The non drinking thread

[thunderlizard]

As someone who hasn't touched a drop this century, I have long forgotten what giving up the stuff was like but can assure you it's possible to live a productive and enjoyable life without it. Also that ordering soft drinks in the pub is nowhere near the capital offence it used to be in the 70s and 80s.
Good luck with it
tl

[BrowneIssue]

Sorry, but I cannot help.

Actually, maybe I can.

By popular demand, I have put on two batches of home-brew beer.

I no longer have spirits in the house; I sink them too quickly. I frightened myself & my wife with how easily and quickly I can down a bottle of Scotch and go looking for more. Ditto for rocket fuel lagers: I have a reputation for being able to shift eight cans of strong lager and be seeking more in the time my old drunking buddies can now only manage two.

When I took up home brewing I started on kits. Despite what the box says, they usually come out at about 3.6% to 3.8% ABV. And they are as filling as Guinness. It is very hard to drink many pints of the stuff in a sitting - you get too full.

Consequently, the number of units I can manage in a week is much lower when I have gallons of home brew in the house than when I have to go out and buy lager or ale.

Obviously, I don't make the 8% kits nor play games like chucking in extra sugar or spraymalt to make the beer stronger.

So despite my initial fears of killing myself with over consumption, home brewing has considerably dropped my alcohol intake. When I have the stuff in, it has definitely meant that I no longer have heavy weeks of 80 to 110+ units. A really heavy week now is unlikely to exceed 40 units.

[HairyArsedBloke]

A really heavy week now is unlikely to exceed 40 units.

As I was reading your post I began to think, "Home brew. I wonder....".

Then I read your last line. That is still double what I call a heavy week!

So maybe not.

[Platypus]

I no longer have spirits in the house; I sink them too quickly.

Amen.

[OwlHoot]

Actually, maybe I can.I no longer have spirits in the house; I sink them too quickly. ...

Me too - I envy people with the self control to have a drinks cabinet, or even more than a bottle or two of wine in storage.

That's not to say I'm a borderline alkie - I rarely drink during the week, unless I'm going out (which isn't too often). But if there are any drinks around the house they're gone in no time.

[norrahe]

Me too - I envy people with the self control to have a drinks cabinet, or even more than a bottle or two of wine in storage.

That's not to say I'm a borderline alkie - I rarely drink during the week, unless I'm going out (which isn't too often). But if there are any drinks around the house they're gone in no time.

Same here, I'm fine with Whiskey, but put a bottle of Frapin brandy in front of me and I'll make a good stab at it.

Though generally I tend to keep drinking to the weekend.

I find the best deterrent is quality, if something is good then I want it to last and will therefore drink it slowly and savour it.

[HairyArsedBloke]

I find the best deterrent is quality, if something is good then I want it to last and will therefore drink it slowly and savour it.

Damn you!

I've got the urges to have a tot of Havana Club now. I've not got any in (no booze indoors at all now). Local shops wont be stocking that sort of stuff and the bars will charge an arm an a leg.

I'll put buying a bottle on my todo list for tomorrow.

[minestrone]

If you drink heavily, and particularly if you have been drinking heavily for a long time (which sounds like the case with your brother-in-law) then you should not simply cut off drinking in one fell swoop. To do so can cause serious health issues and even death. Just a couple of months ago I read in the local rag of a chap's inquest; the coroner determined on the basis of medical evidence that the cause of death was due to the chap having come off the bottle all at once, leading to a major disruption of his metabolism. He died in his sleep whilst stone-cold sober, due to his system producing something to combat the alcohol, and which was poisonous to a sober individual. No alcohol => death.

If one's system is habituated to large doses of alcohol, the sudden deprivation thereof can send the metabolism totally haywire. Anybody who has been a serious drinker for a long time - and I don't just mean somebody who has a bottle of vodka on waking up in the morning and carries on from there, but even somebody who "only" has a bottle every evening - should consult their GP, and if necessary seek referral to a specialist, before knocking off the sauce.

Any competent doctor will advise against the "knock it on the head" approach, preferring a programme of steady reduction, including regular check-ups. The "Stop now or you'll be dead in a week" warnings that so many now-sober celebrities speak of in interviews are given in cases where they really will be dead in a week, and are accompanied by immediate hospitalisation so they can be kept under constant observation to prevent their system collapsing under the strain of life without booze. Of course they don't mention that: they skip straight to the vaguely-heroic sounding "...and I've never had a drink since then" bit

Worthy of note: withdrawal from heroin, though deeply unpleasant, cannot in itself cause death. Withdrawal from alcohol, whilst it can be much less unpleasant, can be fatal. For some reason they don't teach this in schools, although it would make sense to do so. I learnt it from Panorama sometime in the late Seventies, and have since confirmed it from medical sources.

To sum up: at least have a couple of shandies after your bike ride. On Monday, make appointments with your respective GPs to find out the best way for each of you to go about it.

Absolute... drivel.

Do you think if you get admitted to hospital with a full on case of the DTs they give you vodka to get over it?

[OwlHoot]

Absolute... drivel.

Do you think if you get admitted to hospital with a full on case of the DTs they give you vodka to get over it?

Better than that - They'll give you an ethanol drip (and/or a shed load of benzodiazepine)

Nick is right (as always). DT is no laughing matter - Without treatment it has a 30% or more fatality rate. Do a google on "alcohol GABA receptors".

[minestrone]

Better than that - They'll give you an ethanol drip (and/or a shed load of benzodiazepine)

Nick is right (as always). DT is no laughing matter - Without treatment it has a 30% or more fatality rate. Do a google on "alcohol GABA receptors".

A 30% mortality rate with the Hebejeebies? Good god, there would be 10,000 Glaswegians dead in the morning.