The authors concluded that in an open population the risk threshold for developing cirrhosis and non-cirrhotic liver damage is 30gms ethanol per day. This risk increases with increased daily intake. [S.Bellentani et al. Gut (1997) 41(6)].

Ayahuasca · 21 Oct 2016 at 19:23

If you enjoy it and it isn't affecting anyone then continue as so, too many of us these days trying to live by what the government tell us, wouldn't surprise me if half of them in parliament aren't drinking similar amounts.

Zethor · 21 Oct 2016 at 19:26

Diddums said:

That's nice and everything but when one stares into the Abyss at 50-60 due to liver failure, "What a ride!" is at the bottom of the list of things that goes through one's mind while "If only I had more time.. " is at the top.

NooBish AbbZ · 21 Oct 2016 at 19:26

I think if you have to ask the question, then you obviously have concerns with it, and therefore, potentially.

Diagro · 21 Oct 2016 at 19:56

I have an alcoholic drink around once every 3 months.

Even that's too much as it's expensive and tastes like fermented pee

mushtafa · 21 Oct 2016 at 19:58

I do a litre bottle a week. Normally Vodka, but I'm on the Spiced Rum this week.

Threepwood · 21 Oct 2016 at 20:15

[TFU] Thegoon84;30129617 said:
Bang on there!!! 4x 2lt diet cokes I go through!

White wine doesn't have enough alcohol, so I'd need a higher %, meaning more cals.#

8 litres of diet coke a week is too much!

White wine and soda is a funny beast. You get more drunk drinking a bottle of white wine with soda than if you only drank the bottle of wine.

It can be drunk quicker... So if you can take 3 gulps of W+S instead of 2 gulps of wine you basically take in the same ammount of alcohol, but now we have bubbles creating pressure pressure in the stomach, which helps to force alcohol into the bloodstream.

Angilion · 21 Oct 2016 at 20:22

[TFU] Thegoon84;30129471 said:
[..]
Currently I'm drinking a 70cl bottle of whiskey or Rum a week!

That is a risk to your health even if it has no other effects on your life. Alcohol is toxic and humans have a limited capacity for neutralising it without damage.

My logic is that I only have 10% spirit and 90% diet coke, so I've worked out 60 cals instead of 300cals a drink. I'm slim with a bit of dad bod, I think not drinking larger has kept the weight off me.

That isn't logic. It's rationalisation. The amount of non-alcoholic liquid added doesn't reduce the amount of alcohol. You know that.

I usually do half a bottle on a Wednesday night and finish the rest off on a Saturday.I don't drink any other time apart from this. I've become quite immune to its effect, so much so I am completely coherent and would be able to do pretty much the same thing as if I was sober... Which has lead to me think if that would be considered a "drink problem".

You take large enough doses of a potent enough drug frequently and regularly enough to have acquired a very large tolerance to it. That is a good indication of problematic drug use.

Also, you will not actually be able to do pretty much the same thing as if you were sober. Even in a user with a large tolerance, there will be an effect. Don't go driving, for example. Though you might find it interesting to play racing games and compare your lap times. I've done that in the past and even a small intake of alcohol made a difference.

I spoke to a recovering alcoholic by chance a while ago and he summed it up, "if its more than money you lose, then its a problem".

A good rule of thumb. There are the less obvious problems as well. Alcohol use increases the risk of many health problems, including some fatal ones. At least 6 different types of cancer, for example. Regular alcohol use increases the risk.

I'm not arguing in favour of banning alcohol and I wouldn't be even if such a thing was possible without tyranny. I am arguing in favour of acknowledging that alcohol is a powerful and toxic drug that should be used sparingly. Half a bottle of spirits in one evening is not that. Doing it twice a week every week is even further from that.

Schizo · 21 Oct 2016 at 20:24

I have spates of drinking,i can do a bottle of jd honey in a week easily then not have a drink for months at a time.

I normally have a few cans of john smiths on my days off and thats about it.

UTmaniac · 21 Oct 2016 at 20:26

I'd struggle to recall how many times alcohol has passed my lips this year, besides a random glass of wine I had at the in-laws mid summer, I can now feel a mild hangover feeling coming on after a few sips. Somewhere in the mid noughties, I had to stop drinking because of medication I was on for a while, but afterwards I inexplicably lost the habit. In the mid nineties, it worried me how quickly I would finish pints, typically in less than six swigs and ten minutes.

ScoTTyBEEE · 21 Oct 2016 at 20:28

Angilion said:
Though you might find it interesting to play racing games and compare your lap times. I've done that in the past and even a small intake of alcohol made a difference.
.

Funnily enough but 4 beers and a spliff have let me zone into racing games to the point I've done my fastest lap times ever.