There are many reasons why someone develops an Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). For some, it may be due to leading a bad lifestyle or a social routine. Like Mary in the video opposite, she would follow a daily routine. She was drinking every night on her way home from work, not because she wanted to, but because this is what she always did. Her life revolved around the need to be with others and to be seen to be sociable. Others may have experienced a traumatic event in their lives, for which alcohol is used as a form of self-medication. I classify many of these people as being “Victims of Circumstance”. This is where a person can become emotionally damaged due to the actions of others. A rape, or being in a horrendous car crash. Witnessing a murder. The loss of a loved one. We are all susceptible to these emotional situations that life can throw at us. All of which are none of our own making. There are many other causes as to why a person may abuse alcohol. My history of alcohol abuse was due to my being an undiagnosed dyslexic. A child who struggles with learning difficulties, maybe ridiculed and laughed at by other children. They can often be made to feel different and subsequently be picked on and bullied. They can feel ostracised and made to feel inadequate. Teachers can become frustrated by the child's inability to learn. In the past, they would regard a child as being a dunce, a slow learner, an idiot, thick or just plain stupid. Home life too could also be traumatic, as a child may be made to feel a failure, inadequate, or a disappointment. You're thick, you're stupid, you're useless, you’re an embarrassment to the family name. A child may well go on to develop psychological issues in adult life. All this conditioning can be seen as a form of mental abuse. Feelings of guilt, failure, being subnormal, and dejection only fuel anxiety and depression. In addition to this, some dyslexic people may go on to develop ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), which in itself is a mental health disorder. (It should be noted that Dyslexia isn’t a mental health condition, but a learning disability.) Over time, a person with dyslexia may find it hard to mix and socialise with others. They feel inadequate and fear others will wrongly acknowledge their condition. Dyslexic people are often seen as being lazy, unintelligent,    and    ‘faking    it’    for    attention.    They    can    become stigmatised. People with dyslexia may experience emotional distress, including aggression and harbour suicidal thoughts. When I joined the RAF at the age of 17 years of age. I found that alcohol would allow me to lose those inhibitions and enable me to socialise with others. It helped me gain confidence and became my coping mechanism for life. The worst life lesson I ever learnt while in the RAF was that the best cure for a hangover was “The Hair of the Dog that Bit You”. This led me down the “Bender” pathway (A “Bender” involves continuous drinking for two or more days).
Ask any person with an addiction problem, whether it be drugs or alcohol, and they’ll tell you that alcohol is the hardest form of addiction to deal with. But you are NOT powerless; it just takes support and a willingness to succeed. It has nothing to do with religion; it’s about willpower and having that determination. Having said that, not all people who have an alcohol problem have an addiction issue. There are many local support groups out there, and some people have become put off by the “Alcoholics Anonymous” approach. But, having said that, I fully understand that if a person finds this approach helpful, then that can only be a good thing, as a lot of people have found a life of total sobriety using this method of recovery. If, on the other hand, you are put off by this spiritualist approach, don’t give up; there are other options available to you. Another thing I want to try and get across is the definition of two widely used words these days called “BingDrinking”, and an alcohol “Bender”. Sometimes the term "binge drinking" is confused with "bender". Some people believe that warnings against binge drinking are warnings against going on multiple-day bouts of intoxication, but that is not what binge drinking is all about. Binge drinking is drinking five or more drinks in any one drinking session for both men, and women alike, It’s the Friday night culture mindset thing, that takes place in nearly every town and city in the country, “ I’m going out tonight and I’m going to get totally off my face” , or “I’m getting completely bladdered tonight” . Harmful drinking can occur long before it reaches the level of a bender. While going on a bender might be considered self-destructive behaviour, simply drinking five beers or a bottle of wine in one day is considered hazardous drinking. An alcohol bender is a multiple-day drinking spree during which the person does not eat and gets very little sleep. If you're on a bender, you might pass out for a short time, wake up and start drinking again. A bender does not refer to one evening of intoxication. It refers to a drinking spree that is extended over at least two or more days.

The Liver Life Project

Understanding

The Alcohol Mindset.

Many people who go on to develop a serious liver condition through alcohol abuse may have only two options left. In the cold light of day, it comes down to being a choice between life or death. Total abstinence from alcohol may be the only real-life option. This is a make-or-break wake-up call. This will often come as a complete shock, as many just can’t imagine a life without alcohol. Surprisingly enough, the alcohol mindset just cannot get their head around this and, some people still prefer the latter option even though they realise their life will be over. “At least I’ll die happy” Sadly, this selfish option never makes them feel happy, and death due to liver failure is never going to be a comfortable exit. There needs to be that willingness to accept, fight and beat this. This is where family and the support of others are so important. “This is the problem. Now, what are WE going to do to make things right?” This shows a person that they are not alone and that they can beat this. It shows that others, too, are willing to share in this journey. We can beat this. It’s a time for sorting out your life and seeing who those friends really are. The one who says, “Go on, have a drink, one’s not going to kill you. Have a proper drink”. This person is not a real friend as they don’t have your interests at heart. “If I so much as see you with an alcoholic drink in your hand, I’ll kill you myself”. This is the real friend, the one who has your back and wants to see you get better and beat this. It can be done; it takes a willingness to want to overcome this and take control of your life again.

Alcohol-Related Liver Disease (ArLD) - Victims of Circumstance

For many years, I have been offering help, advice and support to people over on a highly respected “HealthUnlocked” website: https://healthunlocked.com/ Over time, it has brought home to me the many reasons why a person goes on to develop an alcohol-related medical condition in the first place. It is reckoned that some 84% of people who go on to develop a serious liver condition drink alcohol because they choose to. The remaining 16% are those who now have an alcohol addiction; they are now drinking because they have to. So, Alcohol abuse falls into two categories. Those who have an alcohol problem, and those who have an alcohol addiction. Sadly, many local alcohol support services don’t differentiate between the two categories. They find it easier to just label everyone the same and call them “Alcoholics”. This just adds to stigmatising and alienating people. For many, this title becomes an invisible badge of shame. Where to Start To start, I often like to use what I refer to as the “Cause and Effect” analogy. For many people who go on to develop a drinking problem, the reason behind their need to drink can become lost over time. Most often or not, there is a deep-rooted past issue in their life that makes them want to feel better about themselves. To help blank out a traumatic experience, or to help someone gain confidence from within, even to try and help deal with feelings of guilt, despair, and loneliness. I often refer to the following two cases as examples. These are two true stories of people who posted up asking for help on a well-respected, online liver support group site. Obviously, I’ll protect the person's anonymity. This first case involves a lady who was in her late 30s, who now has a cirrhotic liver through ArLD. It took a few weeks of exchanging messages to gain this lady's trust. She finally told me that some 11 years previously, she had gone out on a Friday night with some friends and had been raped on the way home. For 11 years, this lady had never told anyone, not even her GP or other members of her family. She had blamed herself and would seek solace in alcohol. Alcohol became her coping mechanism to help her blank out the traumatic event and also to help her cope with the guilt and shame that she felt. Had this poor lady gotten the help she needed at the time, she’d most likely have a perfectly healthy liver today. The second case refers to a young lady in her early 20s who, once again, used alcohol as a form of self-medication and a coping mechanism. She, too, now had liver cirrhosis.Her story goes back to when she was just 14 years old. She was witnessing her father and mother having a heated row. She remembers crying and wanting to try and stop them, but was too scared. She witnessed her father murder her mother. That evening, she was robbed of the love and affection of not only her mother but also that of her father, who was arrested and given a life sentence for his wife’s murder. This young lady ended up in the care system, where she spent the rest of her teens and her early 20s blaming herself for not having the courage to stand up and protect her mother. For her, alcohol abuse became a daily need to help blank out the traumatic experience and the guilt she felt for not helping her mother and standing up to her father. No child should have to feel that. Cause and Effect “School of Rock Bottom with Oliver Mason” There is a YouTube podcast channel featuring Oliver Mason. Here, the School of Rock Bottom features many podcasts from people who have gone on to develop a drug or alcohol problem; these brave people can now talk and share their experiences by confronting their demons and finding that inner peace. When you hear these two examples from both Serena and Madeleine, it’s easy to understand why these ladies ended up going down that dark road to seek solace and escape from this often cruel world. There are plenty of other stories like this on this channel, while others talk of their experiences with ADHD, Dyslexia and other health issues and experiences. These can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@OliverMason1/videos Cause and Effect Both of these ladies have experienced some terrible traumatic events in their lives, none of which was of their own making. These ladies became victims of other people's actions, all through no fault of their own. Many people have difficulty mentally processing the cruel actions of others. This then leads the victim to seek their own form of self-medication to make them feel better and emotionally stronger. In both these examples, the original actions of others become the “Cause”. The use of alcohol as a form of self-medication becomes the “Effect”. If a person could have been given emotional help and support at the time, i.e. treating the “cause”, then the “effect” would have become redundant and not needed. Behind every person who develops a problem with alcohol, there is a story waiting to be told. That man, drunk on a park bench, we just see a broken person and look upon them with disgust and disdain. What we don’t see is a man who has completed two tours in Afghanistan and seen his best friend blown to bits. For a while now, I have been involved with some liver medical students. Here I talk about my liver journey and my liver transplant experience, all from a personal perspective. I always conclude with the following advice. “Always try and treat the patient and not just treat the physical condition”. Once again, the “Effect” is the liver damage and the “Cause” is the alcohol. The need to look beyond the cause is so important. Many young people from disadvantaged families tend to suffer the most. Those childhood experiences shape the way they’ll become in adulthood. Those early life skills and teachings that are passed down from previous generations are so important in shaping the person of the future. Those young children who end up in the care system, all through no fault of their own, can already become damaged and mentally scarred. They can feel unloved, rejected and unwanted. They may feel a failure and lack ambition, and have little sense of purpose or direction in life. Some of these young people may be fostered and find love and support from an adopted family, while others may be unsuitable and remain within the care home environment. When the latter reaches the age of adulthood, they are on their own. Many lack any basic life skills. They may feel lost and have no ambition or drive. Many just want to blank out the day and lock themselves away inside an invisible protective bubble away from the outside world. BBC Panorama 25 November 2024 “Binge Drinking and Me” Alcohol-related deaths from liver disease among women under 40 have risen sharply over the last decade – but why? Thirty-two-year-old BBC journalist Hazel Martin goes on a personal journey to find the answer. She is one of a growing number of young women who have experienced alcohol-related liver damage, despite not regarding herself as being dependent on alcohol. Talking to doctors, patients and experts on the drinks industry, Hazel discovers that a key cause is Britain’s binge-drinking culture and explores what can be done about it.
A missed opportunity
One of the problems associated with having Liver Disease is the lack of understanding within the population that the liver doesn't have any pain receptors. As we all get older, we learn from a young age that if something is damaged or infected, it will hurt and need medical treatment or advice. A toothache, a headache, a sprained ankle or a broken leg, etc. All these conditions are recognised due to the pain signals our brains receive. Many people believe that if their liver were to become damaged, they would receive some form of pain . Many times I’ve been out with the Liver UK “Love Your Liver” roadshow, trying to entice people to come and have a free fibroscan of their liver, only to get the same response, “Oh, it’s okay, my liver’s fine”. Many people expect to feel some form of pain or discomfort if their liver is damaged, but because they don’t feel anything unusual, their liver must be fine. This message is repeatedly being missed, and people are still unaware that their liver doesn’t have any pain receptors. I often explain that if their liver did, we’d all be doubled up in constant agony as the liver processes all those toxic chemicals and the buildup of fatty acids in the liver. “Come and have your liver checked, and if nothing untoward is found, then you’ll at least have peace of mind”. This normally does the trick. Some national public awareness campaigns do exist to educate people on liver health, early diagnosis, and the prevention of liver disease is vital, simply knowing that the liver doesn’t feel pain is so important for people to know.