Can you go without booze for 31 days?

jane aren't there many different levels of problem drinking e.g. risky drinking, harmful drinking, dependent drinking etc? and I think to get into trouble with GMC you would need to have had a diagnosis. Anyway, be interesting to see how she gets on.

granjura you have a point, it was the middle aged successful drinkers who protested most loudly about the 'minimum pricing policy' that the Government didn't introduce this year - that they were regular drinkers and would feel it in their pockets and didn't see why they should be penalised (when it's the 'white cider' drinker who buys cheap alcohol - sometimes cheaper than bottled water -from the 'offie' that needs to be discouraged.

I always have my heart in my mouth when we come back from a night out in London at all the people on the train who are really too drunk to make their way home alone. I once embarrassed husband by jumping up and saying to one slightly less drunk young woman "You can't let your friend get off the train alone in that state!" It just burst out of me. And off she stumbled into the dark.

Very complex, isn't it just.

Grannyknot Yes there are, but I would say that drinking at a level that causes palpitations and interferes with sleep, and then going to work the next day as a GP, is at least a borderline problem, as as a GP herself she should have insight into that.
I don't know about the GMC, but to get in trouble with the GDC, all it takes is one anonymous notification which the Fitness to Practise Committee are then under a statutory obligation to investigate.

Perhaps she should emigrate to Australia. Apparently the 'safe' limits are much higher there...

I was breathalysed on Friday evening here in Australia. The police just set up RBT's (random breath tests) whenever and wherever, which is good because it makes drivers far more aware of their drinking habits. I had chosen to not drink after seeing how much the rest of them were putting away. However, had I chosen to drink, we would all have returned home by taxi, no question. I still felt guilty for being stopped and questioned and then having to count from 1 to 10 into a machine and my knees were like jelly - strange how the police have that effect even on the innocent!

KatyK I found your comments about drinking on Christmas Day really scary. Didn't all that alcohol spoil your enjoyment of the day? Were there children present?

I am not teetotal, nor is anyone in my family, but I do not think anyone consumed more than three drinks all day on Christmas Day and most drank only one or two. Nobody was being 'virtuous' or careful. We had a huge variety of alternative non-alcoholic drinks, which most of us preferred.

Could someone explain to me what the attraction of more than an occasional drink is. Yes, I have drunk more than I should in the past and I cannot remember ever enjoying it. I felt light headed, unbalanced and as if I was looking at the world through a smeary window. I cannot ever remember it making me feel clever, witty or confident and as for the next day..........

Flick , your comment to KATY sounded a bit snotty to me , if you don2t mind me saying .
Each to his own !!

I do understand where you are coming from Flickety although I have no wish to single anyone out for what they might have posted. I really find it strange that in our society it is socially acceptable for adults to drink alcohol to the point of intoxication but not to use other drugs such as cannabis to get the same effect. I can't for the life of me see any difference.

It was certainly rather judgemental! KatyK is old enough to know what she's doing, and just because FlicketyB has never really enjoyed more than a couple of drinks doesn't make those who do wrong...

The point about whether children were present or not is another matter, for another thread, perhaps.

Never touch the stuff. I don't like the taste and I don't like the effect it has on me. But I don't object to anyone who drinks in moderation.
Can't stand drunks though, sorry !!

Sorry, my comment about KatyK was not meant to be snotty. I really did have a profound sense of shock when I read her posting about never being without a drink for more than half an hour. Allow one drink an hour that is at least 12 or more drinks over the course of a day. By any standards that is a lot. It may be that every drink lasted three hours, which would of course be different but there was nothing in her post to suggest this.

I have no objection to people drinking more than me but as I read KatyK's post, my interpretation of it was that she was drinking continuously all day. And I consider that shocking.

I assumed Katyk's comment was tongue in cheek - sorry if I'm wrong!

As the daughter of a 'functioning' alcoholic, whose brother went the same way, I have huge concern for friends who seem to think having a glass or two every night is Ok, and find it strange that people like to boast about how much they drink /need a drink

I have seen the damage that alcohol does to a family, and if someone really thinks it will be challenge to go 31 days without a drink, they need to examine their lifestyle very carefully and maybe talk to a professional

I have an occasional drink - maybe 2 or three times a year , with a meal. or at an occasion such as a wedding, but have perfectly good fun stone cold sober.

I must admit I thought the same about someone having a drink every half hour. Christmas Day would have passed in a befuddled haze if I did that! [hic]

I'm very happy that Dry January have achieved their goal of getting 10,000 people to give up alcohol this month. Here's another one of those people, I'm finding all those who are 'coming out' interesting:

www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/10541685/Dry-January-will-be-tough-thats-why-I-must-do-it.html

Mind you, Alison Pearson writing in the article, link above, is another one who thinks that 'spending a day in your home office writing your newspaper column is tough' and she needs a drink to chill after that. Pleese.Spare.Me.

So did I jingle- but thought it was best not to say anything at the time. Most of us drink a bit too much at Christmas- but a drink every hour... depending when you start and finish - could end up as a big mess indeed, and does not 'sound quite right' somehow. Sorry, but the truth.

All KatyK actually says is that she doesn't think she went without a drink for 31 minutes, which could just mean that her glass was never empty for that long. She could have made two drinks last all day!

Yes my comment WAS tongue in cheek !!!

Just read these through. Oh dear I seem to have been crowned GN's resident alcoholic. I was actually joking. We had a lovely Christmas Day, lots to eat and drink, the same as most other people. No children were present and even if they had been no one was drunk. Note to self: Make it clearer that you were joking.

Well that is cleared up now !!

Just showed DH - he now has a fit of the giggles!

I didn't believe you were the resident alcoholic Katy.

Sorry, KatyK I was running my eye down about five days of postings. 5 extra people in the house for 5 days is not conducive to keeping up with Gransnet, or anything else. It means that when I did finally get online their were so many posts to catch up with that many did not get read thoroughly and nuances like humour got missed.

To be fair, the OP was about a serious charity campaign to go dry for January... so it might be a bit unfair to take the mick, either way.

Grannyknot I think Allison Pearson must be the model for Private Eye's columnist Polly Filler