Trying to Fix the Problem of Alcoholism

The World Health Organization is extending an open invitation for all interested parties and persons to voice their ideas for combating the negative effects of alcohol abuse. 

Suggestions are being taken throughout the month of October, 2008 and will become a part of the official documentation presented to health officials, industry representatives, non-governmental organizations, and member states during round table discussions in November.

The Need for Open Communication about Solutions to Alcohol Abuse

“The harmful use of alcohol is a leading risk factor for premature death and disability in the world. Every year at least 2.3 million people die from alcohol-related causes,” says Assistant Director-General of the WHO’s Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Cluster, Dr. Ala Alwan. “This web-based public hearing is broad and inclusive and will provide an opportunity for everyone, including the public, to present their views on effective strategies to reduce the burden resulting from the harmful use of alcohol.”

The Importance of Participating in Government Decision-Making

Friends and loved ones who have witnessed firsthand the harmful effects of alcohol abuse and addiction are far better qualified to propose grassroots strategies for combating this deadly disease than most wealthy politicians who might be far removed from its influence.  Hearing what the people have to say about the situation also makes decision making much fairer to those who will be affected by the decisions in the long run. 

“We are particularly interested in getting views on integrated approaches that can protect at risk populations, young people and those affected by harmful drinking by others,” says Dr Benedetto Saraceno, Director of the WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.

How to Get Your Voice and Suggestions Heard

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “If only there weren’t so many liquor stores on this block, the men around here might come home at night to see their children and wake up in the morning to go to work,” then you would be the perfect candidate to suggest a limit to the number of alcoholic retailers in a given location.

Once you’ve pinpointed a problem – in your neighborhood, your family unit, your town or county – and reframed it into a viable, workable solution, the next step is to log on to the WHO’s website and follow the instructions on how to log your suggestion.

Submissions can be composed in any of the UN’s six official languages (English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, and Russian) and should be no longer than 2000 words.  Participants can also utilize up to 500 words to outline their viewpoint on alcohol and the related health crisis.

Tell Us:  What ideas, viewpoints, and suggestions can you contribute to the discussion?

Genetics doesn’t fully explain the differences between siblings of the same parents when it comes to drug use. We know certain genes predispose an individual to a higher risk for developing addiction, but what we don’t know is which individual that may turn out to be among siblings.

Who we are as people is shaped by millions of small experiences, unique in their happenings and in the way we interpret them. The way a flower smells, for example, or how fruit tastes, even shades of color are slightly different from one person to the next. Dependency and addiction to drugs and alcohol are no exception.

Why Does One Sibling Abuse Drugs and Alcohol While Others Don’t?

When it comes to how well we balance personal needs with external responsibilities, the order in which siblings are born plays an important role. The oldest child is usually born to young, inexperienced parents who tend to make a lot of mistakes for the simple fact that they are still learning how to be good parents. When another baby comes along, the oldest child is usually thrust into a position of simultaneous responsibility and autonomy – helping to care for the new sibling and playing alone more often than before. The needs of the oldest child are often ignored in an attempt to believe they are more grown-up and self-reliable than they actually are.

The middle child is often reared to be cooperative to the point of selflessness. Making trouble means the middle child has to answer to Mom, Dad, and older bother or sister who was supposed to be “in charge.” Sacrificing personal interests for the sake of the family creates a constant state of restlessness from unfulfilled desires.

The youngest child is both literally and figuratively the baby. Everyone caters to their needs, picks up after them, and rarely do they ever get into any trouble. Never learning how to meet their own needs, though, can backfire on the precious prince or princess when they try to adjust to the demands of adulthood.

The Nature vs. Nurture Factor for Drug and Alcohol Abuse

While birth order provides the background, it is our cumulative life experiences that provide the soundtrack running in our minds. Role models – adults or other kids who are admired, idolized and looked up to for inspiration – can include teachers, parents, coaches, neighbors, pastors, even peers and siblings.

Adults have the power to encourage every child’s best efforts. Problems arise when embarrassment, blame, and belittling are continuously directed at a child. The examples role models provide shape a child’s self-image, self-esteem, and self-expression.

Bombard a child with abuse and negativity and she’ll be lacking in the necessary skills to identify and solve her problems in a proactive manner. What’s more, she’ll also have a difficult time understanding that her coping skills are maladaptive because she’s spent her whole life developing them in response to dysfunctional circumstances. Learning a new way of looking at the world and relating with other people takes years. Combine that with the struggle over drug and alcohol addiction and it’s easy to see why the work of recovery can last a lifetime.

Nurturing a child to their fullest potential involves much more than just hanging around the house. Involvement in their passions is what motivates children to give and receive love, participate in healthy relationships, and think positively about the difficult issues we all face in life. Involvement in a variety of activities – art, dance, music, community service clubs, hobbies, sports, theatre – and exposure to a variety of different people help bring enriching and enlightening experiences to a child’s world that can help build a solid foundation and appreciation for the joyful things in life.

Time for Alcohol Rehab

Not to be confused with a sneezy rhinoceros, allergic rhinitis is inflammation of the nasal passages. That stuffy, itching, sneezing, burning feeling in your eyes, nose, ears, throat, and sinuses that usually happens in response to pollen, mold, or animal dander. Some people just call it allergies, or hay fever.

An estimated 40 percent of the world’s population suffers with this upper respiratory infection, with rates continuing to climb in first world, westernized nations. Usual treatments range from nasal sprays, to decongestants/antihistamines, to weekly allergy shots, which can all help clear up the infection. If the stimulus is still in your environment, however, symptoms will return after treatment ends.

What the Research Says About Alcohol Abuse and Rhinitis

So what does all this have to do with drinking too much alcohol? Plenty, according to a new study published in the Clinical and Experimental Allergy journal. Danish researchers monitored 5,870 women who were symptom-free at the start of the study. After nearly a decade, 1,354 had developed respiratory infections such as rhinitis and hayfever. They also found that the risk for developing the infections increased around 3 percent for every alcoholic drink consumed during a week.

The Significance of the Relationship Between Alcohol Abuse and Rhinitis

Individuals with eczema and asthma typically have more frequent bouts with rhinitis, and those who suffer from hives can find themselves with frequent outbreaks relating to alcohol use. While alcohol has long been recognized as a trigger for hypersensitive reactions, previous studies indicated suppressed immune responses leading to serious bacterial infections. Rhinitis, on the other hand, is thought to be a response from the body’s overactive immune system, stimulating it to act on everyday intruders as if they were life threatening.

The Symptoms of Alcohol Abuse-Related Rhinitis

Symptoms of rhinitis often include runny nose (rhinorrhea), frequent sneezing, post-nasal drip, congestion, coughing, wheezing, headache, and fatigue. While it won’t kill you, it certainly makes life miserable for a while and it’s yet another way that alcohol can mess with your life, mess up your head and just make you feel terrible in general.

Is it worth it? Are you ready to stop? Are you stopping because of the negative physical health effects? Tell us about it: what made you face your battle with alcoholism and get treatment at an alcohol rehab center and how you are staying clean and sober every day.

Alcoholism in the Workplace

There’s a new study out that looks at government data concerning the alcohol habits of people working in a number of industries. Is it a surprise that the hospitality industry tops out with 15 percent of its employees suffering from serious alcohol addiction issues?

What the Research Says About Alcohol Abuse in the Workplace

Andrew Webber is the president and CEO of the National Business Coalition on Health. He says, “The impact of alcohol problems in the workplace is a tremendous hidden challenge — in part because very few people with an alcohol problem are ever identified. In the past, employers have led the way to doing more for people with chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. It’s time for American industry to do the same for people with alcohol problems.”

There’s more than just a personal expense when someone abuses alcohol and drugs. It is estimated that about 9 percent of employees in the United States abuse alcohol to the point that it means lost money for their employer in terms of missed work days, higher health care costs and lost productivity.

Men and Women and Alcohol Abuse Stats

It’s not just about the industry you work in. The Ensuring Solutions analysis of data shows that alcoholism rates are gender-related, too. For example, in both the hospitality and construction industries, men are 50 percent more likely to be alcoholics than women in the same industry.

Age Matters in Alcohol Abuse Numbers

It gets even more specific. It turns out that age makes a difference in the numbers as well. Those between 18 and 25 are more likely to have an alcohol problem than those over the age of 26.

If you want to crunch a few numbers on your own, figure out how much alcoholism is costing your business (and how much you can save by offering access to alcohol rehab) by using the Ensuring Solutions calculator.

Check out the percentages of alcohol abuse among different industries as computed by this study:

• * Hospitality: Male - 17.4% Female - 12.6% Overall - 15.0%
• * Construction: Male - 15.2% Female - 10.0% Overall - 14.7%
• * Wholesale Trade: Male - 14.6% Female - 5.3% Overall - 11.9%
• * Professional: Male - 13.3% Female - 7.1% Overall - 10.6%
• * Retail Trade: Male - 13.4%/TD> Female - 6.2% Overall - 9.7%’
• * Finance & Real Estate: Male - 11.2% Female -7.6% Overall - 9.2%
• * Manufacturing: Male - 9.5% Female - 6.5% Overall - 8.6%
• * Transportation/Utilities: Male - 9.1% Female - 4.8% Overall - 8.2%
• * Information/Communication: Male - 12.7% Female - 4.8% Overall - 8.1%
• * Agriculture: Male - 8.7% Female - 1.9% Overall - 7.2%
• * Other Services: Male - 8.9% Female - 3.8% Overall - 6.4%
• * Education/Social Services: Male - 9.4% Female - 4.3% Overall - 5.4%
• * Public Administration: Male - 6.4% Female - 4.1% Overall - 5.3%

For more information about alcohol abuse in different industries, check out the Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems website or Medical News Today. 

The other day I posted about a study that said cocaine use during pregnancy actually changed the structure of DNA in the baby’s brain. That makes sense, right? The fetus is developing and when drugs are present, it’s logical that how things developed would be affected. But you’re safe once your born, right? Especially once you’ve reached adulthood?

Wrong. It turns out that alcoholism can do the same thing to an adult’s DNA, change its very structure.

Alcoholism Withdrawal and DNA

In the simplest terms, chronic alcohol use reshapes your DNA without affecting the coded sequence or what you’ll pass along to your children. What it does affect is how your genes express themselves in your brain, especially in terms of the anxiety that is so prevalent when you try and stop drinking. These changes are called “epigenetic,” minor changes that specifically affect the chemical chromatin. 

Dr. Subhash C. Pandey is a professor and director of neuroscience alcoholism research at the UIC College of Medicine and the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago, the lead author of the study. She says,

“This is the first time anyone has looked for epigenetic changes related to chromatin remodeling in the brain during alcohol addiction. Our findings suggest that HDAC inhibitors may have potential as therapeutic agents in treating alcoholism. We need new strategies to treat alcoholism that are directed toward the prevention of withdrawal symptoms. Anxiety associated with withdrawal from alcohol abuse is a key factor in the maintenance of alcohol addiction.”

Treating Alcoholism

Withdrawal symptoms after a long period of alcohol addiction can be overwhelming. It’s difficult enough to change your life and give up an addictive substance, but when that change comes with painful physical withdrawal, few make it alone. The longer you have been drinking, the more important it is that you get medical help and assistance with your alcohol addiction through alcohol rehab. If you would like to treat your addiction in the Santa Monica Mountains in Malibu, California, call The Canyon.
For more information about this study and others, check out the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) website and Medical News Today.

We’ve talked a lot here recently about alcoholism and, specifically, women and alcoholism and it seems that others, researchers in particular, are thinking about one of the biggest health questions that comes up for women who drink: pregnancy. How much alcohol is too much when you’re going to have a baby? And when is alcohol rehab a necessity?

What The Experts Have to Say About Alcohol and Pregnancy

According to The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia released new alcohol guidelines for pregnant women, stating that ‘no drinking is the safest option.’

Without the facts, however, some women are taking risks that they don’t even realize when they take a drink. To remedy the situation, The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the National Collaborating Centre for Women’s and Children’s Health have issued an update on the advice originally published in 2003 that medical practitioners should pass along to pregnant women. Here’s what they say:

* Pregnant women and women planning to become pregnant should avoid drinking alcohol in the first 3 months of pregnancy, because there may be an increased risk of miscarriage.

* Women should not get drunk or binge drink (drinking more than 7.5 UK units of alcohol on a single occasion) while they are pregnant because this can harm their unborn baby.

* All women should be informed about the importance for their own and their baby’s health and of maintaining adequate vitamin D stores during pregnancy and breast feeding. 10mcg per day is recommended.

What To Do if Someone You Love is Pregnant and Drinking

We know that drinking alcohol when you’re pregnant increases the risk of having a miscarriage or stillborn child, restricts the rate of growth in the fetus which ultimately means babies who are born early and with a low birth weight. Worst of all is the possibility of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) which can mean birth defects, and problems that range in severity that affect behavior, mental development and psychological development. To me, this seems like enough to deter the moderate or casual drinker from drinking at all during pregnancy. But for some reason, many women still don’t know the risk they’re taking when they take a drink during pregnancy.

If you know someone who is pregnant and drinking, share these guidelines with them. If they can’t quit drinkng on their own, then alcohol rehab is not only a medical necessity, it is an immediate one. Don’t wait. Contact The Canyon immediately.
For more information about this study and how alcohol affects women who are pregnant, check out Medical News Today.

Some feel that the lines dividing alcohol use, alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are too fine to distinguish. Certainly, after a few drinks, those lines tend to blur even more. Being objective about yourself is difficult in any situation but when it comes to alcohol addiction and the need for alcohol rehab, it can be next to impossible.

Alcohol Abuse Versus Alcohol Addiction

There are specific characteristics that define alcohol abuse versus alcohol addiction. Alcohol abuse can be dangerous but it is less critical than physical dependence upon alcohol or alcohol addiction. Alcohol abuse certainly requires attention, but alcohol addiction is a serious medical disease and requires alcohol rehab and possibly detox in order to begin the journey back to a life without addiction.

Alcohol Abuse

Alcohol abuse is defined as the use of alcohol to the point that it causes problems in their lives, but not so much that it is completely out of control. Those who abuse alcohol have some boundaries around their drinking, although they still drink too much to the point that they hurt themselves and present a danger to others.

They are not, however, physically addicted to alcohol. This means that they can stop drinking at any time for any length of time without experiencing withdrawal symptoms. However, they may have health issues, problems at work due to their hangovers and a high number of sick days, or issues with drunk driving.

One of the largest risks of alcohol abuse is the fact that many who are abusers will soon become physically addicted, the defining characteristic of an alcoholic.

Alcohol Addiction

Whether you call it alcoholism, alcohol dependence or alcohol addiction, make no mistake: when your body is physically dependent upon alcohol, you will need an alcohol detox and rehab in order to treat the disease. Some characteristics of alcoholism include:

* The need for more alcohol or other drugs to fight off withdrawal symptoms like tremors
* The need to drink more and more alcohol in order to feel its effects
* Having a hard time limiting the number of drinks once drinking begins
* Physical and mental cravings for alcohol
* An inability to stop drinking even when trying to abstain

Alcohol Rehab at The Canyon

If you need treatment for alcohol addiction, The Canyon provides an alcohol detox and alcohol rehab that will give you a solid foundation to begin a new life without alcohol dependence. Check out our site and let us know what you think!

There’s a new marketing slant in alcohol production lately that seems to hone in on the American need to be highly productive but escape as well: alcohol energy drinks. Perhaps it’s the conception that the energy part of the drink will counter some of the sedating effects of alcohol that makes it so appealing. Maybe it’s the caffeine and sugar turbo effect that mixes with the intoxication of alcohol. Who knows. The problem is that people feel like these new drinks are somehow less harmful than alcoholic beverages alone. Unfortunately, according to a new study published on Medical News Today, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Alcohol Energy Drinks Are Dangerous

In fact, according to the study, those who drink alcohol energy drinks or mix liquor with energy drinks are doubling their chances of getting injured to the point of needing medical assistance during an alcoholic binge.

John Rogerson is the CEO of Australian Drug Foundation (ADF).  He says:

“People need to consider the risks involved in consuming these drinks. The research suggests you are more likely to end up in hospital or be assaulted if you drink these products.

“Combining alcohol and energy drinks is just plain dangerous. People might think they are drinking alcoholic energy drinks responsibly, but if they choose to then drive they are at particular risk, because they may feel more sober than they really are.”

Alcohol Energy Drinks and Alcohol Rehab

The fact that people who consume alcohol energy drinks are in more danger of getting hurt than those who drink alcohol alone means that the need for alcohol rehab in these cases is more urgent than ever if alcoholic behavior is present. Don’t fool yourself: you may feel more alert on these drinks but the alcohol’s effect on your system, your reflexes and your perception is no less than it would be without the caffeine. The false sense of confidence may end up prolonging the alcoholic’s denial of his or her circumstance and need for alcohol rehab.

If you have questions about how your alcohol dependence and addiction may be endangering your life and the lives of those around you, please contact us at The Canyon for more information about our comprehensive alcohol rehab program.

If you would like more information on this topic, check out Australian Drug Foundation.