Alcohol
By Rachel Meader and Tess White
Administering Alcohol
Alcohol and your Medications
Mixing alcohol with certain medications can cause:
- nausea and vomiting
- headaches
- drowsiness
- fainting
- loss of coordination
- internal bleeding
- heart problems
- difficulties in breathing
Alcohol and your Brain
Effects of Drinking Alcohol:
- being drunk, inebriated
- frontal lobe impaired: decision making, problem solving, purposeful behaviors, consciousness
- being less aware about the consequences of their actions and the appropriateness of them too
- aggressive, violent behavior
- risky behavior- drinking and driving, sexual behavior
- not recognizing potential dangers
higher risk or doing or being a victim of sexual assault
trouble with school, law: illegal to drink under the age 21, illegal to give alcohol to someone under 21, illegal to drive while drinking alochol (DUI) -- all can lead to fines or jail time
increases risk of liver, mouth, esophagus, pharynx, larynx, cancers
Long-term heavy drinking damages:
liver, nervous system, heart, brain, lead to high blood pressure, stomach
problems, sexual problems, osteoporosis, and cancer.
- Alcohol abuse can also lead to violence, accidents, social isolation, jail time, and problems at work and home
alcohol blackout: while drunk, person’s brain doesn’t create or store the memories of the time, next day the person can’t remember what happened
Alcohol Poisoning
~when there is too much alcohol in bloodstream. Your breathing, heart rate, and temperature control all shuts down, if you don't get help it could kill you.
- Symptoms: confusion, loss of consciousness, vomiting, seizures, difficulty breathing, slow heart rate, clammy skin, no gag reflex, slow responses, and low body temp
- Since you cant regulate body temp, could get hypothermia
- Since you don't have a gag reflex, could choke on throw up and suffocate
Fig. 5 Drunk Girl (Vaynshteyn)
Alcohol Use Disorders
“Are medical conditions that doctors diagnose when someone’s drinking causes them distress or harm”
-binge drinking:
Males: 5 or more drinks in 2 hours
Females: 4 or more drinks in 2 hours
-AUDs cause: “a pattern of alcohol use that involves problems controlling your drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol, continuing to use alcohol even when it causes problems, having to drink more to get the same effect, or having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking”.
Symptoms:
- Unable to control how much you drink
- Wanting to but not being able to cut down on the amount you drink
- Using large amounts of time to either drink, get alcohol, or recover from alcohol
- Cravings for alcohol- dependency
- Failing important daily tasks at home or work b/c of alcohol
- Continuing to drink even if it is causing problems
- reducing social or work activities to drink
- Drinking when it is not safe- driving, swimming
- Developing a tolerance- you need to consume more to feel its effects
Withdrawal
Symptoms:
- nausea
- sweating
- shaking
- rapid heart rate
- tremors
- problems sleeping
- hallucinations
- agitation
- anxiety
Recovery and Treatment
- An estimated 22 million people are in recovery from alcohol abuse
- receiving some form of addiction help makes you three times more likely to end your addiction then someone who did not
- 21% of all admissions into rehab programs are alcohol related
Treatment:
- support systems, counselings
- interventions
- outpatient programs
- rehab
- medications: sometimes can suppress your craving for alcohol and also help treat the effects of the heavy alcohol use
- continuous support: you can never fully recover, have to continue to work at it
- if you have a mental health problem, treatment of that as well
- having a strong support system throughout recovery
- there is no single solution that works for everyone
- find a recovery support group and stay actively involved
- find an environment that is supportive of your recovery
- prepare for a successful transition from rehab to home
Resources:
- Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) - self help group of people recovering from alcoholism, 12 step program to achieve total abstinence
- Women for Sobriety -”self help group for women who want to overcome alcoholism and other addictions”
- Al-Anon and Alateen- Al-Anon is for people who know and are affected by someone else’s alcoholism, Alateen is for teens who know or are affected by someone else’s alcoholism
Stats and Facts
~On average, 4,358 kids under the age of 21 die every year from alcohol related events
1,580 from car crashes
1,269 from murders
245 from alcohol poisoning, falls, burns, and drowning
492 from suicides
~In 2011, 188,000 kids under 21 went to the ER with alcohol related injuries
~In 2014, 679,000 kids ages 12-17 diagnosed with an AUD
~Use of alcohol also increases risk of developing an AUD later in life
~An estimated 22 million people are in recovery from alcohol abuse
~Out of these 22 million only 5% to 6% will receive the proper treatment
~Receiving some form of addiction help makes you three times more likely to end your addiction then someone who did not
~21% of all admissions into rehab programs are alcohol related
~In publicly funded rehab facilities people who are 20 to 24 years old are the largest group