Often families, friends, and health care workers often overlook their concerns about older people drinking. People often think the symptoms of alcoholic in older people are just part of aging. But the problem is that as people get older, their body’s tolerance to alcohol also changes. They might get drunk easier and faster than they did before.

Drinking too much alcohol over a long time can:

• Lead to some kinds of cancer, liver damage, immune system disorders, and brain damage
• Worsen some health conditions like osteoporosis, diabetes, high blood pressure, and ulcers
• Make some medical problems hard for doctors to find and treat. For example, alcohol causes changes in the heart and blood vessels. These changes can dull pain that might be a warning sign of a heart attack.
• Cause some older people to be forgetful and confused. These symptoms could be mistaken for signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

Source: National Institute on Aging

Keep a small amount or no alcohol at home. Don’t keep temptations around.

Drink slowly.

When you drink, sip your drink slowly. Take a break of 1 hour between drinks. Drink soda, water, or juice after a drink with alcohol. Do not drink on an empty stomach! Eat food when you are drinking.

Take a break from alcohol.

Pick a day or two each week when you will not drink at all. Then, try to stop drinking for 1 week. Think about how you feel physically and emotionally on these days. When you succeed and feel better, you may find it easier to cut down for good.

Learn how to say NO.

You do not have to drink when other people drink. You do not have to take a drink that is given to you. Practice ways to say no politely. For example, you can tell people you feel better when you drink less. Stay away from people who give you a hard time about not drinking.

Stay active

What would you like to do instead of drinking? Use the time and money spent on drinking to do something fun with your family or friends. Go out to eat, see a movie, or play sports or a game.

Get support.

Cutting down on your drinking may be difficult at times. Ask your family and friends for support to help you reach your goal. Talk to your doctor if you are having trouble cutting down. Get the help you need to reach your goal.

Watch out for temptations.

Watch out for people, places, or times that make you drink, even if you do not want to. Stay away from people who drink a lot or bars where you used to go. Plan ahead of time what you will do to avoid drinking when you are tempted.

Do not drink when you are angry or upset or have a bad day. These are habits you need to break if you want to drink less.

DO NOT GIVE UP!

Most people do not cut down or give up drinking all at once. Just like a diet, it is not easy to change. That is okay. If you do not reach your goal the first time, try again. Remember, get support from people who care about you and want to help. Do not give up!

Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

• Do you drink alone when you feel angry or sad?
• Does your drinking ever make you late for work?
• Does your drinking worry your family?
• Do you ever drink after telling yourself you won’t?
• Do you ever forget what you did while you were drinking?
• Do you get headaches or have a hang-over after you have been drinking?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you may have a drinking problem. Check with your doctor to be sure. Your doctor will be able to tell you whether you should cut down or abstain. If you are alcoholic or have other medical problems, you should not just cut down on your drinking–you should stop drinking completely. Your doctor will advise you about what is right for you.

Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Considering that about one–third of American women report regular alcohol consumption (1) and 2.3 percent, or 2.5 million women, meet the criteria for alcohol dependence (2), it is clear that research to better understand the effects of alcohol in women is critical.

Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Publications Distribution Center

First tip I can say is, do not be afraid to talk to your kid about it. Your child will freak out if he/she knows that you know about the drinking, they will calm down if you handle it correctly.

Second, Grounding, yelling, or otherwise trying to discipline your child about drinking solves nothing. In most cases, this causes the minor to drink more in an act of rebelling against you.

Third, inform your kid what can happen to him/her if they drink. Show photos of car crashes, medical pictures, etc. This curbs drinking a lot if they know truly what will happen if they continue. Talk to them and ask why they do it, fitting in with the other kids is high on the list, thou depression can be a reason. If it is depression or issues in the home, take the child to see a professional so he/she can better deal with the issues that are causing the drinking. It might take time but most kids will stop.

Just keep on loving your child and show them that you care.

Source: http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochurewomen/women.htm#drinking

Considering that about one–third of American women report regular alcohol consumption  and 2.3 percent, or 2.5 million women, meet the criteria for alcohol dependence , it is clear that research to better understand the effects of alcohol in women is critical.

Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Technorati Profile

Studies in the general population indicate that fewer women than men drink. It is estimated that of the 15.1 million alcohol-abusing or alcohol-dependent individuals in the United States, approximately 4.6 million (nearly one-third) are women.

On the whole, women who drink consume less alcohol and have fewer alcohol-related problems and dependence symptoms than men, yet among the heaviest drinkers, women equal or surpass men in the number of problems that result from their drinking.

Drinking behavior differs with the age, life role, and marital status of women. In general, a woman’s drinking resembles that of her husband, siblings, or close friends. Whereas younger women (aged 18-34) report higher rates of drinking-related problems than do older women, the incidence of alcohol dependence is greater among middle-aged women (aged 35-49).

Contrary to popular belief, women who have multiple roles (e.g., married women who work outside the home) may have lower rates of alcohol problems than women who do not have multiple roles. In fact, role deprivation (e.g., loss of role as wife, mother, or worker) may increase a woman’s risk for abusing alcohol. Women who have never married or who are divorced or separated are more likely to drink heavily and experience alcohol-related problems than women who are married or widowed. Unmarried women living with a partner are more likely still to engage in heavy drinking and to develop drinking problems.

Heath and colleagues studied drinking behavior among a select sample of female twins to identify possible environmental factors that may modulate drinking behavior. They reported that, among women, marital status appears to modify the effects of genetic factors that influence drinking habits. Marriage or a marriage-like relationship lessens the effect of an inherited liability for drinking.

Several researchers have explored whether drinking patterns and alcohol-related problems vary among women of different racial or ethnic groups. Black women (46 percent) are more likely to abstain from alcohol than white women (34 percent). Further, although it is commonly assumed that a larger proportion of black women drink heavily, researchers have disproved this assumption: Equal proportions of black and white women drink heavily. Black women report fewer alcohol-related personal and social problems than white women, yet a greater proportion of black women experience alcohol-related health problems.

Data from self-report surveys suggest that Hispanic women are infrequent drinkers or abstainers, but this may change as they enter new social and work arenas. Gilbert found that reports of abstention are greater among Hispanic women who have immigrated to the United States; reports of moderate or heavy drinking are greater among younger, American-born Hispanic women.

The interval between onset of drinking-related problems and entry into treatment appears to be shorter for women than for men. Moreover, studies of women alcoholics in treatment suggest that they often experience greater physiological impairment earlier in their drinking careers, despite having consumed less alcohol than men. These findings suggest that the development of consequences associated with heavy drinking may be accelerated or “telescoped” in women.

In addition to these many psych osocial and epidemiological differences, the sexes also experience different physiological effects of alcohol. Women become intoxicated after drinking smaller quantities of alcohol than are needed to produce intoxication in men. Three possible mechanisms may explain this response.

First, women have lower total body water content than men of comparable size. After alcohol is consumed, it diffuses uniformly into all body water, both inside and outside cells. Because of their smaller quantity of body water, women achieve higher concentrations of alcohol in their blood than men after drinking equivalent amounts of alcohol. More simply, blood alcohol concentration in women may be likened to the result of dropping the same quantity of alcohol into a smaller pail of water.

Second, diminished activity of alcohol dehydrogenase (the primary enzyme involved in the metabolism of alcohol) in the stomach also may contribute to the gender-related differences in blood alcohol concentrations and a woman’s heightened vulnerability to the physiological consequences of drinking. Julkunen and colleagues demonstrated in rats that a substantial amount of alcohol is metabolized by gastric alcohol dehydrogenase in the stomach before it enters the systemic circulation. This “first-pass metabolism” of alcohol decreases the availability of alcohol to the system. Frezza and colleagues reported that, because of diminished activity of gastric alcohol dehydrogenase, first-pass metabolism was decreased in women compared with men and was virtually nonexistent in alcoholic women.

Third, fluctuations in gonadal hormone levels during the menstrual cycle may affect the rate of alcohol metabolism, making a woman more susceptible to elevated blood alcohol concentrations at different points in the cycle. Research findings to date, however, have been inconsistent.

Chronic alcohol abuse exacts a greater physical toll on women than on men. Female alcoholics have death rates 50 to 100 percent higher than those of male alcoholics. Further, a greater percentage of female alcoholics die from suicides, alcohol-related accidents, circulatory disorders, and cirrhosis of the liver.

Increasing evidence suggests that the detrimental effects of alcohol on the liver are more severe for women than for men. Women develop alcoholic liver disease, particularly alcoholic cirrhosis and hepatitis, after a comparatively shorter period of heavy drinking and at a lower level of daily drinking than men. Proportionately more alcoholic women die from cirrhosis than do alcoholic men.

The exact mechanisms that underlie women’s heightened vulnerability to alcohol-induced liver damage are unclear. Differences in body weight and fluid content between men and women may be contributing factors. In addition, Johnson and Williams suggested that the combined effect of estrogens and alcohol may augment liver damage. Finally, alcoholic women may be more susceptible to liver damage because of the diminished activity of gastric alcohol dehydrogenase in first-pass metabolism.

Drinking also may be associated with an increased risk for breast cancer. After reviewing epidemiological data on alcohol consumption and the incidence of breast cancer, Longnecker and colleagues reported that risk increases when a woman consumes 1 ounce or more of absolute alcohol daily. Increased risk appears to be related directly to the effects of alcohol. Moreover, risk for breast cancer and lower levels of alcohol consumption are weakly associated. Data from other studies, however, do not concur with these findings, suggesting that more research is needed to explore the relationship between drinking and breast cancer.

Menstrual disorders (e.g., painful menstruation, heavy flow, premenstrual discomfort, and irregular or absent cycles) have been associated with chronic heavy drinking. These disorders can have adverse effects on fertility. Further, continued drinking may lead to early menopause.

Animal studies have provided data that replicate the findings of studies in humans to determine the effects of chronic alcohol consumption on female reproductive function. Studies in rodents and monkeys demonstrated that prolonged alcohol exposure disrupts estrus regularity and increases the incidence of ovulatory failure.

Researchers have begun to examine whether women and men require distinct treatment approaches. It has been suggested that women alcoholics may encounter different conditions that facilitate or discourage their entry into treatment.

Women represent 25.4 percent of alcoholism clients in traditional treatment centers in the United States. Although it appears that they comprise a small proportion of the treatment population (25 percent women compared with 75 percent men), the proportion of female alcoholics to male alcoholics in treatment is similar to the proportion of all female alcoholics to male alcoholics (30 percent women to 70 percent men). In addition, women drinkers pursue avenues other than traditional alcoholism programs, such as psychiatric services or personal physicians, for treatment.

Women alcoholics may encounter motivators and barriers to seeking treatment that differ from those encountered by men. Women are more likely to seek treatment because of family problems, and they often are encouraged by parents or children to pursue therapy. Men usually are encouraged to pursue therapy by their wives. Fewer women than men reach treatment through the criminal justice system or through employee assistance programs. Lack of child care is one of the most frequently reported barriers to treatment for alcoholic women.

Sokolow and colleagues attempted to compare treatment outcome between men and women and reported that, among those who completed treatment, abstinence was slightly higher among women than among men. Women had a higher abstinence rate if treated in a medically oriented alcoholism facility, whereas the abstinence rate was higher for men treated in a peer group-oriented facility. Treatment outcome was better for women treated in a facility with a smaller proportion of female clients and better for men in a facility with a larger proportion of female clients. This study provided preliminary data on gender-specific treatment outcome; however, the trials were not controlled. Although the question of whether women should have separate treatment opportunities is an important one, the supporting evidence still has not been found.

Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism