The Alcohol Related Deaths and Alcohol Related Problems That Are Correlated With Hazardous and Excessive Drinking
March 9, 2010 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
How many individuals lose their lives every year because of drinking problems? How many people lose their lives each year from a condition that is 100% preventable, such as alcohol poisoning? How many people are the victims of alcohol related crime or violence each and every year? How many individuals get injured or lose their lives in alcohol related traffic accidents every year? How many people’s lives are cut short due to abusive and unhealthy drinking? How many children are born each year with fetal alcohol syndrome? On an annual basis, how many alcoholics fail to get the professional alcohol treatment they require? How many individuals face severe consequences in their lives because they received a “drunk driving” conviction? How many junior high, high school, and college students lose their lives every year due to an alcohol overdose?
Why Would Anyone Want to Drink in an Abusive and Hazardous Manner?
So what’s the point in asking these questions? Basically to highlight the devastating and destructive nature of abusive and unhealthy drinking. Indeed, and based on the above questions, I wonder why anyone would choose to drink in a hazardous and abusive manner.
Stated a different way, with the host of relationship dilemmas, financial difficulties, health issues, employment problems, and legal proceedings that are correlated with chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency, why would any individual with a common sense mentality want to drink in an irresponsible manner? If truth be told when some of the above topics are looked at more closely, abusive and hazardous drinking makes even less sense and becomes more illogical.
Wouldn’t you think that heavy drinkers would be able to see some of the alcohol symptoms that they manifest? In a similar manner doesn’t it seem logical to think that more families would involve themselves in an alcohol intervention for the person in the household who is an alcohol abuser or an alcoholic? What is more, wouldn’t you think that individuals who drink abusively would try to learn more about their drinking behavior by reading about various alcohol related statistics?
After reviewing the alcohol abuse and alcoholism research literature, the point is so significant that it needs to be stated again: With all of the damaging and unhealthy outcomes that are directly or indirectly correlated with continuous and repetitive alcohol abuse and alcoholism, why would any person want to engage in excessive and unhealthy drinking?
What Can be Done About the Extensive Nature of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Our Country?
So what can be done about the widespread nature of alcohol abuse and alcoholism in the U.S.?
- Our students need more meaningful and more relevant educational and preventative methods and approaches so that more students at all grade levels, including those at college, are “reached.
- In a similar way, our students need to learn how to become problem solvers in life rather than getting easily attracted to the “instant gratification” and the “quick fix” of a drug or alcohol abuse ”high” or “buzz”.
- Individuals who are alcoholics or alcohol abusers need to look look at themselves honestly and ask why they are not getting the professional alcohol counseling they need.
- Society needs to get the message to more individuals about the destructive and damaging effects of abusive drinking.
There’s Room For Optimism if Those Who Engage in Hazardous and Abusive Drinking Can Become Motivated to Get the Alcohol Rehabilitation They Need
There’s a lot of room for optimism and hope if individuals can start drinking responsibly and those who engage in repeated and continuous drinkingcan become persuaded to get the alcohol rehab they require. Indeed, why put your loved ones through turmoil, pain, and suffering because of your abusive and hazardous drinking when you have the power to control your life by drinking responsibly or even refraining from drinking if you cannot control your drinking behavior?
A Friday Evening Out With Classmates at a Local Saloon Leads To Excessive Drinking, Symptoms of Alcohol Poisoning, and Then a Feeling of Thanksgiving
November 14, 2009 by admin
Filed under Organic Business Trends
When Janice was in high school, she had gained a reputation as an individual who hit the books real hard and who rarely, if ever, ”got down” and drank with her pals. She seemed determined to excel academically so that she would be able to go after a career that she not only enjoyed but one that also gave her some financial security.
After much reflection, in time she made up her mind that she wanted to be an attorney. In order to realize this goal, however, she would first have to finish four years of undergraduate education.
After Graduating From High School Janice Gets Accepted Into A Nationally Ranked Undergraduate University as Training For a Career as a Trial Lawyer
After Janice completed high school, she applied to and was accepted into an illustrious program in philosophy. Her justification for this decision was that this subject matter would be good preparation for law school and wouldn’t be indistinguishable from the majority of law school applicants who choose political science as their undergraduate minor or major.
After graduating with a 3.95 GPA at the undergrad level, she applied to and was accepted at a famous law school at one of the Big 12 universities.
She was pleased with her legal studies but from time to time she was snowed under from all the work that was involved at law school. Reminiscent of the way in which she conducted herself in her high school and undergraduate days, nonetheless, she made pals painlessly but almost never participated in social events until the semester had been concluded.
After Feeling Proud of the Fact That She Had Done Extremely Well on Her Exams, Janice Wanted to Let Her Hair Down and Do Something Besides Going to College For a Change
Janice was the kind of individual who worked in a rigorous manner to reach her goal and then would take a breather when she could. As is the case, nevertheless, a large number of the things she did between terms or during summer breaks did not involve drinking. Obviously, Janice was anything but a partygoer. Now that her final exams for her second year in law school were completed and thrilled with the fact that she had done very well on her exams, however, she wanted to let her hair down and do something besides going to college for a change.
Drinking at a Local Club Results in An Alcohol Overdose, Calling 911, The Emergency Number, and a Visit to The Rehab Hospital
So Janice and several of her friends from the university went to a local pub where they had a few shots. As the hours quickly passed, Janice persisted in drinking without having to worry about tests or research projects the next day. As a matter of fact, Janice mentioned to her pals how much fun it was to whoop it up and drink with classmates from her apartment.
As the evening moved forward, Janice and her friends continued to drink. In actual fact, she was having such a fantastic time that she didn’t want the night to end. It was almost as if she was making up for lost time and trying to pack a year’s worth of fun into a single evening. Such a “game plan,” however, seldom works. As a matter of fact, when Janice went to the restroom and threw up, her pals started to get worried about her wellbeing.
About ten minutes later when Janice started to talk in a confused manner, slur her speech, and then become unconscious, nonetheless, her buddies immediately knew that they needed to call 911, the emergency services number, and ask for emergency assistance because they thought that Janice was exhibiting alcohol poisoning symptoms.
Once Janice was in the rehab hospital, the head healthcare professional corroborated what her friends had thought, that is to say, that Janice ingested significantly more alcohol than her body could handle and, as a consequence, she experienced an alcohol overdose.
After the emergency room medical staff pumped her stomach until no gastric contents were identifiable, Janice was relocated to the recovery room. After staying approximately five hours in recovery, Janice was then transferred to one of the regular hospital rooms. Fortunately, the worst had passed and all of her vital signs were normal once again.
In response to Janice’s medical predicament, her classmates considerately telephoned her parents. As a consequence, early the next morning, her parents and her favorite pals went to the hospital to visit Janice.
Janice Dodges a Bullet, is Happy to be Alive, and Promises to Never Again Drink in an Abusive Manner
Janice was very aware that she came close to losing her life and, as a result, was grateful to be alive. At the same time, nonetheless, she was somewhat disheartened knowing that she had almost died the night before. Her Mother and Father realized how rigorously she studied at the university and how little she permitted herself to experience a social life. Nonetheless, they also were aware that Janice needed to avoid hazardous drinking.
As a result, they suggested that down the road, whenever a drinking circumstance develops, that she always drink responsibly. Janice was of the same opinion and gave her word to her friends and to her parents that she would never again drink in an excessive manner. In Janice’s own words, “I never thought that I would become one of the alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics in the local newspaper. I now grasp the fact that excessive and hazardous drinking is not for me. I say publicly that this will never happen again.”
Fortunately, Janice was not only “book smart” but she also had a lot of common sense. In other words, she immediately grasped the fact that she had made an error in judgment and made up her mind that she would never make the same error in judgment again. In point of fact, she now understood that she had involved herself in “binge drinking” and that even one instance of this type of alcohol abuse can end in death.
A Young Couple Reviews Their Abusive and Heavy Drinking and Their Short and Long-Term Dreams, Aspirations, and Goals
Augie and Merissa have been dating for seven-and-a-half years. They met while taking the same accounting class at a medium size, country, Church affiliated liberal arts college located in the Western part of the U.S. While they were mainly good friends at first, they finally started dating when they were in their third year of college.
Because both of them came from very ”old school” backgrounds, neither one of them drank very much beyond the experimental stage when they first began dating. As the time advanced, then again, they began to go to more keg parties, happy hours, sorority and fraternity parties, and football bashes. As a consequence, they steadily began to drink more as time went by.
Their Social Life Frequently Consisted of Going to Happy Hour With Their Friends, Going to Professional Sporting Events, Going to Parties With Their Friends, Going to Restaurants Three or Four Nights Per Week, and Going With Their Friends to the Local Pub on the Weekends
After they graduated from college, they both found jobs in a medium size city that was located around eighty miles from their undergraduate college. Then they at long last decided to move into the same apartment with one another.
Given the fact that they were far removed from the college drinking scene, however, their social life frequently consisted of going to restaurants three or four nights per week, going to happy hour with their friends, going to professional sporting events, going to parties with their friends, and going to the local club with their friends on the weekends. In a word, Merissa and Augie began drinking in an irresponsible and hazardous manner.
Now that they were living with each other and beginning to get more serious about their relationship, then again, they began to think about having children, getting married, becoming more responsible, and buying a house.
With any major transformation in a person’s life there is commonly something that elicits the specific transformation in question. For Augie and Merissa the notion of buying a new house and having children was this “change agent.” Stated more explicitly, for the first time in their lives, Augie and Merissa began to critically appraise their excessive drinking and the long term alcohol effects on their lives.
How Would Their Hazardous and Heavy Drinking Affect Their Relationship With One Another, Their Ability to Have Children, Their Finances, Their Relationship With Their Parents, and Their Mental Health?
Would their irresponsible and heavy drinking unfavorably affect their ability to have children? How would they be able to continue spending almost all of their money on drinking if they were to start saving for a new house? How accountable would they be if they had children and continued to drink in an irresponsible and excessive manner? How would they be able to face their parents and tell them about their long term dreams, aspirations, and goals while they still drank in an irresponsible manner while having fun as they did when they were in college? What would their abusive and irresponsible drinking do to their relationship? How would their irresponsible and hazardous drinking affect their mental health?
From a different slant on things, although neither one of them ever suffered from alcohol poisoning, received a DUI, or experienced alcohol withdrawal symptoms, they realized that their hazardous and heavy drinking was becoming a thorny issue that they could not discount anymore.
After Giving Their Situation Some Serious Deliberation, Merissa and Augie Finally Understood That Their Goals, Aspirations, and Dreams Would not be Reached if They Continued Their Drinking Behavior
All of these queries undoubtedly indicated the same conclusion: Augie and Merissa needed to realize more fully that they couldn’t continue their excessive and irresponsible drinking if their dreams, hopes, and aspirations were to be fulfilled.
Once they came to this conclusion, they told their drinking friends about their plans to start a family, about their marital plans, and about their goal of buying or building a new house. They also told their drinking pals that they still wanted to associate with them but that they would be drinking responsibly from this time forward so that they could start to realize their future plans, hopes, and dreams.
Unpredictably, all of their pals expressed relief because they too had been pondering the direction of their lives and concluded that their life-styles were too centered around drinking. They also understood that they would have to change radically if they were to become more mature and exhibit more thoughtfulness for their careers, their goals, and for their health in the next fifteen or twenty years.
After their candid discussion with their pals about their hopes, dreams, and plans, Augie and Merissa basically started to have more meaningful relationships with all of their buddies. The primary reason for this was the fact that all of them were on the same page regarding their excessive and irresponsible drinking and their short and long-term goals, aspirations, and plans.
A High School Student Experiences Alcohol Poisoning and Inspires Him to Change His Life
Jeffrey was a high school freshman who regularly seemed to be living on the edge. Jeffrey had a daring personality and as a rule wanted to do what his older brothers were doing. The key problem with this was that all three of his brothers were at least 21 years old and were as a result legally allowed to operate a vehicle and to consume alcohol.
Jeffrey, however, had a hard time comprehending the fact that as a fifteen-year-old youth he should not be drinking alcoholic beverages. In fact, then again, Jeffrey often drank with his buddies after school, primarily on the weekends.
One weekend, Jeffrey decided to drive around with some of his older guy friends. One of his guy friends was old enough to purchase alcohol. After purchasing some wine coolers, wine, and beer, Jeffrey and all of the guys went to a public park and drank for approximately two hours.
A Young Man Becomes Unconscious
After drinking around ten bottles of beer, Jeffrey started to feel queasy and then threw up. When he passed out on the basketball court, one of his cronies called 911 for help. It was fortunate that the call for medical help was made because when his cronies went to the hospital to see Jeffrey, they learned that Jeffrey had been suffering from alcohol poisoning symptoms. In short, Jeffrey had experienced an alcohol overdose.
When Your Buddies Drink Too Much
Jeffrey had heard that drinking in an excessive manner can lead to an alcohol overdose but he never thought that this would ever affect him. After all, some of his buddies recurrently bragged that they could drink twenty or more cans of beer in a couple of hours without feeling any critical difficulties.
Armed with this information, Jeffrey was frankly startled to realize that he had overdosed on alcohol because he “only” had roughly ten alcoholic beverages. When he explained this to the attending doctor at the hospital, on the other hand, the healthcare practitioner notified Jeffrey that drinking ten cans of beer over a two or three hour period of time could actually be quite a bit more alcohol than can be processed by the body. The healthcare professional further emphasized how too much alcohol can cause the brain to shut down an individual’s breathing and that when this transpires, an individual can die.
The First Warning of Hazardous Drinking
This was the first cautionary message to Jeffrey that he was drinking in a hazardous way and that there is a price tag for such activities. The healthcare practitioner told Jeffrey that he was a lucky person because he almost died from an alcohol overdose the previous night.
The physicain also spoke to Jeffrey’s parents and suggested that they get alcohol rehab for Jeffrey. His parents were ecstatic that Jeffrey was safe and notified the physicain that they would look into getting Jeffrey alcohol treatment.
While speaking to his parents, Jeffrey notified them that there must be a good reason why he did not perish and that he felt thankful that he was still alive. He also informed his parents that the peculiar part about the entire drinking event was that he had learned about alcohol poisoning the last six week grading period in health class at school.
When Listening in Class Can Affect Your Life
At the time, what his health instructor, Mr. Franklin, was articulating didn’t seem to make too much sense to Jeffrey. Due to the fact that he almost died, on the other hand, he felt that he should have listened more conscientiously in health class and applied what he had learned to his daily living.
Jeffrey informed his parents that he couldn’t wait to go to school and express regret to Mr. Franklin for not displaying more attention to something that was as noteworthy as learning about alcohol abuse and how to steer clear of an alcohol overdose.
His parents smiled at Jeffrey and said that they were pleased with the way he was taking responsibility for his unhealthy drinking actions. All he had to do now was to let this near fatal experience have an effect on his life in a beneficial manner so that he would be inspired and motivated to never again experience a case of alcohol poisoning.
A Young Couple Evaluates Their Irresponsible and Excessive Drinking and Their Short and Long-Term Hopes, Plans, and Dreams
Merissa and Augie have been dating for four years. They met while taking the same gender and sexuality studies class at a relatively small, countryside, private liberal arts college located in the far Western part of the U.S. While they were in essence good friends at first, they finally began dating when they were in their second year of college.
Due to the fact both of them came from very conventional backgrounds, neither one of them drank very much beyond the experimental stage when they first started to date. As the time passed by, then again, they began to go to more football bashes, happy hours, sorority and fraternity parties, and keg parties. As a result, they over time began to drink increasingly more the longer they interacted with one another.
Their Social Life Commonly Consisted of Going to Professional Sporting Events, Going to Parties With Their Friends, Going to Restaurants Three or Four Nights Per Week, Going to Happy Hour With Their Friends, and Going With Their Friends to the Local Club on the Weekends
After they graduated from college, they both got jobs in a relatively small city that was located around seventy-five miles from their undergraduate college. Then they decided to move in with each other.
Due to the fact they were far removed from the college drinking scene, nevertheless, their social life regularly consisted of going to parties with their friends, going to happy hour with their friends, going to professional sporting events, going to restaurants three or four nights per week, and going to the local watering hole with their friends on the weekends. In short, Merissa and Augie began drinking in an abusive and hazardous manner.
Now that they were living in the same apartment with one another and beginning to get more earnest about their relationship, nevertheless, they began thinking about buying a house, having children, becoming more responsible, and getting married.
With any big change in an individual’s life there is often something that causes the particular change in question. For Augie and Merissa the thought of buying a new house and having children was this “trigger.” Stated more explicitly, for the first time in their lives, Augie and Merissa began to reflect on their excessive and irresponsible drinking and the long term alcohol effects on their health.
How Would Their Excessive and Abusive Drinking Affect Their Ability to Have Children, Their Mental Health, Their Relationship With Their Parents, Their Finances, and Their Relationship With One Another?
Would their heavy and excessive drinking unfavorably affect their ability to have children? How would they be able to continue spending so much money on drinking if they were to start saving for a new house? How responsible would they be if they had children and continued to drink in an excessive and irresponsible manner? How would they be able to face their parents and tell them about their long term aspirations, dreams, and hopes while they still drank in a hazardous and irresponsible manner while having fun as they did when they were in college? What would their heavy and hazardous drinking do to their relationship? How would their irresponsible drinking affect their mental health?
From a different viewpoint, although neither one of them ever suffered from alcohol poisoning, received a DUI, or experienced alcohol withdrawal symptoms, they realized that their abusive and hazardous drinking was becoming a thorny issue that they could not overlook any longer.
After Giving Their State of Affairs Much Thought, Augie and Merissa Finally Comprehended That Their Dreams, Hopes, and Aspirations Would not be Fulfilled if They Continued Their Hazardous Drinking
All of these inquiries without a doubt resulted in the same conclusion: Merissa and Augie needed to comprehend more clearly that they couldn’t continue their abusive and heavy drinking if their aspirations, dreams, and hopes were to be fulfilled.
Once they got to this conclusion, they alerted their drinking buddies about their goal of buying or building a new house, about their plans to start a family, and about their marital plans. They also told their drinking friends that they still wanted to hang around with them but that they would be drinking in strict moderation from this point forward so that they could start to realize their future dreams, goals, and aspirations.
Much to their surprise, all of their buddies expressed relief because they too had been pondering the direction of their lives and concluded that their life-styles were too focused on drinking. They also understood that they would have to change substantially if they were to become more responsible and exhibit more thoughtfulness for their aspirations, their careers, and for their health in the next ten or fifteen years.
After their candid discussion with their friends about their dreams, hopes, and plans, Augie and Merissa essentially started to have more meaningful relationships with all of their pals. The fundamental reason for this was the fact that all of them had the same frame of mind regarding their excessive drinking and their relatively short and long-term plans, goals, and aspirations.
A Night Out With Classmates at a Local Cabaret Leads To Irresponsible and Hazardous Drinking, Symptoms of Alcohol Poisoning, and Then a Feeling of Appreciation
When Janice was in high school, she had acquired a reputation as a person who studied a lot and who rarely, if ever, partied with her friends. She seemed single-minded about “shining” academically so that she would be able to find a career that she not only got pleasure from but one that also gave her a degree of security from a financial point of view.
After much thought, ultimately she came to a decision that she wanted to be an attorney. In order to pull this off, nonetheless, she would first have to finish four years of undergrad education.
After Graduating From High School Janice Gets Accepted Into A Well-Known Undergraduate University as a Springboard For a Career as a Trial Lawyer
After Janice completed high school, she applied to and was accepted into a leading program in religion. Her analysis of her options regarding this decision was based on the fact that this subject area would be good training for law school and wouldn’t be identical to the bulk of law school applicants who select political science as their undergraduate major.
After graduating with a 3.7 GPA at the undergrad level, she applied to and was accepted at a greatly admired law school at one of the Big East universities.
She was enthusiastic about her legal studies but at times she was beleaguered about all the work that law school demanded. Reminiscent of the way in which she conducted herself in her high school and undergraduate days, nevertheless, she made buddies quite easily but scarcely got involved in social events until the quarter was completed.
After Being Pleased That She Had Done Very Well on Her Finals, Janice Felt Like Celebrating
Janice was the type of individual who worked in a rigorous manner to reach her goal and then would take a breather when she could. It just so happens, nonetheless, that most of the things she did between terms or during her summer vacations did not have much to do with drinking. Needless to say, Janice was anything but a partygoer. Now that her final examinations for her second year in law school were finished and thrilled with the fact that she had done extremely well on her finals, however, she wanted to let her hair down and do something besides studying for a change.
Drinking at a Local Bar Leads to Symptoms of Alcohol Poisoning, Calling 911, The Emergency Number, and An Ambulance Ride to The Hospital
So Janice and a few of her pals went to a local nightclub where they had a few mixed drinks. As the hours flew by, Janice persisted in drinking without having any concerns about exams or class the next day. In actual fact, Janice stated to her friends how nice it was to have fun drinking with her law school friends.
As the evening progressed, Janice and her pals continued to drink. In truth, she was having such a fabulous time that she didn’t want the night to come to an end. It was almost as if she was making up for lost time and trying to squeeze a year’s worth of fun and laughter into a single evening. Such a “game plan,” it needs to be stressed, does not often work. In truth, when Janice went to the powder room and vomited, her pals started to feel apprehensive about her wellbeing.
Around twenty minutes later when Janice started to slur her speech, talk in a confused manner, and then become unconscious, nonetheless, her pals promptly realized that they needed to call 911, the emergency number, and ask for emergency assistance because they believed that Janice was exhibiting alcohol poisoning symptoms.
Once Janice was in the rehab hospital, the lead doctor verified what her buddies had speculated, to be exact, that Janice ingested significantly more alcohol than her body could process and, as a result, she suffered from an alcohol overdose.
After the emergency room medical staff pumped her stomach until no gastric contents were visible, Janice was relocated to the recovery room. After staying about six hours in recovery, Janice was then transferred to one of the regular hospital rooms. Fortunately, the worst part of her hospitalization had passed and all of her vital signs were back to normal.
In response to Janice’s situation, her classmates attentively telephoned her parents. Consequently, early the next morning, her parents and her best buddies went to the hospital to visit Janice and check on her medical progress.
Janice Comes an Inch From Losing Her Life, is Grateful to be Alive, and Promises to Never Again Drink in an Excessive and Hazardous Manner
Janice was conscious of the fact that she had dodged a bullet and, as a consequence, was gratified to be alive. At the same time, however, she was somewhat depressed knowing that she had almost passed away the previous night. Her Mom and Dad were aware how relentlessly she studied at the university and how little she permitted herself to socialize with her friends. Nonetheless, they also realized that Janice needed to keep away from hazardous drinking.
As a result, they recommended that in the future, whenever a drinking opportunity develops, that she always drink in moderation and responsibly. Janice agreed and promised her Mother and Father and her friends that she would never again drink in an abusive manner. As stated by Janice, “I never had a clue that I would become one of the alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics in the local newspaper. I now understand that abusive drinking is not for me. I say publicly that this will never happen again.”
Fortunately, Janice was not only “book smart” but she also possessed common sense. That is, she immediately grasped the fact that she had made a mistake and made up her mind that she would never make the same error in judgment again. In fact, she now understood that she had involved herself in “binge drinking” and that even one instance of this type of alcohol abuse can end in a fatality.