More power to ya Cheezy ... changes like cutting back on drinking are not easy. But for me at least, they actually are a bit easier if I think of them as as a default way of living. It's a bit like the difference between going on a diet verses making permanent lifestyle changes to eating habits. Diets take energy to stick with ... lifestyle changes are just a way of being.
I really hope people will stick with this post and read it through.
I’ve found out the hard way that you do *not* have to get DUI’s, act out in public, wake up with unexplained head damage, or be an alcoholic to be suffering serious health problems associated with too much drinking.
I've had none of the former but do have the latter.
I know this post is a “downer”, but stick with me for a moment ...
Not to get into the details too deeply but, I just want to make a few points about Liver Disease ...
The internal changes start well before symptoms appear.
Variously Alcoholic Hepatitis, Alcoholic Liver Disease, Fatty Liver, and other correlative Liver Disease conditions are the issue ... and there’s lots of information online about what they are and the progression.
If you read around you will see that there are a host of other separate health, disease, and immune conditions and behaviors which affect the progression of liver disease ... things like undiagnosed Viral Hepatitis, the consumption of a broad range of drugs, and the exposure to a range of toxins.
These are things that very, very specifically affect the progression of the disease ... and your INability to continue to consume alcohol ... and besides the alcohol, will have an impact on whether you will lose the privilege to drink alcohol.
Medically this is not simple stuff. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that early moderation IS simple stuff.
I threw on the brakes hard about a year-and-a-half ago and now drink less than twice a month (actually on the average for the past four months, less than once a month - yes I track it along with my dietary behavior - and on paper)... and I do not drink more than a maximum of three to four regular drinks when I do drink (usually around 2 drinks, actually) ... I do not take any NSAID including ibuprofen and aspirin more than twice a month ... and have modified a number of my other behaviors, particularly dietary, with regard to liver health.
These changes were made much easier by being part of a much larger overall change to my dietary and health behavior.
Because I have a history of periodically adhering to the sort of rigorous exercise and dietary behavior throughout my adult life that one does for training for bodybuilding or other physical competition, that mentality helped a lot as the diet and health changes became just another round of that behavior ... but permanent now.
As far as my condition with regard to alcohol, the Plan-of-Action I decided upon is the one that would be used for someone with a more advanced “liver problem” issue than what I actually developed.
One thing that is important to understand is that liver disease has a tipping point. That is, there is a certain point where regardless of what you do, your liver will continue to deteriorate and, excluding other unforeseen diseases or accidents, will be the cause of your death. This tipping point is NOT so far into the disease that it may necessarily have flashing lights and warning sirens going off in your head ... particularly if you are comparatively youngish and/or have a history of being fairly ‘bullet-proof” as far as health and lifestyle so far.
As for me, I am doing ok.
I believe I have seriously “dodged a bullet”.
The Lord swung a 2x4 at my head and it just barely grazed me.
I took the advice and didn’t look back.
FWIW
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