LaFemme

So say many people. I wonder how many years of life a daily glass of wine has added to life versus how many years of life has been subtracted from because of alcohol.

Just found out a sort of friend died 2 days ago. We knew each other from the dog park for years. She has an awesome dog and a wicked sense of humor. When I first met M. She didn't drink...I didn't know she had had a problem. I moved away for a few years and when I moved back she wasn't going to the dog park any more. Her dog showed up by himself one day this summer so I walked him back to her house. It takes one to know one. I was sad to see how unhealthy she looked.

Her heart gave out the last day of the year. When my friend told me M. Had died she confirmed that she had started drinking again and that her body just couldn't take it anymore.

There is no reason to drink...even normally. This stuff is poison

Tina

Dee74

I'm sorry for your loss T. Prayers for M & all like her.

D

MsCooterBrown

True story. I get so angry..senseless deaths. It is just a cycle you get caught up in. It is just so tragic to see these premature deaths. Alcohol eventually slowly and quietly destroys body and soul. As we get older the catastophy piles up. Heart..Liver ..Accidents..or my personal favorite..passing out and choking on your own vomit. I STILL CAN'T FATHOM that that was the demise of my friend in November. I am with you ...Alcohol is VILE poison.

peanuts

I am sorry for your loss.

There but for the grace of God go many of us... <<hugs>>

artsoul

I've wondered the same thing LaFemme (about how many people drink for their "health")..... I'll stick with a baby aspirin and some red grapes....

Sorry to hear about your friend. I can't imagine how hard it is for family and friends to watch their loved one go downhill like that. Prayers and hugs.....

LaFemme

Even non-alcoholics. Last summer.....a good friend...just 32 years old...kindest soul you ever met....was going to change the world....rarely drank...spent the day in the heat on the water. When they got back to harbor at 10pm they had a couple beers...nothing excessive. It hit him hard, dehydrated from the day on the water...so he went for a walk on the docks...must have got dizzy ...fell in the water and drowned.

Name one thing good that alcohol has ever done.

Sorry, just sad...also spent an hour talking to a friend who is divorcing her addict husband.

Nothing terrifies me more than the thought I might go back again one day.

NYCDoglvr

What a sad, heartbreaking story.

recycle

My oldest son is a freshmen in college, over the break he asked me what was normal drinking. Knowing what I know now about myself, I am at a loss for an answer.

The best I could do was tell him that the way I drank was not it. An accurate, but not a particularly helpful answer. The only help I could provide was that given who is, and who raised him, it is likely he will have a problem with normal drinking, and that he probably won't know it is a problem, until after it is a problem.

All I can do is plant seeds.

Untoxicated

I'm so sorry for your losses.

It sure is interesting that they don't have pictures of people in magazines toasting glasses of methanol...oh but ethanol, ethanol is just fine because it's less poisonous.

LaFemme

I think it is a good sign that he at least asked...I never did...didn't want to know the answer.

least

It could be any one of us who goes back out and doesn't make it back. I don't want to find out if it's me...

betterlate

One of my wife's friends spent much of last summer flying from coast to coast as her brother was dying in the hospital from alcohol-caused pancreatitis among other ailments. The guy was a vice-president in an up-and-coming networking business. He died in his mid 40's.

BobGT

LaFemme, I have always questioned the standard line that two drinks a day is good for you. Alcohol is a poison. Drink too much too quickly and you drop dead. How can a steady diet of a little poison be good for a person?

And do many normies have two drinks a day? I always thought that anyone who wanted a drink every day had at least the start of a problem. But what do I know, lol.

And I'm very sorry for the loss of your friend. Thanks for your post.

recycle

I never asked either. I am not sure who I would have asked. I guess it is kinda cool he has someone to ask.

I suspect you are right, there is no good that comes from drinking. It is a relic from a different age, that we are slow to abandon as a culture. The need for small beer is long past. However, preaching temperance is a dismal failure as well. (Not that you are preaching.) We learn what we learn in our own time.

LaFemme

If I thought preaching would do any good I would set up a pulpit

All I can do is hope alcohol gets the same fate as tobacco one day.

Maryjan

I am so sorry about your aquaintance. I feel very strongly that a sober life will be a happier one for me...I am learning from your example. Thanks.

MsCooterBrown

I am not sure who you would ask..I come from a long line of alkies!

stanleyhouse

LaFemme
I am sorry to hear about your friend. It does suck to see the destruction alcohol and drugs do to peoples' bodies, lives, families even communities. I went to a party last night, they were drinking Absenthe for darns sake. They said it gave them a sense of euphoria. They all looked forty when they were thirty and talked about depressing stuff. My husband and I had a nice time. it sure is nice not to look like a dressed up drunk. I think I am having the party next year
SH

julez

I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, and also the other people in your life who are having a hard time.
It makes me very thankful that I've gotten started in recovery.
My thoughts are with you.

nvrbeentospain

I'm sorry to hear about your friend. I do wonder if any potential health benefit from drinking makes up for all the people who die early because of drinking (accidents + illness).

I did a little super quick research on the health benefits of alcohol, and the problem with any comparison studies is that non-drinkers are a weird statistical crew. You've got certain religious groups, ex-drinkers, the random people who don't like the taste of alcohol and lots of people with health problems or who are taking medications that stop them from drinking. When people taking warfarin comprise a good chunk of your study sample, yeah, those people are going to have worse health outcomes.

I don't see alcohol as all bad and think consumption of it is perfectly OK for most people, but yeah, I doubt it's actually a big component of longevity or health.