I went to have my once every 3 yearly BUPA health assessment today.

Everything went well except when prodding around my stomach area the doctor said my liver was palpable, and it shouldn’t be, suggesting it’s enlarged and probably fatty. That was a bit of a shock.

Naturally the doctor then looked down at my questionnaire, to see my response to alcohol consumption. I’ve always had a relationship with alcohol since I was 16 (I’m 49 now), but always felt I was in control, and only doing it for the enjoyment, as I can easily take a good few days in the row away from it without the craving.

But, last few years, my drinking at weekends, usually in front of the telly, has escalated somewhat and I can get through 3-3.5 bottles of wine (30-35 units) over a weekend, convincing myself that my abstinence mid week will sort me out. I wasn’t drinking enough to have hangovers, but the first hour or two of the weekend mornings were definitely groggy.

Not sure I was getting immense pleasure from drinking, but it’d turned into a weekend habit to celebrate the end of the working week. A bad habit at that, because I was taking all my units in repeated days of the weekend, so effectively binge drinking.

Well I’ve had a bit of a kick up the arse, and am now planning to change my relationship with alcohol. Not giving alcohol up, but cutting back significantly.

Interestingly, no signs, symptoms, aches or pains, and if it hadn’t been for work sending me on these assessments, I’d have never known, and would have probably carried on drinking as normal.

Maybe mine is a cautionary tale if you are up at the 30-40 units a week, but think all is OK.