2 bottles of wine 5 nights a week

LegacyUser

Single guy here just wondering how much my wine habbit will affect my health, I love wine , its just a comfort for me to chill out in the evenings with 1 or 2 bottles. I realise this is too much but im not sure I can cut down. I work shift so I definitely have 2 alcohol free days a week. How likely am I to develop a health problem

daisybelle2008

If you are unable to cut down, you need to consider that you are addicted. Have you tried cutting it out for a month? I think the question you need to answer is about your own dependency. Health problems are of course likely if you continue, but why would you want to? It's more of a mental health question you need to ask yourself. 'Chilling out' or 'blocking out'? If you can't stop that's what you need to address. Be honest with yourself.

Big Bag of Chips

If the only reason you have 2 nights alcohol free is because you are working then you already have an addiction problem. Or at least a very bad habit. Of course there's a chance of health problems. Just Google it! Work out how many units a week you are drinking and look up the possible/likely affects.

I've known people who drink quite heavily whose liver function was always within normal range, but you just knew by looking at these people that they were heavy drinkers. I've known heavy drinkers who gave up drinking and within 2 - 4 weeks were physically different people. Less bloated, clearer eyes, clearer skin, fresher looking. They also admitted to be less anxious, in better mood, happier in the mornings, calmer overall.

Go to your GP. Get your bloods done, and have a chat with them about why you're there.

lukegriffen

it sounds like you've a problem, can you do anything to break the habit, go out for a jog or a walk a couple of nights a week, if you don't have wine in the house then you won't be able to drink it, can you avoid buying it one or two days a week. Don't stockpile..
can you even drink a glass of water in between each glass of wine, just to slow things down... or even water-down the wine, or try low-alcohol wine... when you open 1 bottle of wine it's very easy to keep drinking it - & "it might go off" !! could you try buying the small bottles for 2 or 3euro, you might be less inclined to go through 7 or 8 of them a night.

Anyway, have a read of this from a few days ago... best of luck...

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/sharp-rise-in-number-of-women-dying-from-alcohol-related-illness-1.2742383

in particular..
“The awful thing is that people frequently have no premonition or warning that they’re going to develop liver failure, and to die as a result of alcohol because the vast majority of people who develop cirrhosis, develop liver failure, haven’t got symptoms before the crisis, and the life threatening component develops.”
He said that blood tests are not very precise and can often pick up the effects of alcohol rather than alcohol damage.

Fakediamond

Have a look at this website:

http://drinkhelp.ie

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

Tipperary Fairy

You're having 80 units per week. The highest recommended limit is 21. Do you think you don't have a problem?

Surreptitious

As of right now you won't have any health problems as the liver can regenerate at an alarming rate however two bottles of wine at night can lead to an alcohol dependancy later on which could ruin your life. I would advise against wine as once you open a bottle it's easy to finish it. Try the low alcohol wine maybe if you can't avoid wine. It's 5% and less likely to cause harm. Other than that try alternating nights on and off drinking. One month without alcohol and the liver can fully recover AFAIK. Also try taking milk thistle supplements. It's just a thing of mind over matter.

Fakediamond

Tipperary Fairy wrote: »

You're having 80 units per week. The highest recommended limit is 21. Do you think you don't have a problem?

That's 21 units spread over five nights, you're drinking the weekly limit, every night. This is having an impact not only on your health, but also relationships, family, work. It's also close to 1,000 calories per night, for two bottles.

Hopefully putting up this post was the first step in dealing with what is clearly an issue for you.

Ursus Horribilis

You must've built up quite a resistance to alcohol if you can get up in the morning after downing 2 bottles of wine! As everyone else has correctly pointed out, you're going way over the recommended safe limits for alcohol. If you can stomach it at all, punch your numbers into this calculator http://drinkhelp.ie/alcohol-and-you/how-much-am-i-drinking/calculator/

What you also should be asking yourself is why you've turned to wine in the way you have. It's interesting you used the word "comfort" in relation to it. Are you unhappy? Lonely? Bored? What? Why is it that wine is the thing you want? Why not a cup of tea or something tasty from the fridge?

anewme

It's obviously an issue if you are asking the question. The short answer is yes, it's too much. Also, the number of recent threads both here on boards and in main stream media would indicate this is a more widespread problem than people realise. And, it's a very easy (and expensive) habit to slip into.

One glass leads to one bottle and your tolerance builds and you go onto the second bottle.

I've limited my allowance to one night a week- so if I go out that's my drinking night or if I dont my Friday or Saturday "treat" can be a bottle of wine with my dinner. What's left over gets poured down the sink not kept for the next day. No more than that. Even though you are not supposed to drink your whole allowance at one sitting, I'm going to work with that for time being.

Friend of mine became conscious of the amount of calories in wine so rather than stop wine, stopped eating!!!

Shift work can be a pain, if it's making you miserable, then you need to look at alternatives or how to get a proper work/life balance.. Nothing is worth sacrificing your health for.

Sunflower 27

Hi OP, some great replies here already and not much to add, but as someone that once drank heavily (although not drank in nearly 5 years now), you are on a slippery slope.

Your tolerance is high because of the level of your consumption. The effect on your liver is not something you can see or feel at this stage, but please keep in mind that because you cannot see or feel the damage, that doesn't mean it is not happening.

You will likely find you will need more than two bottles to relax you as your tolerance rises.

Go see your doctor. No one drinking to the degree you are should just go cold turkey.

There are a lot of other ways to relax that don't put your health at risk.

caille

OP, some great replies here and i just want to add this - you may not have health problems now, you may not have them for some time to come but if you continue to drink like this, they will come eventually.

I am not trying to frighten you or preach or be judgemental, I am speaking from having witnessed a much loved relative 'get away' with drinking like this for many decades, to the point of where we all thought he was indestrucible and then one morning, he woke up, doubled over in pain and sweating with fevers and just like that, after some tests, he was diagnosed with two pretty serious health conditions.

He asked the consultant how his body had not given earlier more minor warning signs (which is what you would think would happen with the body) and he said that for some people, their bodies can cope brilliantly for so long and then almost overnight, they can go into full blown diseases. He said the more fortunate people are those who do get some earlier milder symptoms as then they know and can do something to prevent things getting worse.

Admittedly, this relative is elderly and I have asked him if he had any earlier signs of his health being affected and he said he honestly thought the tiredness and the mild breathlessness that he had been experiencing for about a decade before that were down to just getting older. He actually was great to get yearly blood tests and even they didn't show anything.

What I am saying is, from what I have seen (not just this relative, a few others also with other illnesses), is that disease takes a long long time to develop and that it is never too late to change and to prevent them taking hold. However, when they do hit, then almost always, you can't go back and then its a case of trying to manage and live a different way (and that is possible as well, I have seen same relative mentioned above make massive changes in literally days and is now living well again, just very differently).

My own doctor has said this to me and it is good advice - when you are in your 30s, you can come back from almost anything, when you are in your 40s, it is more difficult but it can be done, when you are in your 50s though, that is when diseases hit and a number of them almost at the same time and then it is a case of trying to manage.

Mind yourself, the body is amazingly resillient but it can only do so much.

Keane2baMused

The liver is an extremely forgiving organ. It can take some beatings.

The problem is every person is different and there will be a different point for everyone where the liver starts to scar. Your kidneys also play an important role in filtering the blood, it again can only be pushed so far.

Your drinking is excessive, also dangerous to your health and the health of others. If you drive the next day after 2 bottles of wine you are likely still over the limit.

leggo

I know, when you may have a problem, a lot of this health mumbo-jumbo can willfully go over your head as crap, so I'll make it really simple:

If you continue to drink at this rate, you WILL take years off your life. Try think of every bottle of wine like a milestone of a future grandchild that you won't be there for.

It's also highly likely that you can be just fine IF you take action now, while you've had this moment of self-realisation.

Beware, too, the trappings of short-term detoxing. I had a big drink problem in my early-20's and would occassionally give up for a week or so just to show that I could. Then I'd go back at it hard. I ended up having to go cold turkey for over a year and re-teaching myself how to drink in moderation. You may have to go a similar route if you want to deal with this without medical intervention.

But don't think about that just now. Take it night-by-night. Get home after work and drink tea or water or a soft drink instead. Find another way of comforting yourself, even if you have to replace the addiction with something short-term. Try make that replacement something healthy if you can, but even if it's food that's okay in the short-term. One battle at a time.

seamus

I'll respond to your post backwards.

How likely am I to develop a health problem

You are 100% guaranteed to develop a health complication from this. You won't know where or when or what, but it will catch you eventually.
You hear of guys who drank every day and then their liver suddenly killed them at 70. And other people in their 30s who took to the drink after a family tragedy and were dead within a year.
That should be the scary part - you won't know where or when; continuous heavy drinking is literally a game of Russian roulette when it comes to your health.

2 bottles of wine 5 nights a week wrote: »

its just a comfort for me to chill out in the evenings with 1 or 2 bottles. I realise this is too much but im not sure I can cut down.

You're not sure you can cut down because it's a comforting habit. You can wake up every morning and say, "Right, tonight, not doing it. Going to have dinner, cup of tea, watch TV and go to bed. No wine".

Then the even rolls around and you think, "**** it, just a glass won't kill me. I'll stop after the second one". After the second one you don't really care about the promise you made to yourself that morning and you keep going until all the wine is gone.

Don't let yourself be in denial. You are drinking heavily. The trope of the person who drinks to escape their pain is misleading and in fact kind of dangerous.
Many, many, people who are perfectly content in life and have no personal problems, are alcoholics. All too often they're able to tell themselves they can't be alcoholics, they have no problems.
But being alcoholic isn't about being a pathetic basket case, it's simply about being unable to regulate your intake.

For you, it's obviously a comfort blanket. A habit. Like someone who can't help but have a smoke when they have a beer, for you a relaxing night in front of the telly isn't complete without some wine beside you. I get it. It's tea and biccies. One doesn't feel right without the other.

That doesn't mean you don't have a problem.

Your first step is breaking the habit. And for that you need to basically remove yourself from the situation that causes it. i.e. flopping in front of the telly in the evening.

Find something to do. Whether that's booking a 10pm showing at the cinema or reading a book, or even playing games on the computer. Anything at all that's different from vegging in front of the telly, will help you break the cycle.

Far more effective things are getting into doing stuff the next day. Your life is forgiving about it at the moment; you're single and you work shift so you have nobody depending on you to get up the next day and most of your friends and family are probably in work while you're sleeping it off.
You can make that forcibly change. If you can find a hobby that you enjoy which requires you to get up and out of the house in the morning, you will rethink whether that wine is a good idea the night before. Doubly so if you have other people depending on you to meet them somewhere.

Even something simple like finding a friend who likes to go for a walk at 9am.

anewme

seamus wrote: »

Whether that's booking a 10pm showing at the cinema

Even something simple like finding a friend who likes to go for a walk at 9am.

Great advice - have booked a late cinema on occassions where I dont want to veg on the couch with wine and am not tired enough to go to bed early.

Also an early exercise class the next day helps as well.

Lux23

The first step is thinking about whether or not you have a problem and obviously you seem to have copped that perhaps you are a problem drinker. Maybe you need to book an appointment with your GP and tell them your concerns. I would be wary of giving up alcohol by yourself so maybe you need to get medical advice before you attempt to cut down/give up? Are you able to go a week without drinking? When was the last time you tried?