Worried my drinking has damaged my health

Minime2.5

I have been a big drinker for years . 1 or 2 bottles of wine 4 or 5 nights a week. I am severely obese at 21.5 stone. I also suffer from chronic gastric reflux and my appetite is very low . I still binge eat at night though. I know at 39 it will be sooner rather than later that my health will fail irretrievably unless I stop now. Who knows maybe its already too late. I also suffer from digestive issues. I'm constantly bloated and have IBS. I know I need to get help but that's difficult in the current climate. I am afraid of going to my GP also terrified I'm at a high risk if I get covid 19. Not sure what i'm looking for here . Just needed to tell someone

mistress_gi

Hi Minime. The first step is admitting you have a problem so congratulations on that!
Don't be afraid to go to your GP they will have seen, heard, treated it all before.
Start there take it as it comes, you can do this!

Huntergonzo

I'm sorry to hear you've fallen into bad health, that can happen the best of us.

I wasn't in the exact same situation as yourself but I was classed as obese at 17st 5 and 6ft tall in my mid twenties.

I didn't have a drinking problem, I just drank at the weekend but I ate far too much and all the wrong things. I thought about giving up drink at age 24 because I felt so sick while out and I couldn't even do basic things like crouch down to pick something off a shelf.

So in 2014 at age 25 I decided to go cold turkey on crap food (still enjoyed my weekend pints) and started walking as much as I could each day. I managed to drop 3st in about 3 months. Then a few years later in 2016 I joined a gym which helped me get down to 13st 5 and also increase my muscle mass, and thankfully I've managed to more or less maintain a healthy lifestyle since, putting on and dropping a couple of pounds from time to time.

I'd say if you're concerned about your health then please visit a GP first and get a medical done. From there, once you have good information on your overall health maybe try to get active and do as many steps per day as you can. Once this pandemic blows over then maybe join a gym and get a personal trainer if you're unsure of what to do.

Finally just a list of thing which worked for me:

1. Count your Kcal, My fitness Pal is a good free app, I was eating too much of the wrong stuff, you're probably not eating enough but consuming too much wine.

2. Weight yourself once a week (no more than that) and try to be a little bit lighter each week. I even recorded my weight (and still do) on an excel spreadsheet so I could see the graph going down, really helped with the motivation.

3. Use smaller plates to reduce portion size.

4. Keep active and join a gym when it's safe to do so.

Best of luck anyway, and don't drop the head, it's not too late to improve your health at your age.

OmegaGene

I’m not expert at all and this is just my opinion, but your issues sound like they are drunk and weight related, try and avoid the drink totally for a while set a target of maybe 6 weeks and reduce the crappy food but don’t knock it on the head all together or you will crave it and go crazy and revert to old habits.
Eat more veg more fruit and less crap like pizza etc to start with and don’t eat past 8pm as if you get hungry have some water and go to bed 10-11pm and get a full 8 hours sleep which isn’t 8 hours in bed as I discovered when I bought a Fitbit which I would also recommend 100%

Sigma Force

Minime2.5 wrote: »

I have been a big drinker for years . 1 or 2 bottles of wine 4 or 5 nights a week. I am severely obese at 21.5 stone. I also suffer from chronic gastric reflux and my appetite is very low . I still binge eat at night though. I know at 39 it will be sooner rather than later that my health will fail irretrievably unless I stop now. Who knows maybe its already too late. I also suffer from digestive issues. I'm constantly bloated and have IBS. I know I need to get help but that's difficult in the current climate. I am afraid of going to my GP also terrified I'm at a high risk if I get covid 19. Not sure what i'm looking for here . Just needed to tell someone

Going to the GP is important to help you wean off the drink, don’t worry about the weight yet. Tackle one issue at a time you might find you crave sugar more coming off alcohol but that will change in time. After the GP there are plenty of counselling services both public and privately and they are in operation now or at least some are. Don’t do it alone, having the support makes is easier, no pint in making it more difficult for yourself. Surround yourself with support, advice and if you need to go to rehab don’t be afraid to you’ll have a new routine which is really helpful when starting afresh.

prishtinaboy99

For around 10 years I avoided going to a doctor as I was drinking on the dangerous side, then I couldn't avoid it when I ended up in hospital due to my drinking.

At the end I was surprised that things were not worse but in the end just bite the bullet and get a health check, doctors cannot do much with addiction just send you on to somewhere that can.

nj27

Minime2.5 wrote: »

I know at 39 it will be sooner rather than later that my health will fail irretrievably unless I stop now.

It’s not sooner or later, you’re not even at the start of that process. However you can fix a lot of things right now. You have to develop a routine which motivates you and is sufficiently difficult that you don’t have the time for drink. It’s as dramatic as changing your personal paradigm, something which has been developing since the word dot, but people have done it so maybe you have the nuts to do that too? It will take nuts btw. Got em?

prishtinaboy99

nj27 wrote: »

It’s not sooner or later, you’re not even at the start of that process. However you can fix a lot of things right now. You have to develop a routine which motivates you and is sufficiently difficult that you don’t have the time for drink. It’s as dramatic as changing your personal paradigm, something which has been developing since the word dot, but people have done it so maybe you have the nuts to do that too? It will take nuts btw. Got em?

It’s a simple choice, choose life or death.

How one does it is up to them, sometimes we chose the easy way and that fails before facing up to make the hard choices. It’s not as hard as I thought actually it would be but requires alternative thinking, actions even being a bit selfish and put yourself first. If you don’t nobody else Will,

LillyIsland

Sorry to post in such an old thread, but this book is amazing for sorting out reflux and digestive issues in general, can't reccommend it enough.

denartha

When I was drinking, me and Alka Seltzer were firm friends. Needed some 3-4 times a week. I made up excuses. "dodgy kebab", "maybe it was the cheese in my sandwich". First month sober, didn't have a single sachet.

I'm certain, give up the drinking and the digestive issues will sort them selves out.

prishtinaboy99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117956940#Comment_117956940

Yes alcohol really screws up the gut,I’m sure the poor eating choices after a night out don’t help either😂

since I quit the booze more than 2 years ago I no longer suffer dodgy gutitis

Sigma Force

Definitely don't be afraid to go to your GP mainly to check your blood pressure and general health because that's important anyway for anyone of any size before starting a weight loss programme. A close relative of mine is a few stone heavier than you and its a real worry with developing type 2 diabetes and they really struggle. Even my own go advised slimming world for me an did never go to this etchings that's the kinda place your ma would go lol but I did it and I gave up but there's no judgement you can go back again anytime and there's a lot of support put there. Food and sugar is highly addictive and maybe it doesn't have the same devastation that alcoholism causes but it can if that loved one becomes ill or worse. You might hav eto try a few different programmes first and exercise is the hardest because you don't feel like going to a gym or a pool I know I don't at times. So start with gentle stretches and walks your go should be able to recommend some things. But over all start taking care of yourself instead of having that yummy as it is Ben n Jerry's (so addictive damn it lol) but yourself something that you've been meaning to it can be clothing, or whatever hobbies you're in to. Put your money towards something that you can physically enjoy wether it's a pair of hand weights, yoga stuff, an online yoga class, a book you've been meaning to get whatever it is make sure it's useful to you physically or mentally.