Social drinking amongst women has become a fad. Stop it before it finishes you says LACHMI DEB ROY
Drinking for peer pressure. To fit in to the hip crowd. It usually starts like that. A drink in hand has become a status symbol for the upwardly mobile which has given rise to an alarming increase in alcoholism amongst women.
According to the WHO report, alcoholism is considered to be the number one killer disease in the world. World wide more and more women are drinking than they did a few years ago and Indian women are no exception. It is again important to understand that though alcoholism is plaguing the whole nation, but the social stigma around a woman alcoholic is much greater than around men.
"Hardly a woman came to our centre for treatment two years ago. Now we treat 4-5 cases a month at our outdoor patients department. The number of enquiries from female addicts has gone up to 20-22 per month," said Mukta Puntambekar, project director, Muktangan De-addiction Centre. The centre is now starting an exclusive set-up for women by August 26.
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) started an exclusive women’s group in Pune a year ago. According to a Mumbai office bearer of AA, there are four centres catering only to women addicts in Pune.
Kripa Foundation treats eight women addicts at its Bandra centre in Mumbai; it treats 15 women at its Pune branch.
Muktangan has even started getting enquiries from Solapur and Satara from girls as young as 15 or 16. "Earlier, addiction among women was restricted to metros and they would be mostly above 25 years," said Puntambekar.
Every year, about a lakh students come to Pune to study. Lakshi Rane (44), a counsellor at Kripa Foundation who herself successfully battled alcohol addiction, attribute this to a growing number of single women living alone in a new city with disposable incomes.
“It is very difficult to understand that one drink at a party can land you where,” says Joan. Mathew. Joan recalls that it was during her college days in Mumbai that she first tasted vodka. After that when ever she went to parties she saw her friends drinking and slowly she started taking one glass and then two glasses and gradually it became a habit. She did not realize when she actually became an alcoholic. Her long time boy friend left her. Though she got married, but she was unable to give up her drinking habit. Things went out of control. Her marriage was in doldrums. She went to her parent’s place in Kolkata where she got admitted in Kothari Medical Centre. A series of operations were conducted of the liver and the kidney. In spite of the operations being successful Joan went back to the bottle. Her husband left her. It was her best friend Liza who insisted her to attend a session of A A (Alcoholics Anonymous).
Looking at the bunch of alcoholics there, I could only laugh,” says Joan. She had turned anorexic and could not bear the smell of food. She kept attending sessions, but her affair with the bottle continued. One day, she collapsed and was hospitalized again. All the alcoholics she has been listening to came to visit her. Suddenly she wanted one more chance to live.”I started taking one day at a time, she says. “Today the urge has disappeared, but I still feel that once you are a alcoholic, you are always a alcoholic. I know I will never be cured of the disease. I can only arrest it on a daily basis.”
Sabrina Saldana has a similar story. She was just twenty when she first joined an ad- agency as a copy writer. Financial independence at a young age and peer pressure got her into the habit of social drinking. “I did not even realize when it actually became a habit, she says. She could not sleep at night with out a drink. “During my working hours, I used to pump myself with juices and vitamins. But suddenly I started getting shivers and shakes,” she says.
Hormone changes during the menstrual cycle can also affect alcohol metabolism, increasing the impact. Mumbai based general physician Dr. Karan Chaturvedi is of the opinion that women are more affected by alcohol because they tend to have a higher proportion of body fat than men. Men should drink no more than 21 units of alcohol per week, and no more than four units in any one day. Women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol per week, and no more than three units in any one day. (Pregnant women should not drink at all.)
As fat cannot absorb alcohol, it is concentrated at higher levels in the blood. Women are also shorter and lighter than men, further concentrating alcohol in their blood. Therefore when a woman of average size consumes one drink, it will have almost the same effect as two drinks for the average size man. If women eat little or skip food entirely, that compounds the effects.
Like men, amongst women too, alcoholism is a disease that cuts across all socio-economic barriers. But the most difficult aspect of dealing with women alcoholics is their extreme denial of the fact that they are alcoholics and that they have a problem. On the surface, their lives appear to be fine. But privately things may be out of control- failed relationships and problems with children are a few repercussions. It is this denial that prevents them from seeing how alcohol can negatively impact their lives.
Alcoholism is a disease that has no cure, but can be managed with medical treatment and social support groups. “The problem with women is that they fight shy from seeking treatment because of the stigma attached to alcoholism. People should understand that an alcoholic is a sick person who needs treatment and not resentment,” says Sister Valsa Vallipalam., in charge of women patients at the Kripa Foundation Centre in Pune. The centre is currently home to 20 patients, of which seven are women.
Alcoholism can develop insidiously. The only early indications may be the unpleasant physical responses to withdrawal that occur during even brief periods of abstinence. Depression, anxiety, insomnia chronic body pains are other symptoms. Dr Chaturvedi says, “They have blackouts and frequent hangovers that cause them to miss work and other normal activities. The liver, intestines and heart could all get affected. The digestion system goes for a complete toss.”
It takes a lot of courage to accept the fact that you are an alcoholic and you need help to recover. Stop using alcohol to deal with the tensions of life. “Who does not have problems in life? How you deal with it is what makes a difference,” says Anjali Chabria, Mumbai based psychologist. Learn to deal with life honestly. When it totters on the brink of a glass, dare to avoid falling in.
Alcoholism, which is also known as "alcohol dependence syndrome," is a disease that is characterized by the following elements:
· Craving: A strong need, or compulsion, to drink.
· Loss of control: The frequent inability to stop drinking once a person has begun.
· Physical dependence: The occurrence of withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety, when alcohol use is stopped after a period of heavy drinking. These symptoms are usually relieved by drinking alcohol or by taking another sedative drug.
· Tolerance: The need for increasing amounts of alcohol in order to get "high."
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