Is Ignorance Bliss About Drinking?

One reason I don't drink is I want to know when I'm having a really good time.                    Nancy Astor

When Mr. G and I were in France and then Italy many years ago, we were pleasantly surprised to find that some of our assumptions about these two countries were entirely false. We believed that all the French and the Italians were heavy drinkers. Instead, when we were in France we went out to eat at a small bistro, [you know, the kind where there are big tables that you share with others], and we watched while a group of two couples shared a bottle of wine. What was surprising was that they poured water into their wine and then more astonishing left about a fourth of that bottle. It wasn't as though the wine was plonk, we had some too, it was very good. So all that talk about "we just want to drink like the French and the Italians"...well, rethink how they drink, it's much less than you imagine. Additionally in those two countries we never witnessed any drunkenness.

From Ann Johnston's book Drink, she points out the obvious, that "excessive alcohol use causes family disruption, violence, injury" and even death. Alcohol is the third leading cause of preventable death after smoking, bad diet and inactivity. "By conservative estimates, it's responsible for roughly 80,000 deaths each year: of those, 23,000 are female. Of the 23,000 more than half are related to binge drinking. For women, binge drinking is defined as four or more drinks on one occasion in the past month; for men it's five."

Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.                                                                             Ogden Nash

One more drink and I'll be under the host.                                                                    Dorothy Parker 

Binge drinking is a very unrecognized problem and as many as 14 million American girls and women binge an average of three times a month with 6 [!] drinks per episode. Further, one in five high school girls binge drink and these numbers rise from 45% of freshman to 62% of senior girls. Mind you this does not mean that they are alcoholic but it does present a major health risk, to wit: injuring the developing brain, unwanted pregnancies, accidents, and sexually transmitted diseases. Not a pretty picture.

My opinion is that the prevalence of  the come hither ads in magazines, on the TV, the silver screen, or sometimes the examples at their own homes, gives young women and men a distorted view of what is an OK way to drink. As one of my favorite young women once said to me, "I just didn't know what my limit was, I never even thought about it." So what is safe to drink? The limits should be discussed and pointed out to these kids. As I write this, all the latest information states that one drink a day for women and two for men are marginally recommended. Actually the medical establishment is question if any amount of alcohol is actually good for you.  I realize how foolish it is to think that informing young women that "maximum three drinks a week is medically safe for women" would deter a "I wanna get buzzed" high school girl, but it might make them think. Is ignorance bliss about drinking, no, not if you value your health.

Homer Simpson: To alcohol! The cause of---and the solution to ---all of life's problems!                     The Simpsons '97

Another quote from the book Drink;

As Sir Ian Gilmore of the Royal College of Physicians said: "In the thirty years I have been a liver specialist, the striking difference is this: liver cirrhosis was a disease of elderly men---I have seen a girl as young as seventeen and women in their twenties with end-stage liver disease. Alcohol dependence is setting in when youngsters are still in their teens. This mirrors what we saw with tobacco, when women caught up with men on lung cancer."

In addition:

 "Alcohol is a carcinogen and the risks of drinking far outweigh the protective factors."  The questions is raised, where would the numbers on breast cancer be if there was no heavy drinking. "Women's vulnerabilities start with the simple fact that they have more body fat than men. Since body fat contains little water, there is less to dilute the alcohol consumed...the intoxicating effects of alcohol set in faster when estrogen levels are high."

For women, with our body chemistry it's possible to become dependent on alcohol faster than men. "Women who consume four or more drinks daily quadruple their risk of dying from heart disease. Heavy drinkers of both genders run the risk of stroke, but the odds are five times higher for women."

Here is the quiz from the National Council on Drugs and Alcohol

Yes or No: Decide whether your answer is YES or NO [over the past 12 months] and then check the appropriate space. Please be sure to answer every question. Don't cheat!

NCADD Self-Test:  What are the Signs of Alcoholism?

1.  Do you drink heavily when you are disappointed, under pressure or have had a quarrel with someone?	Yes   No
2.  Can you handle more alcohol now than when you first started to drink?	Yes   No
3.  Have you ever been unable to remember part of the previous evening, even though your friends say you didn’t pass out?	Yes   No
4.  When drinking with other people, do you try to have a few extra drinks when others won’t know about it?	Yes   No
5.  Do you sometimes feel uncomfortable if alcohol is not available?	Yes   No
6.  Are you more in a hurry to get your first drink of the day than you used to be?	Yes   No
7.  Do you sometimes feel a little guilty about your drinking?	Yes   No
8.  Has a family member or close friend express concern or complained about your drinking?	Yes   No
9.  Have you been having more memory “blackouts” recently?	Yes   No
10.  Do you often want to continue drinking after your friends say they’ve had enough?	Yes   No
11.  Do you usually have a reason for the occasions when you drink heavily?	Yes   No
12.  When you’re sober, do you sometimes regret things you did or said while drinking?	Yes   No
13.  Have you tried switching brands or drinks, or following different plans to control your drinking?	Yes   No
14.  Have you sometimes failed to keep promises you made to yourself about controlling or cutting down on your drinking?	Yes   No
15.  Have you ever had a DWI (driving while intoxicated) or DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol) violation, or any other legal problem related to your drinking?	Yes   No
16.  Do you try to avoid family or close friends while you are drinking?	Yes   No
17.  Are you having more financial, work, school, and/or family problems as a result of your drinking?	Yes   No
18.  Has your physician ever advised you to cut down on your drinking?	Yes   No
19.  Do you eat very little or irregularly during the periods when you are drinking?	Yes   No
20.  Do you sometimes have the “shakes” in the morning and find that it helps to have a “little” drink, tranquilizer or medication of some kind?	Yes   No
21.  Have you recently noticed that you can’t drink as much as you used to?	Yes   No
22.  Do you sometimes stay drunk for several days at a time?	Yes   No
23.  After periods of drinking do you sometimes see or hear things that aren’t there?	Yes   No
24.  Have you ever gone to anyone for help about your drinking?	Yes   No;
25.  Do you ever feel depressed or anxious before, during or after periods of heavy drinking?	Yes   No
26.  Have any of your blood relatives ever had a problem with alcohol?	Yes   No

 The answers to the quiz:  

If you answered yes to any of these questions you have some symptom that may indicate alcoholism.

Yes answers to three or more questions in various categories indicate the following stages of alcoholism.

Questions 1 to 8: Early stage

Questions 9 to 21; Middle stage

Questions 22 to 26; Beginning of Final stage 

Granted, none of us are saints, but ignorance is not bliss when it comes to your health. We all should be able to maturely and correctly assess where we are in our drinking lives. This could literally save your life or at least prevent some health crisis or heart ache down the road.