I came to the conclusion to be upfront with doctors early on. I had blood pressure issues and other things creep up and I wanted them to know. I was very shaky once and the nurse asked what was going on. Now in non-medical situations I might lie and say I'm nervous or lots of caffeine. I told her. She told me they could help even it if took a long time. They were treating someone for a couple of years who kept trying. I was thankful but declined - because I had no intentions of quitting yet. Liver tests were started to be done at my request because I feared the damage and thought if I could stop when damage started - I could see it happening.
They really have seen it all - and no big deal. I mean it's a big part of your overall medical picture -so its a very big deal in that regards - but I didn't feel judged. When I got sick 3 months sober and was in the hospital I told them everything as well. Do you drink? No - but it's only been 3 months and I had X amount of drinks daily for X years before that. I was met with a congratulations and a motivating keep it up.
During Covid, I decided to redo my life insurance, and I had to go through insurance screens. That's a grey area. If you are lying you could be denied your claim the first two years. So I did do as best as I could without completely marking a scarlet letter A on myself. I didn't mention I've gone to AA meetings or any of that. I did give them authorization to 5 years of medial records and interviews with my doctors. After their research (I'm a little over 1 year sober at this point) my premiums came back like a little higher than quoted but not ludicrous crazy. So that fear/anxiety also appeared to be bigger in my head than what ended up happening. I do think if I relapsed and died from something alcohol related in the first two years of the policy - they could probably dig up more in depth about my drink history and deny a claim. A risk I thought is low and worth it versus giving them every itty bitty detail up front.
I will absolutely give all itty bitty details to my docs or ER docs, dentists and psych docs.
Those are my experiences - for better or for worse.