The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
As I battled with my dog this morning, trying to get her to swallow her treat-covered Prozac (yes, you read that right) that she usually gobbles up, I confirmed in my head how truly, alcoholism/codependency can affect every member of the family. My dog is nuts. In this one situation, I refused to admit I was powerless, and I did finally get her to swallow that pill. Ha!
I work in the health field industry and lately have been seeing quite a few patients with an alcoholic history. Interesting, in that the family members usually don't speak of it... they talk of the fall, dehydration, malnutruition, liver disease or the stroke, the confusion and lack of orientation, the heart attack... rarely is the addiction mentioned, but in the medical chart it is listed as one of the primary diagnoses.
Anyhow, I want to share what I have observed, for it has really peaked my curiosity. Now obviously this is based upon a very small pool of people, but I am wondering how it compares to the experiences of others.
I understand that men and women metabolize alcohol differently, but tell me, because women do not have as much muscle mass and fat, does much of the toxicity just go to the brain? What I generally see is that the men tend to be very physically sick, but the women, oh my goodness, they tend to be younger and have serious cognitive impairments along with thier physical maladies. Disoriented, very slow processing, poor memory, no intitiation, apathetic ... it is so sad.
So, I am just putting it out there, curious as to the experiences of others and how what I am seeing relates to the general population. Any thoughts?
Blessings, Lou
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Every new day begins with new possibilities. It's up to us to fill it with the things that move us toward progress and peace. ~ Ronald Reagan~
Sometimes what you want to do has to fail, so you won't ~Marguerite Bro~
Aloha Lou...The body metabolizes alcohol with similarities and with differences. It is the similarities that lead to the best practice treatment at first. Because of their physical makeup...Alcohol will tear up a woman faster than a man for some of the reasons you have cited and for others. The chemcial affects, mind, body, spirit and emotions in both but the symptoms appear as more physical mental in men and physical emotional in women from my experiences (college and behavioral health counselor in a rehab facility). The addictive behavior is always crazy to those who are trapped within it. Once I started dealing with the similarities I was able to stop research on the differences and did my work mostly with what worked as solutions for the addicted their spouses, family and associates.
Today I will mostly resort to the pamphlet "Al-Anon Faces Alcoholism 2009 or earlier when trying to assist others in reaching a higher understanding without focusing on specific symptoms. The disease is fatal if not arrested and/or the user can reach insanity before the fatality. Death from alcohol addiction, for me while it use to be more explalinable when the deceased was male is today no less untimely regardless of the gender.
