The Sobriety :60 - Domestic Violence

An abuser will abuse whether intoxicated or not.  However, some DV problems occur when alcohol is part of the equation with people not otherwise inclined to raise their voices or their hands. It obliterates good judgment.  Why else would a 2013 JAMA Report from the American Medical Association find that 92 percent of the domestic abuse assailants reported use of alcohol on the day of the assault?  Watch a minute on alcohol and Domestic Violence at http://youtu.be/23eqvAX32vo

Visit alcohologist.com for a replay of the Bringing Inspiration To Earth show feature with Scott Stevens. Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature on Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud also can be found on www.alcohologist.com, plus an interview with Scott Stevens on Health Media Now and one at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international author from the UK, among his works is the Alzheimer's book "Time to Let Go."  

The flu hits drinkers harder as alcohol attacks T cells

Medical professionals have known for years that alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorders – the disease of alcoholism for example – impair a drinker's immune system. A new University of Iowa study pinpoints a specific influenza-fighting T cell as being “exquisitely sensitive to alcohol.” Results were published Aug. 26 online in an “Early View”of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Previous research had demonstrated an increase in the severity of flu virus infections was due, in part, to a failure to mount a robust T cell response. T cells find and kill infected cells. The new rodent study further examines chronic drinking's damage to CD8 T cells, finding that some functions of CD8 T cells become limited or reduced. “It is well known that chronic alcohol consumption compromises the human immune system," explained lead researcher Kevin Legge in a news release. “Alcohol attacks the CD8 T cell immune response on two separate levels: limiting the number of cells that can fight the infection, and limiting the ability of the remaining cells to fight."

University of California Riverside biomedical sciences associate professor, Ilhem Messaoudi, commented on the finding: "It has also been known since the 1800's that alcohol use disorders are associated with increased susceptibility to lung infection – both viral and bacterial – including community acquired pneumonia, tuberculosis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Understanding the mechanisms underlying the increased susceptibility to lung infection and injury in individuals with alcohol use disorder is extremely important."

The Iowa researchers spiked the drinking water of mice with alcohol for eight or 12 weeks. Mice were infected with the flu and the research team charted the activation of the CD8 T cells in both the lung-draining lymph nodes and lungs.

"T cells utilize multiple tools – called effector functions – to limit and control pathogens," said Legge. “We show that alcohol may have distinct effects on the effector ability of CD8 T cells, limiting or reducing some functions while leaving other effector functions intact. It is known that triggering of each specific effector pathway requires precise signals. Therefore, further mapping of which effector functions are altered, coupled with examination of pertinent molecules, could yield promising drug targets for reversal of the effects of alcohol on this important adaptive immune cell population."

For instance, new vaccines, more efficient at eliciting CD8 T cell responses, could be developed specifically for drinkers, especially those with the disease of alcoholism.
-- (See complete article)

Visit alcohologist.com for a replay of the Bringing Inspiration To Earth show feature with Scott Stevens. Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature on Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud also can be found on www.alcohologist.com, plus an interview with Scott Stevens on Health Media Now and one at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international author from the UK, among his works is the Alzheimer's book "Time to Let Go."  

The Sobriety :60 - Breast Cancer

Alcohol use -- even "moderate" consumption -- gives a double-digit boost to breast cancer risk.  Here's a minute of a few other alcohol-related risk considerations for breast cancer. http://youtu.be/n6PO1YUEWCA

Visit alcohologist.com for a replay of the Bringing Inspiration To Earth show feature with Scott Stevens. Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature on Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud also can be found on www.alcohologist.com, plus an interview with Scott Stevens on Health Media Now and one at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international author from the UK, among his works is the Alzheimer's book "Time to Let Go."  

The Sobriety :60 - Senior Health

A new survey puts the number of drinking adults aged 65 and older at 18 percent.  Here are a few other alcohol-related health considerations for seniors in 60 seconds.  http://youtu.be/MfRph1jObVY

Visit alcohologist.com for a replay of the Bringing Inspiration To Earth show feature with Scott Stevens. Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature on Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud also can be found on www.alcohologist.com, plus an interview with Scott Stevens on Health Media Now and one at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international author from the UK, among his works is the Alzheimer's book "Time to Let Go."  

Excess drinking damages lungs, not just liver

Heavy drinkers are at a much greater risk of developing lung problems, like pneumonia and life-threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), according to new research from Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson University. Researchers suspect those with the disease of alcoholism are more susceptible to these lung diseases because the immune system in the lung is no longer strong enough to protect from infection and damage, the June 30 report concludes.

Similar to how alcohol begins to destroy the liver, researchers discovered that one of the keys to immune system failure in the lung is a build-up of fat. “We call it the alcoholic fatty lung,” says lead researcher Ross Summer, M.D. “The fat accumulation in the lungs mimics the process that causes fat to build up and destroy the liver of alcoholics.” The unique finding offers the possibility of a new treatment.

When people drink, liver cells begin to produce fat, possibly as a defense mechanism against the toxicity of the alcohol or because the body fuels itself on alcohol calories rather than fats. Over extended and frequent alcohol exposure, the fat accumulates and heavy drinkers develop “fatty liver disease.” The fat impairs liver function but can also cause scarring that eventually leads to liver failure.

The lungs also contain cells that make fat to coat the inner lining of the lung to keep the airways properly lubricated during breathing. Dr. Summer and colleagues explored whether these cells might behave in a similar way to liver cells after extended alcohol exposure by also accumulating fat.

After extended exposure to alcohol in rats, the researchers noticed that lung's fat-secreting cells doubled their production of triglycerides (a cholesterol) and increased free fatty acids by 300 percent compared to rats fed a non-alcoholic diet. The researchers also observed more fats in lung macrophages, which are immune cells that normally rid lungs of bacteria and sick cells. “It’s likely that the macrophages try to engulf the excess fat in order to protect the cells in the lung, but in doing so, they become less effective sentinels against infection and disease,” said Summer.

If the same process can be observed in humans – research that Dr. Summer is currently exploring – it would suggest that lipid-lowering “fibrate” drugs could be useful in treating alcohol-related pneumonia and in preventing the development of ARDS. Fibrates are not the same as the commonly-prescribed cholesterol-lowering statin drugs such as the brand Lipitor. Fibrates reduce the production of triglycerides and can increase HDL (good) cholesterol. Examples include the brands Atromid, Tricor and Lopid.

--(see full article)

www.alcohologist.com

Scroll down for the replay of the April 13 Sound Health Options show feature with Scott Stevens. Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature on Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud can be found on www.alcohologist.com, plus an interview with Scott Stevens on Health Media Now and one at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international author from the UK, among his works is the Alzheimer's book "Time to Let Go."  

Study finds counterintuitive father/son alcoholism link

A son's susceptibility for an alcohol use disorder may actually drop if dad drinks abusively before conception according to University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine rodent research. The June 4 study results suggest male offspring might drink less.

The research finds mice chronically exposed to alcohol before breeding had male offspring that were less likely to consume alcohol and were more sensitive to its effects. This could be a fresh take on the prior human studies indicating that alcoholism can run in families, particularly father to son. Research student, Andrey Finegersh, noted, "We suspected that the offspring of alcohol exposed sires would have an enhanced taste for alcohol, which seems to be the pattern for humans. Whether the unexpected reduction in alcohol drinking that was observed is due to differences between species or the specific drinking model that was tested is unclear."

Lead researcher, Gregg E. Homanics, notes, "Rather than mutation of the genetic sequence, environmental factors might lead to changes that modify the activity of a gene, which is called epigenetics. Our mouse study shows that it is possible for alcohol to modify the dad's otherwise normal genes and influence consumption in his sons, but surprisingly not his daughters."

The researchers plan to examine other drinking models such as binge drinking, identify how alcohol modifies the genes, and explore why female offspring appear unaffected.

In the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded study, male mice were exposed to ethanol vapor over five weeks, leading to blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) slightly higher than the .08 legal limit for U.S. drivers. The exposed mice were mated to females who had not been exposed to alcohol. Compared to those of ethanol-free fathers, adult male offspring of ethanol-exposed mice consumed less alcohol when it was made available and were less likely to choose to drink it over water. Also, they were more susceptible to drinking's affect on motor control and an alcohol-induced reduction of anxiety.

The UPMC study, while contradictory to human gene studies, does confirm that alcohol consumed and its acetaldehyde byproduct leave a biological imprint on your DNA. (See Dec. 2013 article) According to alcoholism book, Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, the DNA change impacts the body's risk of more than 60 other diseases, beyond the disease of alcoholism. “Other diseases, like cancer, can surface later as a result of epigenetic changes. If the drinking doesn’t kill you immediately, it can kill you years down the road. Drinking often or in excess or both is like you’ve stepped out onto the highway: The truck just hasn’t hit you yet.”(from examiner.com, see full article)
www.alcohologist.com

Scroll down for the replay of the April 13 Sound Health Options show feature with Scott Stevens. Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature on Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud can be found on www.alcohologist.com, plus an interview with Scott Stevens on Health Media Now and one at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international author from the UK, among his works is the Alzheimer's book "Time to Let Go."  

In the time it takes to read this article, 15 people will die an alcohol-related death

In the two and a half minutes it takes to read this story, fifteen people will die an alcohol-related death. A death toll surpassing violence, TB and AIDS combined hangs on what many view as a benign substance found in nearly every grocery store and ballpark. Alcohol, the world's third-leading cause of preventable injury and death, claims 3.3 million lives a year according to a May 12 report by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Including intoxicated driving, alcohol-induced violence and a causal relationship with more than 60 diseases and disorders, alcohol causes one in 20 deaths globally every year, says the WHO. "This actually translates into one death every 10 seconds," says Shekhar Saxena, who comment on the WHO's 2014 Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health. Intoxicated motorists are responsible for one in seven of those deaths.
Alcohol caused the deaths of 7.6 percent of men and 4 percent of women who died in 2012, the year of the study data.

More people in countries where alcohol consumption has traditionally been low, like China and India, are also increasingly taking up the habit as their wealth increases, according to the WHO report. "More needs to be done to protect populations from the negative health consequences of alcohol consumption," Oleg Chestnov of the WHO's Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health unit said in a statement.

The popular misconception is that alcohol causes only the disease of alcoholism, according to alcoholism recovery book Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud. However, drinking is linked to more than 200 health conditions, including liver cirrhosis and some cancers. "Many of the diseases don't appear until years after the person stops drinking. The damage is done early and cumulatively.”

A separate 2013 oncology report (see related article) went so far as to say, “When it comes to cancer, no amount of alcohol is safe.” Alcohol abuse also makes people more prone to contracting or worsening infectious diseases like tuberculosis, HIV and pneumonia, the WHO found.

Most deaths attributed to alcohol, around a third, are caused by associated diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. This despite observational claims that a moderate amount of red wine has cardiovascular health benefits. Researcher call those claims, “wishful thinking,” and say they don't hold up in evidence-based studies (see related examiner.com article).

The world's wealthiest nations – in Europe and the Americas – are boozier than people in poorer countries, but rising wealth in emerging economies is also driving up alcohol consumption. Eastern Europe and Russia are home to the world's biggest drinkers. Russian men who drink consumed an average of 32 liters (8.5 gallons) of pure alcohol a year, according to 2010 statistics, followed by other Western countries including Europe, Canada, the United States, Australia and South Africa.

On average, every person above the age of 15 worldwide drinks 6.2 liters (about a gallon and a half) of pure alcohol in a year, according to the report. Counting only those who drink though, that rises to 17 liters (4.5 gal.) of pure alcohol each year. Nearly half the world's adult population is entirely abstinent.
-- from examiner.com (See full article)
www.alcohologist.com

Scroll down for the replay of the April 13 Sound Health Options show feature with Scott Stevens. Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature on Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud can be found on www.alcohologist.com, plus an interview with Scott Stevens on Health Media Now and one at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international author from the UK, among his works is the Alzheimer's book "Time to Let Go."  

Binge drinkers more susceptible to staph, other bacterial infection

Loyola University Chicago researchers report that binge alcohol exposure significantly reduced levels of key components of the immune system involved in healing. People who are injured while binge drinking are much slower to heal according to the study, published as an April online "early view" for Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

The new study is providing insights into why alcohol has such a negative effect on wound healing, linking, for the first time, binge alcohol exposure and a reduction in the amount of white blood cells (macrophages) that chew up bacteria and debris. This defect, in part, makes the wound more likely to be infected by bacteria, e.g. Staph infections.

Twenty to 40 percent of hospitalized patients – two admissions every minute – are from alcohol-related injuries or illnesses resulting from the disease of alcoholism. The study by senior author, Katherine A. Radek, and colleagues from Loyola's Alcohol Research Program and the Infectious Disease and Immunology Research Institute finds intoxication increases the risk of infections in the hospital, including surgical site infections.

Patients with surgical-site infections are hospitalized for twice as long, have a higher rate of re-admission and are twice as likely to die as patients who did not binge drink.

Binge alcohol also reduced levels of another key component of the immune system known as cathelicidin-related antimicrobial peptide, or CRAMP, in the Loyola rodent study. CRAMP is a type of small protein present in the skin which kills bacteria and recruits macrophages and other immune system cells to the wound site.

The report concluded, "Together these effects likely contribute to delayed wound closure and enhanced infection severity observed in intoxicated patients."

Earlier studies also connect alcohol use to slow healing from muscle sprains and other soft-tissue sports injuries (see related Examiner.com article). Also, according to research noted in recovery book, Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, chronic alcohol use has been tied to compromising the entire immune system, not just infection-fighting around open wounds, for more than two decades. "Immune suppression makes you more susceptible to various infectious diseases, and theoretically to everything from STDs to cancer."
(from examiner.com, see full article)

Scroll down for the replay of the Dr. Jeanette Gallagher show feature with Scott Stevens. Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature on Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud can be found on www.alcohologist.com, plus an interview with Scott Stevens on Health Media Now and one at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international historical fiction novelist from the UK.  
 

SAVE THE DATE:  Scott Stevens will be part of the opening night symposium for the REEL Recovery Film Festival San Francisco.

March Madness? 22,000 will have died YTD from alcohol by NCAA tip time

www.alcohologist.com

 

 

Treasury finds liquor labels understate alcohol content

Nearly 30 percent of alcoholic beverages were found to have inaccurate labels, putting consumers at risk, according to a March 10 survey compiled by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), a division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. While most beverage alcohol containers complied with U.S. label regulations, on many the booze contained more alcohol than stated and above regulatory tolerances.

The TTB’s Alcohol Beverage Sampling Program (ABSP) is conducted at random every year using products available in the U.S. The 2013 survey sampled 275 distilled spirits, 239 malt beverages and 154 wines. A total of 190 products across all type were non-compliant, 80 of which were distilled spirits. The TTB found 15 instances of spirits containing less alcohol than claimed on the label.
According to bartending trade publication, The Spirits Business, “Not only do such products avoid paying higher rates of excise tax, they pose a threat to consumers who are unaware of how much alcohol they are drinking.” The TTB noted, “The results of our sampling program over the past few years indicate that proofing and gauging of distilled spirits is a problem area for some industry members.”

TTB states it will raise awareness of the issue and develop educational tools to assist distillers “with their gauging skills” using standardized scientific methods.

The mislabeling puts consumers at risk in misleading the drinker about the consequences, health and legal. When a publication suggests that a glass of wine a day may be “safe” (See related article When it comes to cancer, no amount is safe) a glass of wine at 12 percent alcohol is not the same as one at 20 percent. For a person with risk factors for the disease of alcoholism, abstinence is the only sure prevention and maintenance of the disease, but for social drinkers, they may unknowingly be drinking a hazardous amount and a lot more than they intended. Also, when motorists order a mixed drink they think is 80 proof (40 percent) and it is really 100 proof, it could mislead them to believe they would be below the legal threshold for driving, 0.08 blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Scientific studies warn, however, that impaired driving begins at a much lower BAC level.
--from examiner.com, see full article
www.alcohologist.com

Scroll down for the replay of the Dr. Jeanette Gallagher show feature with Scott Stevens. Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature on Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud can be found on www.alcohologist.com, plus the interview with Scott Stevens at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international historical fiction novelist from the UK.  
 

SAVE THE DATE:  Scott Stevens will be part of the opening night symposium for the REEL Recovery Film Festival San Francisco.

Dad's alcohol use before conception may cause fetal alcohol syndrome

Expectant mothers' alcohol use during pregnancy is a known cause of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). FAS is one of a range of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). FAS children can suffer physical deformities, reduced intellect, stunted growth, nervous system abnormalities, social problems and isolation. A new study published in Animal Cells and Systems suggests the father's drinking also may contribute to FAS.

The Korean study exposed male rodents to varying concentrations of alcohol prior to mating. Some of the fetuses they helped conceive suffered abnormal organ development and/or brain development. The offspring of the “sober” male mice in the study showed no abnormalities.

The study authors concluded that alcohol consumption, not necessarily heavy use or the disease of alcoholism, affects genes in sperm which are responsible for normal fetal development.

The study mice were exposed to alcohol for only seven weeks, then were given no alcohol for a week before mating. None of the female mice had been exposed to alcohol. The number of embryos per mouse was counted and embryo body weights measured. The study’s authors found “severe fetal abnormalities,” including a disorder called exencephaly, where the brain is located outside the skull. The researchers said the incidence of developmental abnormalities by alcohol use was “statistically significant.”

They concluded that paternal alcohol exposure prior to conception causes developmental defects in the next generation. Transgenerational toxicity — a health effect that occurs when a pollutant or toxic substance passes from a parent to a child — caused by paternal alcohol exposure “is possibly mediated through alcohol-induced changes in sperm” at the DNA level.

Until now fathers have not had a causal link to FAS. According to the researchers, this study provides the first definitive evidence that fathers’ drinking habits, pre-conception, can cause significant fetal abnormalities.

As many as 40,000 babies are born with an FASD annually, costing the U.S. up to $6 billion annually in institutional and medical costs. Costs of FAS alone are estimated at between 1 and 5 million dollars per child. (See related examiner.com article) This estimate does not include the cost to society, such as lost productivity or incarceration, nor does it factor in the burden on families and poor quality of life. FAS, the most recognized condition among FASDs, now outranks Down syndrome and autism in prevalence. A child is born with an FASD every 4 1/2 minutes.
(from examiner.com, see full article)
www.alcohologist.com

Scroll down for the replay of the Dr. Jeanette Gallagher show feature with Scott Stevens. Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature on Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud can be found on www.alcohologist.com, plus the interview with Scott Stevens at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international historical fiction novelist from the UK. 

Resolutions, part V: Alcohol leaves lasting legacy in brain and heart

New Year’s often brings resolutions to quit or cut back and/or avoid relapse. Quitting or cutting back can be as life-changing as pledges to work out more in 2013 or promises to get a new job for the new year. Here are additional long-term brain and heart considerations about alcohol use disorders, quitting and staying sober. If you don’t have the following conditions now, there are provable connections to getting them years after abstinence.

Heart disease
Heart disease is a leading cause of death in the U.S. and carries a definite link to alcohol misuse despite French studies showing low amounts of red wine benefiting the circulatory system. Acetaldehyde – a byproduct of the metabolism of alcohol – causes hypertension, a.k.a. high blood pressure. In a 2007 Medical University of South Carolina study, 120 alcohol users charted lower blood pressure only 12 weeks after abstaining.

Alcohol itself raids the body of vitamin B (Thiamin) which is essential for a healthy heart. B-deficiency enlarges the heart and creates distended neck veins, narrow pulse pressure, elevated diastolic blood pressure (the second number in your BP) and peripheral edema. Acetaldehyde also physically weakens muscle, the heart being your body’s most important one. Think of how the tongue muscle is weakened from drinking (slurring) and leg muscles are weakened (wobbliness) and the same thing is happening to the heart muscle. However, with the heart, the weakening causes damage that accumulates.

Acetaldehyde also increases cholesterol, especially triglycerides. High cholesterol is a leading indicator of heart trouble on the horizon and the number one condition treated with prescription drugs in the U.S.

Brain damage/mental disease
Cadaever brains have provided conclusive evidence of a brain atrophying (shrinking) after alcohol misuse. However, Dr Ernest Noble of University of California—Irvine says, “Brain damage caused by alcohol, in relatively small quantities can affect the ability of brain cells to make proteins and RNA . . . essential for metabolism and organization of all cells as well as their ability to duplicate themselves.” A former social drinker, he quit drinking at all upon conclusion of his study.

A 2012 study similarly indicates that moderate drinking reduces the production of new brain cells by 40 percent. The November 8, 2012 journal, Neuroscience, reports the level of alcohol intake was not even enough to impair the motor skills of the rats in the study, however, the decrease in the brain’s ability to create new cells could have profound effects on learning and memory later. The area of the brain that produces the neuron cells is the hippocampus, which is associated with learning and memory. Affecting this part of the brain might not be something immediately noticeable, but over time, weekly drinking could have so dramatically reduced the neurons that learning or remembering things becomes more difficult. The study indicates that people don’t have to be alcoholic to do damage to brain structures and that social drinking may be more harmful to people than is currently perceived by the general public.

The impact on mental health and the many fingers of the mind are varied. On one hand there are those who endure years of heavy drinking with the mind’s fingers remaining as nimble as a pianist’s. Others emerge not so deft. It is believed alcohol increases the chances for Alzheimer’s and earlier onset of dementia. Stanford University research in 2010 also proved that alcohol abuse and the disease of alcoholism cause deficits in working memory and visio-spatial abilities (think: coordination) even after abstinence.

Sociologist William Anixter pointed out in 1990 before the Anxiety Disorders Association’s Washington, DC, conference that 80 percent of Alcoholics suffer from depression. The unanswered question more than two decades later is how much of that was there organically and how much was caused by the alcohol/acetaldehyde. A 2007 study does make the connection between alcoholic liver disease and the mind. The frontal cortex—responsible for reasoning and memory—is more impaired in patients when they have cirrhosis.
--Adapted from Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud


Image: Adamr
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(The usual weekly post, SUNDAY SNIPPET, will return 1/5)

Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, plus the new radio interview replay is available at alcohologist.com... and please read the new interview with Scott Stevens at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international historical fiction novelist from the UK. 
 
www.alcohologist.com

Resolutions, part IV: Alcohol-related tissue damage lingers years after quitting

New Year’s often brings resolutions to quit or cut back and/or avoid relapse. Quitting or cutting back can be as life-changing as pledges to work out more in 2014 or promises to get a new job for the new year. Here are additional long-term considerations about alcohol use disorders, quitting and staying sober.

Alcohol itself is toxic. It’s broken down in the body in the following sequence:
Alcohol>Acetaldehyde>Acetic Acid (vinegar)>Water+CO2
The first metabolite, acetaldehyde, is 30 times more toxic than alcohol and is responsible for damage to tissues.

The relationship between chemicals and your DNA is part of a field called epigenetics and epigenetics is now showing that the alcohol you consume and its acetaldehyde byproduct leave a biological imprint on your DNA, one that can surface in diseases later (Wall Street Journal, February 28, 2012). If the drinking doesn’t kill you immediately, it can kill you years down the road.

The weight of scientific evidence demonstrates a link between alcohol and a greater risk of mortality for diseases of the immunological, nervous, cardiovascular, and respiratory and digestive systems. This was most recently confirmed by researcher Domenico Palli, a scientist at the Cancer Research and Prevention Institute of Florence in 2012, and new links with diseases and alcohol are being reported nearly weekly. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. If you don’t have the following conditions now, there are provable connections to getting them years after abstinence… the longer a person waits to quit, the higher the risk.

Liver damage/disease
The alcohol user is eight times more likely to get cirrhosis, which is irreversible, incurable and fatal. Not all alcoholics will get it. One in 10 develops cirrhosis. However, it is not the only liver disease cause by alcohol/acetaldehyde.

A fatty liver occurs when alcohol consumption disrupts how the body chooses its fuel. Cell mitochondria—our body power plants—normally use fat to produce energy. As aacetaldehyde breaks down in the body it releases hydrogen, which mitochondria use before fat as fuel. The unused fat then accumulates around the liver. Even in someone who doesn’t look fat in their extremities or midsection, fat deposits choke the liver.

Alcoholic hepatitis is a third type of liver injury connected to alcohol misuse. It is a condition similar to the other hepatitis diseases, but is not the same as A, B or C hepatitis.

Liver problems are not the realm of only the hard drinker, they can be stimulated by amounts of alcohol between five to nine drinks in 24 hours. There are very few symptoms of liver injury until it becomes chronic because the liver has no pain nerves to tell you when it is hurt. If the liver had nerve endings, you’d never make it to the second drink.

Pancreatic damage
The pancreas is a long, flattened, pear-shaped organ located behind the stomach. It makes digestive enzymes and hormones including insulin. Alcohol users are 1.6 times more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, the most fatal of cancers. (Dr. Mirjam Heinen, Maastricht University, Netherlands, May 2009).

Men should be especially conscious of alcohol/acetaldehyde when it comes to the pancreas. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers isolated a gene variant in men that puts those who drink heavily at risk for pancreatitis.

Muscle disease
Acetaldehyde fragments muscle fibers, weakening them and allowing them to tear easily. Muscle atrophy or destruction can occur fairly easily. The weakness and atrophy have been known to medicine for 200 years as myopathy, but myopathy has come to be known as a common side effect of acetaldehyde and alcohol.

Nerve disease/neuropathy
Alcoholic neuropathy is identical to the neuropathy experienced as a side effect of diabetes. Neuropathy causes a tingling of burning sensation, or a loss of sensation all together. In Alcoholics, as with diabetics, it is an affliction of the limbs and especially the legs. Commonly there is a reduced sensitivity in the feet. You’re not able to feel pain. When this happens, foot injuries, like blisters, can become infected so severely because you cannot feel pain that amputation is necessary. But the fatal problem with the neuropathy is the increase in the risk of stroke it carries, covered in part five of this series.

Stomach disease
Gastritis—sharp stomach pains—and gastric ulcers are very common results of regular alcohol use and can last for years after abstinence. Alcohol slows the emptying of the stomach, which allows more acid to build up in the stomach and therefore more time for it to permanently damage the stomach lining. Cancer of the stomach is called gastric cancer. Gastric adenocarcinoma is the most common type of stomach cancer. It arises from those cells in the stomach lining.

Chronic gastritis also is a predisposing factor in developing stomach cancer (“Alcohol and stomach cancer in northern Italy,” in the Nutrition ResearchNewsletter, September 1994) The newsletter concluded, “heavy intake of total alcohol (at least eight drinks/day) or wine (six to eight or at least eight drinks/day) was associated with a small but significant increase in stomach cancer risk.”

A more recent study put the cancer risk in much more exact and troubling terms. Researchers evaluated information from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study.

More than 400 cases of stomach cancer were diagnosed among study participants. Heavy alcohol consumption increased the risk of stomach cancer in men. Men who consumed an average of more than four drinks per day were 65 percent more likely to develop stomach cancer than men who were very light drinkers. The link between alcohol and stomach cancer appeared to be stronger for beer than for wine or spirits.

Breast cancer
One out of eight women will have an encounter with breast cancer. Alcohol use is the ONLY dietary factor increasing the likelihood of getting breast cancer.

Breast cancer risks increase 10 percent for every 10 grams of alcohol consumed daily. That’s about one drink.) Women who consumed even “modest” alcohol (equivalent to 3-6 glasses of wine per week) were linked with a 15 percent increase of developing the disease. Researchers also found that the increased risk of breast cancer for those who drank at least 30 grams of alcohol per day on average (at least two drinks daily) was 51 percent higher compared to women who never drank alcohol.

In addition, when the researchers looked at alcohol consumption levels between the ages 18 to 40 and after the age of 40, they discovered that both were strongly linked with an increased risk of breast cancer. The connection with alcohol consumption still remained even after controlling, reducing or quitting alcohol consumption after the age of 40.

Other cancers
Dr. Palli’s 2012 research identified “significantly” higher risks for cancers of the pharynx, oral cavity and larynx and higher rates for cancers of the esophagus and rectum. “Alcohol’s role as a dietary carcinogen emerged quite clearly,” said Palli. An older study put the numbers at an estimated 75 percent of esophageal cancers in the U.S. are attributable to chronic, excessive alcohol consumption and nearly 50 percent of cancers of the mouth, pharynx, and larynx are associated with heavy drinking.

According to Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology, alcohol misuse results in abnormalities in the way the body processes nutrients and may subsequently promote certain types of cancer later in life. Alcoholism also has been associated with suppression of the immune system. Immune suppression makes you more susceptible to various infectious diseases and, theoretically, to cancer.
--Adapted from Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud

Image: Adamr
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Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, plus the new radio interview replay is available at alcohologist.com... and please read the new interview with Scott Stevens at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international historical fiction novelist from the UK. 

Resolutions, part III: The short-term consequences of drinking alcohol

New Year’s often brings resolutions to quit or cut back and/or to avoid relapse. Quitting or cutting back can be as life-changing as pledges to work out more in 2014 or promises to get a new job for the new year. Here are additional considerations about alcohol use disorders, quitting and staying sober.

About eight percent of the population is has the disease of alcoholism and 35 percent are alcohol abusers, but in a 2011 ABC News/Gallup Poll, 67 percent of Americans admitted to having ever abused alcohol. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) puts the number at 61.2 percent currently drinking frequently and 14 percent former regular drinkers. Four percent of deaths globally – 5.5 percent in the U.S. – are linked directly to alcohol according to the University of Toronto Centre for Addiction & Mental Health 2009 study.

Here are the direct health risks for anyone who uses alcohol. The risks apply to light to moderate drinkers, not just a hard drinker. The direct impacts of alcohol are associated with getting drunk, being drunk or activity while drunk. (Parts four and five of this examiner.com series cover the long-term and indirect causes of death and illness from drinking.) The most common categories for direct causes of death documented include the following:

Alcohol poisoning
The first symptom most people experience is sudden death. There is no way of accurately gauging how close you are to a lethal dose of alcohol until you pass it. Coma and death are possible at Blood Alcohol Concentrations (BACs) above .30, however lower BACs can produce the same result depending upon tolerance and health.

Alcoholics can have an extremely high tolerance and the margin between the tolerance dose and the lethal dose is razor thin: They can die at a BAC of .50 or higher without even feeling buzzed. They also can experience sudden drops in tolerance, increasing the risk from death by alcohol poisoning.  Singer Amy Winehouse died in 2011 at a .40 BAC but twice before had been hospitalized at higher BAC levels. You just don’t know when you are not going to wake up.

Withdrawal
Absence of alcohol can and does kill alcoholics because the disease quickly alters the body’s tissues. They become dependent upon alcohol, requiring it in the bloodstream constantly or the body begins to shut down during withdrawal, much as it would without oxygen. Alcohol withdrawal is the only drug withdrawal other than benzodiazepines that can be fatal. Not heroin or meth, the alcohol you find in aisle six of the Winn-Dixie.

Researchers Glen Hanson, Peter Venturelli and Annette Fleckenstein in the book Drugs and Society found “About five percent of alcoholics in hospitals and perhaps 20-25 percent without treatment during withdrawal die” suffering from delirium tremens (DTs—high fever, heartbeat irregularities, etc.). Medically supervised detoxification is a requirement for severe alcoholics because of life support, not for the sedatives to make the other pains of withdrawal more bearable.

Accidents and violence
The number one cause of emergency room visits and 21 percent of all injuries is alcohol (Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research). This includes injuries to someone who was drinking and injuries by someone who was drinking. Two hospital admissions each minute are attributable to alcohol directly, according to the North West Public Health Observatory. This was a 65 percent increase over five years.
. . . 30 percent of transportation injuries are alcohol-related
. . . 22 percent of the 12 million home-accident injuries in 2012 were alcohol-related
. . . 58 percent of fire fatalities have alcohol in their systems, which presumably kept them from fleeing safely
. . . 45 percent of drownings are alcohol-related
. . . 15.5 percent of occupational injuries are alcohol-related
. . . And 56 percent of assault victims have alcohol in their bodies . . . when you drink you are at a two-and-a-half-times greater risk of a violent death.

The media has overemphasized alcohol’s role in car wrecks but has under-reported the role of alcohol in other violent or accidental deaths. A 2012 Ohio State University study concluded that news organizations failure to report alcohol in those cases dampens public support of alcohol-control laws or abstinence.
-- Adapted from Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud



Image: Adamr
www.alcohologist.com


Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, plus the new radio interview replay is available at alcohologist.com... and please read the new interview with Scott Stevens at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international historical fiction novelist from the UK. 

Resolutions, part II: Alcohol's a greater public health menace than tobacco

New Year’s often brings resolutions to quit or cut back and/or avoid relapse. Quitting or cutting back can be as life-changing as pledges to work out more in 2014 or promises to get a new job for the new year. Here are additional considerations about alcohol use disorders, quitting and staying sober.

Alcohol is a mass killer in the United States and is the defining public health issue for the 21st century. Driving under the influence has statistically little to do with those conclusions.

Just under 10,000 motor vehicle deaths, 40 percent of the total, stem from alcohol-related crashes. To put that into context with other preventable deaths:
157,000 lung cancer deaths annually
50,000 people are killed in gun violence
39,520 breast cancer deaths
37,000 fatal overdoses from prescription drugs
34,000 suicides
30,000 Americans still die of the flu
18,000 people are killed in our hospitals by staph infections

Every alcohol-related car crash death is heartbreaking, but by the numbers, those deaths make up very little of the death toll from alcohol use. Even if you ended drinking and driving, alcohol is still our nation’s number one killer:
89,000 other deaths (not in cars) are directly attributed to alcohol; and,
1,000,000 more fatalities from diseases are indirectly attributed to alcohol (e.g. alcohol causes a condition leading to death).

It’s easy to be offended by drinking and driving. What’s even more offensive is the underreporting of the health effects of alcohol that prove alcohol is our defining health issue. Tobacco has at times held that mantle, but by comparison, only 473,000 die annually of smoking-related illness. Beverage
alcohol kills more than a million. A 2012 study by the German University Medicine Greifswald found that heavy drinkers are at more risk of death than those who smoke.

The way America has responded to tobacco awareness campaigns holds promise for alcohol awareness campaigns, should one be mounted. In 1967, smoking was “in.” Seventy-six percent of adult men smoked. Today smoking is “out” and health officials at the Food and Drug Administration believe by 2020 smoking will be banned in all states. This is happening within just a generation and a half because smoking’s health effects are no longer underreported or reported only in obscure medical publications. With alcohol as with smoking, people are entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts. The remaining three parts of this series cover the direct and indirect causes of illness or death attributed to alcohol use.
--Adapted from chapter eleven of Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud.

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www.alcohologist.com

(The usual weekly post, SUNDAY SNIPPET, will return Feb. 2)

Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, plus the new radio interview replay is available at alcohologist.com... and please read the new interview with Scott Stevens at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international historical fiction novelist from the UK. 

Resolutions, part I: Five things to know about getting and staying sober

New Year’s often brings resolutions to quit or cut back and/or avoid relapse back to alcohol. Quitting or cutting back can be as life-changing as pledges to work out more in 2014 or promises to get a new job for the new year. Here are five things to know about alcohol use disorders, quitting and staying sober.

1. Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are not the same thing. (See this related examiner.com story for the difference.) Cutting back on alcohol consumption may be a practical outcome for an alcohol abuser. If a person has the disease of alcoholism, total abstinence is the only way to put the disease into remission.

2. Nine out of ten people who quit drinking fail to stay sober the first time they quit. More than half drink again within six months. Set your expectations accordingly. Lapse or relapse or slips are as likely with alcoholism than with any other disease. They are not the end of recovery. It just means you have another chance to quit. One man, who might be the most famous alcoholic ever, lapsed four times in 22 months. He quit a fifth time though. That’s Bill Wilson, one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).

3. AA is not the only game in town. There is rehab if you have the resources or insurance, either inpatient or intensive outpatient. There is counseling, either one-to-one or as part of a group… there are also several other self-help groups, such as Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART), Secular Organizations for Sobriety (SOS) and Women for Sobriety (WFS). None of the latter enjoys the widespread availability of the 12-step program of AA however. Those who have success in sobriety acknowledge one common thing: No one gets sober and stays that way without help, whether through counseling or self-help groups or both.

4. A chronic, heavy drinker should never attempt to stop drinking on his or her own. Alcohol withdrawal is the only other drug aside from benzodiazepines (think Valium) in which the withdrawal can be fatal. Heroin withdrawal is not fatal. Cocaine withdrawal is not fatal. Alcohol withdrawal can be. Alcohol changes the body tissues. Once the tissues become dependent upon alcohol, it is possible that taking the alcohol away will cause cardiac arrest, stroke or seizures. Supervised detox means medical assistance is nearby and nearly all supervised detox involves medication to ease the physical discomfort of withdrawal, which increases the probability for success.

5. Changing a habit takes three to four weeks, which is one reason many inpatient rehabs have a 28-day program. But that isn’t nearly the end. More severe alcoholics are barely medically stable after just a month. It takes effort – some days more than others – for the first year of sobriety, and an acknowledgement that alcoholism is not curable so the change will mean making adjustments for the rest of one’s life. Alcoholics and non-alcoholics alike return to alcohol for the same reasons of stress, grief, guilt or shame. Getting sober and staying sober only begins with a desire to stop drinking and getting some help in the first part of abstinence. The rest of recovery is learning to live without alcohol for those stressors.


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www.alcohologist.com

(The usual weekly post, SATURDAY REWIND, will return Feb. 1)

Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, plus the new radio interview replay is available at alcohologist.com... and please read the new interview with Scott Stevens at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international historical fiction novelist from the UK. 

The elevator doesn't work in alcohol recovery: Taking the steps on 12/12

Many self-help groups employ the 12 steps originated in the book, Alcoholics Anonymous, 74 years ago. The group named after the book, AA, remains the most successful organization in handling the disease of alcoholism today. The only membership requirement: A desire to stop drinking.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in 2008 reported an annual average of five million people 12 and older attended a group self-help meeting in the prior 12 months. One third also went for one-to-one counseling or group therapy. Because 12-step groups are so widespread, most one-to-one counseling and group therapy is based on the 12-steps and those counselors encourage participating in 12-step group self-help to boost sobriety. In fact, the National Treatment Center Study Summary Report from the University of Georgia found 90 percent of 450 treatment centers are based on the 12 steps, while 10 percent rely on “Behavior Therapy.”

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) seems to endorse the 12-step approach in group therapy as well. In 2008, it found Behavioral Therapy less successful than 12-step methods. “Individuals in 12-step oriented therapy have increased subsequent Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) participation and it is the AA involvement that leads to better outcomes by buffering the effects of social pressures to drink. AA exposes a person to a network of people who have a goal of sobriety and support one another in achieving that goal.”

Group therapy requires signing up and showing up. Group self-help like AA requires only showing up. One thing to note though, if it is confidentiality you seek, one-to-one counseling is the only route 100 percent confidential. Anonymous is not a synonym for confidential. Ask yourself, though, does recovery really need to be confidential? Far too many get ticklish about talking “publicly” about their shame and other stressors. The alternative is not talking. And that leads to relapse. A twelve-step meeting is not the town newspaper. Even if it was, some alcoholics’ under-the-influence feats were more public than anything they’d say in a group self-help meeting ever would be.

These are safe venues in which to communicate. They consist of people who share the exact same struggles. Talking things out among them is cathartic. You don’t need to talk about every confession you have. You don’t get style points for deeper traumas. You do get style points for creating a climate of trust by putting on the table the things that are giving you challenges in sobriety.

Alcoholics risk reaching out because they need a new label, a new place to belong, and there is safety among others who are also trying to shed old labels and stressors. If You’re Not Normal is the three-word death sentence to recovery, Me Too is the two-word pardon alcoholics get at 12-step meetings.

Even if an alcoholic does not ever buy into the 12 steps as a design for living, they are suggested, not required, for membership. “The only requirement is a desire to stop drinking,” the literature says. Twelve-step meetings are places to be among others who feel the same, wore the same masks, suffer the same struggles and have a desire to communicate rather than drink over them. “The most desperate need of mankind today is not a new vaccine for any disease or a new religion or a new way of life,” wrote Taylor Caldwell in the novel The Listener. “His real need, his most terrible need, is for someone to listen to him, not as a patient but as a human soul.”

Everyone, no matter how gifted, healthy or wealthy, encounters an issue that baffles them or breaks the spirit. Twelve-step groups are where alcoholics can communicate the baffling and the spirit-breaking. What all are trying to do together is acquire back self-esteem.

There are alternatives to 12-step groups, such as Women for Sobriety (WFS) and Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART), however none have the track record of success AA boasts, and none are as widely available. Other 12-step groups are available for a number of addictions, from gambling to narcotics to overeating.

The Higher Power thing is tough for some people to swallow. Some people stay away from 12-step meetings because they don’t see themselves in the people around the tables or hear their stories told in the tragic stories of others. That is the point in going: To make sure you’re communicating what is stressing you before you go back to the drinking and become those tragic stories.

From a strictly medical standpoint, alcoholism is remarkably easy to arrest. It’s a lot less complicated than arresting cancer or diabetes. Abandon the bottle long enough and detox and biological functioning returns to something close to normal in a few weeks or months. From that point on, it is a matter of not going backward. That’s the drawback to having a disease that can be arrested but not cured: While it is under control it’s all too easy to forget what life was like when it wasn’t. Twelve-step groups remind alcoholics what it was like. Without the stigma.

One of the most treasured AA stories in print says, “Above all, AA taught me how to handle sobriety. I have learned how to relate to people… deal with disappointments and problems that once would have sent me right to the bottle. How do we do it? By sharing at meetings.”
-- Adapted from the recovery book, Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud. Photo credit: Marcus, Free Digital Photos
(See full article here)
www.alcohologist.com

Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, plus the new radio interview replay is available at alcohologist.com... and please read the new interview with Scott Stevens at Christoph Fisher Books.  Mr. Fisher is an acclaimed international historical fiction novelist from the UK. 

USA Best Books Awards honors alcoholism recovery book Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud

Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud: Relapse and the Symptoms of Sobriety has been recognized as an Award-Winning Finalist in the Health: Addiction/Recovery category of the 2013 USA Best Book Awards, sponsored by USA Book News. Using startling statistics and fresh medical discoveries interwoven with his personal account of the disease of alcoholism, author Scott Stevens relays the symptoms of sobriety, key stressors that lead to relapse and success factors that help keep relapse at bay. The result is an award-winning non-fiction book with a unique, bold take on sobriety and is a must-read for alcoholics in any stage of recovery and their loved ones.

 

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 21.9 percent of women and 42.3 percent of men have three or more drinks on a “typical drinking day.” Every person with an alcohol use disorder affects, on average, another eight people. Alcohol is the leading drug of abuse in the United States and the third-leading cause of death. Nine of ten ex-drinkers relapse: Stevens answers 'Why would anyone return to the misery?'

Many recovery books are written either like clinical texts or they're by accredited experts, not alcoholics. Stevens is a health writer with more than 120 alcoholism articles, archived on his site, alcohologist.com. However, with Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud: Relapse and the Symptoms of Sobriety, he admits he's had to “eat his own cooking.” A mutual fund executive by day, Stevens once had a two-liters-a-day whiskey problem. “I wanted to tell how relapse feels. You don't need a Ph.D. to read it. I felt it was important to include real experience plus the clinical research. Using my own story let me say to alcoholics, 'I'm just like you. I have been through the emotions, from anger to joy, before and after quitting.' The message in the back third of the book gives compelling medical reasons to not drink in the first place and why non-alcoholics should care. The material leading up to it is research I wish I knew during my struggles.”

 

USA Book News, the premier magazine featuring mainstream and independent publishing houses, announced the 2013 USA Best Books Awards honorees Nov. 14. Jeffrey Keen, President and CEO of USA Book News, said the tenth annual contest yielded over 1,500 entries. “The results represent a phenomenal mix of books and traversed the publishing landscape: St. Martin’s Press, Random House, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, and hundreds of independents.” Stevens is an independent author. Keen adds, “Our success begins with the enthusiastic participation of authors and publishers and continues with our distinguished panel of industry judges with extensive editorial, PR, marketing, and design expertise.”

 

 

 

 

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