What Do You Tell Your Doctor..When.....

He or She asks about how much do you drink every week.

I drink more than what's recommended and won't give the Doctor any numbers and say I drink just enough.

I'm sure few people on this site have told some right ol' porkies :lol:

I tell them I drink at least 50 units a week. No point in lying to them, don't want to end up waking up halfway through an operation...

Me too. I work for a brewery and am a homebrew fanatic.

Do the maths!

K

i always say a pint a day. sometimes dont touch a drop for weeks if the kids are ill or im working lates and others i can drink a 3-4 pints

I always said less than the average student, which to be fair was true, but haven't needed the doctor for at least a year now.
It's alright though, according to Ben Turner's "The Complete Home Winemaker" (from 70s) "According to a recent American survay drinking wine in moderation - about half a bottle a day - is good for you"

Honesty pays.
Mine cringes when I tell her, she always says "that's way too much!"
My answer of "I know" sends her German brain into a tailspin.

This does raise a point that we were discussing before.

Although I'm aware that I do drink in excess of the 'recommended amount', I'm not convinced that this amount has a logical basis. And how can it be the same for me, 16st man as say someone of 10st.

Also, I reckon the form of alcohol consumed is relevant too. Surely drinking a load of beer (dilute) is better than drinking the same units in spirit form (concentrated and more toxic).

Any thoughts?

This very issue is the current bane of my life.

After dislocating my knee in Oct, I've been laid up pretty much since that time, only recently going back to work in the last week or so.

Since Oct I've had AT LEAST a bottle of red a day. Minimum.

I feel fab by the way.

SWMBO disagrees.

I used to put away on average 3-4 pints most days.

Since the start of January, I have consciously made an effort not to drink through the week, only drinking on Friday and Saturday evenings, still making a limit of 4 pints per session. I also have made a resolution that I will not buy beer to drink at home and only therefore drink my stuff...Therefore this will make me get my lazy **** into gear and brew the stuff that I have planned to brew but not got round to..The double edged sword with this is that If I cock up a brew then no beer until I have sorted it

Also I have vowed not to eat puddings with the kids, cut down on bread and pastry, Also to shift my carcass more often. My goal is to feel better, help with my knackered knee and perhaps lose a few pounds.

I am spending more time at my brewery and getting much needed exercise by shifting stuff about, digging out mash tuns and deliveries.

The results so far..

I have noticed a lift in my energy levels and overall I am more alert. I sleep more at night and awake in the mornings knowing that I have had a full nights unbroken sleep. I am more productive during the day and am sure I am a nicer person to know

With every upside is a downside...Ive noticed that I am getting a few spots, these are quite sore and do not form a head..They go after a week or so. I am putting it down to the fact that some changes are taking place and its my bodys way of shifting some toxins (or it could be that my stress levels are up a bit due to both the brewery and my day jobs are getting busier)

Ive not noticed any significant weight loss as yet but its only 2 weeks into this. I can confirm that my strength is returning rapidly. Shirts that were tight around my tummy are a little loser but they are now tightening around my arms and shoulders.

In truth I need to get a lot of weight shifted. I am 46 yrs old, 6ft2ins and over 17 stones. I am touching the point of being obese and this scares me. I think I need to lose about 3 stones overall. However I am not generally looking at the weight loss per sey but this I am sure will be a by product of my overall improvement of life

Good luck with that Rob.

I drink no more than 2 pints work days but a few more weekends, but no more lunch time sessions. I was truthful to the quack and he did not think there was a any problem.

Stopped drinking in the week, I sleep a lot better now and feel less stressed at work as I am more rested.

Although I'm aware that I do drink in excess of the 'recommended amount', I'm not convinced that this amount has a logical basis. And how can it be the same for me, 16st man as say someone of 10st.
Totally agree. The recommended amount is [I think] 2 to 3 units a day is a pint of say 5% beer/Ale 2.8 units. So that's one pint a day.
As you say your 16st me myself am 10st10lb. The recommended amount seems to be tying everyone with the same brush. ie we are all x amount of stone in weight. It just doesn't [pardon the pun] weigh up.
Another one is. If you have more than three pints it's considered binge drinking. What Tosh.

A bloke at work weighs 9.5 stone he has 4 cans of Guinness EVERY night. He had a medical and everything was fine heart, cholesterol, eyes, reflex, the lot. At the end of the medical the Nurse said that everything is fine but cut down on your alcohol to which he replied "I'm not been funny but. I don't go out I don't smoke I have 4 cans a night if everything is fine, why the hell should I give up my one pleasure in life"

I generally try and tell them the truth come MOT time.

I've reduced it quite a bit over the last 8 or 9 months, although Christmas sawa distinct step up in consumption.

I now generally only drink Friday and Saturday nights, if I do drink in the week it's a rarity and never more than a pint.

My weekend drinking is usually 5 or 6 pints on a Friday and 4 or 5 pints on a Saturday night, less if there is stuff I have to do, like brew more beer :)

I officially dinge drink as I only drink over the weekend and not every one but like tonight I am 5 pints and 10 measures of spirits into the night
Thank god for predictive text! :

I have either one bottle of cider or beer, or a large glass of wine, with my evening meal. At this point they're more often bought than home-made, but that's largely because I'm still collecting enough bottles to get a good rotation system going so can't make as much as I'd like. I currently have about 200 beer/cider bottles of various shapes & sizes, about four or five dozen wine & champagne bottles and 27 demijohns. I'd like at least twice as many beer bottles, five times as many wine, and 50% more DJs.

My mother is not entirely happy with my wine-making. She worries it will take over my flat. IMO she's a bit late to the party in that regard. I'm just glad I don't have a current HWMBI to nag me as well, although I think (given the choice) my mother would prefer the demijohns :lol:

I give a reasonable guess - which used to be two bottles every weekday and four on weekend days.

Work has become so busy recently, I just haven't had time to drink after work. I'll drink a couple on Fri/ Sat from now on.

DirtyCaner said:

. No point in lying to them, don't want to end up waking up halfway through an operation...

Click to expand...

I have had far too many ops in the last 12 years and the anaesthetists seem surprised how long it takes for me to go under and how quickly I come round. A dentist once told me that you can always tell the heavy drinker this way.

Try not to drink during the week, and usually have half a dozen or so Friday and Saturday.
Come Thursday it might have the odd one or two depending on how the work week has been.
Christmas was a heavy one though and what with the on hand availability of pork pie, cheese nuts and mince pies etc saw me put on a stone over the two week holidays.

IPA said:

DirtyCaner said:

. No point in lying to them, don't want to end up waking up halfway through an operation...

Click to expand...

I have had far too many ops in the last 12 years and the anaesthetists seem surprised how long it takes for me to go under and how quickly I come round. A dentist once told me that you can always tell the heavy drinker this way.

Click to expand...

It's not always heavy drinkers.

My sensitivity to anaesthetic is about average for general, but for local anaesthetic I often need three or more times the amount normally used. This means three or four times as many injections - not good for someone who is also trypanophobic!

DirtyCaner said:

This does raise a point that we were discussing before.

Although I'm aware that I do drink in excess of the 'recommended amount', I'm not convinced that this amount has a logical basis. And how can it be the same for me, 16st man as say someone of 10st.

Also, I reckon the form of alcohol consumed is relevant too. Surely drinking a load of beer (dilute) is better than drinking the same units in spirit form (concentrated and more toxic).

Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

I once put this question to my doctor friend, and this is my recollection of her response. The human liver does not vary in size to the degree that body size and build varies, and so a larger person cannot expect to have a more efficient liver than a smaller person. Alcohol is actually more damaging to the livers of larger people as they have a larger volume of blood which will carry it to the brain over a longer period of time. This slower, more steady release to the brain allows them to believe they can drink more before becoming too inebriated to continue. A smaller person receives alcohol to the brain quickly and will stop drinking earlier. This alcohol all has to be processed by their liver which will have to work longer and harder than for a smaller person who can't cope with such a volume of alcohol. Also, generally, larger people (whether they are overweight or not) tend to carry more body fat, which includes a deposit on your liver. This impedes the function of the organ, and magnifies the effect of alcohol on it. So in theory, because of the danger of fatty liver deposits, recommended alcohol units should actually be tighter for higher weight brackets than lower.

For your second point, alcohol units refers to the volume of alcohol in a drink. By the time it has reached your liver, the water has been filtered out by your kidneys, rendering the level of dilution irrelevant. Perhaps the dilution of alcohol may have an effect on the formation of stomach ulcers, but this requires a fairly serious drinking habit, and those in danger of ulcers from drinking are not going to be worried about being over the recommended weekly units.