Kemps. Someone told me that if you couldn’t go a night without a drink you are addicted. Show them they are wrong by cutting out booze one night a week, or a month. Hope you are feeling ok mate. I am sure you will be alright with a little lifestyle tweaking.
I used to find it easy to go a night without a drink. It was whilst I was awake I found it a problem.
I've not read every reply here so apologies if I'm repeating stuff, (and if it seems like I'm preaching ). However, I had raised ALT during blood tests for my routine post-40 health test in January. Apparently they were double what they should have been, (and at 10x is when you'll have acute hepatitis). I feel absolutely fine otherwise, and I've read that 90-100% of regular drinkers will develop this and fatty liver to some extent. I've not completely stopped drinking but I have now restricted myself just to Fridays and Saturdays. With one completely alcohol-free week a month, (I work on-call 24x7 one week every month so that is actually a big help in abstinence). The recommendation does seem to be taking regular complete breaks from alcohol - say 4 days a week to allow liver recovery. Despite the government warnings about binge drinking, a lot of liver doctors seem to think that if you're going to drink at all, do so all at once and then allow the aforementioned 'recovery' period. Not trying to scaremonger here but I read a case of someone, mid-40s who collapsed without warning and tests revealed severe liver damage. Apparently he'd only drink ½-1 bottle of wine a day - but had been doing so every day for over 20 years without a break. I'm sure you'll be fine mate. Probably just our bodies reminding us we're no longer spring chickens and to take it a bit easier.
In my first week after I emigrated here, I had a medical/check up with a local quack. Turns out he was a Welshman who'd come over here a few years earlier. Usual embarrassing questions asked: Q: "Do you smoke ?" A: "Yep" Q: "What's your daily alcohol intake ?" A: "2 or 3 beers a day. Occasional glass or 2 of wine". (I may have been downplaying the last answer a tad ! Dr. Hopkins gave me a knowing look after my last answer. I asked him " Is there something wrong with that volume Doc ?" "Let me put it this way. If you were in the states you'd be classified an alcoholic. If you were still in England, no-one would bat an eyelid. Here in Canada we'd put you in the middle of those two assessments. " I thought about it for a second and asked him "What do you recommend I do then ?" Without hesitating he responded "**** off back to England". Welsh git ! Went to his surgery last week to see another doc about some blood work, and bumped into Dr. Hopkins. "You still here ?" he blurted out, smiling. He should be retired by now.
Thanks for that advice, AT. I started this thread for unselfish reasons. I hope it may just work as a reminder that all of us should keep one eye on our health and when we get those invites to a well man/woman clinic from our local surgeries, we should bite the bullet and keep the appointment, Iv'e ignored them for years, so that's my own idiot self to blame. Get checked out, all
Out of interest kemps, how old are you? I’m 44, wondering if I should get a check up. I feel great, but I defo drink more than I should (but not as much as Dennis lol)
You should be having a check up once a year starting age 40, and be aware of family history, dietary & fitness recommendations, and of course follow advice.
I'm 54, SW3. At 44 you really should get a check up. I was about your age when I had my last check up and all was fine, but they didn't do the bloods ten years ago. Go get checked mate. Apart from it being a boring thing to do, ask yourself, Why not?
I asked my Doc about a prostate check, Ben. They don't stick a finger up your Kaboos anymore. But seriously, he talked me out of it because it's such an inaccurate test. They stick a needle up your arse mate, right into your prostate gland and that often causes a really bad infection. I passed up on that life experience, ta.
It is a bit confusing though, You see that we should have a Mediterranean diet and yet the French drink tons of red wine every day and all live to 103. Is that why they all wear yellow vests so we can see them staggering along.
Funnily enough I was at the Doctors last week for something unrelated and decided to see if I could get some type of a wellman check up They don’t do the clinics anymore, but I made an appointment to go back for blood tests, cholesterol etc Couple of weeks for tests then wait and see what they show Early 50’s so although I feel fine I thought it was worth a quick MOT
The further north you get in France the unhealthier they tend to get. Though conversely just about the healthiest area with the least heart problems is the area where they eat loads of deep fried stuff and cook everything in duck fat.
