Alcohol is meh, mixed feelings

For what it's worth, hi, I’m only on week one so I don’t have much wisdom, but this is the first thread that made me feel less alone. Last night I poured a glass of wine while making pasta, took two sips, and then just… didn’t want it.

I ended up putting sparkling water in the same wine glass because the ritual felt more important than the drink. Is it weird that I kind of miss the ritual but not the buzz? And does the “meh” stay pretty steady, or does it change week to week? Sorry if that’s a dumb question.

The wine glass thing is so real. I’m a broke dorm student, and my old “cooking reward” was whatever cheap rosé was on sale. Since starting meds, same deal—I’ll open one, take two sad sips, and it just sits there like a candle.

What helped: sparkling water + lime in an actual wine glass while I cook, so my hands still have a ritual. Weirdly worked. I tracked it for a week and realized I mostly wanted the pause, not the buzz. That $30-ish a month now goes to rotisserie chicken and cottage cheese.

Sharp question: did the meh hit only at home, or also when friends are shouting “shots”? That’s the part I’m nervous about.

The wine going quiet hit me too. I’m in a dorm, so my “two glasses while cooking” was $6 boxed pinot and microwave quesadillas.

Now half a mug sits on my desk until it turns into vinegar, which I guess is my new sauce? 😂 Since starting this, I track drinks next to protein and fiber.

Last Friday: 1 sip wine, 0 regrets, 95g tuna/yogurt. Weirdly helpful to see it as data, not moral failure.

Question: is it the taste you miss, or the little reward ritual after a long day? For me it was the ritual, so I replaced it with fancy sparkling water in a wine glass and a 10-min dumb show.

Still feels like a treat, just cheaper.

I’m 11 weeks in and my spreadsheet shows a weird split: weekday wine down 82%, but social drinks barely moved. The kitchen pour dies because I’m not bored-stirring anymore; the bar pour is still on autopilot.

Are you seeing it only at home, or in restaurants too? I started logging ounces, not glasses, and my old “two glasses” was really 9–10 oz.

That number explained a lot of my regain math.

The quiet is weirdly grief-adjacent for me. I didn’t realize how much I used the first sip as a signal that work was over.

Now I make a big deal of a different signal: dumb playlist, seltzer in a fancy mug, chopping vegetables. Sounds ridiculous, but it’s the ritual I was hooked on, not really the wine.

Did you notice a certain time of day when the pull is strongest? For me it’s 5:30–6, not weekends.

Tbh the part I’d want to tease apart: did wine stop being rewarding, or did it start tasting off? For me it was taste—coffee and red wine both went metallic for a few months.

I tracked “wanted it / opened it / finished it” separately, and my “wanted” number barely budged while “finished” collapsed. Which one is it for you? And has it held steady, or faded?

I’ve only seen anecdotes on this, no solid source.

Daily weigher here. I logged drinks in my notes app for two weeks and was shocked the scale noise came from restaurant sodium, not the wine.

The real shift was dropping the mental planning around the bottle. Last night I put cold hibiscus tea in a fancy glass next to the stove and didn’t miss it.

Curious—does the quiet follow you out to dinner,