Liver disease is now the country's fifth biggest killer

Sunnyisland

http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_9548000/9548887.stm



Liver disease is now the country's fifth biggest killer and cases of alcoholic liver disease in the under-30s have risen by half in the past 10 years, says the Department of Health. The coalition wants a "drink strategy" with input from both the health lobby and the drinks industry, but can they work together?

Victoria White began drinking heavily as a teenager


Victoria White was lying in a bed at Liverpool's Royal Hospital, her skin yellow in colour, her belly badly swollen and her life hanging in the balance.
Ms White's liver disease is the result of heavy drinking.
She began drinking as a teenager and before her most recent hospital stay she had been consuming at least a bottle of brandy a day.
Doctors say her case is not unusual. According to government figures, a quarter of the adult population are thought to be drinking too much alcohol.
"Some people go their separate ways from alcohol. I didn't, I just carried on with it. You are selfish through drink. As long as you are all right, you just do not care," Ms White said.
Her mother, Debbie White, has watched alcohol slowly take over her daughter's life.
"When she was about 16 she started lying saying she had not had a drink but you could smell it on her. We would start finding bottles of vodka, bottles and bottles of cider hidden under her bed," she said.

ALCOHOL ABUSE - THE TOLL
50% rise in alcoholic liver disease in under-30s since 2001
70% of peak time admissions at the Royal A&E alcohol-related
£400 - average in-patient costs per day
£2.7bn - annual cost to NHS of alcohol-related care
One in four adults drink more than recommended
9m people in the UK affected by alcohol abuse


Ms White was hospitalised in the past because of alcohol and nearly died five years ago. She was warned then that she needed to stop drinking.
"I was OK at first. I would just have a couple and leave it and then as the days went to weeks I just started drinking again. And here I am today," she said from her hospital bed.
In agreeing to be interviewed in such ill health, she urged others to learn from her mistakes.
Ms White's doctor, liver specialist Paul Richardson, said his colleagues are seeing similar cases of irreparable damage.
"Both locally and nationally, people who work in hepatology have noticed an increase in alcoholic liver disease in a younger population," he said.
Overall consumption is falling but alcohol-related hospital admissions have doubled in a decade.





Even Though thats the uk i am sure its a pretty simlar story in Ireland.Food for thought people or in this case maybe it should be drink for thought.

Bassfish

realies wrote: »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_9548000/9548887.stm


The coalition wants a "drink strategy" with input from both the health lobby and the drinks industry, but can they work together?
.

Why the feck should the drinks industry have a say in how alcohol abuse is tackled? You wouldn't ask a drug pusher to design anti-drug policies. It's the same here in Ireland, the vintners federation have a ridiculous amount of power and influence. All of those 'Drink aware' and 'Don't see a great night wasted' ads are a joke as they are put out by the drinks industry so ultimately the message is; drink **** loads of our nasty product but behave yourself and stop making us look bad!