Do I have a drink problem?

My wife thinks I’ve got a drink problem, I don’t think I do but I can see how it could get worse so I see where she’s coming from.

Basically I have 1 alcoholic drink about 4 times a week. Very occasionally, and I mean occasionally, I have 2 drinks in one night. I will have a beer, or a port/whiskey/amaretto of an evening at home when I’m watching tele or messing with the bikes. I go to the pub with mates about once a month and will have 4 or 5 pints.

Like I said, I will do this about 4 times a week, not every night. Is this a drinking problem?

😆 I think you’ve got a wife problem.

Sounds more like you have a wife problem tbh lol

edit: dammit

Seriously? That’s very moderate drinking in my opinion.

I’d be more inclined to ask your wife what she thinks safe drinking levels are. Maybe she has encounered alcohol abuse in a negative way?

She is just being very silly if you ask me. Ask her why she is concerned.

I have 3 or 4 tins of beer most nights if that helps. Possibly more on a weekend.

This is not a typical pattern for problem drinking.

@JohnDoh -snap, my mrs thinks I have a drink problem though :/

Stella is the answer.

Don’t do it for a week, if you’re climbing the walls on day 3, you’ve got a problem, not a big one, but one worth keeping an eye on.

If it’s no bother, then no.

It seems like you’re having 8 units a week, below the NHS recommended 14 max.

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/alcohol/Pages/alcohol-units.aspx

I think you’ve got a wife problem.

Beaten to it!

Dear god!I have only one word of advice…

RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNN!!!!!

She’d have bloody heart failure if she saw how much I put away in an average week 😆

Are these pints of amaretto? If not you’re clearly soft.

This thread is making me thirsty…

How many units in your 1 drink?

2 = sounds fairly normal.
4 = bordering problem
8 = see a doctor.

+ I need a pint now 😉

Yes, your wife is the problem.

Definitely a wife problem.

The only “drink problem” you have is that you were sober enough to have paid attention.

Am I right in interpreting that as 1 beer, 4 times per week? And sometimes that beer is replaced with a Port or such like?

Or are you having 1 alcoholic drink, 4 times per week. But are also having a Port every evening in front of the TV?

If the former, I’d say it’s a wife problem, if the latter I’d say that some would say she has a point.

OP my wife drinks more than you .
Do I have a Wife problem?

Are you spilling any?
No ?

Carry on..

I don’t think you have a problem.
I don’t think you drink a lot.
However my wife would be constantly on edge if I drank the same amount, because her dad is a raging alcoholic.
(He’s also an arsehole, whether drunk or not)
Perhaps there’s a reason it makes your wife uneasy?

You are to alcoholism what homeopathy is to medicine. Sort yourself out and have a proper drink!

Has anyone reported you to Social Services…

Our house plants drink more than that.

Not drinking enough imo.
Double your efforts!

I’d be more inclined to ask your wife what she thinks safe drinking levels are. Maybe she has encounered alcohol abuse in a negative way?

This and…

Don’t do it for a week, if you’re climbing the walls on day 3, you’ve got a problem, not a big one, but one worth keeping an eye on.

I have exactly the same drinking habit as you, with my 4-5 pints being a once a month meetup with friends. But I regularly abstain for a week, once a year a month sometimes longer to test the theory.

Re the first para Mrs K had a drink abusive father. She gets concerned but I told her that until I behave like him on the booze which I never have, their isnt an issue.

swoosh – Member 
Like I said, I will do this about 4 times a week, not every night. Is this a drinking problem?

Yeah, sounds like you’re not drinking enough. Way below the recommended allowance.

One thing to watch out for: are you drinking because you fancy a drink, or because the calendar says you should?

A while back I got into the habit of having a drink whilst cooking tea. Over time I caught myself one evening thinking, “I’ve just poured this, I don’t actually want it.” If you’re drinking habitually for no real reason that’s the time to start doing something about it before it gets out of hand.

However my wife would be constantly on edge if I drank the same amount, because her dad is a raging alcoholic.

I wondered the same.

Over time I caught myself one evening thinking, “I’ve just poured this, I don’t actually want it.”

I don’t quite do that, but I do sometimes get halfway through one and think ‘I don’t want this’ and bin it.

I usually drink whilst cooking then, once I have eaten I don’t want any more. I usually eat at around 11pm 😉

A while back I got into the habit of having a drink whilst cooking tea. Over time I caught myself one evening thinking, “I’ve just poured this, I don’t actually want it.” If you’re drinking habitually for no real reason that’s the time to start doing something about it before it gets out of hand.

Not sure about that. Drinking because it’s 6.45pm but don’t want it is easily stopped. I got worried when although I don’t drink massive amounts I really ‘wanted’ drink at 6.45. Wanted was not so far from needed. Needed is a slippery slope.

I find it difficult to disassociate wine/beer with food. Easy to get into the habit of having “a drink” that accompanies a particular meal and more so as I make the meals from scratch so it becomes a reward. “a drink” easily becomes a few, especially with wine.

Depends on the person – the difference between Tony Blair and John Reid shows that the same amount means different things to different people (see the bottom of this article):

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-says-he-used-alcohol-as-a-prop-2067328.html

I don’t (usually) drink after 9pm but probably have a beer or a couple of glasses of wine about 5 times a week.

Just become a wine snob, talk about how you’re pairing your wine with your meal to enhance/compliment/harmonise the flavours and how “her palette isn’t refined enough” to catch the “notes of oak and beech” and suddenly you’re cultured and revered and wearing turtle necks .

Absolutely not.

This is on the basis that one drink doesn’t mean a bottle of spirits 😉

As above and sorry to be harsh but your wife is being unreasonable / worse words

I usually eat at around 11pm

Kebab?

The guidelines given by the NHS relate to the statistical likelihood of getting some diseases associated with alcohol consumption, not whether you’re an alcoholic. They’re also relatively arbitrary.

She’s right to be concerned, any partner would be IMO.

However, I personally don’t think you drink anywhere near enough for “it” to be a problem. So I suspect your wife’s concerns are based in either family or historic issues.

Reading the OP was the STW drinking equivalent of having a size zero model ask me if I think she’s too fat.

Your a very moderate drinker, I thought you were going to say 4-6 pints a night 4 or 5 times a week, with a large brandy/single malt night cap most nights. Not because I need to but because I bloody well enjoy it 😀
But enough of my drinking habits, have a proper chat with the Mrs, try and get to the bottom of her concerns, they aren’t reasonable IMHO.

I wish my drinking habits were as cheap as your’s op, unless the alcohol you drink is causing issues with your behaviour or the like, you need to put your back into it and actually get on the ale!!

whether you do or no i won’t get into, but i will comment that by asking you will get a million answers.

that said if you want to try without dry january (look for it on facebook) is coming up and i found that an excellent very easy way to give it a break… though as of 31/12 i’m up to 2 years not drinking not just 1 month.