I’ve always loved you, Mean Old Lady. And to correct something, I’m not saying I’m using this “medicly” or whatever. I just don’t see the harm. Good responses, all.
I’m sitting here drinking wine, in England where we generally don’t have the same hysterical reactions to alcohol that I sometimes see online, and I still think that booze at breakfast is generally a bad idea.
OK, you might do that on holiday or special occasions (in the UK, weddings often end up with everyone over 16 squiffy by noon), but it’s not good as a way to start your usual day. Medication is general is a horrible way to start the day anyway, because of the dependance, and medication that’s as addictive as alcohol and has so many negative counter-effects is even worse. Taking addictive, harmful medication is not a good way to start the day unless you absolutely have to.
This applies to many prescribed medicines, but they do at least have the benefit of regulation - each pill is the (as far as is possible) the same as the last, unlike different glasses from different bottles of red wine.
And I do do think that if you start your day with booze it is far too easy for one glass to become more than one. Not necessarily ten, but two or three, unless you have some driving need to get out of the house and do something important as soon as you’ve had your morning Merlot - in which case you probably don’t want to have recently drunk alcohol.
The reason it could so very easily become a couple instead of one is that booze is nice; medicine is usually not. Some medication is actually nice, of course, and has some of the same problems, but just because those medications have those problems doesn’t negate the problems associated with booze.
Really? A drink at breakfast is generally bad? You’ve never gone to a neighborhood restaurant and saw Bloody Mary or Mimosa specials Saturday and Sunday mornings? I know a lot of fairly uptight people who will have a drink in the AM. We’re not talking about getting shitfaced here. Anyway, we’re getting off topic. Who gets “squiffy” from a single drink? I think that’s why the OP asks what the problem is with a glass of wine, as opposed to asking what’s wrong with getting drunk in the morning.
Ah. Got it.
It’s not the same for everyone but her drinking may make her anxiety attacks worse with alcohol withdrawls. With that there’s a risk of a drinking problem developing. Why risk that if theres healthier ways to make herself feel better in the morning. Exercise releases endorphins that act as a natural pain killers.
I don’t think people who drink a Mimosa special on a Saturday morning are doing it every day or even every Saturday - you even specified weekends. Like I said, drinking in the morning on special occasions or on holiday is different to doing it every day and it’s also different to treating it as medicine.
I never said anyone gets squiffy from a single drink. That was intended to be a humourous aside; those wedding-goers who are squiffy at noon will have had far more than one drink, but it’s accepted as the norm where I live. Never mind.
Do you really not think that there’s a risk that one could easily turn into more than one? It’s an addictive substance that’s easily available and it tastes nice. If you then start thinking of it as ‘medicine’ or ‘good for you’ then you’re even more likely to have just one more. People have enough trouble with addictive medications that don’t have the pleasant effects and tastiness of booze.
As another booze afficionado, I believe the only reason a person should drink is because they enjoy the taste or they like getting drunk. There is a strong social element to it as well.
If you “need” a drink to get through the day or cope with shit, that’s a problem.
From a cognitive behavioural treatment perspective the main problem is the more you try to get away from anxiety, the more fearful you make anxiety as an experience.
Which is why alcohol and Xanax are often a problem. Apparently a big issue with tranquilisers and anxiety isn’t always addiction as such - a common problem is people not taking them regularly because they hate relying on them, and trying to have them only on ‘bad days’. Over time this makes the experience of anxiety more and more scary and you have to work harder and harder to avoid it.
So the key problem here is you are trying to replace Xanax so you dont have to use it in a regular way rather than the alcohol as such, because I doubt you are really intending to forgo all Xanax use entirely. If you are going to use tranquilisers to deal with anxiety, the idea usually is to use one that keeps you at a stable level during the day, and not to take them ‘as needed’. If you cant keep it stable, the solution is not to replace it, but to consult with your doctor about other possible options.
I strongly advise against experimenting with this idea, because it may feel like it works in the short term, but it has a fair chance of making life much harder for you in the longer run.
Otara
I have no particular opinion about booze and time of day, but I do think that a substance should be either medication or pleasure. Blurring that line, in either direction, is very dangerous.
If you drink booze for pleasure, or plan to at any point in the foreseeable future, I don’t think it’s healthy to start thinking of it as a medication. In the same way, I don’t think it’s healthy to take your prescription pills for kicks on a Saturday night.
Well put!
I never had a panic attack while imbibing Alcohol.
But, I also never took any medication for it either.
I forced myself to ignore them, and they eventually went away.
Not overnight, but years later.
A single drink at anytime is fine.
A drink in the morning is a short term solution for a long term problem.
I tried Bourbon n Coffee in the morning…
I tried a Pint at Lunch…
I tried a Joint at Break…
Same thing happened every time…F**K THIS JOB I WANNA GO HAVE FUN 
So, I refuse to Drink Alcohol, Pot, Pill’s and try to Work, It’s Not Gonna Happen.
On the other hand, I can do all kinds of projects at Home while sippin’ on a beer all day long, and feel normal about it.
It all depends on the personal circumstance, IMO.
(edit) Having a beer = Time for fun to my Brain (edit)
Depends on the person and their relationship with alcohol. People with drinking problems often have times moderating their consumption, which is why they often abstain from alcohol altogether, but I don’t see why you seem to think it’s so beyond the realm of possibility that other people can have just one. I have an aunt who says she has a a single drink before bed every night, because it helps her sleep. She, like most people I know, has a fairly casual relationship with drinking; she drinks socially, and with a frequency that is nowhere near daily. On days when she’s not drinking (and we don’t count those night caps as drinking), she only has one drink then knocks over. Now of course I’m not there with her before she goes to bed, and it possible that she secretly polishes off half a fifth every night, but I have no reason to believe she’s concealing how much she drinks. This is a 70-year old, healthy woman who drinks on occasion, and never hides it. She has a functional relationship with the sauce, and I don’t find her night time snack to be a problem.
It’s possible that the OP won’t be able to stop at one and become an addict, but I’m taking what I read at face value. My response is based on the premise that we are actually talking about one drink everyday. This is not a bizarrely unreasonable hypothetical, so I shant fight it.
The OP is different from your aunt because she has an anxiety disorder. Without anything to treat that disorder her fear can cause her to lose consciousness. That’s the kind of pain people will do almost anything to avoid.
Right now she has one or three glasses of alcohol to keep her calm. But she won’t have that option forever because she’ll develop a tolerance. If one drink won’t control her anxiety and she has nothing else, I guarantee you that she’ll drink more.
Anxiety fucking sucks. As someone who struggled with an anxiety disorder, if my only choice was between becoming an alcoholic or living with an anxiety disorder, I would become an alcoholic.
All right. Fair enough.