Lunch!

In attention of those from Newfoundland with drinking problems. There’s no graceful way out, your best friend’s getting married, your boss says the holiday party is mandatory, your mom expects you to play Santa on Christmas, like always. But now that you’re sober, you’re nervous about social functions where everyone will be drinking and expecting you to follow suit.

Yet, although it may seem intimidating to face a familiar social situation without the comforting familiarity of a cocktail in your hand, you can survive. Try these tactics to get through your holiday season with minimal worry and no alcohol.

* Plan Ahead – Most people go into drinking situations cold, which leads to problems. Picture yourself arriving at the party, getting a non-alcoholic beverage, eating appetizers, and steering clear of the bar area. Focus on conversations and catching up with friends, not your desire to drink. Have the phone number of a supportive, sober friend to call if you feel tempted. And decide how long to stay before you even step in the door; you may want to leave before everyone gets buzzed.

* Know How to Say No – Practice turning down a drink beforehand so you’ll sound confident at the event. Look them in the eye, say it very firmly, and try not to leave an opening for argument or discussion. Just say, “No thanks, I’m laying off it tonight,” and if they press, simply say, “I feel like getting healthier.” The word “tonight” can be powerful when turning down a beer. Some people may pry if you say that you never drink. Maybe tonight you are the designated driver, have to wake up early tomorrow, or are taking cold medicine, keep them guessing.

* Avoid Triggers – Maybe you always downed a six-pack while watching football with the guys, so it’s challenging to get through a Super Bowl party sober. Or you always drank when you smoked socially, so being offered a cigarette at a party might make you crave liquor. Any activity that you’ve closely paired with alcohol in the past may trigger the desire to drink. Turning down a cigarette, an invitation to a Super Bowl party, or another problem activity can help you avoid high-risk situations.

We strongly recommend to everyone reading this article to stay out of alcohol abuse, however, for those living in Newfoundland, if you or someone close to you have problems with alcohol addiction, we suggest you to visit DrugRehabServices.com.

The truth!

In attention of those from Nova Scotia with drinking problems. People don’t drink to become alcoholic. And many people drink alcohol throughout their lives without a problem. Why do some people abuse alcohol and become dependent on it, while others don’t? Certain things make an alcohol problem more likely. These are called risk factors.

Risk factors you can’t change include:

* Genes – People with alcohol problems often have a family history of alcohol abuse and dependence.
* Gender – A man is 3 times more likely to develop problems with alcohol than a woman is.
* Early use – The younger you were when you first started drinking alcohol, the higher your risk is for developing alcohol problems later as an adult.

Risk factors you can change include:

* Mental health – If you have mental health problems, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or anxiety disorders, you are more likely to use alcohol. It’s common to use alcohol to ease the pain of these conditions.
* Use of other substances – You are more likely to abuse alcohol if you abuse other things, such as tobacco, illegal drugs, or prescription medicines.
* Environment – If you live in an area where alcohol is easy to get, people drink a lot, or heavy drinking is accepted as part of life, you are more likely to drink.
* Friends – Your friends may influence you to drink by directly urging you to or by drinking when you’re around them.
* Problems with others – You may be more likely to drink when you are having problems in your family or with friends.
* Not having purpose or satisfaction in your life – If you have no activities that give you a sense of purpose, you may be more likely to drink. A satisfying job or schoolwork or volunteer activities can give your life purpose and meaning.

Just because you have risk factors for alcohol problems doesn’t mean you’ll have a drinking problem. A person with many risk factors won’t always develop alcoholism. And a person with no risk factors can become dependent on alcohol.

We strongly recommend to everyone reading this article to stay out of alcohol abuse, however, for people from Nova Scotia, if you or someone close to you have problems with alcohol addiction, we suggest you to visit DrugRehabServices.com.

Cartoons?

People from Manitoba with drinking problems should know that alcohol is toxic to liver cells, and many heavy drinkers develop cirrhosis, a sometimes-lethal condition in which the liver is so heavily scarred that it is unable to function. But it’s hard to predict which drinkers will develop cirrhosis. Some people who drink huge amounts never get cirrhosis, and some who don’t drink very much do get it. For some unknown reason, women seem to be especially vulnerable.

As people age, their brains shrink, on average, at a rate of about 1.9% per decade. That’s considered normal. But heavy drinking speeds the shrinkage of certain key regions in the brain, resulting in memory loss and other symptoms of dementia.

Heavy drinking can also lead to subtle but potentially debilitating deficits in the ability to plain, make judgments, solve problems, and other aspects of executive function, which are the higher-order abilities that allow us to maximize our function as human beings.

In addition to the “nonspecific” dementia that stems from brain atrophy, heavy drinking can cause nutritional deficiencies so severe that they trigger other forms of dementia.

It’s long been known that heavy drinking often goes hand in hand with depression, but there has been debate about which came first — the drinking or the depression. One theory is that depressed people turned to alcohol in an attempt to “self-medicate” to ease their emotional pain. But earlier this year, a large study from New Zealand showed that it was probably the other way around — that is, heavy drinking led to depression.

Research has also shown that depression goes away when heavy drinkers go on the wagon. Heavy drinking can also cause epilepsy and can trigger seizures even in people who don’t have epilepsy. It can also interfere with the action of the medications used to treat the disorder.

We strongly recommend to everyone reading this article to stay out of alcohol abuse, however, for people from Manitoba, if you or someone close to you have problems with alcohol addiction, we suggest you to visit DrugRehabServices.com.

After all!

Warning for those with drinking problems in British Columbia. It’s no secret that alcohol consumption can cause major health problems, including cirrhosis of the liver and injuries sustained in automobile accidents. But if you think liver disease and car crashes are the only health risks posed by drinking, think again. Researchers have linked alcohol consumption to more than 60 diseases.

“Habitual drinking increases the risk of cancer,” says Jurgen Rehm, PhD, chairman of the University of Toronto’s department of addiction policy and a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, also in Toronto. Scientists believe the increased risk comes when the body converts alcohol into acetaldehyde, a potent carcinogen. Cancer sites linked to alcohol use include the mouth, pharynx (throat), larynx (voice box), esophagus, liver, breast, and colorectal region. Cancer risk rises even higher in heavy drinkers who also use tobacco.

“Alcohol does all kinds of things in the body, and we’re not fully aware of all its effects,” says James C. Garbutt, MD, professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and a researcher at the university’s Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies. “It’s a pretty complicated little molecule.” Heavy drinking can cause the number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells to be abnormally low. This condition, known as anemia, can trigger a host of symptoms, including fatigue, shortness of breath, and lightheadedness.

Heavy drinking, especially bingeing, makes platelets more likely to clump together into blood clots, which can lead to heart attack or stroke. In a landmark study published in 2005, Harvard researchers found that binge drinking doubled the risk of death among people who initially survived a heart attack.

Heavy drinking can also cause cardiomyopathy, a potentially deadly condition in which the heart muscle weakens and eventually fails, as well as the heart rhythm abnormalities atrial and ventricular fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation, in which the heart’s upper chambers (atria) twitch chaotically rather than constrict rhythmically, can cause blood clots that can trigger a stroke. Ventricular fibrillation causes chaotic twitching in the heart’s main pumping chambers (ventricles). It causes rapid loss of consciousness and, in the absence of immediate treatment, sudden death.

We strongly recommend to everyone reading this article to stay out of alcohol abuse, however, for those living in British Columbia, if you or someone close to you have problems with alcohol addiction, we suggest you to visit DrugRehabServices.com.

Sweet dreams!

Alberta is facing a real problem with the alcohol abuse issues. Some people don’t realize that alcohol abuse or dependence can develop very quickly or happen gradually over years. In the beginning, your drinking might not seem to be any different from the way other people drink. You may drink only with friends or at parties. It may stay like this, or you may begin to drink more. Your drinking might become a way for you to feel normal or to cope with life’s problems.

You might think that you can quit drinking at any time. Many people who have alcohol problems quit for days, weeks, or even months before they start drinking again. But unless you can consistently keep your drinking under control and not fall back into unhealthy patterns, you need help.

Almost half of all people with drinking problems also have mental health problems such as depression, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, or anxiety disorders. When you have a drinking problem and a mental health problem, it’s called a dual diagnosis. Drinking makes symptoms of mental health problems worse. It’s very important to treat all mental health problems. You may drink less when mental health problems are treated.

Long-term heavy drinking harms your liver, nervous system, heart, and brain. It can cause health problems or make them worse. These problems include: cirrhosis or pancreatitis, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, certain types of cancer, including breast cancer, stroke, gallstones, Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, etc.

Alcohol abuse also can contribute to stomach problems, interactions between medicines and alcohol, and sexual problems. It can lead to violence, accidents, social isolation, and problems at work, school, or home. You also may have legal problems, such as traffic tickets or accidents, as a result of drinking.

Drinking alcohol can cause unique problems for teens, older adults, pregnant women, and people with other health conditions. If you are pregnant, you should not drink any alcohol, because it may harm your baby.

We strongly recommend to everyone reading this article to stay out of alcohol abuse, however, for those who lives in Alberta, if you or someone close to you have problems with alcohol dependence, we suggest you to visit DrugRehabServices.com.