Glass half empty: the hangover from hell that made me tackle my drinking

Alcohol doesn’t have to affect your life dramatically to be problematic. When I realised I had missed the same event two years in a row because I was suffering after a heavy night, I knew I had to change

It was the worst hangover of my life – and I have had a lot of hangovers. There were several very bad things about it, from the roiling nausea that made getting out of bed or even drinking water impossible to my questionable decision to take my mind off it by watching the anxiety-inducing film Get Out (not a great choice if you are feeling anxious). But one of the worst things about it was that it was entirely predictable.

I don’t mean it was foreseeable the night before in an “Oh, I really shouldn’t have a third glass of wine” way, but rather that, earlier that week, a still, small voice had told me as I reached for the gin that, if I continued normalising drinking like this, sooner or later I would wake up massively hungover and full of regret. I had heard that internal voice before. It had been saying similarly annoying things for years. This time, though, it was clearer than usual. But, like all the other times, I had poured myself a drink and ignored it.

Continue reading... January 01, 2018 at 11:30AM