How normal is your drinking?

[msventoux]

I don't drink any alcoholic beverages.  Alcoholism runs in my family and the smell of most of it makes me nauseous.  I keep saying when I retire I'll take up drinking and find out what type of alcohol I like.  I prefer to do things different from my family; I'll dive into a bottle for 25-30 years at the end of my life, rather than at the beginning of my adulthood.

[Works4me]

What is the old saying - I drink, I get drunk, no problem!

Anyone else remember the guy on the movie "Airplane" that had a drinking problem?

On a serious note, the amount I drink varies from nothing for months on end to one once in a while to three-to-five in a night. At family reunions in Indiana in the summer, I sip Coors Light the entire time which helps. Right now I am working hard on my father's place to get it ready for sale and I must say that brandy in the evening really helps the pain.

On a side note, my dog has a real drinking problem that she refuses to do anything about. When she drinks out of her bowl it splashes all over the place. For some reason known only to her, she finds it necessary to walk away mid-drink, dripping  as far as ten feet. No walking around in socks at my place - bare feet or slippers/shoes. Pisses my adopted brother off and everytime I love it!

[Deleted]

My drinking has never been normal. When I was younger (like up until my early 30's) I drank a lot.  Not that top group lot, but a lot more than the second group.  Probably easily 30 a week.   Now I hardly drink anything.  Occasionally, but we're talking one a month if that. 

[thyme4change]

I was wondering if I drank too much at 10-15 ish, but now that I see those people at 74 per week, I think I will go ahead and pour myself another glass of wine!

[Deleted]

I was attached to the vodka, rum and wine bottles for about 2 years, coinciding quite nicely with when I was laid off. Now, however, I work overnights and I'm too damn tired to drink. I go to work at 9PM, come home at 7-7:30AM and pass out. Then I wake up and take a nap. I would love a drink but just too tired!!!

[Sunnyday]

I don't drink. I might take a sip of my husband's beverage if he's raving about his beer (he's all about microbreweries), but that's it. But only if it's beer. I hate the taste of wine! spoiled grape juice! yuck! I know that I'm in the minority.

I'm always designated driver. 

[Nazgul Girl]

   I drink about once every two-three months.   I have a small Kahlua and cream ( 2% milk, really ) that we make at home in a small juice glass.   Once in awhile, I'll have a glass of Reisling.   That's it.   Oh, and I've liked bloody marys the couple of times I've tried them.   Hate beer.   

[cronewitch]

I drink one every couple of years but only if something I never had then just a sample to see if I like it. I don't enjoy any drink I had enough to want another. Alcohol is bad for diabetes and doesn't do anything good for me enough to want any. I used to drink once a year while camping having a rum and coke in front of the fire. I hate not having the ability to drive so only drink if dead sure I don't want to go anywhere again that day. Booze is very expensive here and I am a cheap skate. I would give up drinking altogether but I still have about a half inch of brandy left the last couple of decades I should use it up.

[ktunes]

74 a week...

rookies...

[NoNamePerson]

Oct 8, 2014 17:33:20 GMT -5 Abby Normal said:

I drink fairly normal.  Hold glass to lips, sip, swallow. I occasionally use a straw.

May I ask where you found the straws? Sorry I just couldn't resist because of the 4 page thread about not being able to find straws in Costco  

[steph08]

74 drinks - holy cow!

I don't drink at all - maybe a rum and coke or something at a wedding every few years.

[violagirl]

I wonder how much of our drinking patterns is influenced by our upbringing and our friends. My mother did not drink and my father would have the occasional rye and gingerale when BBQing or beer or some wine with supper. We were allowed a glass of wine with supper but we never liked it so never asked. I remember when I turned 19 and was legal, I told my dad we were going to sit down and have a beer together, I only drank about 3 sips and told him he could have the rest. How thirsty do you have to be to drink 10-18 beer in one day?! That's a lot of liquid. 

As a teenager, I did not hang out with people who were into drinking so there was no peer pressure to do it. Which in my mind negates the "well, they are going to do it anyway" argument that some parents have. I had enough anecdotal evidence from people at school to be wary of binge drinking. One fellow from my grade 7 class threw up on the vice principal at a school dance. And in grade 10 a girl talked about waking up in a hotel room and not remembering how she got there. I don't know if that scared her enough to not overindulge again. Not sure where her parents were. 

While I have had a few too many manhattans before and regretted it the next day, the older I get the lower my tolerance for alcohol. I have to weigh the threat of a 2 day migraine with the taste of a good bourbon (and we are talking only one will do it). 

[alabamagal]

Oct 8, 2014 21:29:31 GMT -5 Works4me said:

On a side note, my dog has a real drinking problem that she refuses to do anything about. When she drinks out of her bowl it splashes all over the place. For some reason known only to her, she finds it necessary to walk away mid-drink, dripping  as far as ten feet. No walking around in socks at my place - bare feet or slippers/shoes. Pisses my adopted brother off and everytime I love it!

My dog has the same problem!  He also has an eating disorder because the ~10% of the food ends up on the floor up to 2 feet from his bowl.  Thankfully our new puppy seems to like to clean up the mess.

[alabamagal]

74 drinks per week Holy Cow!  That is like getting a 12-pack of beer almost every day!  I actually know 1 or 2 people who may be in that category.

For me, ~50% the time 0 alcohol, ~40% 1 drink, ~10% of the time a bit more.

Last Sunday we went up to Atlanta area for nieces wedding which was at 5 pm.  We left early at got to the area at 1 pm to watch football at a sports bar.  We each had 3 LARGE beverages (guessing counts as 2 drinks per glass), then attended wedding, I had 2 beers at reception.  DH was driving.  Alcohol helps in dealing with his family, and this was a high drama affair.

[Phoenix84]

Oct 8, 2014 17:48:12 GMT -5 midjd said:

DH drinks about twice a year. I drink... substantially more often than that.

How much more? 74 times more per week more?

[Phoenix84]

I might have a handful of drinks a year.

Mostly I'll only drink if I'm with people who offer it.  The only times that is really the case is when I'm with some friends in Virgnia or with my parents on a special occasion.

I haven't had a drink since May, and don't really miss it.

[Deleted]

Oct 9, 2014 8:05:01 GMT -5 violagirl said:

While I have had a few too many manhattans before and regretted it the next day, the older I get the lower my tolerance for alcohol. I have to weigh the threat of a 2 day migraine with the taste of a good bourbon (and we are talking only one will do it). 

This is me.  If it wasn't for that it makes me incredibly ill, I'd probably still be at least a 1-2/day drinker. 

[Chocolate Lover]

Oct 8, 2014 17:39:52 GMT -5 Abby Normal said:

Oct 8, 2014 17:36:27 GMT -5 Malarky said:

  Your avatar is going to make me drink heavily!!!

I had a different one picked out but it was really creeping me out.  Pretty bad if you can scare yourself with your own avatar.

Well, I   your avatar, good change!  <<wonders how bad the first one was :S>>

ETA: After further reading in the thread was Pennywise your first one? I like him. DD does not. The picture on the side of my paperback copy of it freaked her out when she slept on the couch next to my bookshelf one night. 

[Nazgul Girl]

   Well, having had to read the excruciating medical notes of numerous folks who where hospitalized due to failing livers when I was forced ( against my will ) to code gastroenterology charts, I have to say that whatever attraction that heavy drinking might have held for me was lost entirely.    Reading about the terrible death throes of somebody dying of liver failure is pretty horrible. 

   The background circumstances were also awful.   Alcohol does indeed poison the liver, pancreas, cause varices which bleed ( inflamed blood vessels which just let go 0, etc., and in many cases, binge drinking can shut it all down and cause death.   I know we've all read about it, heard about it, etc., but seeing ( this is an amalgamation  of cases, but very typical ) 30 y.o's that have been binge drinking a pint or two of hard liquor and 20 beers a day for a month or so just die off of liver failure was very sad.   It isn't always somebody who's been drinking the apocryphal fifth of liquor and two cases a day for 20 years who dies from liver failure and side effects of alcoholism.   Plus, many times, there's no liver available for transplant, even if the patient qualifies.

   The varices were particularly surprising, since they are throughout the digestive system/brain, and sometimes, they just let go, and you're dead from just internally bleeding to death before they can get you on the operating table.

   Just not the way I want my boat to go down, I guess.  

[Chocolate Lover]

I don't like beer, wine always gives me a headache no matter how small the amount & I hate hangovers so the hard liquor stays on the shelf more often than in my glass.  Besides, my XH is an alcoholic even if he doesn't know it, so I need to model some decent behavior with booze.

[TheHaitian]

My wife and I are both social drinkers: parties, hanging out with friends, etc. Special occasions we will open a bottle of wine or I will have beer while she drinks wine.

So I say we average 1-2 drink a week...

But when we were in college ... Let's just say that is a different story. Same for smoking...

Geesh... Getting old and responsible is boring!

[Firebird]

74 drinks a week?  Sounds like a challenge!  Who's with me? 

[Firebird]

I think I'm in the 10-15/week range but I wonder how they're calculating that.  Technically "a drink" is a 4oz glass of wine.  That's practically nothing.  I mean, don't get me wrong - 74 drinks at 4 ounces/drink is a little more than 2 gallons.  So 74 drinks is definitely not a small amount, even over the course of a week.  But it doesn't seem absolutely crazy to me either, especially if we're talking about beer or wine which have a fairly low alcohol content.  I know several people who drink that much.  Now, if you're talking about Jack and Coke - that's a LOT of alcohol. 

I'm pretty conditioned to wine so it takes rather a lot to get me drunk.  Lately I've been averaging about two glasses per night maybe 5-6 nights a week.  Rarely drink hard liquor anymore.  I don't like being drunk but I definitely enjoy a little buzz and it helps me relax/sleep. 

By the way, this puts me solidly in the "heavy drinker" group according to my doctor   Someone clearly needs to have a drink and lighten up...

[sesfw]

Zero for me .... DH will have a small glass of wine about once a month.

My one and only drink of hard liquor was at the age of 17.  The folks went out and I stayed home with lil bro.  They had a drink before they left and the bottle of Jack Daniels had a few drops in the bottom.  So I up-ended it.

Geeeeeeeeesh.  I was 17, I'm now 73.  I can still feel that liquor burning my throat.

I don't care for the alcohol 'bite' in my mouth.

[sesfw]

Lately I've been averaging about two glasses per night maybe 5-6 nights a week. .........  I don't like being drunk but I definitely enjoy a little buzz and it helps me relax/sleep.

By the way, this puts me solidly in the "heavy drinker" group according to my doctor  

Maybe you should rethink this?  Sounds like it's creeping up there.

[Firebird]

I'm in! We'll do shots of Jack with Coke chasers. You get the shots, I get the chasers. 10.5 a day... we can totally do that!

And while we're doing that, you can talk DH out of starting our own business with some horror stories from your own.  Deal?

ETA:  Also, didn't you say once that you used to drink Dr. Pepper with Jager?  That sounds much better than Jack with Coke chasers. 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

It's funny.....when I fill in the questionnaire at the doctor's office as to how much I drink, it really depends upon what's going on.  Under normal circumstances, I MIGHT have 2 drinks a week.  Other weeks, none.  And yet other times, I might drink 2 drinks/day.

I'm an equal opportunity drinker.  I like beer, wine and hard alcohol.  Don't like gin, bourbon or scotch.  If I have a drink, I like margaritas, vodka tonics or bloody mary's (or Cesear's).  One of my favorite summer drinks is a sea breeze, but I have a horrible time finding someone to put together grapefruit juice and vodka with a splash of cranberry juice correctly so I've pretty much given up.

Growing up, alcohol was never denied us so I never had to sneak it.  And because it was never denied, I never felt the urge to binge drink like some of my friends would.  That's not to say that I never overindulged, but I can probably count the number of times on one hand in nearly 40 years of drinking.

[Firebird]

Maybe you should rethink this? Sounds like it's creeping up there.

Or I used to drink much more and it's been creeping down   One of the two.

[kent]

Oct 9, 2014 9:36:12 GMT -5 Nazgul Girl said:

   ...Reading about the terrible death throes of somebody dying of liver failure is pretty horrible. 

   The background circumstances were also awful.   Alcohol does indeed poison the liver, pancreas, cause varices which bleed ( inflamed blood vessels which just let go 0, etc., and in many cases, binge drinking can shut it all down and cause death.   I know we've all read about it.....Just not the way I want my boat to go down, I guess.  

Yep, liver failure is horrible - saw it first hand with my FIL and his son, my BIL.

As you have noted, not the way to exit this world.

From what little I've heard/read, the dangers are even higher for female drinkers hence the reason "they" say two drinks per day for a man and one per day for a woman is "acceptable."

The reported basis for this position is that the female body, which "usually" has a higher percentage of fat than a man, tends to have the alcohol get absorbed into the fat and stay in their system much longer thereby doing more damage.  Men supposedly process and evacuate the poison more rapidly doing less damage.

[Works4me]

Oct 9, 2014 9:02:15 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

74 drinks per week Holy Cow!  That is like getting a 12-pack of beer almost every day!  I actually know 1 or 2 people who may be in that category.

For me, ~50% the time 0 alcohol, ~40% 1 drink, ~10% of the time a bit more.

Last Sunday we went up to Atlanta area for nieces wedding which was at 5 pm.  We left early at got to the area at 1 pm to watch football at a sports bar.  We each had 3 LARGE beverages (guessing counts as 2 drinks per glass), then attended wedding, I had 2 beers at reception.  DH was driving.  Alcohol helps in dealing with his family, and this was a high drama affair.

A "high drama affair?" Do tell - enquiring minds want to know? Actually, I am just mosey, bored and sick in bed with lupus today. Lol