DoloresHaze

On the radio yesterday, I heard a doctor talking about alcohol consumption. he said that a woman is considered a heavy drinker if she consumes 7 drinks PER WEEK!

That's heavy?!?! To me that sounds like the lightest of light drinkers. This also shocked me because of the amount I drink. That would make me off the charts. It made me frustrated, hopeless, and scared.

Sometimes I feel in control, but right now I feel... just like no one understands and no one can relate. That's why i'm here....

pinkdog

Sounds lite to me too. I think everyone here understands. People who do not drink do not understand (like that dr). But we here, do. Alcohol has an increasing factor, so you drink more and more over time. Till it gets to the point, enough is too much. I'm sober now but spent many years drinking. Sober is better. Hang in there. You can do it.

hypochondriac

Well you're not a freak here dolores. I remember having a similar reaction to you when I heard a phone in on the radio about drinking. This guy's wife drank 3 beers a night and was worried. Initially I thought he was totally over reacting and then this woman told him that yes, she was doing serious damage to her body by drinking that much. I was drinking about 8 cans a night at that time and needless to say that hearing that freaked me out a bit. For about 5 minutes and then I went and got some beers. I carried on drinking for about 7 years after that. If you look at the recommended daily limits for alcohol it is nothing, so we treat it as ridiculous and start comparing ourselves to other people instead. But the cold hard fact is that if you drink more than the limits recommended then you are doing damage. I was so conflicted about my drinking though and wanted it to be acceptable at the same time as hopefully drinking myself to death.

Are you still drinking now then?

Nuudawn

That's odd..and I have never heard that before. I believe 7 in one day..yup. One drink per day for a woman is considered "safe levels" (even healthy) drinking (and pointless in the alcoholic's eyes lol). It's two for men.

DoloresHaze

The doctor went on to say that a woman should limit herself to 2-3 drinks per week. I guess the real limits of alcohol consumption are very low, and I've gone way beyond.

I think right now, if I was going to attempt to drink at those "normal" levels, and someone offered me 1 measly glass of wine for the night, I think I would be so agitated. Like what the hell am I supposed to do with this? and throw it at the wall or something. Ugh I'm in a bad mood. And 100% sober.

Nuudawn

Hear ya...I too am in a lousy mood..and 100% sober. Life's ain't no bowl of cherries..drunk or sober : )

karate

Its not ,But i found it intolerable with the 1-2 gallons of whiskey a week .

Depressants are not the answer to depression .

Ever notice all the drugs for depression are ANTI-DEPRESSANTS
A reason for that .

I had great sucess with zoloft ,until the receptors regained normal function .

If my life ever goes to hell again ,first thing ill do is get a Zoloft script .

silentrun

I had the same reaction when I heard what "normal" levels are. I went to work and told everyone and they seemed surprised too. How about this one when you go to the doctor and they ask you if you are a heavy drinker and you say "define heavy". Is there anything more worthless than one drink?

Lifewillgetbet

I drank 750ML per night my last relapse. 7 nights in a row.
I think that's around 20-25 drinks per evening. Depending on how stiff you make your drinks.

DoloresHaze

Thank you, everyone for making me feel a little better. This is such an uphill struggle for me. I'll try and cut down, quit completely, say "the hell with it," starting all over....bleh

And then to hear some smug doctor say that 7 drinks a week is "heavy." It makes me feel like some lunatic living on the fringe of society. I'd love to be a "heavy" drinker according to that definition.

Carlotta

It's not about what, how much or often we drank it's about how alcohol affect us.
Comparing ourselves to others or to some medical standards is only giving the AV potential amunition.

PhaseTwo

Yeah I've always heard one drink a day is good for you but really who wants to do that? For an alcoholic that's like saying would you rather have one dollar or more money haha. It's so much easier to completely abstain than to attempt moderating yourself to those levels.

sugarbear1

check out National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Lots of good stuff to read. Also don't miss what is under "Alcohol & Health" section.

KristyCat

I'm really a nice person but I'm gonna be blunt here and hope it doesn't come off wrongly.

Who cares? Who cares what's normal? We're not normal, we're alcoholics. We'll never be normal, we can never "socially" drink or do it in a healthy way. We'll never fit into the normal range, so why bother trying? We can't drink--a bitter pill to swallow, but it's the truth and accepting that is the first step to getting healthy.

Ptcapote

This. And what Carlotta said too.

I spent a heck of a lot of time in very early sobriety getting myself all spun up about how I was not "normal" and comparing myself to other people and getting bitter. Well, I am not normal. I am an alcoholic who drank WAY more than anyone's national or suggested healthy average. Even on a light drinking day I probably had some Sumo wrestlers in the bag.

Now I am a recovering alcoholic. And my drinking is so far below the suggested healthy average...it doesn't even register. Now imagine that craziness

MattM316

I'd say seven drinks a week is absolutely 'normal' in today's society, I'm sorry if anyone disagrees and I don't mean this in a nasty way, but in no way does that constitute a drinking problem, it sounds to me like someone is trying to create a problem that isn't really there.
It's like eating McDonalds twice a month and saying you have a really bad diet.

Your average person with a healthy social life probably goes out two nights a week, so say they have 4 drinks on each occasion. So that's eight drinks right there and pretty much perfectly normal.

It's all well and good saying "it's not about how much we drink", but it sort of is. That's why the medical world reccomend a certain amount of units of alcohol a day.
Ok the amount is a bit over the top, I think they could add a couple more units to make it dangerous, I think it's somewhat of a scare tactic. Like the BME weight chart, which is a bit of a nonsense.

I've read of people saying they have a drink problem because they have a glass or a couple of glasses a wine each night.
If you have two bottles of wine a night, then yeah i'd say that there could be a problem, but not two glasses.

hypochondriac

It's not for us to say if other people have a problem or not. If those two glasses of wine are a problem for someone then it's a problem. I didn't drink like some alcoholics I know but I still had massive emotional, mental and physical problems from alcohol.

I think it is worth noting that the guidelines for alcohol (in the UK at least) are not recommended amounts but recommended limits. It is medical fact that if you drink over those limits you are doing damage. Just because everyone else does it doesn't mean it's okay.

MattyBoy

I certainly wouldn't agree that 7 drinks a week is heavy! My mother drinks around this amount on average (probably a glass of wine prr night, with a couple nights off) and is possibly the most sensible drinker I know. Remember most people lie about their drinking habits and so statistics often don't reveal the true extent of how much people drink and doctors always recommend that absolute lowest amount they can that is guaranteed not to cause any health problems. In the uk the standard a week is 21 units per week (8-9 pints of beer) but if I was to do a survey in my local pub I'd think the majority probably drink closer to 30-40units a week, with the heaviest drinkers there who are still not alcoholics on about 60 Unitas week. To drink enough that it starts damaging health you'd need to be drinking over 5 units a day and to produce significant withdrawal symptoms and physical dependence then 10-15 units per day is sufficient. To induce major health problems such as cirrhosis the 10 units a day for years may do it in a third of people. To induce full blown delirium tremens one would be drinking around 30 units of alcohol per day (bottle of vodka) for weeks or months on end. Just to put it in context.

wiscsober

Many people understand you and can relate....you are not alone....you will never be alone...we care

GracieLou

This is the most important thing. I know I can relate. I am not a freak, I am an alcoholic. On the alcoholic scale, if there is one, I am normal.

That said I feel weird for not caring how much I drank. I knew when I drank it and I know now after I have quit the amount I drank and to be honest it made no difference. I have heard the recommended amounts many times over the years and I could have cared less. I thought they were the freaks.

My goal was to get drunk and the amount that is "OK" would not have done that for me. Ever. As you pointed out in your post, it would have pissed me off too.

Just as people that are not alcoholics do not understand the amount I drank I can't understand the person that buys and eats a dozen donuts a week. I don't understand. That seems excessive and I am sure a doctor would advice against it. What is the safe weekly intake of donuts?

It is not the donuts or the alcohol. It is the reason for and the issues that arise from the consumption.