Oh dear. I got very down yesterday in a 'heck, I look awful and it will never change' sort of way. It's a shame as I started the day in a good mood, but then there was one of those seeing myself sideways in the mirror incidents.

Anyway, I decided to chill out and socialise online (as I live a long was from my friends at the moment so that's how we stay in touch) and I managed to drink 2 bottles of wine all alone. So now I have a hangover, and looking at my msn conversations last night I was repeating myself a lot so lord knows what other people think. The calories alone in the alcohol are bad enough, but drinking alone is another thing entirely. What a stupid thing to do - now I am so ashamed! And still feel ugly.

Has anyone else done this on bad days? When I am up, I can go ages not really noticing or bothering with alcohol, but when I am down I seem to turn to it and it worries me. It seems to be a taboo subject, drinking with depression, and I am finding this difficult to share, but I would like to know what people think.

Alcohol = calories and snacking, but presumably escapism.

Hi smurf7,

I know that a bottle or just one glass of wine seems a good way to perk up when you are down, but really, really don't do it. I see it as a slippery slope towards another dependance to get rid of.. alcohol. I noticed thaty since wine tended to make me feel better, I used it too much. It is easier to stop when it is not a habit.

So what I do is drink green tea with lemon, and limit my alcohol to 1 -2 small glasses of wine per day. Also, I only have one bottle in the house at a time, unless I am expecting visitors.

Keep up the good work,

Rabbit