More and more young women are dying from alcoholism. Jaroslava, now a recovering alcoholic, recounted his story to the newspaper. In bad moments, she can even drink five liters of wine a day.
In the Czech Republic, the number of women destroyed by alcoholism is increasing. Illustrative photo
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“My skin was peeling, my husband had to carry me to the toilet, I had to take me to the hospital for a drip because I couldn’t eat. I went there with a bottle of wine because I drank so much,” thirty-seven-year-old dancer Jaroslava tells me in a Prague cafe. At that time, his alcohol consumption reached four to five liters of wine per day. Until recently, she was one of those crushing young women Alcohol addiction. According to experts, their number is increasing.
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Jaroslava’s story seemed innocent. After high school, he moved from western Bohemia to Prague, where he got a job behind a bar. Later, she started dancing for a living. “I had a lot of work then. I worked hard and followed my dream. I always wanted to dance. I tried going to competitions and used alcohol as fuel. I thought I was recharging my batteries, maybe for a while,” says Jaroslava.
Five liters of wine a day
He also solved personal problems with alcohol. She admits that she doesn’t have a very good relationship with her seriously ill mother and her marriage isn’t great either. At first she drank only in the evening, and then at lunch. Then she started having a glass for breakfast and then for breakfast
“Subtly, it became an addiction. I had to constantly be in some sort of position to function,” the woman recalls today.
She suddenly began to discover that if she drank a glass of wine first thing in the morning, she would get rid of morning sickness and feel better. Those years are still a blur to her today, but six years ago she admitted she had a problem. She had no idea how big it was. Meanwhile, she Drinking alcohol She escalated until suddenly she found she couldn’t be without him. She started with about two liters of wine a day, but over time this amount increased to four to five liters.
People often solve personal problems with alcohol. Illustrative photo
She bought small bottles of wine, which she hid in her closet. She also kept the bottle in her purse. She tried to hide her addiction from her husband. “I couldn’t sleep then. It was because I had a lot of alcohol in me, but at the same time I had to fill it up. So, for example, I went to the toilet at night and drank at least half a liter of wine so that I could go back to bed. I haven’t slept in a year,” he says.
In addition, her mother’s condition deteriorated and she was transferred to Prague to take care of her. However, at the same time, she was constantly “intoxicated”. She discovered that she needed to have at least two-and-a-half percent blood alcohol to function. “Then mine went to hell Relationship with husband. I couldn’t help myself,” says Jaroslava, after which her mother died in hospital.
Down the steep way
Then it quickly took off. She immediately threw up what she drank. She had to go out with the color and she agreed with her husband that she was undergoing treatment. In the fall of 2018, he started for three months Therapy in Prague Ponies. But five weeks later, he signed a reversal and returned home before Christmas. She lasted fifteen days without alcohol.
In February, she went back to the drug department, this time to the clinic Addiction at Apolinář in Prague. “After a week I felt better. They warned me that if I didn’t continue the treatment, I wouldn’t make it, but I was convinced that I could do it. I went home and I was without alcohol for a fortnight,” he said before buying another bottle. She recalls the moment she went to the store, when she realized she couldn’t control her addiction.
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She returned to Bonis for a third detox. But two weeks later, she signed the other side. This time she lasted a week without alcohol. “One day I threw my phone in the corner, lay in bed and couldn’t get up from it. “My husband took leave to take care of me,” the woman recalls.
But the worst days are yet to come. It was clear she needed to go back for treatment, but she had to wait a week before going to the clinic In Apollinaris Frees up space. Her memory comes from the time her husband took her to the hospital for a drip because she couldn’t even eat anymore. “On May 7, 2019, I went to Apollinaria for drugs, and because I didn’t have enough alcohol, I took two and a half million breaths while knocking myself out. But I told myself I had to deal with it. I knew if I didn’t finish it, I’d die. It was hell,” he said. He looks back.
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High mortality rate
The Addiction Clinic is located on a quiet Apolinaske Street, across from the Botanical Garden of Charles University in Prague. “Few people realize that our patients have a high mortality rate. We estimate the number of deaths from alcohol at five thousand a year, which is a high number. It’s hundreds less with high alcohol consumption. Most deaths are due to other diagnoses. People drink and suffer from cirrhosis of the liver, cancer or injuries,” he says. The head of the hospital Michael Miowsky.
The women’s ward has a total of 24 beds and due to the increasing number of patients, there is a two-month waiting period for them. Two more months in the narcotics unit. Earlier, the waiting time was very short. “One in six women who die between the ages of 35 and 44 are due to alcohol consumption. In Prague, women have the highest alcohol-related death rate in the whole country – unlike men, the alcohol-related death rate is very low in Prague,” says doctor Olga Pesinovska, who heads the Women’s Department.
The characteristics of women drinkers are also changing. They often come with a disability already, and cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 30 to 40 is no exception. The doctor recounts the sad experience, “If they relapse into alcohol after treatment, they die before they are forty.”
He sees many reasons behind the increasing number of young women becoming addicted to alcohol. The basics are its availability and social tolerance for its consumption. “Alcohol provides stimulation and relaxation, which is welcomed by a woman who feels inadequate in some way, who wants more from herself than her true potential, or a woman who has not learned to deal with life’s obstacles and wants to satisfy her. It is needed quickly without any effort,” explains Pesinowska.
No more alcohol
Getting rid of addiction is not easy. It requires a four-month treatment program, followed by a three-year follow-up program. However, if the patient experiences it, there is an eighty percent chance of long-term or permanent abstinence.
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However, many women return to rehab because their addiction overwhelms them again. “Among our patients who have been abstinent for more than ten years, there are women who relapsed within the first year after treatment. When they were treated for relapse they filled in their cognitive gaps and now they live Quality life without alcohol. Over time, most of them quit smoking,” says the doctor.
Jaroslava is also on the right track. Her ex-husband left her, but today she has a new family and has been given another chance. “I’ve been abstinent for three and a half years and I feel better and better. Better than I was in my twenties. But I should never drink again,” he adds as he finishes his lemonade.
