Francesca, 16 years old, in therapy to detoxify from alcohol. “I don’t enjoy it anymore”
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Francesca is 16 years old, tall, thin and beautiful, studying at the classical high school and comes from a wealthy family in northern Rome, a family that discovered with disbelief during the lockdown that the girl was drinking. Much. She only beer, but the high-alcohol ones, 7 or 8 a day. Enough to become addicted. And when they thought of forbidding them Francesca became violent, she hit her mother, she threw herself against the furnishings in her house and God only knows what else she would have done. And her parents understood that their daughter – and themselves – needed specialist help. Because none of them would have made it alone.
Alcohol, alarm in Europe: the liver is at risk
by our correspondent Elvira Naselli
Francesca is not the only very young person to have passed through the doors of the clinic dedicated to those with alcohol addictions. And she is not even the youngest, since this record is held by a 12-year-old boy, who is also a drinker. When we read the warnings from the experts about the kids who drink, about that binge drinking which means downing six or seven units of alcohol in less than an hour at the weekend, about those who end up in an ethyl coma in the emergency rooms at the weekend, we don’t think to the faces of these kids and to the devastation of families. And we underestimate the fact that without those huge quantities of alcohol they think they can’t really have fun, they feel unlucky and laughed at by the group and for this reason even stopping drinking becomes a complicated path, and hindered by friends.
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“We treat 14-15 year olds – he says John of Sorrows, head of the Unit of Internal Medicine and alcohol-related pathologies of the Gemelli Polyclinic Foundation in Rome, which owns the clinic – kids who are my children’s age and when they enter the room I never stop thinking about them, and thinking about their parents of those kids. Fortunately, they have understood that they are faced with a pathology that needs to be treated and are asking for help. It’s the kids themselves who ask for help, especially when they have behind them license withdrawals for driving while intoxicated, school failures or sexual abuse taking advantage of alcohol stunning. After a while they don’t drink but they all tell you the same thing: “Professor, do you know I don’t enjoy it anymore? I don’t go out with friends anymore because I can’t drink, my boyfriend says I’m bored…”. And when they tell you, it’s warning you they’re about to relapse, because life isn’t acceptable to them like that.”
The difficulty of experiencing pleasure without substances
And when the terms of reference for pleasure, for fun, for feeling good become what you’ve tried with substances, whether alcohol or drugs, you’re screwed for life because there isn’t a single “physiological” thing that can make you feel the same. same pleasure. Doctors know this well, and perhaps these guys who are talked about so much also at the congress on liver diseases of the EASL (European Association for the Study of the Liver) will soon find out. underway in Vienna, because for them alcohol is even more dangerous: not being able to metabolize it, it stays around longer and has more time to do damage.
How much alcohol can I drink? There is no safe dose
by John of Sorrows
Francesca was aware of her alcohol problem when she showed up at the clinic with her dad. And she accepted the treatment. “These guys buy alcohol everywhere and no one ever asks for a document, at the supermarket or in small shops or pubs – continues Addolorato – it would be enough to enforce the law which provides for fines, closing periods and revocation of licenses, in the event of recurrence of the sale to minors”. If it were practically impossible to get alcohol here too, as happens in many countries, perhaps they would find a way around, but it would be one more obstacle.
Quitting is difficult
Giving up alcohol is a long, tiring journey and above all kids need the unconditional support of family and true friends. It begins with a 5-day hospitalization to detoxify, with drugs. Then begins the disassembly, a longer process, which always involves the use of drugs, entrusted to the parent to avoid inappropriate use, and individual and group psychotherapy. With Gemini’s Psychologists Group or Alcoholics Anonymous A-teen. Francesca followed the individual path but did not feel like participating in the groups. “After three months of abstinence, I decided to suspend Francesca’s drugs and continue with supportive therapy – continues Addolorato – ready to resume drug therapy in moments at risk. I see her every two weeks, more often at the beginning of the journey , once a week for the entire first month. He arrives with his parents, who however wait outside. With the agreement that if I need them, Francesca must agree to let them in”.
How many will actually be able to quit
How many of these kids will actually get themselves out of this impasse? “The scenarios are all open – admits the specialist, who in Vienna will speak precisely of the liver damage linked to alcohol intake and the use of pharmacological therapies – the most desirable obviously is that the minor stops. However, a share of them will become addicted and taking the results of our study on 2000 Roman teenagers at face value, if more than 60% binge drink and even a small percentage develop an addiction in the next few years we will have a very serious problem to deal with, without the necessary number of dedicated services and doctors “.
Taxes on drinks, plus tax if there’s more alcohol
How can we try to recover a situation that seems to have gotten out of hand in many countries? Perhaps precisely with the taxation policies hypothesized by the WHO director for the European Region Hans Kluge at the EASL congress in Vienna? “Yes, a considerable increase in taxes on alcohol would be an important signal, however dedicating the greatest income to prevention programs – reasons the specialist – and yes, it is right that a beer with double the alcohol content costs more than normal ones And then tighten surveillance on commercial premises to really ban the sale to minors and invest in information, with the idols of the kids who explain that they’re not losers if they don’t drink. The damage in kids is still reversible but not always: hepatitis acute alcoholic has a 70% mortality rate if not recognized and treated promptly.And when treatment is not responded to, there is no other way out than a liver transplant and even there, 70% die if an organ does not arrive.And we are talking about kids. ..”.
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