Women And Substance Abuse

Women and substance abuse

The Abuse of Alcohol

Substance use disorders are complicated illnesses that present unique threats to women's health. Medical research is showing that women who abuse alcohol, tobacco and other drugs may develop addictions and substance-related health problems faster than men. Alcohol consumption is most common among women between the ages of 26 and 34 and women who are divorced or separated. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines a light drinker as one who drinks about 1 to 13 drinks a month; a moderate drinker as one who drinks about 4 to 14 drinks a week; and a heavier drinker as one who has more than two drinks a day. Women are more vulnerable to alcohol-related organ damage, trauma and interpersonal difficulties such as liver and brain damage, heart disease, breast cancer, violence, and traffic crashes. With liver damage Women develop alcohol-induced liver disease in a shorter time period than men even if they consume less alcohol. And, women are more likely to develop alcohol hepatitis and die from cirrhosis (liver disease). Brain damage shows studies of the brain, as seen via magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs), showing that women may be more vulnerable to brain damage due to alcohol consumption than men. Heart diseases are among heavy drinkers, women develop heart disease at the same rate as men, despite the fact that women consume 60 percent less alcohol than men over their lifetimes. Some studies have shown a link between moderate or heavy alcohol consumption and an increased risk for breast cancer. College women who drink are more likely to be the victims of sexual abuse. And high school girls who use alcohol are more likely to be the victims of dating violence. With traffic crashes even though women are less likely than men to drive after drinking, women have a higher relative risk of dying in a car accident if they're driving even at similar blood alcohol concentrations to men. Laboratory studies of the effects of alcohol on responding to visual cues and other tasks suggest that there may be gender differences in how alcohol affects the performance of driving tasks.

Women are more likely than men to use a combination of alcohol and prescription drugs. They may begin to abuse alcohol and drugs following depression, to relax, to feel more adequate, and to lose weight, to decrease stress or to help them sleep at night. Poor self-esteem can be a major issue for most women who develop problems with drugs and alcohol. The following conditions may also increase their risk for developing substance abuse problems such as having a history of physical or sexual abuse. With physical and sexual violence against women it is common when one or both partners have been drinking or using drugs. Women also are more likely to drink or use drugs when their partners use. Depression, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder is the second risk. Researchers now know that there's a strong family genetic component to addiction. If a woman has a family history of addiction, they should be aware of the risk for developing dependency, especially during stressful periods in their life. The question that's mostly asked is why women are more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol? The answerer is that Women develop serious alcohol problems more rapidly then men, but at a lower dose, which is a process called "telescoping." This is partially because a woman's body absorbs alcohol faster than a man's body because of stomach enzyme differences. When a woman drinks, alcohol is delivered into her bloodstream more rapidly because a stomach enzyme that works to break down alcohol before it enters the bloodstream is less active in a woman's body, especially in alcoholic women, than in men. Another reason is because a woman has a smaller ratio of water to fat than men. Because alcohol is water soluble, a woman's blood alcohol level will be higher than those of a man there own size when they drink the same amount of alcohol. In addition, women appear to eliminate alcohol from their bodies faster than men.

Hormonal fluctuations in women may affect how alcohol is metabolized. Some women feel the effects of alcohol more quickly or strongly when they drink at certain times during their cycle. Post-menopausal women who take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) have higher blood alcohol levels when they drink. Alcohol affects almost every organ in a woman's body. Serious health problems associated with excessive alcohol use includes brain damage, liver disease, high blood pressure, other forms of heart disease, malnutrition, anemia, heavy menstrual flow, irregular cycles, or premenstrual pain, premature menopause, osteoporosis, diabetes, circulation problems. If condition is worse the woman is more likely to end up in a coma. When a woman ends up in a coma they are in a somewhat like anesthesia or deep sleep, from which they cannot be aroused. Any person in a deep coma lacks even the most primitive responses, such as a response to pain. Alcohol intoxication can make a person comatose when the blood alcohol level exceeds 0.2 percent.

Binge drinking is the consumption of four or more drinks at one time. It's most common among women between the ages of 18 to 25. Drinking is more prevalent among Caucasian women than other ethnic/racial groups, although African-American women are more likely to drink heavily. It is binge drinking, as opposed to drinking in general, that causes most of the alcohol-associated harm occurring on our campuses and in students' lives. Results of a major, eight-year study involving the drinking habits of thousands of college students were reported in the March 2002 edition of the Journal of American College Health. The 2001 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study surveyed students at 119 four-year colleges that participated in the 1993, 1997 and 1999 studies. Responses in the four survey years were compared to determine trends in heavy alcohol use, alcohol-related problems and encounters with college and community prevention programs. The findings revealed that, despite the efforts to curb binge drinking on campuses through the implementation of alcohol-prevention programs, services, activities and policies, they have not yet solved the problem. The key findings to this survey were in 2001, approximately two in five (which is 44.4 percent) college students reported binge drinking, at a rate almost identical to rates in the previous three surveys. In 2001 a sharp rise from 5.3 percent in 1993 went to an 11.9 percent. Frequent binge drinking was noted among women attending all-women's colleges, and a lesser, but still significant, increase of the same behavior for women in coeducational

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