Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Other Health Discussion => Topic started by: Elliebee on March 13, 2023, 01:02:35 PM
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Has anyone decided to quit alcohol to reduce their menopausal symptoms and /or cancer risks? I’ve reduced my alcohol consumption to below government guidelines but I’m wondering if this is enough !
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I've certainly cut down,in fact more than half, I still enjoy my red wine at the weekends but where it used to be a bottle it's now a half bottle.Too much alcohol definitely doesn't help my anxiety etc but I find a couple of glasses of wine ok,can't see me stopping them any time soon ;D
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i was drinking far too much wine and as jaypo says i feel reducing alcohol has helped my anxiety. i can handle a couple of glasses but nowhere near what i was drinking xx
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Alcohol certainly makes my health anxiety worse / the famous hangxiety ! One of my reasons for cutting back. I didn’t drink a huge amount anyway. My biggest fear is the link between alcohol and cancers especially breast cancer. I really try to be healthy and exercise 4/5 days a weeks. I don’t take HRT and like to manage any symptoms naturally- anxiety is the worst for me.
Also was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure which runs in my family.
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I think as we get older we don't metabolise alcohol so well. I can manage one drink if out for lunch, but if I have one in the evening I feel foul mood-wise the following morning. I didn't so much give it up, rather it gave me up.
JP x
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I don't drink ........ where DH would go to the supermarket wine section, I prefer to browse magazines ::)
If he opens a 'good' bottle of something I'll take a sip - all tastes the same though :-\ ;D
As with many things, sometimes giving up is OK in that the body doesn't require that boost. It depends on when people drink/smoke - is it socially or at specific times of day.
Alcohol and sweets are no longer a 'treat' ........
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I think if you drink sensibly is the main thing, I mean if you look hard enough at studies we'd be terrified to eat or drink anything. I've known women who have never drank alcohol and yet still got breast cancer,there are so many factors involved but if you want to stop then go for it and good for you :)
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Yep, good point. I had treatment for breast disease in the 1990s, never smoked and went off drink early on!
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So true about all the various studies! Just read an article tonight by Tim Spectre (Zoe health app guy) that red wine in moderation (no more than 2 glasses in any one day) is good for our gut microbes due to the polypbenols. Good gut health is now recognised as being essential for overall physical and mental health.
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I usually have a glass or two of red wine with my evening meal every night. Gone a bit over the top this week though as on holiday but will cut back when I'm back home. I've never found alcohol to make any difference with my menopause and it is relaxing to unwind with a glass of wine so have always enjoyed this treat.
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I listened to an episode of The Huberman Lab podcast with Dr (researcher, not medical) Andrew Huberman on alcohol and it kinda 'scared me straight'. Not that I drank a lot anyway, but now it's down to only when I go out for dinner which is pretty rare. I do think my body was turning off alcohol at the same time though, because I don't enjoy it as much as I used to.
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I'm the same as Deidre in that i have 1 or 2 small glasses of wine with dinner. I never go over the NHS allowance each week and to be honest, i enjoy them and haven't found any detrimental effects to my health / menopause.
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It IS scary all the reports you read,which is why I tend NOT to read them anymore,one minute something is going to kill you and the next,it's good for you,like Deirdre, I do drink more when on holiday but just cocktails and the very occasional lager but when I think back to what I used to drink,it horrifies me,now it's 2 glasses of red.It's really nice not waking up feeling awful too 🤢
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I agree Jaypo, you could drive yourself crazy if you read every medical article about what we should or should not be doing. There has to be some pleasures in life ;D
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*two* glasses of red wine :o :drunk: half a glass and I would be under a table ::)
A little of what you fancy was my paternal Grandma's stance ;-)
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I'm the same as Deidre in that i have 1 or 2 small glasses of wine with dinner. I never go over the NHS allowance each week and to be honest, i enjoy them and haven't found any detrimental effects to my health / menopause.
Is small a 1.25ml? It gets so confusing with the difference in volumes and strengths. The other thing is having three days alcohol free and not next to each other! I too like a glass with dinner if it's not a pub visiting day. My small glass is 175ml though and the wine is 13%.
Taz :-\
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Hi Taz,
yes, it is 125ml for a small glass and that's the measurement i use. I have white wine and it's usually a similar percentage strength.
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Taz2 I didn’t know the alcohol free days were not supposed to be consecutive? Is that more new advice.
I recall in the early 90s when it was common for pubs to routinely sell 250ml glasses of wine!
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Schooner of sherry any1 :-\ ::) ......... or Tia Maria?
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When i first went out for a drink at 18, i was ordering a Babycham - thought i was the height of sophistication ;D
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:rofl: I was 16 :o and we walked into a Pub, sitting at the bar was a member of the school staff :-X. He didn't tell. Babycham however makes me really nauseous in the early hours .......... so I gave up after the 2nd bad night.
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Hellosam, I was a cider & babycham gal ;D blimey,that's a blast from the past ;D
It is all so confusing re the units etc Taz,I only drink on a Friday & Saturday and there's no measuring apart from making sure my OH doesn't get a millilitre more than me ;D
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:lol:
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Oh my goodness Jaypo - I moved up to half a sweet cider after Babycham, trying to be a touch more cool lol. Bringing back lots of memories now, it's making me laugh.
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Hellosam, I was a cider & babycham gal ;D blimey,that's a blast from the past ;D
It is all so confusing re the units etc Taz,I only drink on a Friday & Saturday and there's no measuring apart from making sure my OH doesn't get a millilitre more than me ;D
;D ;D It is confusing! A 1.25ml glass of wine is 1.5 units - depending on how strong the wine is. I think they take 12% as normal. I think that pubs should make it clear that you can order a 1.25ml as by law they have to provide it but it is usually way down in the small print on the drinks menu that it is available. Mind you that's only a few mouthfuls! https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/facts/alcoholic-drinks-and-units/what-is-an-alcohol-unit I haven't dare add mine up yet. ;D
Taz x
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A few mouthfuls Taz? Don't you mean one? ;D I so I'm guessing a half bottle is equal to 187.5 mls glass if it's a 750 ml bottle? I've confused myself now ;D
Oh I was way cooler than you hellosam, I had them both in the same glass ;D
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Half a bottle is 350ml and half a bottle of 13.5% wine is around five units. The advice is so strange as it says not to drink all of your units together but to spread them out over the week but also to have alcohol free days. Our poor livers!
Taz x
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I remember my grandmother force feeding my father stout because it was "good for you", and of course there are a number of reports that a glass of red wine every day can help because of some special substance it contains, but that goes against spreading out the units.
Personally I've found that I get more hot flushes if I drink wine so I tend to avoid it. I would be interested to know if organic wines would be better, but I've never been much of a drinker so haven't tried testing the theory.
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I used to love wine but due to anxiety in menopause i stopped alltogether. Now, when I try to have a drink I realise that it makes me sleepy and grumpy and that I don't like the taste of it. How strange...
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I stopped drinking completely around two years ago, more for anxiety and sleep reasons than anything else, but I’ve definitely noticed some surprises, like fewer hot flushes and less bloating. I didn’t expect the change to have such an effect on my mood swings either. I used to get irritable by the end of the week without really knowing why, and now that doesn't happen anymore. It took a little while to adjust socially, but it was worth it for feeling more stable overall.
If cutting back doesn’t feel like enough down the line, there are places like Abbeycare UK treatment clinics (https://www.abbeycarefoundation.com/) that offer proper support for quitting altogether. They’ve got experience with personalised plans and different levels of care, which makes it more manageable.
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Good for you girl, I keep asking myself if I'm a mini version of an alcoholic because I really look forward to my two glasses of wine on a Friday and a Saturday and nothing (much) stops me, I've cut down hugely though,used to be a bottle I'd drink of an evening but one bottle now does me both nights 😇🤣