October 1, 2025 • 41 mins
In this eye-opening episode, Dr. Holly Thacker tackles the complex relationship between alcohol and health, particularly for women. Drawing from both scientific evidence and personal stories, she explains why women experience more severe effects from alcohol than men—even when drinking the same amount.
The conversation goes beyond basic facts about alcoholism to explore how alcohol uniquely impacts women's bodies. Dr. Thacker reveals that women metabolize alcohol more slowly and experience more concentrated effects due to naturally lower body water content. She shares concerning observations from her own medical practice, where she's seen women develop liver and heart damage from what many would consider "moderate" drinking—just one drink per day over many years.
Particularly alarming are the potential interactions between alcohol and medications. With over 150 medicines known to interact dangerously with alcohol—from common pain relievers to prescription medications—understanding these risks becomes crucial, especially for older adults who typically take multiple medications daily.
For pregnant or breastfeeding women, Dr. Thacker doesn't mince words: there is no safe amount of alcohol. She shares a personal experience of how quickly even a small sip of champagne transferred to her breast milk and affected her nursing infant.
Whether you're concerned about your own relationship with alcohol or worried about a loved one, this episode provides valuable insights into recognizing problematic drinking patterns, understanding treatment options, and accessing resources for help. Dr. Thacker emphasizes that alcoholism is a disease that can be treated effectively, though it requires honesty and appropriate support.
Subscribe to the Speaking of Women's Health podcast for more essential health information that empowers you to be strong, be healthy, and be in charge of your wellbeing.
For referral to drug and alcohol treatment programs in your area, call:
Assessment Center Drug and Alcohol Abuse Hotline
1.800.234.0420
National Alcohol and Drug Help Line
1.800.821.HELP (4357)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Holly L. Thacker, MD (00:02):
Welcome to the Speaking of Women's Health
podcast.
I'm your host, dr Holly Thacker, the Executive Director of
Speaking of Women's Health, andI'm back in our sunflower house
to discuss a new topic for ourpodcast.
It's a very important topic.
(00:24):
I'm going to discuss alcohol,alcoholism, how alcohol affects
the body and how it can becomean addiction.
I just got finished with one ofmy golf outings.
I've got my little golf cartearrings on, and golf is so much
fun because it's social andsome of these events raise money
(00:45):
for good events.
One event that I was golfing inthis year actually raised money
to combat addiction.
Some of it goes to scholarshipsand a lot of really important
topics, and common at golfoutings, of course, is generally
a lot of alcohol, and I wasjust remarking to one of my
(01:06):
friends who was golfing with us.
I said are there any golfoutings that go for 27 holes?
Because 18 holes didn't seemenough for me.
Today I was raring to go foranother nine holes and he said
are you kidding?
A lot of people couldn't evenbe seeing straight with all the
alcohol they drink, and so thatcan obviously be a problem and
(01:27):
really anyone at any age canhave an alcohol drinking problem
.
You might have a great uncleGeorge, who always liked his
liquor and maybe his familydidn't notice right away that
his drinking behavior wasgetting worse as he gets older.
Most of us have someone in ourinner circle or our family or
(01:49):
friends who have dealt withalcohol or substance abuse
problems.
Today we're going to mainlytalk about just alcohol problems
, but certainly there's a lot ofdifferent substances.
I was really impressed with oneof my patients the other day
who came in.
She was very honest.
She showed me this bottle thatyou can buy over the counter,
(02:14):
like at the gas station outthere, kind of with the energy
drinks, and it's kratom, whichis a very addictive substance,
and she was saying how her dosekept escalating and escalating.
And anytime you're using anysubstance and you're having or
anything that you're having todo excessively or increasing
(02:34):
that activity, um, you know it'stime to get some help.
In my own family, uh, mypaternal grandmother, uh,
nellieie, had an alcohol problem.
She was a teetotaler forseveral years but then she
started to drink.
She never drove, ever and shedidn't even drink during the
(03:02):
week, but, boy, when it came tobe be Saturday, she had that
bottle of vodka and she wouldjust drink to excess.
Now she always stayed inside,so you would think, well you
know she hurting anybody exceptfor herself and her liver.
But one night my brother andsister and I, um, were at their
home and she fell asleep whilesmoking a cigarette and started
(03:24):
a fire.
I can still remember the embersand just the horrible, horrible
smell of the fire, which, ofcourse, can be deadly from smoke
inhalation.
Luckily we were all saved, butthat really impressed upon me at
an early, early age about howdangerous drinking, especially
(03:46):
excessive drinking, can be.
And, as a good mother, Iremember telling my sons and my
first son, stetson, who's beenon this podcast and he'll be on
the podcast again in season fourI told him that alcohol is a
toxin and it damages brain cellsand liver cells, and he thought
, well, he didn't want to haveany negative effects on his
(04:06):
brain and he's never had a drinkof alcohol.
Very, very proud.
Sometimes, though, people thatare strict teetotalers, like
another grandmother, betty.
She was a teetotaler all of herlife, but then she started
having a drink each night tohelp her get to sleep after she
became widowed, and now you knowshe's up to drinking a few
(04:31):
drinks a day just to get througheach day.
So a lot of these stories arereally common stories and the
fact is that virtually most allfamily, friends and healthcare
professionals sometimes canoverlook people's concerns about
(04:51):
others and their family interms of their drinking, and
sometimes in older age peopletrouble with alcohol can be
mistaken for conditions thathappen with age.
But alcohol use deservesspecial attention and in an
earlier podcast I did with nurseSamantha talking about
(05:11):
preparing for surgery.
If you've got any upcomingsurgeries for yourself or your
family, it's really good to goahead and listen to that if you
didn't get a chance or re-listento it.
And one of the things that hasto be ascertained before having
anesthesia or being in a chanceor re-listen to it.
And one of the things that hasto be ascertained before having
anesthesia or being in ahospital or changing the routine
is really how much alcohol issomeone drinking because they
(05:35):
can have withdrawal, andwithdrawal can be very, very
difficult Now in older persons.
The same amount of alcoholcould have a greater effect on
an older person than someonewho's younger, and I know many
people as they get older whonever had trouble with alcohol,
that were only social drinkerswho, as they get older, just
decide not to drink alcoholanymore because they know their
(05:59):
metabolism is slower.
They know that fall riskincrease with age and that it is
a hit to the brain and to theliver.
So the same amount of alcoholin one person can have a much
more dramatic effect on an olderperson.
And obviously tolerance, othermedications, other medical
(06:20):
conditions can all factor in.
Now some medical conditionslike high blood pressure,
diabetes, poorly healing wounds,can all worsen with alcohol use
.
And anyone who's having anytrouble with their immune system
(06:41):
, with healing, with repair,anyone with impaired liver
function, anyone with anyneurologic conditions, it really
behooves you to seriouslyconsider if it's worth having
any type of social alcohol, andsome substances are more
(07:03):
addictive than others.
Alcohol and some substances aremore addictive than others,
like, for instance, tobacco, isvery addicting.
There's very few people thatare just social smokers, that
they can put it down and go forweeks on end without cigarettes.
Most become very addicted.
Nicotine is very addictive.
Heroin, opiates, there's manysubstances that have faster
(07:25):
addiction rates.
But up to 20% of people whodrink can have alcohol problems
and there certainly does seem tobe a genetic condition.
I've had that discussion withmy two younger sons who socially
drink alcohol, that there wasalcohol problems on both sides
(07:45):
of their maternal and theirpaternal lineage.
So knowing your family historyis very important.
And it's also important to knowthat many medicines not just
prescription but also over thecounter, as well as herbal
remedies can be dangerous oreven deadly when mixed with
alcohol.
And it's a special worry formore senior, mature folks,
(08:09):
because the average person overage 65 takes at least two
medicines per day.
So if you're on any medications, supplements etc.
Ask your physician, pharmacistor healthcare team if it's okay
to even have social alcohol.
And here are some really commonexamples.
(08:31):
So aspirin can cause bleeding,it affects the platelets, it
thins the blood and it can causebleeding in the stomach, the
intestines and certainly if youmix alcohol or non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory agents likeibuprofen, also known as Motrin
(08:56):
there's many over-the-counterand also a wide variety of
prescription non-steroidalanti-inflammatory agents, so
I'll call it gastritissignificant GI hemorrhages can
certainly happen when mixingthose two.
(09:16):
Now, a lot of common cold andallergy medicines, including
antihistamines, can make peoplesleepy.
So if you're taking a drug thatmakes you sleepy and you
combine it with alcohol, you canreally raise the risk of liver
damage.
And some medications, even likecough syrups, laxatives, can
(09:38):
have an alcohol content includedalong in the medicine and even
drinking just a little bit ofalcohol can impair the judgment
and the coordination and thereaction time.
It can increase the risk ofaccidents at work, at home,
including falls and hipfractures, and as an
(10:01):
osteoporosis doctor I have seenmany devastating fractures that
can lead to nursing homeplacement, even death, and
certainly immobility and painand just general discomfort and
just the hassle of multipledoctor visits, orthopedic visits
(10:22):
, sometimes even orthopedicsurgeries.
You know multiple doctor visits, orthopedic visits, sometimes
even orthopedic surgeries.
And alcohol certainly adds tothe risk of car crashes and
it'll be very interesting to seewith the autonomous driving
cars how that impacts drunkdriving.
But it's very important toeducate your teens, your young
(10:51):
adults.
If you're out with people andsomeone is drinking too much,
that you take their keys, thatyou drive them home, I know a
lot of people will not even haveone drink of alcohol unless
someone else is driving orthey'll call you know one of the
car services like uber or lyft,and that's really very, very
responsible.
And and some mixing of drugswith alcohol, like
(11:16):
benzodiazepines.
You know the famous KarenQuinlan case with valium and
alcohol was comatose.
So you have to be very carefuland alcohol and heavy drinking
definitely increases severalmedical conditions, including
cancers and liver cirrhosis.
(11:38):
Now one of the most rapidlygrowing problems with the liver
is fatty liver and we have a lotof good information on our
website on fatty liver.
Our founder of Speaking ofWomen's Health and our creative
strategist, lady Di, thewonderful Diane Dunkelman,
developed fatty liver and shetalks about how it had nothing
(12:01):
to do with alcohol and actuallyfatty liver is almost eclipsing
alcohol in terms of causingcirrhosis of the liver.
So it's not a benign condition,especially in women.
And, um, if you got fatty liver, you've had abnormal liver
functions and it's not fromalcohol or and or you've stopped
(12:22):
alcohol and you still haveproblems.
You really need to be evaluatedfor fatty liver and it's very
treatable and if you get it toresolve, you can prevent the
progression to cirrhosis of theliver.
But it's not just the liverthat can really get affected.
With alcohol, your immunesystem is suppressed and brain
(12:44):
damage and we really want totake care of our brain.
If you didn't listen to mypodcast on protecting your brain
health and cognitive health, Idid that in the summer of 2025.
I did a great podcast on theMIND diet and the prescription
(13:07):
vitamin serifol and NAC, whichis now available over the
counter as serifol, and brainwellness.
I talked a lot about that andthat research showing reductions
in brain atrophy andN-acetylcysteine or NAC, which
can be purchased over thecounter, does improve brain
(13:31):
glutamate and liver glutathione,so it is protective of the
brain and the liver.
Now alcohol can make somemedical concerns harder for your
physician to find out, evaluateand treat.
That's why it's always good tobe honest and a lot of people
(13:54):
underestimate a lot of things intheir medical history Alcohol
use, substance use, tobacco,sometimes being honest about the
sexual history in terms ofassessment and anything that
only you have knowledge of, thatyou have to tell your
healthcare team.
It's important to do thatbecause you're really going to
(14:17):
get better care.
And alcohol can affect thecardiovascular system.
Can affect the cardiovascularsystem, the heart muscle, the
blood vessels.
It can also weaken pain.
I mean some people with chronicpain drink alcohol to dull their
pain.
I mean years ago alcohol wouldbe used prior to doing medical
(14:38):
procedures, before we hadanesthesia, and actually back in
the 1920s I mean cocaine was abig problem.
It wasn't even regulated.
That was another form of abuse.
It was added to things likeCoca-Cola and so sometimes it
takes us a while to understandwhat substances do, and so if
(15:03):
you're impaired and not havingas much pain as you might, you
might miss the signs of a heartattack or even appendicitis.
I had appendicitis and needed anemergency appendectomy, and I
wasn't drinking any alcohol noneat all but the pain wasn't as
(15:25):
bad as I had imagined or learnedabout in medical school, and I
think it was in part because mybody was so good at using the
momentum to cover it up and itwas behind the cecum, and so I
just thought I don't reallythink I should seek medical
attention because it doesn'tseem that bad.
Then it did get bad enough andI had a fever, so luckily I went
(15:47):
in and I got excellent care.
It was when I was on the road.
So if you're on pain medicines,if you're using substances that
dull your pain, includingalcohol, then any pain has to be
taken even more seriously.
The other thing is that drinkingcan make any person, especially
(16:08):
older persons, more forgetfulor confused and, in my practice,
brain fog, word-findingdifficulties, forgetting what
one is doing and a lot ofmidlife women who are caring for
elderly relatives who haveAlzheimer's or female dementia
of the's or or other forms ofdementia, get very concerned
(16:30):
about their brain health, and sofolks that really want to
protect their brain you reallywant to protect those neurons.
And sometimes alcoholism can bemistaken for mild cognitive
impairment, mci, and if youdrink alcohol your blood sugar
(16:53):
is going to be not as optimal.
So for diabetes patients withtype 2 and type 1 diabetes, it
can really be a problem, and ifyou drink alcohol, especially
too much, it can increase yourinterpersonal conflicts with
your family, your friends, yourneighbors, co-workers and many
(17:19):
people have personality changes.
My paternal grandmother, whowas always pleasant and
responsible during the week, Imean, her personality really
changed, you know, after she hada couple glasses of vodka and
there's less inhibition and sothere can be more trouble with
(17:40):
people, with work or even withstrangers.
So how can you determine if youthink someone that you care
about or that you interact withmight have a drinking problem?
So there's two patterns ofdrinking.
In general there's early andalso late onset.
Some people have just beenheavy drinkers for many years
(18:03):
but, as with that great uncleGeorge, over time the same
amount of liquor packs a morepowerful punch, and other people
, like my friend's grandma Betty, develop a drinking problem
later in life after going mostof their whole entire adult life
without a drinking problem.
Sometimes life changes canbring boredom or loneliness or
(18:26):
anxiety, depression, andsometimes depression in older
adults goes along with alcoholmisuse.
Some people feel like, oh youknow, a drink brings relief from
a stressful situation, butlater on drinking can definitely
cause problems and alcoholcertainly is known, especially
(18:48):
beer and hard liquor to increaseuric acid levels.
And in the past we used tocheck for uric acid levels
routinely on the chemistrypanels.
But they're not on mostchemistry panels and at least
20% of people can have elevateduric acid levels.
And if you didn't hear thatpodcast on gout and uric acid,
(19:09):
that's a good one to go back to.
Just another reason you know notto drink or not to drink very
much alcohol, and so you mightwant to get help if you or a
loved one drinks to kind of calmyour nerves or block out your
worries or reduce depression.
(19:29):
And we have a lot of greatinformation on
speakingofwomenshealthcom aboutreducing anxiety, about
improving the mood, abouthealthy lifestyles, about how
food is medicine and can affectyour mood.
A lot of common vitamindeficiencies that I see daily,
(19:51):
from low vitamin D, low zinc,low B12 level.
In fact, I used to just checkB12 levels only in people with
symptoms or by age 65.
Then I moved it down to 60.
Now I moved it down to 55.
Now to 50.
I mean, the more I look, themore I find a lot of vitamin and
nutritional deficiencies andthese things affect your nervous
(20:14):
system.
People who gulp down drinks,people who drink alone, people
who have more than one drink aday a so-called standard drink
is a 12 ounce bottle, or a canof beer or a wine cooler or a
five ounce glass of wine.
(20:35):
In fact, at the club I enjoygoing to that my husband and I
are members of, when I order awine, the last time they asked
me do you want a six ounce pouror a nine ounce pour?
I thought a nine ounce pour iskind of wow.
That's like a double 1.5 ouncesof 80.
(20:58):
Proof distilled spirits isconsidered a drink.
People that are lying abouttheir alcohol intake or trying
to hide their drinking habitsthat's another problem.
People who hurt themselves orothers while drinking.
People that have increasingtolerance and need to drink more
and more.
(21:19):
Folks that feel irritable orresentful or just unreasonable
when they're not drinking orwhatever using their substance
of choice.
And then, of course, if youhave medical worries, social
worries, marital worries,financial worries caused by
drinking, those are all serious,serious red flags.
(21:44):
So you have been listening tothe Speaking of Women's Health
podcast.
I'm your host, dr Holly Thacker, the Executive Director of
Speaking of Women's Health.
I direct our Center forSpecialized Women's Health.
I focus on midlife women'shealth and menopause.
I run our Specialized Women'sHealth Fellowship and some of
(22:07):
our graduates have joined ourstaff and they'll be talking
about a lot of great andinteresting topics.
Now I will get into more of thesigns of alcoholism in just a
bit.
Now, I am not a chemicaldependency expert, but because
I've seen thousands andthousands of patients in my
(22:30):
practice, in the hospital, inthe clinic setting, and because
I am very passionate aboutempowering women to be strong,
be healthy and be in charge,this seemed like a really
important topic, and the commentfrom my friend Nick about why
there's not 27 hole outings isbecause too many people just
(22:52):
couldn't do it from drinking 18holes on the course.
It really thought wow, you know, um, to me, just having the day
to enjoy friends and be outsideand socialize and get a little
golfing and maybe a lucky shotor two, Um, I actually had a
great day.
Not so much golfing, umalthough I always tell people
(23:14):
don't ever complain about yourgolf score unless you're getting
earnings from the PGA or LPGA,because it's just a recreation.
But I won several raffle bags.
Oh my goodness, it was so great.
And after, like the third timethey called my name they were
calling cheater, cheater.
So I wasn't cheating, I justseemed to be extra lucky.
(23:37):
So I wasn't cheating, I justseemed to be extra lucky.
And some people drink alcoholbecause they want to lower their
inhibitions, to feel lucky, tofeel better able to socialize or
interact with people, theirfriends or people of the
opposite sex.
And really we don't wantsubstances to cloud people's
(24:01):
judgment or their performance.
So, in terms of getting help,studies show that older problem
drinkers can benefit just aswell as younger alcohol abusers.
So talk to your physician oryour advanced practice clinician
.
He or she can help, give youadvice, can talk about treatment
(24:25):
options, referral do, medicalevaluations.
Usually local healthdepartments can be helpful
Social service agencies.
For those that are collegestudents, there's usually
resources on campus.
There's a lot of different typesof treatment that are available
(24:45):
.
Some are like the 12-stepprogram.
They've been around for a longtime.
You know, I always ask mypatients when they tell me I've
been sober for 12 years, doctor,or they tell me the date of
their last drink you know, years, doctor or they tell me the
date of their last drink, youknow.
I always ask them about theirjourney and how they became
sober, and it's usually a sourceof accomplishment and pride.
(25:07):
Others may need to actuallyundergo detoxification, you know
, in an inpatient program orunder medical supervision,
sometimes medications can beprescribed to help prevent a
return to drinking.
An individual or groupcounseling can be very helpful.
Some of the new GLP antagonistsand weight loss medications
(25:34):
seem to, in some folks, helpreduce not just excessive
overeating but also overdrinking.
And there are newer programsthat teach people that have
drinking problems to learn whichsituations or feelings trigger
the urge to drink or as a way tocope without alcohol.
(25:57):
And when I have conversationswith people about what's their
trigger for smoking cigarettes,which they know is bad for them
and they want to stop, or whattheir triggers for drinking
alcohol or doing things thatthey know are not good for
themselves, it's important totry to help work towards a
substitution like happy hour.
(26:17):
You know we all want to relaxafter work, we want to socialize
and maybe try some good foodthat we didn't have to cook at
home ourself.
But fun activities don't alwayshave to be associated with
alcohol, you know, or with foodor with excesses of anything.
Generally speaking, support offamily members and co-workers
(26:41):
can be very important.
Many programs counsel marriedcouples and family members as
part of the treatment process.
Programs can link individualswith important community
resources.
So scientists continue to studyalcohol's effects and look for
new ways to treat alcoholism andaddiction, and so this research
(27:02):
is very important.
The National Institute onAlcohol Abuse and Alcoholism,
which is part of the NationalInstitutes of Health, recommend
that people over 65 who chooseto drink should not have any
more than one drink a day,because drinking at this level
is usually not associated withhealth risk.
(27:22):
But I will say I have seen somepatients in my practice who
never seemed to have any alcoholproblems.
They only had one drink a dayand just the way their body
metabolized things, they hadcardiomyopathy or liver damage,
um and so there's really no safelevel, and one drink and a man,
uh, is like two drinks for awoman, and so if you're a woman
(27:48):
who has two drinks, that's likea man having four drinks, and we
women don't have the sameamount of alcohol dehydrogenase
in our intestines.
And also if you, I always tryto never have even a sip of
alcohol on an empty stomachbecause you just absorb it more
and there's more negativeeffects on the stomach itself.
(28:09):
And the alcohol effects do varywith age, so slower reaction
times.
If you already have problemshearing and seeing, those
special senses are important.
That puts people at a muchhigher risk for falls, car
crashes or other injuries.
Also, if you're on a lot ofmedications, mixing alcohol and
(28:33):
prescription andover-the-counter medications can
be dangerous or even fatal.
Alcohol can make many conditionsmuch worse.
Anytime I see someone with newonset high blood pressure or
worsening blood pressure, Ialways ask questions about
(28:55):
alcohol intake, about alcoholintake and can make someone feel
the alcohol even faster.
So in the field of women'shealth, folks ask is it safe to
drink during pregnancy?
No, it's not.
Alcohol is a toxin.
(29:16):
It can harm the baby of amother who drinks during
pregnancy.
There's warnings all overalcohol bottles.
Obviously, the highest risk forfetal alcohol syndrome is for
mothers that drink heavily.
Sometimes women are upset.
They found out that they had aglass of alcohol and then they
later find out a week later thattheir pregnancy test is
(29:36):
positive.
But there's really not a safelevel of alcohol during
pregnancy or lactation.
Now there's some new stripsthat can test the milk.
You know a lot of women willpump and dump.
I often wonder if one of thereasons why my son Stetson has
never drank is on New Year's Eve, when he was just a young baby,
(30:02):
not even three months old yet,I had a little sip of champagne
to toast in the new year and hewas dressed in this cute little
baby outfit with his littletuxedo, nursed him.
He immediately threw up and Icould smell the champagne in the
breast milk.
It was terrible and I only hada sip.
(30:23):
It was just such a little bitof an amount but it went that
fast through my stomach, throughmy bloodstream, into the breast
milk and into him.
And so that was it.
Never, never had another, neverhad another drop during um, any
breastfeeding or, of course,pregnancies.
And if you're trying to becomepregnant, then you should just
(30:44):
assume.
If you're not, you know havinga regular period that you could
be pregnant and it's best toabstain.
And does alcohol affect womendifferently?
Well, yes, as I mentioned,women metabolize it slower.
Women seem to become much moreimpaired drinking the same
amount.
Even when you take into accountdifferences in body weight,
(31:08):
women generally have a littleless water in their bodies than
men and so it becomes morehighly concentrated.
And also chronic alcohol abusetakes a heavier physical toll on
women than men and alcoholdependency and related medical
problems affecting the brain,the heart, the liver seem to
progress more rapidly in womenthan men.
(31:31):
And the patients I've seen whoI did not think ever had any
alcohol abuse problems, whonever had more than one drink of
alcohol per day but afterseveral decades of doing that
did have heart or liver damage,were all women.
So just another biologicaldifference between the two sexes
(31:57):
.
Now a lot of women will ask mewell, isn't alcohol good for
your heart?
I thought drinking, you know,red wine was good.
I even have a few patientswho've tried to force themselves
to drink red wine and theydon't even like it.
I'm like heck.
No, have some purple grapes orsome grape juice, if you want,
resveratrol.
So there are some studies thatshow moderate drinkers seem to
(32:21):
be less likely to die of oneform of heart disease than
people who don't drink anyalcohol or folks that drink a
lot more.
But certainly non-drinkersshould never start drinking
solely to benefit the heart, andit may be that just mild to
moderate social use is a markerfor other things Social
(32:42):
interaction, exercise.
So if you want to guard againstheart disease, follow a heart
healthy diet, get heart healthyfats, get those seed oils out of
your diet.
Eat whole foods.
Know what all your numbers areand get regular exercise.
(33:03):
Your numbers are and getregular exercise.
And if you're pregnant orplanning to become pregnant or
you have been diagnosed in thepast as having an alcohol
related problem or anothermedical condition, you just
simply should not drink and youstill should be able to
socialize and enjoy your life.
You know, I've been to weddingswhere one of the people getting
(33:25):
married is a recoveringalcoholic and they still have a
toast, it's just with anotherbubbly drink.
That's not alcohol related.
So all the fun and celebrationsand toasting can still all be
done.
Now one of the big concerns Isee in women is breast cancer
risk, concerns Women are soconcerned about.
Does estrogen increase breastcancer risk?
(33:47):
Well, no, in fact, inhysterectomized women it reduces
the diagnosis.
And yet these same women areregular, many of them are
regular social drinkers, andthere's really no save level of
alcohol, and certainly for womenin general, I say really you
should not have more than threeto at most seven drinks a week,
preferably not more than threeto five.
(34:09):
And even that is not a safe youcan't be assured that it's a
safe level.
So you can safely drink alcoholif you do so, but you have to
do it in moderation and you haveto realize there is a risk for
addiction and that heavydrinking does increase your risk
of hypertension and heartfailure and stroke and liver
(34:31):
disease and slower healing.
When taking certain medicines doyou need to stop drinking?
Possibly because there's over150 medications that can
interact with alcohol and anymedicines that you're on that
affect your central nervoussystem, like sleeping pills or
(34:52):
antihistamines, antidepressants,anti-anxiety medicines, some
painkillers.
You all have to be concerned.
So talk to your physician, talkto your, your pharmacist, in
terms of the signs of alcoholism.
It's a disease and it usuallycauses problems at home or work,
(35:14):
although there's a lot ofpeople and I know a few people
that I believe are functionalalcoholics.
They drink regularly, theydrink too much, but they're
still functioning at work and athome.
But usually at some point itprogresses and it can destroy
both emotional and physicalhealth and lead to a much sooner
(35:34):
death.
It's just tragic the peoplethat die on the road because of
alcohol or drug-related crashes.
And alcoholism is called afamily disease because it hurts
the lives of the family members,and so for the person with the
alcohol problems to get better,usually the family members need
to also help take part intreatment.
(35:57):
It can occur at any age.
If you feel a craving or a needfor alcohol, you know, I ask my
patients who tell me that they,oh, I like to just drink a
glass of wine when I'm makingdinner.
Age if you feel a craving or aneed for alcohol, I ask my
patients who tell me that they,oh, I like to just drink a glass
of wine when I'm making dinner,and it's not ever been a
problem.
I ask them well, have you givenup alcohol for Lent, for
instance, if you're religiousand do that, or dry January, or
(36:19):
pick a period of time?
Because if you can't give upalcohol, like for a month before
you're going to have majorsurgery, or at least even a week
before you're having majorsurgery, or for some specified
time period, if you can't dothat, that is a concern.
So some of my nurses willremember I usually give up
(36:39):
alcohol for a certain number ofweeks to months, usually during
Lent.
And so the one year I wouldonly cook with alcohol, I would
not drink it.
So I would treat my friends andfamily and coworkers after
hours to some of my concoctionslike bourbon flavored meatballs
(37:04):
and no, we don't have thatrecipe.
On speaking of women's health,that's for sure.
But I opened up Angel's Envybourbon and my husband's like
why are you opening that up?
That's a good bottle.
I'm like, yeah, but it's got somany good flavors.
And so certainly there's a lotof recipes that call for various
alcohol that might enhance theflavor.
(37:26):
Now, alcoholism cannot be cured,but it can be treated and
people can go, hopefully, therest of their life in remission.
The problem is many peopledon't think they have a problem,
and some people haven't hitrock bottom to get motivated to
get their life back, and that'sa problem.
And, um, some people haven'thit rock bottom to get motivated
to get their life back, andthat's a problem.
(37:47):
So symptoms are different foreach person, um, but in the
early stages people might drinkfor relief of problems.
They might need more and morealcohol to to get drunk.
Um, when blackouts happen andyou can't remember what happened
.
That's really serious.
Hiding alcohol, sneaking drinks, drinking in the morning,
(38:10):
having an eye opener, thinkingmore and more about alcohol or
just planning activities aroundalcohol.
Middle to late stages aredrinking more than planned, not
admitting to having a drinkingproblem, trying to control
drinking by mind games likesaying, well, I just won't drink
before noon, breaking promises,having mood swings, personality
(38:33):
changes and then those folkswho have to drink as soon as
they wake up.
That's a really significantsign of addiction Having
withdrawal symptoms.
When the body's not gettingalcohol you can have delirium
tremens or DTs or so-calledmorning shakes.
You know that can lead toseizures, to death, to a lot of
(38:56):
problems, and that's why ifyou're going to be in the
hospital or having surgery, youhave to be honest about your
alcohol intake.
There's not a single cause.
Your upbringing, physicalhealth, genetics all can play a
(39:17):
role.
Some people drink to make upfor feeling lonely or confused
or feeling guilty or justwanting to blot out things from
their life, and there's other,healthier ways that you can deal
with those symptoms.
Luckily, there are people thatare trained in treating this
condition and it is important tobe honest and treatment's
(39:41):
different depending on whereyou're at.
Some people need detoxification.
Once the body's clean, thenthey can enter a counseling
program.
Some people go away, you know,for a month or more at a time.
Other people do intensive dailyAA meetings.
Treatment can last a few weeksto years.
(40:03):
There can be relapses.
I had a friend who had arelapse and got back in
treatment and now is doing well.
So if you need referrals fortreatment, you know, talk to
your healthcare team.
You can call the AssessmentCenter for Drug and Alcohol
(40:23):
Abuse Hotline.
That's 1-800-234-0420.
We'll put these in the shownotes.
The National Alcohol and DrugHelpline is 1-800-821-HELP or
4357.
4357.
So thank you so much forjoining me on another episode of
(40:47):
Speaking of Women's Health.
In order to get the latest inwomen's health, please subscribe
or follow or collect us.
It's all free on wherever youlisten to podcasts.
You can follow us on YouTubeand Rumble.
If you want the video portions,bookmark our website, share our
(41:11):
podcast, give us a five-starrating and we look forward to
seeing you next time in theSunflower House.
Remember, be strong, be healthyand be in charge.
Welcome to the Speaking of Women's Health
podcast.
I'm your host, dr Holly Thacker, the Executive Director of
Speaking of Women's Health, andI'm back in our sunflower house
to discuss a new topic for ourpodcast.
It's a very important topic.
(00:24):
I'm going to discuss alcohol,alcoholism, how alcohol affects
the body and how it can becomean addiction.
I just got finished with one ofmy golf outings.
I've got my little golf cartearrings on, and golf is so much
fun because it's social andsome of these events raise money
(00:45):
for good events.
One event that I was golfing inthis year actually raised money
to combat addiction.
Some of it goes to scholarshipsand a lot of really important
topics, and common at golfoutings, of course, is generally
a lot of alcohol, and I wasjust remarking to one of my
(01:06):
friends who was golfing with us.
I said are there any golfoutings that go for 27 holes?
Because 18 holes didn't seemenough for me.
Today I was raring to go foranother nine holes and he said
are you kidding?
A lot of people couldn't evenbe seeing straight with all the
alcohol they drink, and so thatcan obviously be a problem and
(01:27):
really anyone at any age canhave an alcohol drinking problem
.
You might have a great uncleGeorge, who always liked his
liquor and maybe his familydidn't notice right away that
his drinking behavior wasgetting worse as he gets older.
Most of us have someone in ourinner circle or our family or
(01:49):
friends who have dealt withalcohol or substance abuse
problems.
Today we're going to mainlytalk about just alcohol problems
, but certainly there's a lot ofdifferent substances.
I was really impressed with oneof my patients the other day
who came in.
She was very honest.
She showed me this bottle thatyou can buy over the counter,
(02:14):
like at the gas station outthere, kind of with the energy
drinks, and it's kratom, whichis a very addictive substance,
and she was saying how her dosekept escalating and escalating.
And anytime you're using anysubstance and you're having or
anything that you're having todo excessively or increasing
(02:34):
that activity, um, you know it'stime to get some help.
In my own family, uh, mypaternal grandmother, uh,
nellieie, had an alcohol problem.
She was a teetotaler forseveral years but then she
started to drink.
She never drove, ever and shedidn't even drink during the
(03:02):
week, but, boy, when it came tobe be Saturday, she had that
bottle of vodka and she wouldjust drink to excess.
Now she always stayed inside,so you would think, well you
know she hurting anybody exceptfor herself and her liver.
But one night my brother andsister and I, um, were at their
home and she fell asleep whilesmoking a cigarette and started
(03:24):
a fire.
I can still remember the embersand just the horrible, horrible
smell of the fire, which, ofcourse, can be deadly from smoke
inhalation.
Luckily we were all saved, butthat really impressed upon me at
an early, early age about howdangerous drinking, especially
(03:46):
excessive drinking, can be.
And, as a good mother, Iremember telling my sons and my
first son, stetson, who's beenon this podcast and he'll be on
the podcast again in season fourI told him that alcohol is a
toxin and it damages brain cellsand liver cells, and he thought
, well, he didn't want to haveany negative effects on his
(04:06):
brain and he's never had a drinkof alcohol.
Very, very proud.
Sometimes, though, people thatare strict teetotalers, like
another grandmother, betty.
She was a teetotaler all of herlife, but then she started
having a drink each night tohelp her get to sleep after she
became widowed, and now you knowshe's up to drinking a few
(04:31):
drinks a day just to get througheach day.
So a lot of these stories arereally common stories and the
fact is that virtually most allfamily, friends and healthcare
professionals sometimes canoverlook people's concerns about
(04:51):
others and their family interms of their drinking, and
sometimes in older age peopletrouble with alcohol can be
mistaken for conditions thathappen with age.
But alcohol use deservesspecial attention and in an
earlier podcast I did with nurseSamantha talking about
(05:11):
preparing for surgery.
If you've got any upcomingsurgeries for yourself or your
family, it's really good to goahead and listen to that if you
didn't get a chance or re-listento it.
And one of the things that hasto be ascertained before having
anesthesia or being in a chanceor re-listen to it.
And one of the things that hasto be ascertained before having
anesthesia or being in ahospital or changing the routine
is really how much alcohol issomeone drinking because they
(05:35):
can have withdrawal, andwithdrawal can be very, very
difficult Now in older persons.
The same amount of alcoholcould have a greater effect on
an older person than someonewho's younger, and I know many
people as they get older whonever had trouble with alcohol,
that were only social drinkerswho, as they get older, just
decide not to drink alcoholanymore because they know their
(05:59):
metabolism is slower.
They know that fall riskincrease with age and that it is
a hit to the brain and to theliver.
So the same amount of alcoholin one person can have a much
more dramatic effect on an olderperson.
And obviously tolerance, othermedications, other medical
(06:20):
conditions can all factor in.
Now some medical conditionslike high blood pressure,
diabetes, poorly healing wounds,can all worsen with alcohol use
.
And anyone who's having anytrouble with their immune system
(06:41):
, with healing, with repair,anyone with impaired liver
function, anyone with anyneurologic conditions, it really
behooves you to seriouslyconsider if it's worth having
any type of social alcohol, andsome substances are more
(07:03):
addictive than others.
Alcohol and some substances aremore addictive than others,
like, for instance, tobacco, isvery addicting.
There's very few people thatare just social smokers, that
they can put it down and go forweeks on end without cigarettes.
Most become very addicted.
Nicotine is very addictive.
Heroin, opiates, there's manysubstances that have faster
(07:25):
addiction rates.
But up to 20% of people whodrink can have alcohol problems
and there certainly does seem tobe a genetic condition.
I've had that discussion withmy two younger sons who socially
drink alcohol, that there wasalcohol problems on both sides
(07:45):
of their maternal and theirpaternal lineage.
So knowing your family historyis very important.
And it's also important to knowthat many medicines not just
prescription but also over thecounter, as well as herbal
remedies can be dangerous oreven deadly when mixed with
alcohol.
And it's a special worry formore senior, mature folks,
(08:09):
because the average person overage 65 takes at least two
medicines per day.
So if you're on any medications, supplements etc.
Ask your physician, pharmacistor healthcare team if it's okay
to even have social alcohol.
And here are some really commonexamples.
(08:31):
So aspirin can cause bleeding,it affects the platelets, it
thins the blood and it can causebleeding in the stomach, the
intestines and certainly if youmix alcohol or non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory agents likeibuprofen, also known as Motrin
(08:56):
there's many over-the-counterand also a wide variety of
prescription non-steroidalanti-inflammatory agents, so
I'll call it gastritissignificant GI hemorrhages can
certainly happen when mixingthose two.
(09:16):
Now, a lot of common cold andallergy medicines, including
antihistamines, can make peoplesleepy.
So if you're taking a drug thatmakes you sleepy and you
combine it with alcohol, you canreally raise the risk of liver
damage.
And some medications, even likecough syrups, laxatives, can
(09:38):
have an alcohol content includedalong in the medicine and even
drinking just a little bit ofalcohol can impair the judgment
and the coordination and thereaction time.
It can increase the risk ofaccidents at work, at home,
including falls and hipfractures, and as an
(10:01):
osteoporosis doctor I have seenmany devastating fractures that
can lead to nursing homeplacement, even death, and
certainly immobility and painand just general discomfort and
just the hassle of multipledoctor visits, orthopedic visits
(10:22):
, sometimes even orthopedicsurgeries.
You know multiple doctor visits, orthopedic visits, sometimes
even orthopedic surgeries.
And alcohol certainly adds tothe risk of car crashes and
it'll be very interesting to seewith the autonomous driving
cars how that impacts drunkdriving.
But it's very important toeducate your teens, your young
(10:51):
adults.
If you're out with people andsomeone is drinking too much,
that you take their keys, thatyou drive them home, I know a
lot of people will not even haveone drink of alcohol unless
someone else is driving orthey'll call you know one of the
car services like uber or lyft,and that's really very, very
responsible.
And and some mixing of drugswith alcohol, like
(11:16):
benzodiazepines.
You know the famous KarenQuinlan case with valium and
alcohol was comatose.
So you have to be very carefuland alcohol and heavy drinking
definitely increases severalmedical conditions, including
cancers and liver cirrhosis.
(11:38):
Now one of the most rapidlygrowing problems with the liver
is fatty liver and we have a lotof good information on our
website on fatty liver.
Our founder of Speaking ofWomen's Health and our creative
strategist, lady Di, thewonderful Diane Dunkelman,
developed fatty liver and shetalks about how it had nothing
(12:01):
to do with alcohol and actuallyfatty liver is almost eclipsing
alcohol in terms of causingcirrhosis of the liver.
So it's not a benign condition,especially in women.
And, um, if you got fatty liver, you've had abnormal liver
functions and it's not fromalcohol or and or you've stopped
(12:22):
alcohol and you still haveproblems.
You really need to be evaluatedfor fatty liver and it's very
treatable and if you get it toresolve, you can prevent the
progression to cirrhosis of theliver.
But it's not just the liverthat can really get affected.
With alcohol, your immunesystem is suppressed and brain
(12:44):
damage and we really want totake care of our brain.
If you didn't listen to mypodcast on protecting your brain
health and cognitive health, Idid that in the summer of 2025.
I did a great podcast on theMIND diet and the prescription
(13:07):
vitamin serifol and NAC, whichis now available over the
counter as serifol, and brainwellness.
I talked a lot about that andthat research showing reductions
in brain atrophy andN-acetylcysteine or NAC, which
can be purchased over thecounter, does improve brain
(13:31):
glutamate and liver glutathione,so it is protective of the
brain and the liver.
Now alcohol can make somemedical concerns harder for your
physician to find out, evaluateand treat.
That's why it's always good tobe honest and a lot of people
(13:54):
underestimate a lot of things intheir medical history Alcohol
use, substance use, tobacco,sometimes being honest about the
sexual history in terms ofassessment and anything that
only you have knowledge of, thatyou have to tell your
healthcare team.
It's important to do thatbecause you're really going to
(14:17):
get better care.
And alcohol can affect thecardiovascular system.
Can affect the cardiovascularsystem, the heart muscle, the
blood vessels.
It can also weaken pain.
I mean some people with chronicpain drink alcohol to dull their
pain.
I mean years ago alcohol wouldbe used prior to doing medical
(14:38):
procedures, before we hadanesthesia, and actually back in
the 1920s I mean cocaine was abig problem.
It wasn't even regulated.
That was another form of abuse.
It was added to things likeCoca-Cola and so sometimes it
takes us a while to understandwhat substances do, and so if
(15:03):
you're impaired and not havingas much pain as you might, you
might miss the signs of a heartattack or even appendicitis.
I had appendicitis and needed anemergency appendectomy, and I
wasn't drinking any alcohol noneat all but the pain wasn't as
(15:25):
bad as I had imagined or learnedabout in medical school, and I
think it was in part because mybody was so good at using the
momentum to cover it up and itwas behind the cecum, and so I
just thought I don't reallythink I should seek medical
attention because it doesn'tseem that bad.
Then it did get bad enough andI had a fever, so luckily I went
(15:47):
in and I got excellent care.
It was when I was on the road.
So if you're on pain medicines,if you're using substances that
dull your pain, includingalcohol, then any pain has to be
taken even more seriously.
The other thing is that drinkingcan make any person, especially
(16:08):
older persons, more forgetfulor confused and, in my practice,
brain fog, word-findingdifficulties, forgetting what
one is doing and a lot ofmidlife women who are caring for
elderly relatives who haveAlzheimer's or female dementia
of the's or or other forms ofdementia, get very concerned
(16:30):
about their brain health, and sofolks that really want to
protect their brain you reallywant to protect those neurons.
And sometimes alcoholism can bemistaken for mild cognitive
impairment, mci, and if youdrink alcohol your blood sugar
(16:53):
is going to be not as optimal.
So for diabetes patients withtype 2 and type 1 diabetes, it
can really be a problem, and ifyou drink alcohol, especially
too much, it can increase yourinterpersonal conflicts with
your family, your friends, yourneighbors, co-workers and many
(17:19):
people have personality changes.
My paternal grandmother, whowas always pleasant and
responsible during the week, Imean, her personality really
changed, you know, after she hada couple glasses of vodka and
there's less inhibition and sothere can be more trouble with
(17:40):
people, with work or even withstrangers.
So how can you determine if youthink someone that you care
about or that you interact withmight have a drinking problem?
So there's two patterns ofdrinking.
In general there's early andalso late onset.
Some people have just beenheavy drinkers for many years
(18:03):
but, as with that great uncleGeorge, over time the same
amount of liquor packs a morepowerful punch, and other people
, like my friend's grandma Betty, develop a drinking problem
later in life after going mostof their whole entire adult life
without a drinking problem.
Sometimes life changes canbring boredom or loneliness or
(18:26):
anxiety, depression, andsometimes depression in older
adults goes along with alcoholmisuse.
Some people feel like, oh youknow, a drink brings relief from
a stressful situation, butlater on drinking can definitely
cause problems and alcoholcertainly is known, especially
(18:48):
beer and hard liquor to increaseuric acid levels.
And in the past we used tocheck for uric acid levels
routinely on the chemistrypanels.
But they're not on mostchemistry panels and at least
20% of people can have elevateduric acid levels.
And if you didn't hear thatpodcast on gout and uric acid,
(19:09):
that's a good one to go back to.
Just another reason you know notto drink or not to drink very
much alcohol, and so you mightwant to get help if you or a
loved one drinks to kind of calmyour nerves or block out your
worries or reduce depression.
(19:29):
And we have a lot of greatinformation on
speakingofwomenshealthcom aboutreducing anxiety, about
improving the mood, abouthealthy lifestyles, about how
food is medicine and can affectyour mood.
A lot of common vitamindeficiencies that I see daily,
(19:51):
from low vitamin D, low zinc,low B12 level.
In fact, I used to just checkB12 levels only in people with
symptoms or by age 65.
Then I moved it down to 60.
Now I moved it down to 55.
Now to 50.
I mean, the more I look, themore I find a lot of vitamin and
nutritional deficiencies andthese things affect your nervous
(20:14):
system.
People who gulp down drinks,people who drink alone, people
who have more than one drink aday a so-called standard drink
is a 12 ounce bottle, or a canof beer or a wine cooler or a
five ounce glass of wine.
(20:35):
In fact, at the club I enjoygoing to that my husband and I
are members of, when I order awine, the last time they asked
me do you want a six ounce pouror a nine ounce pour?
I thought a nine ounce pour iskind of wow.
That's like a double 1.5 ouncesof 80.
(20:58):
Proof distilled spirits isconsidered a drink.
People that are lying abouttheir alcohol intake or trying
to hide their drinking habitsthat's another problem.
People who hurt themselves orothers while drinking.
People that have increasingtolerance and need to drink more
and more.
(21:19):
Folks that feel irritable orresentful or just unreasonable
when they're not drinking orwhatever using their substance
of choice.
And then, of course, if youhave medical worries, social
worries, marital worries,financial worries caused by
drinking, those are all serious,serious red flags.
(21:44):
So you have been listening tothe Speaking of Women's Health
podcast.
I'm your host, dr Holly Thacker, the Executive Director of
Speaking of Women's Health.
I direct our Center forSpecialized Women's Health.
I focus on midlife women'shealth and menopause.
I run our Specialized Women'sHealth Fellowship and some of
(22:07):
our graduates have joined ourstaff and they'll be talking
about a lot of great andinteresting topics.
Now I will get into more of thesigns of alcoholism in just a
bit.
Now, I am not a chemicaldependency expert, but because
I've seen thousands andthousands of patients in my
(22:30):
practice, in the hospital, inthe clinic setting, and because
I am very passionate aboutempowering women to be strong,
be healthy and be in charge,this seemed like a really
important topic, and the commentfrom my friend Nick about why
there's not 27 hole outings isbecause too many people just
(22:52):
couldn't do it from drinking 18holes on the course.
It really thought wow, you know, um, to me, just having the day
to enjoy friends and be outsideand socialize and get a little
golfing and maybe a lucky shotor two, Um, I actually had a
great day.
Not so much golfing, umalthough I always tell people
(23:14):
don't ever complain about yourgolf score unless you're getting
earnings from the PGA or LPGA,because it's just a recreation.
But I won several raffle bags.
Oh my goodness, it was so great.
And after, like the third timethey called my name they were
calling cheater, cheater.
So I wasn't cheating, I justseemed to be extra lucky.
(23:37):
So I wasn't cheating, I justseemed to be extra lucky.
And some people drink alcoholbecause they want to lower their
inhibitions, to feel lucky, tofeel better able to socialize or
interact with people, theirfriends or people of the
opposite sex.
And really we don't wantsubstances to cloud people's
(24:01):
judgment or their performance.
So, in terms of getting help,studies show that older problem
drinkers can benefit just aswell as younger alcohol abusers.
So talk to your physician oryour advanced practice clinician
.
He or she can help, give youadvice, can talk about treatment
(24:25):
options, referral do, medicalevaluations.
Usually local healthdepartments can be helpful
Social service agencies.
For those that are collegestudents, there's usually
resources on campus.
There's a lot of different typesof treatment that are available
(24:45):
.
Some are like the 12-stepprogram.
They've been around for a longtime.
You know, I always ask mypatients when they tell me I've
been sober for 12 years, doctor,or they tell me the date of
their last drink you know, years, doctor or they tell me the
date of their last drink, youknow.
I always ask them about theirjourney and how they became
sober, and it's usually a sourceof accomplishment and pride.
(25:07):
Others may need to actuallyundergo detoxification, you know
, in an inpatient program orunder medical supervision,
sometimes medications can beprescribed to help prevent a
return to drinking.
An individual or groupcounseling can be very helpful.
Some of the new GLP antagonistsand weight loss medications
(25:34):
seem to, in some folks, helpreduce not just excessive
overeating but also overdrinking.
And there are newer programsthat teach people that have
drinking problems to learn whichsituations or feelings trigger
the urge to drink or as a way tocope without alcohol.
(25:57):
And when I have conversationswith people about what's their
trigger for smoking cigarettes,which they know is bad for them
and they want to stop, or whattheir triggers for drinking
alcohol or doing things thatthey know are not good for
themselves, it's important totry to help work towards a
substitution like happy hour.
(26:17):
You know we all want to relaxafter work, we want to socialize
and maybe try some good foodthat we didn't have to cook at
home ourself.
But fun activities don't alwayshave to be associated with
alcohol, you know, or with foodor with excesses of anything.
Generally speaking, support offamily members and co-workers
(26:41):
can be very important.
Many programs counsel marriedcouples and family members as
part of the treatment process.
Programs can link individualswith important community
resources.
So scientists continue to studyalcohol's effects and look for
new ways to treat alcoholism andaddiction, and so this research
(27:02):
is very important.
The National Institute onAlcohol Abuse and Alcoholism,
which is part of the NationalInstitutes of Health, recommend
that people over 65 who chooseto drink should not have any
more than one drink a day,because drinking at this level
is usually not associated withhealth risk.
(27:22):
But I will say I have seen somepatients in my practice who
never seemed to have any alcoholproblems.
They only had one drink a dayand just the way their body
metabolized things, they hadcardiomyopathy or liver damage,
um and so there's really no safelevel, and one drink and a man,
uh, is like two drinks for awoman, and so if you're a woman
(27:48):
who has two drinks, that's likea man having four drinks, and we
women don't have the sameamount of alcohol dehydrogenase
in our intestines.
And also if you, I always tryto never have even a sip of
alcohol on an empty stomachbecause you just absorb it more
and there's more negativeeffects on the stomach itself.
(28:09):
And the alcohol effects do varywith age, so slower reaction
times.
If you already have problemshearing and seeing, those
special senses are important.
That puts people at a muchhigher risk for falls, car
crashes or other injuries.
Also, if you're on a lot ofmedications, mixing alcohol and
(28:33):
prescription andover-the-counter medications can
be dangerous or even fatal.
Alcohol can make many conditionsmuch worse.
Anytime I see someone with newonset high blood pressure or
worsening blood pressure, Ialways ask questions about
(28:55):
alcohol intake, about alcoholintake and can make someone feel
the alcohol even faster.
So in the field of women'shealth, folks ask is it safe to
drink during pregnancy?
No, it's not.
Alcohol is a toxin.
(29:16):
It can harm the baby of amother who drinks during
pregnancy.
There's warnings all overalcohol bottles.
Obviously, the highest risk forfetal alcohol syndrome is for
mothers that drink heavily.
Sometimes women are upset.
They found out that they had aglass of alcohol and then they
later find out a week later thattheir pregnancy test is
(29:36):
positive.
But there's really not a safelevel of alcohol during
pregnancy or lactation.
Now there's some new stripsthat can test the milk.
You know a lot of women willpump and dump.
I often wonder if one of thereasons why my son Stetson has
never drank is on New Year's Eve, when he was just a young baby,
(30:02):
not even three months old yet,I had a little sip of champagne
to toast in the new year and hewas dressed in this cute little
baby outfit with his littletuxedo, nursed him.
He immediately threw up and Icould smell the champagne in the
breast milk.
It was terrible and I only hada sip.
(30:23):
It was just such a little bitof an amount but it went that
fast through my stomach, throughmy bloodstream, into the breast
milk and into him.
And so that was it.
Never, never had another, neverhad another drop during um, any
breastfeeding or, of course,pregnancies.
And if you're trying to becomepregnant, then you should just
(30:44):
assume.
If you're not, you know havinga regular period that you could
be pregnant and it's best toabstain.
And does alcohol affect womendifferently?
Well, yes, as I mentioned,women metabolize it slower.
Women seem to become much moreimpaired drinking the same
amount.
Even when you take into accountdifferences in body weight,
(31:08):
women generally have a littleless water in their bodies than
men and so it becomes morehighly concentrated.
And also chronic alcohol abusetakes a heavier physical toll on
women than men and alcoholdependency and related medical
problems affecting the brain,the heart, the liver seem to
progress more rapidly in womenthan men.
(31:31):
And the patients I've seen whoI did not think ever had any
alcohol abuse problems, whonever had more than one drink of
alcohol per day but afterseveral decades of doing that
did have heart or liver damage,were all women.
So just another biologicaldifference between the two sexes
(31:57):
.
Now a lot of women will ask mewell, isn't alcohol good for
your heart?
I thought drinking, you know,red wine was good.
I even have a few patientswho've tried to force themselves
to drink red wine and theydon't even like it.
I'm like heck.
No, have some purple grapes orsome grape juice, if you want,
resveratrol.
So there are some studies thatshow moderate drinkers seem to
(32:21):
be less likely to die of oneform of heart disease than
people who don't drink anyalcohol or folks that drink a
lot more.
But certainly non-drinkersshould never start drinking
solely to benefit the heart, andit may be that just mild to
moderate social use is a markerfor other things Social
(32:42):
interaction, exercise.
So if you want to guard againstheart disease, follow a heart
healthy diet, get heart healthyfats, get those seed oils out of
your diet.
Eat whole foods.
Know what all your numbers areand get regular exercise.
(33:03):
Your numbers are and getregular exercise.
And if you're pregnant orplanning to become pregnant or
you have been diagnosed in thepast as having an alcohol
related problem or anothermedical condition, you just
simply should not drink and youstill should be able to
socialize and enjoy your life.
You know, I've been to weddingswhere one of the people getting
(33:25):
married is a recoveringalcoholic and they still have a
toast, it's just with anotherbubbly drink.
That's not alcohol related.
So all the fun and celebrationsand toasting can still all be
done.
Now one of the big concerns Isee in women is breast cancer
risk, concerns Women are soconcerned about.
Does estrogen increase breastcancer risk?
(33:47):
Well, no, in fact, inhysterectomized women it reduces
the diagnosis.
And yet these same women areregular, many of them are
regular social drinkers, andthere's really no save level of
alcohol, and certainly for womenin general, I say really you
should not have more than threeto at most seven drinks a week,
preferably not more than threeto five.
(34:09):
And even that is not a safe youcan't be assured that it's a
safe level.
So you can safely drink alcoholif you do so, but you have to
do it in moderation and you haveto realize there is a risk for
addiction and that heavydrinking does increase your risk
of hypertension and heartfailure and stroke and liver
(34:31):
disease and slower healing.
When taking certain medicines doyou need to stop drinking?
Possibly because there's over150 medications that can
interact with alcohol and anymedicines that you're on that
affect your central nervoussystem, like sleeping pills or
(34:52):
antihistamines, antidepressants,anti-anxiety medicines, some
painkillers.
You all have to be concerned.
So talk to your physician, talkto your, your pharmacist, in
terms of the signs of alcoholism.
It's a disease and it usuallycauses problems at home or work,
(35:14):
although there's a lot ofpeople and I know a few people
that I believe are functionalalcoholics.
They drink regularly, theydrink too much, but they're
still functioning at work and athome.
But usually at some point itprogresses and it can destroy
both emotional and physicalhealth and lead to a much sooner
(35:34):
death.
It's just tragic the peoplethat die on the road because of
alcohol or drug-related crashes.
And alcoholism is called afamily disease because it hurts
the lives of the family members,and so for the person with the
alcohol problems to get better,usually the family members need
to also help take part intreatment.
(35:57):
It can occur at any age.
If you feel a craving or a needfor alcohol, you know, I ask my
patients who tell me that they,oh, I like to just drink a
glass of wine when I'm makingdinner.
Age if you feel a craving or aneed for alcohol, I ask my
patients who tell me that they,oh, I like to just drink a glass
of wine when I'm making dinner,and it's not ever been a
problem.
I ask them well, have you givenup alcohol for Lent, for
instance, if you're religiousand do that, or dry January, or
(36:19):
pick a period of time?
Because if you can't give upalcohol, like for a month before
you're going to have majorsurgery, or at least even a week
before you're having majorsurgery, or for some specified
time period, if you can't dothat, that is a concern.
So some of my nurses willremember I usually give up
(36:39):
alcohol for a certain number ofweeks to months, usually during
Lent.
And so the one year I wouldonly cook with alcohol, I would
not drink it.
So I would treat my friends andfamily and coworkers after
hours to some of my concoctionslike bourbon flavored meatballs
(37:04):
and no, we don't have thatrecipe.
On speaking of women's health,that's for sure.
But I opened up Angel's Envybourbon and my husband's like
why are you opening that up?
That's a good bottle.
I'm like, yeah, but it's got somany good flavors.
And so certainly there's a lotof recipes that call for various
alcohol that might enhance theflavor.
(37:26):
Now, alcoholism cannot be cured,but it can be treated and
people can go, hopefully, therest of their life in remission.
The problem is many peopledon't think they have a problem,
and some people haven't hitrock bottom to get motivated to
get their life back, and that'sa problem.
And, um, some people haven'thit rock bottom to get motivated
to get their life back, andthat's a problem.
(37:47):
So symptoms are different foreach person, um, but in the
early stages people might drinkfor relief of problems.
They might need more and morealcohol to to get drunk.
Um, when blackouts happen andyou can't remember what happened
.
That's really serious.
Hiding alcohol, sneaking drinks, drinking in the morning,
(38:10):
having an eye opener, thinkingmore and more about alcohol or
just planning activities aroundalcohol.
Middle to late stages aredrinking more than planned, not
admitting to having a drinkingproblem, trying to control
drinking by mind games likesaying, well, I just won't drink
before noon, breaking promises,having mood swings, personality
(38:33):
changes and then those folkswho have to drink as soon as
they wake up.
That's a really significantsign of addiction Having
withdrawal symptoms.
When the body's not gettingalcohol you can have delirium
tremens or DTs or so-calledmorning shakes.
You know that can lead toseizures, to death, to a lot of
(38:56):
problems, and that's why ifyou're going to be in the
hospital or having surgery, youhave to be honest about your
alcohol intake.
There's not a single cause.
Your upbringing, physicalhealth, genetics all can play a
(39:17):
role.
Some people drink to make upfor feeling lonely or confused
or feeling guilty or justwanting to blot out things from
their life, and there's other,healthier ways that you can deal
with those symptoms.
Luckily, there are people thatare trained in treating this
condition and it is important tobe honest and treatment's
(39:41):
different depending on whereyou're at.
Some people need detoxification.
Once the body's clean, thenthey can enter a counseling
program.
Some people go away, you know,for a month or more at a time.
Other people do intensive dailyAA meetings.
Treatment can last a few weeksto years.
(40:03):
There can be relapses.
I had a friend who had arelapse and got back in
treatment and now is doing well.
So if you need referrals fortreatment, you know, talk to
your healthcare team.
You can call the AssessmentCenter for Drug and Alcohol
(40:23):
Abuse Hotline.
That's 1-800-234-0420.
We'll put these in the shownotes.
The National Alcohol and DrugHelpline is 1-800-821-HELP or
4357.
4357.
So thank you so much forjoining me on another episode of
(40:47):
Speaking of Women's Health.
In order to get the latest inwomen's health, please subscribe
or follow or collect us.
It's all free on wherever youlisten to podcasts.
You can follow us on YouTubeand Rumble.
If you want the video portions,bookmark our website, share our
(41:11):
podcast, give us a five-starrating and we look forward to
seeing you next time in theSunflower House.
Remember, be strong, be healthyand be in charge.
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