Is teetotal tedium?

It’s the eve of my first week of the booze fast. I can’t say I’ve noticed much of a change. I thought it might be a good way to lose weight but nary a kilo has gone.

I’ll not be reporting here my before and after weight – this is not a Bridget Jones-style diary. Suffice it to say my sylph-like days are behind me. Nor am I likely to trouble anyone concerned by 'size zero'. But still, somewhat of a disappointment at the scales this morning. It could be that I’m eating faster – no wine with dinner gives me less reason for pause? I’ve also noticed the emergence of a latent sweet tooth (savoury is usually my downfall). But I’ve joined a gym, watch this space.

Another letter from another S, who also says she enjoys red wine. There are lots of us!
She too gave up drink, for the month of January, where she reports discovering quite how long the weekends can be. That’s two now who suggest that teetotal is tedium.

But like me there are clearly are women out there thinking about the amount they drink. And no wonder. The headlines have been screaming. “Twice as many Scots die from drink than in the rest of the UK” shouts a recent headline from the Scotsman.

And that Official Government advice says 2 to 3 units a day for women and no more than 14 units a week. More, and your Health is at Risk.

To me this seems stringent, but then I would say that - I couldn’t count the weeks I drank over 14 units. Let alone the days over 2 or 3! And days over 14? Wouldn’t doubt it. Bet I felt rough the next day, though.

But aside from the risks to health generally associated with heavy drinking – driving under the influence, falling over, having unprotected sex with someone one might not otherwise, or rape or violence – direct health risks are those more associated with long time chronic alcohol dependency, including hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver, gastritis or pancreatitis as well as brain damage and vitamin deficiency.

So what’s an alcoholic? According to the Institute of Alcohol Studies, a person is considered to be dependent on alcohol when they have three or more of the following symptoms during a year.
· A strong urge to drink, difficulty controlling how much they drink, or difficulty stopping.
· Physical withdrawal symptoms, such as sweating, shaking, agitation and nausea when they try to reduce drinking.
· A growing tolerance to alcohol - needing larger quantities to get the same effect.
· Gradual neglect of other activities.
· Persistent drinking even though it is obviously causing harm.

I’d check one – “difficulty controlling how much”. But then it’s often a running joke when, after work, someone suggests going out for ‘just one’, and then everyone ends up going home steaming…

The good thing is I was wrong in my first blog entry – 5 units, which I drank on my last night, wasn’t actually a proper binge. In fact, as the British Medical Association points out, www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/Hubhotpbingedrinking, outside of the fevered brains of some headline writers, there is little consensus of how much constitutes a binge. For the sake of simplicity, they suggest a binge as being 7 units (half of the weekly limit).

Luckily I’m not yet that bored without booze. Although I looked at the calendar today and five weeks stetches out ahead of me a distant desert horizon.