‘I had fixed hangover and drank pints of vodka – now I’ve modified my life’

On Sep 23, 2024

A woman who experienced a ‘constant hangover’ after glugging pints of vodka on nights out has revealed her impressive transformation.

Millie Gooch, 33, who is now sober, began drinking regularly when she started university and recalls all the Freshers Week activities being centred around alcohol.

She was welcomed with a bag containing a shot glass, a Jagermeister badge, and freshers’ activities included pub crawls and drinking games.

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Millie would frequently binge drink several times a week and often consume pints of vodka and Red Bull on nights out – however, at the time, she didn’t perceive it as a problem.

She lived with a “constant hangover” and would combat them by “getting back on it”. Millie’s issue persisted for years afterwards, and her behaviour became “dangerous.”

She would frequently wake up in different people’s homes and use alcohol as a coping mechanism in anxiety-inducing situations – like dates.

Now, she has been sober for over six years and aims to challenge the stereotypes associated with not drinking. Millie, who runs Sober Girl Society full-time in Kent, said: “When I tell people I don’t drink, they try and pressure me.

“If I’m honest and say ‘I’m still really fun and I’d love if you don’t pressure me’ people are more respectful. People make assumptions that not drinking is uptight or boring.”

In September 2009, Millie moved to Brighton, East Sussex, and began studying English language and literature at the University of Sussex.

Before Freshers Week, Millie wasn’t much of a boozer, only having “the odd drink” at family dos. She shared “Drinking culture was huge at uni – everything was just shoved in our faces from the get-go.

“If I told people I wasn’t a drinker, I’d probably be seen as a loser – it would’ve been much harder to make friends.”

Millie found herself hitting the town and throwing back drinks four times a week during her uni days, with her go-to being “two triple vodka and Red Bulls poured into a pint glass”.

She confessed: “When my friends were having nights off I was still drinking. I worked in a lot of bars. It was free drinks galore.”

After donning her cap and gown in 2011, Millie’s battle with the bottle got even tougher when she landed a gig in the media world.

Turning down endless pub crawls and swanky events with free-flowing bubbly was a tough call for her. Millie admits she was caught in a vicious cycle of anxiety, depression, and boozing to numb the pain.

She revealed: “It was just a perk of the job – free alcohol Fridays, walking into events and instantly grabbing a glass of champagne off the tray.”

But the party lifestyle took its toll, leaving Millie grappling with “hangxiety” and scary memory blackouts. She disclosed: “I could drink so much and not remember big portions.

“I’d go out and wake up in other people’s homes, not remembering how I got there.

“The day after a night of drinking, I’d wake up and feel really low. It was a two-fold effect – obviously the alcohol itself taking hold, but I’d have real blackouts. I put myself in such danger.”

Millie decided to go cold turkey aged 26 in February 2018 after nursing a hangover. She said: “I did decide to quit on a hangover but it wasn’t the worst one.

“When I had an awful one I couldn’t even think of quitting. All I would do was get through the weeks and then drink again.

“I thought ‘I’m sick of feeling this way’.” In September 2018 she set up Sober Girls Society to try and find others who were going through sobriety too.

Millie is happy to see the changes in university drinking cultures but hopes there can be more specific alcohol education. Since she was at university she has seen the rise of sobriety societies and other activities not involving alcohol.

She said: “You can have so much fun without drinking. When I lived my life of drinking – I’d be drinking myself into oblivion, having a hangover and doing it all over again. Now my life is varied.”

In November, Millie is releasing her second book – Booze Less: Rethinking Drinking for the Sober & Curious – A Guided Journal