AHS Views

The biggest and most obvious problems that happen from drinking too much seem to be emotional and mental rather than physical – the person who’s drinking tends to go through a personality change, which can be very difficult to live with, and they take less responsibility for work, relationships, and so on. What’s happening with the person physically may not be that obvious, but it is more than enough reason to get alcohol addiction help.

What happens to your body? There are alcohol-related cancers, liver diseases, alcohol poisoning, heart disease and a general weakening of every organ and system in the body.

For women who are or might get pregnant, you also have to add the danger to the baby. The worst of those is fetal alcohol syndrome – which affects the baby mentally and physically in a really disastrous way. The symptoms include several different kinds of physical deformities (including having a smaller brain), slow growth while in the womb and after birth, vision and hearing problems, poor coordination, mental retardation, heart defects and various types of abnormal behavior.
Kids with fetal alcohol syndrome often have to be cared for for their entire lives, and their lives tend to be short.

The instances of alcohol-related diseases are becoming more of a problem around the world. Last year in England, for example, the number of cancers, liver diseases and poisoning increased by 10 percent over the prior year and more than 7,000 kids (under 18) were admitted to hospitals.

You can be sure that each of the people who had the diseases and/or were admitted to hospital are going to have a much shorter life than they expected.

If you’re being ‘nice’ about somebody’s drinking habits – think again. There’s nothing nice about letting them kill themselves. Get them into alcohol rehab.

Many parents think that if they let their kids drink at home, instead of going to bars or parties where they’re unsupervised and going to have to drive home, they’re going to be safe. That is not the case. In fact, it could foster substance abuse. What are your options? Alcohol rehab should be at the top of the list.

Case in point, a news story this week about a girl named Terry. She was at a party at a friend’s house. The parents were home. They had a few drinks with the kids, but then went to bed. They told the kids not to drink anymore.

Instead, Terry decided she would try to down 15 shots. This serious binge drinking poisoned her. She struggled all night lying on the bathroom floor, with her friends trying to help.

No one woke up the parents – the kids didn’t realize how dangerous the situation was. But as the news story put it, Terry wasn’t just struggling, she was dying. By the time the parents were informed, it was too late to save her life.

This incident happened in Michigan, in a county of less than 200,000 people. That county has a remarkably bad record with drugs and alcohol: Emergency medical technicians responded to about 175 overdose incidents and there 208 alcohol-related car crashes and 37 drug-related car crashes in 2009.

But, really, it doesn’t matter where this particular incident happened – it happens all over the U.S.

What went wrong? First, some parents have the idea that drinking with their kids is cool; it’s a way to ‘relate.’ But it sets the worst example. Will kids look up to their parents because they drink? Not likely.

Second, drinking at home, apparently safe, may keep the kids from having to get into a car and drive, but it doesn’t stop them from drinking too much, overdosing on alcohol, or becoming alcoholics.

If you have kids who drink, get them alcohol help. In a good drug and alcohol rehab program, they’ll come to understand that urge and overcome it. They’ll also learn to deal with it when friends around them are drinking. Then you don’t have to worry about them. Whether they’re home or out. They’ve become responsible.