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I enjoy a bottle of wine everyday, am I an alcoholic?

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    #32
    ToddyDoody
    Registered Users Posts: 4,421 ✭✭✭ToddyDoody


    If I was to impose my own standards on everyone else, I'd say you're an alcoholic if you're drinking during the day and / or wake up hungover for work.


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    #33
    Fr_Dougal
    Registered Users Posts: 9,167 ✭✭✭Fr_Dougal


    igCorcaigh wrote: »
    Stunts the growth, wine does.

    CWdTU_JUwAACWSb.png


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    #34
    bilbot79
    Registered Users Posts: 1,979 ✭✭✭bilbot79


    Every day is very bad for your liver. Once every two days and you can recover. Cut down by doing once every two days.

    I don't know how people drink on school nights. I couldn't do my job like that.


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    #35
    myshirt
    Registered Users Posts: 5,245 ✭✭✭myshirt


    More than 3 bottles of wine to yourself each week, consistently, yes you certainly are an alcoholic. No question about it. The issue is there is no social shame in wine, it's cans of Dutch Mould or bottles of Linden Village where we frown on people but without the doubt the highest volume of alcoholics is women in their early 40's drinking wine. They are such alcoholics that they will deny it to the ground.

    I wouldn't class you as a roaring alcoholic however so hopefully you can cut it out. You'll never beat that Patrick Losty guy, the man who sank about 45 pints in the space of 2 hours. Pure disgrace. Went home and had a fry, and went at it again the following day. It's just not on that people laugh at that. That's a serious problem. The man didn't even take a toilet break, he just kept drinking.


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    #36
    facehugger99
    Registered Users Posts: 7,225 ✭✭✭facehugger99


    If you're asking the question, you already know the answer.


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    #37
    OldMrBrennan83
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,658 ✭✭✭✭OldMrBrennan83


    jacksn wrote: »
    I went on holiday to France last year, over there I enjoyed a lot of wine and since then I would have a bottle of wine every day, I feel like I can stop anytime but I do enjoy it.. am I a dipso?

    You're not at all, though the Helen Lovejoy brigade would have you locked up.


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    #38
    2012paddy2012
    Registered Users Posts: 2,880 ✭✭✭2012paddy2012


    jacksn wrote: »
    I went on holiday to France last year, over there I enjoyed a lot of wine and since then I would have a bottle of wine every day, I feel like I can stop anytime but I do enjoy it.. am I a dipso?

    I think the fact that you have put post up I think you know you may have a problem.
    Be wary anyway , the problem unfortunately is that you are not having obvious issues , presently , but everything in moderation is the way to go ... I’d be more worried about psychological addiction also it may just be a crutch .. try a drink free day every second day .. and see how you go


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    #39
    nthclare
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,316 ✭✭✭nthclare


    If it's effecting your thoughts and actions you could be an alcoholic.

    A heavy drinker wouldn't even be worried about whether he has a drinking problem.

    There's a huge difference between a heavy drinker and an alcoholic.

    The heavy drinker can go out drink away and there's no drama, abusive or self destructive behaviour.

    The alcoholic drinks and there's chaos, emotional meltdowns, feelings of disgust,shame and regret.


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    #40
    Edgware
    Registered Users Posts: 5,875 ✭✭✭Edgware


    jacksn wrote: »
    I went on holiday to France last year, over there I enjoyed a lot of wine and since then I would have a bottle of wine every day, I feel like I can stop anytime but I do enjoy it.. am I a dipso?
    If you go to the meetings you're an alcoholic otherwise you're just a dipso


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    #41
    Pinch Flat
    Registered Users Posts: 7,761 ✭✭✭Pinch Flat


    Depends. Do you have it at 8am before you go to work?


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    #42
    Edgware
    Registered Users Posts: 5,875 ✭✭✭Edgware


    Pinch Flat wrote: »
    Depends. Do you have it at 8am before you go to work?

    Of course. It really adds to the breakfast roll in the car on the way to work. I usually dont start surgery until 9.30


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    #43
    nthclare
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,316 ✭✭✭nthclare


    Edgware wrote: »
    Of course. It really adds to the breakfast roll in the car on the way to work. I usually dont start surgery until 9.30

    Do you get a labotomy every morning :)


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    #44
    iamtony
    Registered Users Posts: 3,801 ✭✭✭iamtony


    Your an alcoholic, just like me. Only difference between us and the stereotype alcoholic is we can consume drink and not get aggressive or rowdy or slur your words or fall. Basically you can probably handle the effects well.
    When I read the Russel brand recovery book he said he almost envied the people using heroin or some as extreme as that because that was more obvious they had a problem and they got help faster.
    P. S some great stuff on YouTube to assess yourself and get a bit of help stopping. This year I've managed to give up smoking and reduce my drinking to more reasonable levels by becoming aware of the basic instincts that cause addiction issues. Were all addicted to something, you just have to make your addiction a healthy one. Only takes about 6weeks to change your brain.


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    #45
    Edgware
    Registered Users Posts: 5,875 ✭✭✭Edgware


    nthclare wrote: »
    Do you get a labotomy every morning :)
    I'd rather a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy


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    #46
    Chancer3001
    Registered Users Posts: 5,480 ✭✭✭Chancer3001


    I've slowly become an alcoholic too.

    Slippery slope.

    Started off the same as the op

    Bottle of wine chilling in the evening.

    Now I could drink 3 and a bottle of whiskey over the weekend as well as heading out one or two nights for 6 or 7 pints .

    Very highly functioning but it'll only end in disaster.


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    #47
    seamus
    Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    Forget the connotations of the word "alcoholic" for a second. Most people in their heads picture someone who stinks of drink all day (even when sober), and is a slurring mess in the evening. And the label implies an illness that will stay with you for the rest of your life, and you need to cry off drink and never drink again.

    But all of that is obviously the extreme end. It might be more appropriate to say that at the moment that you're engaging in alcohol abuse. You're drinking too much and you can't stop. You say you can, but rather than actually stop, you posted here for advice.

    It's really easy to fall into the pattern. Day done, jobs done, grand, glass of wine to relax while watching the telly before bed. Oh, that went quick, I'll have another nip. And another. Aaaaand... the bottle is gone.

    The next night, the same thing. And before you know it you've had a few glasses or a bottle every night for the last two weeks.

    Stop the habitual drinking for two weeks. Have a cuppa instead. If someone invites you to go to the pub, fire away. But the habit of a glass of wine in front of the telly is what's catching you. Two weeks, is what it takes to shake it. It won't be as easy as you probably think it would. Tonight you can change your routine, cuppa tea no bother. Tomorrow night you'll be itching for a glass and telling yourself, "Ah sure I'll just have the one, that's no big deal", and the thought of a cup of tea is like salad for breakfast.

    After your dry two weeks, just have more awareness of what you're doing. If you realise you've been sitting in front of the telly with wine for 3 nights in a row again, then stop yourself, take a few days off.


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    #48
    Danzy
    Registered Users Posts: 13,292 ✭✭✭✭Danzy


    Drinking is a problem for you but you may not be impaired in life, ie your functioning away.

    So maybe your not what we would view as an alcho but you have a problem.

    I drink too much as well.


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    #49
    EdgeCase
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,471 ✭✭✭EdgeCase


    If you're drinking a bottle of wine a day, please get your liver function monitored and consider reducing to about a glass a day and then maybe a glass every other day.

    That's far, far too much wine to be drinking. If you can stop, do. If you can't stop you're probably an alcoholic and need to seek help to reduce that intake.

    Liver disease is not pleasant and can be fatal.

    That's the kind of alcoholism you see in France more than in Ireland but it's still very damaging. It's just not binge drinking.


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    #50
    nthclare
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,316 ✭✭✭nthclare


    From Park Avenue to Park Bench was one of the best descriptions of alcoholism I heard...

    Alcoholism doesn't discriminate....


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    #51
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    Nobody can say if you're an alcoholic or not just based on that but you're definitely problem drinking.

    If you find it difficult to cut down from such regular heavy drinking, perhaps you are....or perhaps you've just fallen into a bad habit you can get of just as easy.

    But there is a distinction between being a problem drinker and an alcoholic.


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    #52
    JohnnyFlash
    Registered Users Posts: 7,055 ✭✭✭JohnnyFlash


    Patww79 wrote: »
    You're not at all, though the Helen Lovejoy brigade would have you locked up.

    What terrible advice.


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    #53
    valoren
    Registered Users Posts: 5,458 ✭✭✭valoren


    Alcohol is great for cognitive dissonance.

    You have a mental discomfort.

    You have to reduce/change either your belief or your behavior.

    The discomfort, the dissonance, is that you think you might be an alcoholic. You drink a bottle of wine everyday which is a lot of alcohol.

    1. Change the behavior to reduce the dissonance. Take active self aware action about your level of drinking as per Seamus' post. Cut down or even, shock horror, cut out the wine. If that doesn't work then your behavior to reduce the dissonance is to seek help from others.

    2. Change the belief to reduce the dissonance. The classic way to do this is by exploiting the stereotypical depiction of 'The Alcoholic' be it the abusive drinker destroying their family life, their health, their friendships, their career because of the booze or that of the down or the street bum with their trusty 2 litre cider bottles. Tell yourself that since you are not like that i.e. you are functioning like a normal, healthy person/you're not on skid row and now that you've changed your belief you get to continue your drinking as is. Yay!

    The idea of what an alcoholic is to 'normal' drinkers serves the purpose of allowing them to continue taking what is really a psychoactive drug by having their dissonance about drinking reduced.


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    #54
    Cleopatra_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 812 ✭✭✭Cleopatra_


    Well, alcoholic or not, a bottle of wine a night will impact on your health at some point. Aside from the health implications, does it cause any impairment in other aspects of your life? Are you hungover in work, do you end up arguing with family members, do you get aggressive or accidentally injure yourself while cooking? Do you make impulsive decisions after you've had the bottle of wine?

    I have an issue with alcohol but I wouldn't describe myself as an alcoholic. I don't drink very often and I can go out and have one or two drinks and go home, no problem. However, every once in a while I drink so much that I get black out drunk and the consequences of my actions while drunk has lasting repercussions. I should really stop drinking altogether but I don't like the idea of being teetotal for the rest of my life so I try my best to avoid the black out drunk scenario but it eventually happens at some stage, maybe once a year or once every six months. Perhaps abusing alcohol would be a better term for me.


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    #55
    brevity
    Registered Users Posts: 8,494 ✭✭✭brevity


    I think milk thistle is supposed to help a relative of mine drinks about 2 bottles of wine a night (has been for a long time) and she’s been taking milk thistle for years. No sign of any diseases yet.

    It’s an interesting topic though. When does it become a crutch?

    I’d have a beer or two pretty much every evening and I wonder is it something that I should keep an eye on.


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    #56
    jacksn
    Registered Users Posts: 118 ✭✭jacksn


    thanks all for your comments

    I am married and self employed age 35, it doesn't seem to affect my productivity or sex life. It does however feel like a slippery slope so in the new year im going to knock it on the head..

    it feels like a habit alright, as mentioned i drink wine because i enjoy it - not always a bottle but 2-3 glasses.. occasionally turning into a bottle.. and on a sunday i look back at my week and think "Jesus i drank 5 bottles last week" but i never intently drink to get drunk, at least i dont think so.


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    #57
    Cee-Jay-Cee
    Registered Users Posts: 12,235 ✭✭✭✭Cee-Jay-Cee


    jacksn wrote: »
    I went on holiday to France last year, over there I enjoyed a lot of wine and since then I would have a bottle of wine every day, I feel like I can stop anytime but I do enjoy it.. am I a dipso?

    Bet ya you can't...I have a gambling problem but I can stop anytime.


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    #58
    jacksn
    Registered Users Posts: 118 ✭✭jacksn


    seamus wrote: »
    Forget the connotations of the word "alcoholic" for a second. Most people in their heads picture someone who stinks of drink all day (even when sober), and is a slurring mess in the evening. And the label implies an illness that will stay with you for the rest of your life, and you need to cry off drink and never drink again.

    But all of that is obviously the extreme end. It might be more appropriate to say that at the moment that you're engaging in alcohol abuse. You're drinking too much and you can't stop. You say you can, but rather than actually stop, you posted here for advice.

    It's really easy to fall into the pattern. Day done, jobs done, grand, glass of wine to relax while watching the telly before bed. Oh, that went quick, I'll have another nip. And another. Aaaaand... the bottle is gone.

    The next night, the same thing. And before you know it you've had a few glasses or a bottle every night for the last two weeks.

    Stop the habitual drinking for two weeks. Have a cuppa instead. If someone invites you to go to the pub, fire away. But the habit of a glass of wine in front of the telly is what's catching you. Two weeks, is what it takes to shake it. It won't be as easy as you probably think it would. Tonight you can change your routine, cuppa tea no bother. Tomorrow night you'll be itching for a glass and telling yourself, "Ah sure I'll just have the one, that's no big deal", and the thought of a cup of tea is like salad for breakfast.

    After your dry two weeks, just have more awareness of what you're doing. If you realise you've been sitting in front of the telly with wine for 3 nights in a row again, then stop yourself, take a few days off.

    :)


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    #59
    suicide_circus
    Registered Users Posts: 19,802 ✭✭✭✭suicide_circus


    if I drank a bottle if wine a day I'd be in a hoop. that's about 70 units per week. your liver will be fcuked


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    #60
    Bacchus
    Registered Users Posts: 4,699 ✭✭✭Bacchus


    jacksn wrote: »
    I went on holiday to France last year, over there I enjoyed a lot of wine and since then I would have a bottle of wine every day, I feel like I can stop anytime but I do enjoy it.. am I a dipso?

    Why not set yourself a challenge and give it up for a week (no excuses because its coming up to Christmas). If you breeze through the week without feeling the urge to drink, then maybe you're not an alcoholic. If you struggle or cave in, then maybe you have a problem and you should seek help.

    If you can't even bring yourself to put such a challenge to yourself, then maybe you have a problem.

    In either case, it seems like a lot of alcohol to be drinking and it's in your health's interest to cut back.


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    #61
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    julius caeser made his soldiers drink a litre of wine most days, never hurt his army really.....

    but yes that much alcohol will really age you and fook your body up.
    can't be good for you.

    In saying that you hear centenarians saying they smoked every day, drank every day and laughed every day....you might get away with it based on genes and everything else.

    WIM HOFF LOVES WINE :D


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