Do you sometimes think you drink too much. Or you wonder how much alcohol is too much alcohol. You can’t sleep well and you wake feeling creaky and stiff after getting up in the night to pee. Your digestion isn’t good and your eyes are dry. You have a sneaking idea that all these things are related to alcohol rather than to ageing or life in general.
Well, you are not alone. We are bombarded by TV programs and articles telling us that we have become binge drinkers and we can’t even congratulate ourselves that we have never been seen out in a drunken state because now we know that most alcohol is consumed in the home, not in the pub.
Bearing in mind that my patients are concerned about their health, and taking active steps to improve it, it is surprising the number of them who say they think they are drinking too much. There are so many aspects to the statement it’s hard to know where to start or to judge if it is a problem. What is drinking too much? Is it a generational thing? Don’t all generations disapprove of what other people do? But the key is if YOU think it is too much, it is. It doesn’t matter if it is a glass at the weekend or a bottle or more a night. We live in a culture that has embraced alcohol for millennia but we should never forget that alcohol is toxic and causes damage.
How would you know if you’re drinking too much? Well, all the symptoms listed to the side can be caused by alcohol. You might feel sluggish in the morning, too sleepy to stay awake, feel frightened of the idea of a day or night without a drink, think it is affecting your health negatively, think you spend more money than you can comfortably afford on alcohol, feel embarrassed of your behaviour after drinking in company, feel embarrassed to admit that you drink on your own, have memory blank outs. Whatever it is, you know in your heart if you are drinking too much for you.
This is my list for stopping.
- Decide what you want to do: a dry month; a weekly limit; giving up for a long-haul. Whatever you decide, make a commitment: to someone or in writing. Get people on board. (Warning. At this point even very good friends might discourage you and tell you that you don’t need to. It’s YOUR decision. Just say you are worried, you would appreciate their support. Frankly, if they don’t support you, they’ve got a problem and they are NOT your friend.)
- Prepare yourself by making sure you have lots of alternatives to alcohol for difficult times. (However much you spend on delicious alternatives, it is not going to be as much as on alcohol and you won’t need them as a distraction as time goes by.)
- Get on with it.
- Be kind to yourself.
- If you can’t keep to your decision review the whole process and try again or get yourself help. No one needs be dependent of alcohol.
- If you keep to it, celebrate. (Now isn’t it funny how we always think of alcohol as a celebration. Do something different. Go to the cinema, the beach, bake a cake, have a long slow kiss.
Everyone has different reasons for worrying about alcohol and that is why you need to address it individually and that is precisely what homeopathy does. It will help you to address why you drink, what you drink, when you drink, what effect it has, how you feel about it and how you feel after it.
What homeopathy offers is a chance to put it all together and look at the place drinking has in your life. With the help of individually selected remedies you will be able to start to address the issue.
If you want to have a look at you and alcohol click here to make an appointment and start your homeopathy journey.
I’d really love to hear what you have to say about your experiences with alcohol and getting it back into proportion in your life. Share your experiences with us and pass on your expertise.
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