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This doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re not a heavy drinker. It may just mean that you’re very attractive.</p>
<p>IF we accept atmom’s definition, then those that drink a bit during most every dinner or after most workdays would not be considered a social drinker. Unless of course that person defines every supper as an occasion! However, by no means does her definition mean a drinking problem exists for those who do.</p>
<p>Thanks, Hunt! I suppose I DO look pretty good–especially to someone who has already had a few drinks 
(Perhaps its just that I frequent those free sample brewery tours. . .)</p>
<p>BTW, not MY definition–I got it off alcoholrehab.com </p>
<p>IMO, a social drinker is one who’ll have a glass of something with alcohol in a social setting maybe several times a month, no more than 2 glasses, rarely more than a couple of times a week with an average of a bout a drink or two a week. </p>
<p>If anyone is drinking a glass of wine or anything with alcohol every day, tell the doctor that exactly. In fact if it’s several times a week consistently, let the doctor know. </p>
<p>I consider myself a social drinker because I probably average a glass of any beverage with alcohol a month, though there may be some months when I 'll have 4, 5, and some when I have none. Had 2 glasses of champagne in August, nothing yet in September, but expect to have a glass of wine with a nice dinner this month. </p>
<p>If you are going out nearly every night and drinking regularly, that is beyond what the doctors mean when they ask if you are a social drinker. If you aren’t sure, let the doctor know what your drinking patterns are. You want things to be represented correctly so that if an issue arises, everyone gets it. If you binge drink at times, that’s part of your social drinking, it’s important to say so. It certainly can be relevant.</p>
<p>I think terms like social drinking that leave so much ambiguity should not be used when screening for medical issues. These things should be clear</p>
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<p>We don’t use that kind of vague terminology where I work. In my facility we ask “On an average, typical week, how many drinks do you have in that week? Wine, beer, or hard liquor?”</p>
<p>One guy said “Eighteen beers.” I responded, “Okay, 18 beers per week.” He said, “No, per DAY.” Glad I clarified because that information is relevant, especially to the anesthesia providers.</p>
<p>It is relevant and something that should be noted if someone drinks a beer or a glass of wine nearly every single day. It’s also relevant if a person binge drinks once in a while. Should be something kept in mind. </p>
<p>It may be relevant to something or it may not. If its relevant the doc should ask personally and explain why it matters to the patient. Perhaps, medication. Otherwise it’s just another question on a form no-one is reading as evidenced by several posters above who answer the question with wisecracks. </p>
<p>A lot of people, all over the world, have a glass of wine with dinner every night. I don’t consider that a problem.</p>
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<p>In my field alcohol consumption is most definitely relevant, and it is well within my scope to be asking those questions as the pre-op RN, and also within my scope to tell the patient why any of my questions are relevant. This information is always passed on to the anesthetist and MD before the procedure, it is not “just another question on a form no one is reading.”</p>
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That’s a new wrinkle, mom2college, that social drinker is defined by the intent one has when they consume alcohol.</p>
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<p>@younghoss
Actually, I feel that it is hard to define the social drinker. It seems easier to define the opposite…the person who drinks for the wrong reasons (to get intoxicated, to self-medicate, and so forth.) Problem drinking seems dysfunctional.</p>
<p>I don’t even necessarily classify someone who “drinks alone” as having a problem if the drinking isn’t frequent, excessive and/or dysfunctional. If someone on a Sunday night, makes a bubble bath, lights a candle, and sips a glass of wine by him/herself, who would define that episode of drinking alone as “problem-drinking”? </p>
<p>However, the person who DRINKS a good bit by him/herself frequently and for all the wrong reasons, is likely a problem drinker. </p>
<p>Before my son had surgery a nurse called and asked me a series of questions. Sure enough, “Does he drink?” was on the list. He was 5-years old. Sometimes, it’s difficult to take the list of questions seriously. That’s not to say it may not be important in some circumstances. The OP’s post was about updating a file. In that case, I wouldn’t worry about it much.</p>
<p>Shortly before my dad died and senility had been settling in, he was asked, “do you drink”. My dad’s answer was, “yes, I drank a beer a week when I was in the navy.” My dad had been out of the navy since WWII ended. </p>
<p>after that, my parents were “one glass of wine with sunday spaghetti dinner” drinkers…and we kids got to have some, too (my parents were Italian and French). I guess since some here think that “home drinking” isn’t social drinking, then we all were problem drinkers. lol (BTW…there is NO alcoholism anywhere in my family amongst blood relatives…nowhere.)</p>
<p>"always thought that “social drinkers” are people who don’t regularly drink alcohol. But if they are at a social event where just about everyone is drinking alcohol, they will take one or two drinks just to fit it, relax, have something to hold in their hand. They are not total abstainers, but drink alcohol only occasionally and never get drunk. They might not drink any alcohol for months–and then go to three events in one week and have a total of 6 drinks. "</p>
<p>That’s how I would generally think of a social drinker. Someone who can easily live without it - if the events they went to didn’t have alcohol, they wouldn’t care. I do draw a distinction between that and the every-night-glass-of-wine-with-dinner. That may not be a problem for most who do it, but it’s a lot easier to get to a problem if you already have alcohol in your daily routine and feel it’s necessary to relax from the day.</p>
<p>Kind of like eating ice cream - going out occasionally to Baskin Robbins with the family when it’s hot out or for a treat, versus every night. A lot easier to get fat if you’re eating ice cream every night! </p>
<p>Social refers to interactions among people, not to your social life of going to parties …</p>
<p>On Tuesday, I went to a talk given by Lois Lowry, the author of “The Giver” and many other children/young adult books. In 1979, she wrote a book, “Anastasia has the Answers.” Based on her own childhood experience, she said the main character’s dad let her drink the foam off of his beer whenever he he had one. Lowry didn’t think anything about it. Well, the scene got so many objections that she deleted it in the newest edition. I thought that was interesting.</p>
<p>Aside from young adults, I don’t think most “social drinkers” drink to “fit in” or because others are doing it. If I go out for a nice dinner with my parents and my dad orders a bottle of wine I am not drinking a glass out of any kind of societal pressure but because it is yummy and pairs nicely with my food and just lends itself to the whole atmosphere of the evening. </p>
<p>I grew up in a Midwestern culture where people drank a lot. (Not my parents – but it took me years to figure that out, because there was a lot of alcohol in the house. My father would drink wine at parties. My mother drank when she was young, but never after she became pregnant for the first time. And I was in my 40s when I figured that out.) I drank a lot in high school and college, although by the end of college I was cutting back a lot, and my alcohol consumption has declined slowly but steadily ever since. Never to the point of nothing, but it’s not unusual for me to go several weeks without drinking anything now.</p>
<p>Anyway, just from observing the world and those around me, when I was 20, I decided that one drink a day every day was a bad idea. I saw lots of people dependent on it. It changed their relationships. The most threatening cases were people who were married to one another but didn’t really get along unless they had each had a drinkie. At the time, my love life and alcohol were completely intertwined, and I had the epiphany that I needed to limit myself to people I wanted to be with sober. That was a good idea.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about the definition of alcoholism; it was never an issue in my family. I only ever had one close friend who was alcoholic, and with him it wasn’t any kind of subtle definitional issue – it flat-out destroyed him. But I definitely think it’s possible for people to be addicted to alcohol in small amounts, and to be alcoholics without ever (or rarely) binge drinking.</p>
<p>^^^A rule of thumb I was given was “what causes problems is a problem.” I wouldn’t say that is iron clad, but in general, it’s fairly accurate, at least as to what defines “problem drinking.” </p>
<p>Lots of college kids drink amounts which would be considered alcoholism levels. Fortunately, once they graduate, get jobs, become parents, etc., some of them give it up for the most part.</p>
<p>So, maybe the term “social drinking” is rather meaningless and a better term is needed to describe drinking that isn’t dangerous, dysfunctional, or problematic. The bigger concern (naturally) is to define “problem drinking”. </p>
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<p>That is probably true as long as the drinking person isn’t in denial (which many problem drinkers are). How do you know when an addict is lying… his lips are moving. </p>
<p>In July, I had lunch with an older cousin that I don’t get to see very often. She told me that her H was an alcoholic who was in complete denial. He insisted that his drinking wasn’t a problem because he only drank after 5pm (and he would then proceed to drink large amounts…every night.) His drinking does cause problems (bad moods, grouchy, etc), but since he’s in denial about it, he would likely never accept that “what causes problems is a problem.”</p>
<p>I think that “functional alcoholics” can be the most hidden. </p>
<p>I would call someone who has an"unplanned" occasional drink a social drinker (wedding, nice dinner - adds to atmosphere but not an expectation) and someone who has a glass of wine every night a habitual drinker. It doesn’t mean that they are a problem drinker, but it’s a lot easier to see if the social drinker goes too far towards problematic and it can be a lot less visible when it’s habitual. </p>