Alcohol – when does it become a problem?

We spoke to several women in recovery from alcohol addiction who have shared the following insights in the hope that increased awareness could stop others from hitting rock bottom.

Here are the signs they say could warrant a serious review of your drinking habits and, where possible, seeking the advice of a health professional:

You haven’t even removed your jacket before you’re in the fridge grabbing a drink

You buy a breath-testing kit from eBay to make sure you’re ok to drive the next day

You work nights and tell everyone that a drink first thing in the morning is ok because of your shifts

You leave nights out earlier to ‘go home and drink properly’

You tell yourself ‘I don’t have a drinking problem. I can stop when I want’. But in reality, no more than three days later, you’ve rewarded yourself for stopping with a drink.

When you stock up you’re forever telling the cashier you’re having a party.

You take your bottles in the car to the bottle bank so your neighbours don’t hear all the clinking.

But taking that first step can be difficult. Here, one woman shares extracts from her sober journal…

Day one: Sunday after the festival. Realised there will always be some event or party or celebration (every weekend) so there will never ever be a good time to do this. There will always be some kind of excuse. A bad day, a good day, a party, Christmas, a concert, a meal out – always some reason. These are not reasons. They are excuses. I still want to do these things – enjoy these things – actually fully remember these things. The ‘rock bottom’ that people talk about hasn’t hit, but I’m not convinced that it needs to. I don’t understand effectively waiting until this happens. I have been drinking around two large glasses of wine on weekdays and a bottle on weekend nights at least. I don’t recall many days when I have had nothing at all. 

Today: Where did all that time go? Still here, still sober. It will be my first sober birthday next month and I’m so happy. We have all been in lockdown since March, and I feel very blessed that I had nailed sobriety beforehand. It terrifies me to think about how bad my drinking would have got if I hadn’t stopped when I did. The boredom and isolation no doubt would have made me drink more and more and more.