The reality was far more bleak. She felt constantly under stress, anxious and terrified. “I was taking pills and drinking to keep it up,” she says. Her husband started marking the liquor bottles, but she would just add water so he couldn’t tell how much she had drunk. Finally, one day in 1985, Staples went into the kitchen to get more ice for her vodka and saw her younger daughter, Tracy, then a high-school senior, making soup. The sweet smile on Tracy’s face triggered something in Staples. “I walked over, and I put my arms around her, and I said, ‘Tracy, I need help’.” Tracy replied, “I’m so proud of you.” A few weeks later, when Staples entered the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California, she was hemorrhaging rectally. “The alcohol had stripped the veins in my stomach,” says Staples, now 64. “I would be dead today if I hadn’t gotten sober.”
Staples’s grim assessment echoes new research about the devastating effects of alcohol on women. “Women get addicted faster with less alcohol, and then suffer the consequences more profoundly than men do,” says Susan Foster, director of policy research and analysis at the U.S. National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. A single drink for a woman has the impact of two drinks for a man. One reason: women’s bodies contain proportionately less water than men’s, and a given amount of alcohol produces a higher concentration in the bloodstream. For women, anything more than one drink a day (five ounces of wine or a 12-ounce bottle of beer) is considered risky. The limit for men is two. Women who start drinking young and become heavy drinkers as they age are more vulnerable to a range of major health problems, from infertility to osteoporosis to cancer.
But new evidence about the dangers of alcohol hasn’t stopped women from drinking. Researchers say that about 60 percent of American women drink and about 5 percent average two or more drinks a day. In Russia the number of female alcoholics has increased by 14 percent over the past five years, says Nikolai Ivanets, director of Russia’s National Center on Addictions. Many female alcoholics keep their drinking a secret for years. Vera Prusakova, a 42-year-old Russian nurse who has been sober for five years but used to go through a liter of vodka per day, says there is a clear double standard for women. “When you see a man walking along, wobbling and drunk, that is normal,” she says. “A woman is another matter. That’s indecent.” For that reason, says Ivanets, women are less inclined than men to seek treatment. Once they do, “there must be a core of support,” he says. “Without the family, nothing will happen.”
Most experts say the best way to spare women from alcoholism is to get them when they’re young. People who drink before they’re 15 are four times as likely to be alcohol dependent or have alcohol problems when they’re adults. Drinking can also damage the still-developing teenage brain, according to the American Medical Association. Studies have shown that more teen girls are getting drunk, and they’re trying to keep up with the boys drink for drink. “It puts them at risk of sexual assault, of physical violence,” says Foster.
As women get older, their drinking threatens their children’s health as well. During pregnancy especially, doctors say, women should abstain completely. “We haven’t established that there’s any safe level of drinking during pregnancy or lactation,” says Foster. Fetal alcohol syndrome is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation in the United States. And it’s not the only risk children face when pregnant women drink. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, which affect as many as 40,000 infants a year, can include a range of physical, mental, behavioral and learning problems.
Some studies indicate that women in unhappy or stressful relationships are the most likely to turn to alcohol for comfort. Women who have never been married or who are divorced are more likely to drink heavily than married women. And women who were sexually abused as children are more than three times as likely to suffer from alcohol problems, according to Sharon Wilsnack of the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, who has conducted a 20-year study of women and alcohol. Depression is a common trigger for drinking in women. What women should watch for, doctors say, is a pattern of using alcohol to reduce stress or anger.
Wilsnack and her colleagues found that women are less likely to drink as they age–which is a good thing, because older women who drink heavily are at much higher risk for diseases of aging. Heavy alcohol use irreversibly weakens bones, and while there’s some evidence that one drink a day may decrease the risk of heart disease, there’s also research suggesting that the same amount of alcohol can increase the risk of breast cancer. A woman with a family history of heart disease but not of alcoholism or breast cancer could have a drink a day, but a woman with a family history of those diseases might want to abstain.
If you drink at all, drink sensibly. Don’t drink alone. And don’t drink to medicate your moods. If you think you have a problem, seek help. “It’s not a moral issue,” says Staples. “It’s a disease. It needs to be treated by professionals. There is help, and there is hope.” That’s a message you can’t get in a bottle.
title: “Alcohol S Deadly Triple Threat” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-07” author: “Roxanne Ferraro”
The reality was far more bleak. She felt constantly under stress, anxious and terrified. “I was taking pills and drinking to keep it up,” she says. Her husband started marking the bottles in the bar area, but she would just add water so he couldn’t tell how much she had drunk. He checked the trash, too, and when she could no longer hide the empty bottles under newspapers, she started stashing them on the hill behind their house. Finally, one day in 1985, Staples went into the kitchen to get more ice for her vodka and saw her younger daughter, Tracy, then a high-school senior, making soup. The sweet smile on Tracy’s face triggered something in Staples. “I looked at her, and I walked over, and I put my arms around her, and I said, ‘Tracy, I need help’.” Tracy replied, “I’m so proud of you.” A few weeks later, when Staples entered the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., she was hemorrhaging rectally. “The alcohol had stripped the veins in my stomach,” says Staples, now 64. “I would be dead today if I hadn’t gotten sober.”
Staples’s grim assessment echoes new research about the devastating effects of alcohol on women. “Women get addicted faster with less alcohol, and then suffer the consequences more profoundly than men do,” says Susan Foster, director of policy research and analysis at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. A single drink for a woman has the impact of two drinks for a man. One reason: women’s bodies contain proportionately less water than men’s, and a given amount of alcohol produces a higher concentration in the bloodstream. For women, anything more than one drink a day (five ounces of wine or a 12-ounce bottle of beer) is considered risky. The limit for men is two. Women who start drinking young and become heavy drinkers as they get older are more vulnerable to a range of major health problems, from infertility to osteoporosis to cancer. At the same level of consumption, controlling for body size, women seem more likely than men to develop alcohol-related liver disease.
But new evidence about the dangers of alcohol hasn’t stopped women from drinking. Researchers say that about 60 percent of American women consume alcohol on a regular basis and about 5 percent average two or more drinks a day. Many female alcoholics keep their drinking secret for years. “Our culture is still more critical of women who are intoxicated than of men who are intoxicated,” says psychologist Nancy Waite-O’Brien of the Betty Ford Center. Women who drink heavily are denigrated as sluts, while a man may be praised for his hollow leg. That bias means many women drink in secret and don’t seek help until major health problems make denial impossible.
Most experts say the best way to spare women from alcoholism is to get them when they’re young. People who drink before they’re 15 are four times as likely to be alcohol-dependent or have alcohol problems when they’re adults. Drinking can also damage the still-developing teenage brain, according to the American Medical Association. Unfortunately, that message isn’t getting out. Even though drinking under the age of 21 is illegal in all 50 states, 41 percent of ninth graders reported drinking in the past month, according to National Institutes of Health literature. Other studies have shown that more teen girls are getting drunk, and they’re trying to keep up with the boys, drink for drink. “It puts them at risk of sexual assault, of physical violence,” says Foster.
Many teen girls see drinking as cool, a way to be social. Elizabeth Anderson, now 26, started drinking with her friends when she was a 15-year-old high-school student in suburban Boulder, Colo. A year later she had her first blackout. Still, she did well in school, graduating in the top 10 percent of her class. She continued drinking at the University of Colorado, where she graduated with degrees in French and advertising. At 22 she crashed her car after drinking. At 23 she got a DUI. She doesn’t remember much of the next year–there were more blackouts, and eventually she was fired. At 24 she was deep in debt and finally called her father for help. He got her into rehab, and she says she’s been sober ever since. She avoids drinking parties and begs off when friends go to bars. Instead, she cherishes the friends she has made through a 12-step program–people who can understand what she’s been through. “More than anything, what keeps me sober is looking at my life today,” she says.
As women get older, their drinking threatens their children’s health as well. During pregnancy especially, doctors say, women should abstain completely. “We haven’t established that there’s any safe level of drinking during pregnancy or lactation,” says Foster. Fetal alcohol syndrome is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation in the United States. And it’s not the only risk children face when pregnant women drink. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, which affect as many as 40,000 infants a year, can include a range of physical, mental, behavioral and learning problems.
Some studies indicate that women in unhappy or stressful relationships are the most likely to turn to alcohol for comfort. Women who have never been married or who are divorced are more likely to drink heavily than married women. And women who were sexually abused as children are more than three times as likely to suffer from alcohol problems, according to Sharon Wilsnack of the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, who has conducted a 20-year study of women and alcohol. Depression is a common trigger for drinking in women. What women should watch for, doctors say, is a pattern of using alcohol to be less stressed or angry. “Alcohol is pretty good in the early stages at dealing with bad feelings,” says Wilsnack. But ultimately drinking becomes as big a problem as depression and can even exacerbate negative feelings.
Wilsnack and her colleagues found that women are less likely to drink as they age–which is a good thing, because older women who drink heavily are at much higher risk for diseases of aging. Heavy alcohol use irreversibly weakens bones, and while there’s some evidence that one drink a day may decrease the risk of heart disease, there’s also research suggesting that the same amount of alcohol can increase the risk of breast cancer. A woman with a family history of heart disease but no family history of alcoholism or breast cancer could have a drink a day, but a woman with a family history of those diseases might want to abstain.
If you drink at all, drink sensibly–aim for no more than one drink a day. Don’t drink alone. And don’t drink to medicate your moods. If you think you have a problem, seek help. “It’s not a moral issue,” says Staples. “It’s a disease. It needs to be treated by professionals who understand the disease. If a person wants it, there is help and there is hope.” That’s a message you can’t get in a bottle.
