Ninety-seven percent of the alcoholics in America are people like your neighbors. Only 3 percent of them live on skid row. Twenty-five percent of those of us who drink become addicted, and older people are most susceptible. With age, our capability to metabolize alcohol diminishes. If we’re taking prescription drugs, it decreases even more. About 20 million Americans today are addicted.
These are among the findings of Dr. Earle Marsh. He knows the subject of addiction intimately; he is an alcoholic who beat the habit years ago.
Seniors experience major changes that make the bottle attractive, he said. A spouse dies. Men especially feel at loose ends after retirement. Self-esteem suffers from the outward signs of aging, and chronic pain becomes too tough to bear for some.
The symptoms of increased, unhealthy levels of drinking include gulping down concoctions, hiding a bottle for secret belts, and blackouts—intervals of the night before that cannot be recalled. The alcoholic feels remorse, experiences shakes and the sweats, says Dr. Marsh, a professor emeritus at the University of California Medical School in San Francisco. The emotions may range from self-pity to delusions of God-like qualities.
As an indicator of the results of significant chemical changes caused by alcohol, he said that about 10 percent of American couples are infertile, but the rate jumps to 50 percent for couples affected by drinking. If you drink to excess your tolerance increases, which means you must drink more to achieve the same buzz as before.
To help someone in denial, Dr. Marsh says an intervention might prove helpful. Typically, family members gather with the drinker, describe their concern for the person and define, in a kind way, the price the alcoholic must pay if he or she continues drinking.
Alcoholics Anonymous helped him turn his life around, and he recommends the program. “If someone in your house has a problem, write AA," he says."They’ll send you information in a plain brown wrapper with no return address. Then you might place it where someone else can pick it up and make use of it.”
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