Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol Abuse
What do all of the following have in common?
- increased muscle spasticity
- fractures
- heart, liver, kidney, & brain damage
- pressure sores
- malnutrition
- urinary tract infections
Answer: All of these problems are associated with mixing spinal
cord injury with alcohol. A recent study indicates that just getting
older makes us less able to handle alcohol. Many of the same issues
that caused stress at the time of SCI show up again with aging.
Alcohol, plus aging, plus SCI can be a risky combination ...
How Am I at Risk?
The Age Factor:
At least 10% to 15% of Americans 55 and older abuse alcoholjust
as much as younger people. As many older people (those over 55)
are hospitalized for alcohol-related problems as are hospitalized
for heart attacks.
Use and abuse do not decrease with age, and at least one third
of older people with drinking problems develop those problems
later in lifeusually in response to specific situations, crises
or events in their lives. As you age, drinking can get out of
hand much more quickly, sometimes in a matter of a few months.
Researchers say that these dramatic life changes are risk factors:
Loss of a loved one or marital stress
Retirement, underemployment or unemployment
Lower income or financial problems
Health problems or decline in function or mobility
Decrease in or loss of independence
Isolation or increased leisure time
Sound familiar? Many of these factors describe life with SCI for
some of us. Maybe that’s why people with SCI overuse and abuse
alcohol at about twice the rate of the general population.
Is It Use or Abuse?
Ask yourself these questions:
- Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drinking?
- Have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
- Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking?
- Have you ever taken a drink first thing in the morning as an eye
opener to steady your nerves or get rid of a hangover?
These four questions make up the CAGE Questionnaire, which is
used by professionals for diagnosing drinking problems. Answering
yes to one of these questions should serve as a warning. Answering
yes to two is a Red Alert, as 81-97% of those giving two yeses really are alcohol abusers.
“But I’m Different!”
There are many other questions that can be used as identifiers
of drinking problems and many behaviors which indicate that drinking
is more than just social. The challenge in making the call is
that many, if not most, of the behaviors are often mistakenly
blamed on disability or what you may think of as “just getting
older.”
If any of the things listed below sound familiar and have been
going on for quite a while, keep in mind that they often serve
as red flags for drinking problems:
- drinking to calm nerves, forget worries or reduce depression
- loss of interest in food, or poor nutritional habits
- drinking alone or in secret
- making a ritual of drinkingsuch as before, during or after dinner
- medical, social or financial problems due to drinking
- acting irritable, resentful or unreasonable when sober
- isolation or losing interest in hobbies or activities
- falls or accidents, inadequate self-care
- lack of exercise
- housing problems
So Why Is It a Problem?
As people age, their bodies become less able to handle alcohol.
As a result, they can become problem drinkers without increasing
their consumption. Alcohol can cause serious health and safety
problems for all older people. SCI survivors are even more at
risk because their systems are already compromised and they tend
to take more
medications. In addition, other dangers exist:
- Alcohol in combination with daily prescription drugs can impair
judgement and coordination, speed up or slow down the effects
of the drugs, and cause drowsiness.
- Alcohol in combination with antibiotics can result in alcohol intolerance. Symptoms include headache, rapid pulse, vomiting, palpitations,
and breathing too fast.
- Alcohol use causes water loss, making you urinate more often.
A binge can disrupt a
catheterization program, interrupt the schedule, lead to a bladder
or kidney infection, or even cause involuntary urination.
- Safety is also affected. Judgment becomes impaired. Falls and
car accidents are more likely. You may forget or be unable to
do weight shifts and transfers safely.
- Symptoms attributed to getting older, such as insomnia, decreased
sex drive and depression, might instead be caused by alcohol.
Abstaining or cutting down may be one of the most effective ways
to eliminate many of the so-called symptoms of “old age."
The Good News:
Older adults have the highest success rate and greatest one- year
sobriety rate after treatment. Excessive drinking in the older
population is often in response to negative situations such as
loss, grief, loneliness, retirement or illness. Strategies for
dealing with these losses could include cutting down isolation,
addressing depression and reducing the stressors of aging.
The good news is that many of the factors involved with older
drinkershealth problems, loss of self-esteem, too much free time,
isolation, depression, financial worries, family changesare issues
you’ve successfully dealt with before. Your job is to fall back
on those coping skills and remember: You Know How To Do This.
Getting help can begin with a family doctor or member of the clergy,
through a local health department or social service agency, or
with one of the following agencies:
- Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), a voluntary fellowship of peers whose
purpose is to help
themselves and each other stay sober. Check your phone book for
local chapters.
- National Clearinghouse for Alcohol Information, a federal information
service. Write: P.O. Box 2345 Rockville, MD 20852.
- National Council on Alcohol distributes literature and can refer
you to treatment services in your area. Check your phone book
for the nearest office.
- RRTC for Substance Abuse and Disability does research and distributes
information on the combination of alcohol and disability. Write
to the RRTC c/o Wright State University, School of Medicine, 3640
Colonel Glenn Highway, Dayton, OH 45435
This is one of more than 20 educational brochures developed by
Craig Hospital while it was a federally-funded Rehabilitation
Research & Training Center on Aging with Spinal Cord Injury. The
opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the funding
agency, the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
Research of the US Department of Education.
For a hard copy of a METS brochure, click on your selection above
and hit the "print" button on your browser. If you'd like to ask for one directly from Craig Hospital, you can contact us by telephone at 303-789-8202, or you can e-mail us at HealthResources@craighospital.org.
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