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Originally Posted by mrsD
Yes, some countries have a huge problem with alcohol...Russia I believe is very high with this problem.
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Life expectancy in Russia has declined in the last 50 years, mainly due to alcohol, yes.
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Our state raised the drinking age to 21...as it had been at 18 for a while. There was so much abuse, and traffic deaths/accidents they raised it back up many years ago to 21.
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In my country, there was just a proposal to raise the limit from 16 to 18, but there is almost no political support for that. I'm normally a liberal in these things, but for the first time I wondered if that could help. But just increasing repression without education and good ways of treatment has failed before.
I don't think the problem here is as bad as the UK for example, but I have seen what I have seen in rehab... it was one of the most life changing events I ever witnessed, and not just because I stopped drinking. The stories were tragical, and I also witnessed two people dying.
According to one of the psychologists from that rehab that I spoke a few days ago, only 20% of all people with an addiction seek help. And that 20% covers "mentioning it to your GP". The stigma is still very great.
That's one of the reasons I'm in the process of writing a book about it.
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I commend you on your efforts and success to stop drinking. I watched my husband struggle with this too, many years ago. Both his parents were alcoholics. But he did it, and I am very proud of him. He was more of an intermittent binge drinker than a constant drinker and he never drove a car when drinking.
Your posts here are very valuable to our members and readers, to support their decisions to do the same.
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Those are kind words, and I sincerely thank you for them, they made my day.
As I said, I don't want to preach, but I have seen up close what alcohol can do - including to myself. And as you know I'm very grateful of the advice I got on this forum, so I hope to stick around a bit.
Like your hubby, I never drove a car whilst intoxicated. I drank at home (I also worked at home), no DUI tickets or any other arrests, but still I was slowly killing myself. Never drank as a teen or student, and only a couple in my late 30ties to ease the stress from work. It derailed in my 40ties (both the stress and the alcohol) and I ended up drinking up to 1 liter of whisky a day. That's enough to kill a non-drinker instantly.
You have probably seen that process with your own eyes, and know that it doesn't only happen to people walking around with a bottle in a bag, and their belongings in a cart (although one might end up like that). So congrats to your husband too (and you...), I know what it takes now...
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Originally Posted by Dr. Smith
In a previous post, I mentioned that giving up coffee was harder for me than giving up beer. Well, caffeine is addictive and dependence-producing, and it's in coffee and colas (and tea, energy drinks, Mountain Dew, yadda, yadda, yadda...  ). |
What I didn't know until recently is that they also add... salt to some soda drinks. Quite large amounts. Yes, to make you drink more. To mask that, they add a lot of ... sugar.
I forgot how much salt there was in normal coke, but it was astonishing.