Alcoholism is a sickness that approximately 5 to 7 percent of the human population is susceptible to. It is not a gender specific illness. The incidence of young women going out and partying has increased dramatically. The patients are found across the various strata of society. Maria Cardozo, who wrote a book about the effect of alcohol on families, ‘Diamonds under my feet’, said that during her research, she came across women alcoholics who did not like to come out in the open. The journey of the female alcoholic is varied in Goa.
Slipping into alcoholism
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In 2011, Sukanya (name changed) began living in a tiny village of North Goa. A former NGO director who led a busy life, she now had more time and joined a yoga class where she was introduced to new friends who would drink on their holiday in Goa. Sukanya picked up a drink at the age of 40. She did not know that her genetic tendency to alcoholism was 90 percent as both her maternal and paternal sides exhibited alcoholism. Sukanya’s drinking habit remained restricted to 1 or 2 pegs of whiskey at a frequency of once or twice a week, in this period of two years of active drinking. With the guidance of her husband, also a de-addiction NGO founder, Sukanya came to the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in Goa, well in time before the chronic deadly illness of alcoholism could damage her.
When death was a release
AA North Goa helpline received a call from a husband whose young wife, Rebecca (name changed) was having a drinking problem. For a year Rebecca managed to stay away from drink but later her desire was too much and she sadly passed away from chronic alcoholism within a year.
Understanding it is a disease is important
Jyoti (name changed) is a 33 year old mother to a 10-year-old son living in Panjim. Her legs hurt due to the long hours of standing required at her job in a boutique, she found taking a drink in the afternoon helped her deal with the pain. Her owner began discovering empty quarters of whiskey in the shop and in a few instances found Jyoti completely inebriated and passed out. Jyoti was very fortunate to have an employer who understood the condition. He arranged for Jyoti to be sent to a woman’s rehab in Mangalore in agreement with her husband.
Jyoti went through the stages of detox and stabilization of cravings with medical support available at the rehabilitation centre and was introduced to the AA-12 step program. Jyoti joined the AA meetings at Don Bosco in Panjim and every Tuesday and Friday her kind employer made sure that she attended the meetings. A year has passed in this routine of work, home and meetings.
Seeking professional help
A senior professional who runs a rehabilitation centre in Mangalore said, “We get a lot of women from Goa. There is certainly an increase in the number of cases involving women. Now people know it is a disease. Out of every ten alcoholics, 2 or 3 will be a woman. Women are more independent and start drinking in their teens. I have been working in this field for 14 years and we get inquiries every month from Goa. The youngest case I have dealt with is a 19 year old girl. Many of them go to Goa Medical College, Bambolim and they then come here. We provide them with the encouragement and the motivation to stay dry.”
What do the doctors say?
Dr Rajesh Patil, HOD, Emergency Medicine &Trauma, Goa Medical College, said the numbers of cases of women alcoholics were consistently increasing and this was visible from the time when Covid struck. He said, “People were staying at home and ordering everything including alcohol. As health professionals, we can see that out of every 100 women, nearly 6 percent are alcoholic. And this number will continue to increase until the family does not get involved.”
Many times, the patients are shy to address this issue and then it gets worse. He adds, “In the surgical department, we get at least one a month without fail. We have to deal with the effects of alcoholism like cirrhosis of the liver. The woman’s liver weighs around 950 grams in comparison to that of a man which weighs around a kilo and a half. The alcohol can affect a woman’s liver very fast.” He said it was difficult to get figures because women would not come out. If there was a medical emergency and when an investigation was conducted then it would come out that the woman was an alcoholic.
