The NOT Drinking Thread

Like many others on this thread, I am not a tee-totaler either but have cut waaaaay back .. I’ll go weeks at a time without drinking and when I do drink only have one drink of a shot of gin and a mixer or a White Claw or other seltzer.

I don’t really crave it though, so not a struggle for me. I drink mostly iced water pretty much non-stop and get unsweet tea or Diet Coke when I eat out.
 
NYCBlueBlood said:
I like to mix the La Croix tangerine seltzer with blood orange juice. Or the Black Razzberry with Boathouse Farms Blue Goodness.

I pour a 12 oz can of the seltzer into a pint glass, and top it off with the fresh fruit juice. Very light and refreshing in the summer.
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Funny that you mention seltzers. I still drink alcohol but about a year or two ago I started mixing vodka w zero calorie flavored seltzers and I love it. I did this because I wanted to get away from the effects of sugar or any sweeteners. Now, unless I drink a boatload of alcohol, I don’t get any headache or any hangover symptoms. And you don’t even taste the vodka.

Beer used to be my thing but about 5 years ago I became gluten sensitive. One beer and I had a headache.

All this to say that sometimes it’s not the alcohol that is making people feel terrible. Sometimes it’s the wheat and/or the sweeteners.
 
I’ve put down the bottle myself. Need to get my weight and blood pressure down and the cold ones weren’t helping. 6’3 245, so I’m not terribly overweight but now that I’m in my mid 30’s that extra weight is really not good for the knees and back. Sticking to seltzers and non sweet tea.
 
I haven’t had any alcohol since 3/26/99. Occasionally I miss it at backyard barbecues or having a drink at the holidays but other than that I’m happy to free of it.
 
Haven’t quit drinking entirely but have considered it. The last drink I had was maybe three weeks ago. I just can’t tolerate alcohol well anymore, one drink makes me feel terrible about two hours afterwards and through the next day. Poor sleep, wake up hot, feel like crud. I just do not understand people who don’t get hangovers.

That being said, NA beers hold no interest due to the high carb content. If I’m going to have carbs and calories, hand me a bowl of ice cream. Flavored fizzy water for the win.

I do think it is interesting that the latest health news is about the harmful effects of alcohol (esp. in regards to its relationship with cancer) versus the old guidance of healthy moderate drinking.
 
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Yeah, I think the latest research is that no amount of alcohol is good for you, and it feels like that's right. I rode the "one or two glasses of red wine are good for you" for years (and of course usually drank more than that) but I knew in my bones that was just an excuse...
 
NOVAHEEL13 said:
who else had "super discusses his sex life on a non -drinking thread" on their bingo card?
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Sorry, wrong place for it. It just kind of slipped out. Probably because I had gotten high and was waiting for my wife to return to our room after she had to step out to care for her elderly mother.
 
superrific said:
Sorry, wrong place for it. It just kind of slipped out. Probably because I had gotten high and was waiting for my wife to return to our room after she had to step out to care for her elderly mother.
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dude, I was just fuckin with ya. I'm 46 and I've got a ridiculously intelligent and smokin' hot 50yr old GF who legit looks 30 and who does gummies...I get where you're coming from. I would partake as well but I'm going through a security background check for SCI/TS w/ poly at the moment so I can't. With her boys out of the house and mine old enough to drive we have our pick of sexytime places and use it to our advantage.

She lives in a 100yr old lakefront log cabin and has a pontoon boat... it's....nice 😁

ok, back to the thread topic. My lady and I are also trying to limit our alcohol intake. It honestly makes me feel like shit even when I'm not drinking heavily. She can only drink one MAYYYYBE two then she's pretty much done bc she's a 110 lbs dripping wet and wakes with a hangover more often than not.

I can't really drink beer anymore bc it fucks up my system, wine is one or two glasses of a VERY dry red and even then the sulfates are starting to get to me. I used to drink Captain and Coke but I've also tried limiting my processed sugar so that's out now. All I have left are mixed drinks which are fine but EXPENSIVE AF.

I need to start making these mocktails everyone keeps telling me about but it's so damn difficult bc I only really drink in social settings despite having a well stocked wet bar with quality liquors
 
I have about a dozen drinks a year now. I drink water, coffee and ginger ale, mostly coffee and water.

I drank between a half pint and a pint of whiskey 360 days a year for 30 years. Almost exactly 5 years ago, I found out that nagging cough and hoarseness was currently stage 4 throat cancer brought on by that particular habit. Seems alcohol is the third or fourth leading cause. I decided to give it up. Fortunately, I never developed an addiction to it so it was no particular problem to quit. A couple of years later when it was feasible , I discovered I had no great desire to drink much anymore. My youngest inherited my taste for whiskey so I still have a drink or two when I visit him. That's about all I ever drink any more.

Fwiw, I have a last appointment with my ENT surgeon and radiation oncologist on Jan.16. If things hold true to form, that will be 5 years cancer free after treatment. That's officially about as cured as you get.
 
HeelingAg said:
WOW!!!! Congrats!

I see a LOT of post-op ENT patients - some of those surgeries are near the top of challenging recoveries. Much respect.

Also, it's jaw dropping you drank that quantity for that long and didn't have severe withdrawals.

Best wishes.
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The only surgeries ended up being a trach, a g-tube, a chem port, a couple of biopsies and some dental surgery to make sure no roots were left. The actual treatment was 3 chemo sessions and 35 radiation treatments. I did have to have things removed and the trach surgically closed because of poor healing due to the radiation.

Otoh, I was dead lucky. Btw, forget that BS about fighting cancer. The doctors and the cancer fight. At best, you're the battlefield. All I did was show up when I was told and do what I was told. I'm now back at my high school weight. I take one HTZ pill a day for my blood pressure and about the only lingering affect is hoarseness because the cancer and radiation destroyed one of my vocal chords. Even after that, while I don't have much volume and am hoarse, I'm pretty understandable.
 
Thanks for the thead lawtig02 my son was born in 1984 and we lived in a rental house down Big Woods Rd before it turned into gravel back then. I was trying to sell real estate and being our version of hippies we moved to the country! Long story short I had to go to Cole Park plaza to get Pampers and I kept walking between the beer cooler and the Pampers trying to figure out can I get a six pack and a half pack of Pampers what. I saw my reflection in the cooler window of the 12 pack and said oh my God by the Pampers and quit drinking!
And I did it and didn't drink for 30 years. Once the children had both graduated from college I was playing golf with a friend who had Wild Turkey honey? I was like their flavor in the liquor now? I had hit my ball deep in the woods and my friend was putting out and I bumped one of those wild turkey minis before he got back to the cart! He was like your wife's going to kill me and I told him look man I have pushed my pig through the python I can do what I want!

Back when I was a dry drunk and wasn't drinking I would tell folks that drinking was the one thing that no matter how hard you practiced you don't get better at!
Back then when I quit they're only a few not alcoholic beers Kingsbury and chlousterholler (sp?).
 
Finesse, I am so glad for you that you got through your cancer treatment and are doing well — I can only imagine how grueling that must have been. I will certainly keep my fingers crossed that your appointment goes well in January. Five years is a huge milestone.

Like Heeling said, I am floored that you didn’t have significant withdrawal symptoms if you drank that much, every day, for as long as you did. People can incur brain injury or death if they stop cold turkey after drinking that much. You must also have one tough liver. I’m thankful that you’re here to tell the tale.
 
finesse said:
The only surgeries ended up being a trach, a g-tube, a chem port, a couple of biopsies and some dental surgery to make sure no roots were left. The actual treatment was 3 chemo sessions and 35 radiation treatments. I did have to have things removed and the trach surgically closed because of poor healing due to the radiation.

Otoh, I was dead lucky. Btw, forget that BS about fighting cancer. The doctors and the cancer fight. At best, you're the battlefield. All I did was show up when I was told and do what I was told. I'm now back at my high school weight. I take one HTZ pill a day for my blood pressure and about the only lingering affect is hoarseness because the cancer and radiation destroyed one of my vocal chords. Even after that, while I don't have much volume and am hoarse, I'm pretty understandable.
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Sounds much like my brother. Radiation, chemo, then surgery to get it all out. Been over 10 years and like you is hoarse when talking - sometimes hard to hear/understand him but otherwise fine.
 
You might have more people joining you on this thread. New poll out shows drinking for Americans has dropped sharply and more people think even moderate drinking is unhealthy. All groups have have more people that aren't regularly drinking but some groups with the largest drops were young people, women, and surprisingly to me, Republicans.


"54 percent of American adults say they drink. It’s the lowest number Gallup has reported since it began polling American drinking levels in 1939, and a 13 percentage-point drop from three years ago."

"The rate of young adults ages 18 to 34 who reported that they drank fell sharply in just two years, from 59 percent in 2023 to 50 percent today."

"The rate of Republicans who say they drink is down about 19 percentage points since 2023, from 65 percent to 46 percent. The rate of Democrats who report drinking alcohol dropped slightly during the same period, from 64 percent to 61 percent."

"Women showed a more pronounced decline in drinking than men. Both groups reported a 62 percent drinking rate in 2023 — whereas this year, women are down to 51 percent, while men are down to 57 percent."
 
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