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Alcohol Use: Do You Know All of the Risks?

If you are like many people, you may drink alcohol sometimes.  Or, like others, you may drink more often.  For women more than one drink per day is sometimes referred to as hazardous drinking.  For men more than two drinks per day can be hazardous.  Hazardous drinking can put you at risk for serious health problems. 

Drinking alcohol while taking certain medications can cause problems.  In fact, there are more than 150 medications that should not be mixed with alcohol.  For example, if you are taking certain cold or allergy medications and drink alcohol, the alcohol may increase the sleepiness that the medicine alone can cause, making driving dangerous.  If you take some pain medications that you bought at a store and drink alcohol, you are risking serious liver damage.  Check with your doctor or pharmacist before drinking any amount of alcohol if you are taking any store bought or prescription medicines.

There are also other health risks associated with drinking.  Alcohol affects almost every organ in the body.  Some problems can occur after drinking over a relatively short period of time.  But other problems such as liver disease, heart disease and certain forms of cancer often develop more slowly and may be found only after many years of heavy drinking.  Women develop alcohol-related health problems sooner than men, and from drinking less alcohol than men.

Source of above information: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (Printed with Permission)

The AUDIT-C© is a screening tool that can help identify people who are hazardous drinkers or may have other problems with alcohol.

Question 1: How often did you have a drink containing alcohol in the past year?

• Never (0 points)
• Monthly or less (1 point)
• Two to four times a month (2 points)
• Two to three times per week (3 points)
• Four or more times per week (4 points)

Question 2: How many drinks did you have on a typical day when you were drinking in the past year?

• 1 or 2 (0 points)
• 3 or 4 (1 point)
• 5 or 6 (2 points)
• 7 to 9 (3 points)
• 10 or more (4 points)

Question 3: How often did you have six or more drinks on one occasion in the past year?

• Never (0 points)
• Less than monthly (1 point)
• Monthly (2 points)
• Weekly (3 points)
• Daily or almost daily (4 points)

A score of 4 or more is considered positive for men; in women a score of 3 or more is considered positive.  The higher your score is, the more likely it is that your drinking could hurt you.

If you have a positive score on the AUDIT-C, or think you may have a problem with alcohol please talk to your PCP or contact the Community Care office in your county.  We can assist you with getting the help or information you need to reduce the risks of alcohol related health problems.

AUDIT-C© is copyrighted by The World Health Organization.

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