After a long day, running yourself a glass of wine or enjoying a few cocktails over dinner with pals may not looks a lot like a big deal, but for some moms, a casual booze habit can turn into a full-blown addiction.
Take 46 -year-old Dana Bowman, of Lindsborg, Kansas. A self-professed perfectionist, Bowman was always a social drinker, but after she got married and had children, she turned to booze to cope with postpartum depression, nervousnes and stress.
When my kids came along, and my control was blown out of the sea I found myself during situations where every night, I started leaning more and more heavily on the 5 oclock reward, Bowman, the author of Bottled: A Mom’s Guide to Early Recovery, told Fox News.
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Despite an eye-opening realization that she wouldnt be allowed to drive to emergencies should her kids get hurt while she was drinking, she continued to throw back the glasses.
Then one day, she eventually chose shed quit but simply after one last binge.
I took one sip, and I fell to the storey, she told. I couldnt move, and I couldnt talk. I was so drunk that the chamber started spinning, and I could hear my boys in the other room.
The next day, she started Alcoholics Anonymous and was on the road to sobriety.
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For 45 -year-old mom of two Laura Ward, drinking became a behavior to deal with sadness, decompress after a long day, or celebrate a happy event. Sometimes she even started drinking right after her kids went to school in the morning.
My version of self-care was a bottle of wine or two, Ward, of Avon, Connecticut, told Fox News.
After three years of hitting the bottle, Ward realized what she required was to work through why she was drinking in the first place. With the help of a wellness coach-and-four, she was able to get to the bottom of her sensations and find ways to deal with her sensations instead a process that took about 6 weeks until she was finally sober.
Drink too much? You’re not alone.
According to the National Institute of Health, 5.3 million women in the United States are diagnosed with alcohol use ailment( AUD ), or problem drinking that worsens over time. Females with AUD are more likely to also have depression, nervousnes ailments and posttraumatic stress disorder( PTSD ).
Even more concerning is that of those who need help for their craving, simply about 11 percent attempt care, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
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Here, experts weigh in with the signs that your booze habit isnt as harmless as you may think 😛 TAGEND
1. Drinking is your one behavior to cope.
Motherhood can be tough, but if youre also dealing with run stress, health issues and financial problems, your emotions can seem overwhelming. But if booze has become your simply coping mechanism, it could intend the habit is out of control.
Seventy-four percent of women who were diagnosed with AUD have two or more children, and say that stress or nervousnes, romantic relationships, pressure from family or pals, a traumatic experience and boredom were contributing factors for their craving, a survey by Caron Treatment Centre found.
What we want to look at in women is: Are they self-medicating an underlying depression or nervousnes or rancors that have not been dealt with? Dr. Stacy Seikel, the clinical medical officer of Integrated Recovery Programs at RiverMend Health Center in Atlanta, told Fox News.
One way to tell whether you have a drinking problem is to try to stop drinking for a month. If you can give it up and replace your habit with healthier ways to coping, its not likely a number of problems, Siekel said.
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2. You cant remember anything .
If you already have mommy brain but its been hard to keep track of things, you have trouble focu or biding focused, and you easily build missteps, your drinking might be behind it.
Alcohol is amnesic, so it interferes with recollection circuitry, Dr. Joseph Garbely, medical director and vice president of medical services at Caron Treatment Centre in Wernersville, Pennsylvania, told Fox News.
3. Youre drinking more or earlier in the day.
Three drinks at a time or up to 7 drinks a week is considered a low-risk drinking limit. Yet nearly 30 percent of women have two drinks a day, and nearly 22 percent have three drinks a day, according to data from the National Institute of Health.
When one glass leads to two or three, you start drinking more every day, you pop open the bottle more quickly and earlier, or you need more booze to seem the same effect, its a possible sign that your habit is out of control.
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4. You have withdrawal symptoms.
If youre anxious, irritable or shaky when youre not drinking, or you cant sleep without a drink, your torso has become dependent on alcohol.
5. You are drinking and driving.
Between 1998 and 2007, the percentage of women arrested for DUI was up 28 percent, according to an FBI report. And in 2015, 14 percent of women with a blood booze content( BAC) of. 08 g/ dL or higher were involved in fatal crashes.
Of course you should never get behind the wheel when youve been drinking, but when booze interferes with your ability to take care of your kids or youre always hungover, its a sign your drinking behavior has become a problem.
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6. You cant stop thinking about it.
If you have strong cravings for booze, spend your day counting down the hours until you can have a drink, or re-arrange your schedule to do so, you are likely addicted to alcohol.
7. People in their own lives are worried.
Between paint and sip parties, school fundraisers or get-togethers with pals, drinking has become socially acceptable, especially among moms.
But when your spouse or others in their own lives have become worried about your booze, you should pay attention too.
When people who love you are concerned about you, typically that is a telltale sign that there needs to be at least an evaluation, Garbely said.
If you have any of these signs, its a good mind to get evaluated by a mental health professional who specializes in craving, or seek out a care program or a group like AA.
Julie Revelant is a health columnist and a consultant who furnishes content marketing and copywriting services for the healthcare industry. She’s also a mommy of two. Learn more about Julie at revelantwriting.com .
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