Driving After Imbibing Is Never Worth the Risk by Dr. David Lipschitz on Creators.com

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Driving After Imbibing Is Never Worth the Risk

For me, the thought of being drunk makes me feel ill to my stomach. I have personally experienced how alcohol abuse can wreak havoc in a family. Only when I learned that red wine had medicinal properties did I start having a glass on occasion.

Alcohol abuse ruins families, is a major underlying cause for violent crimes and contributes to many behaviors that can have disastrous results. About 1 in every 12 adults abuses alcohol; it is more common in men than in women; and the prevalence is highest in young adults age 18 to 29.

Even though the prevalence is lower in older people, alcohol's effect — particularly on someone taking multiple medications — can be more severe. A good definition of abuse is a woman who consumes more than three drinks at a time or seven drinks weekly or a man who has more than four drinks at a time or more than 21 drinks weekly.

The symptoms of alcohol dependence include an inability to stop drinking, a need to increase drinking to reach the desired effect and continued alcohol abuse, despite insight into the negative effects alcohol has on relationships and work performance. Severe symptoms such as sweating, nausea, confusion and seizures can occur when alcohol is withdrawn.

Alcohol abuse can manifest with symptoms similar to dementia and can affect the function of every part of the body. Heart and liver failure are not infrequent, nor are anemia and a series of neurological problems. Pain and numbness in the legs and arms from a disease called peripheral neuropathy, gait and balance difficulties, and severe behavioral problems are also not uncommon.

While alcohol abuse has devastating effects on the individual, his or her family and friends, nothing is more disastrous to others than someone who drives after drinking too much. According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control, 4 million people admit to drunken driving; however, the true number is much higher.

Of those admitting to driving under the influence, 81 percent are men, 85 percent are binge drinkers and 30 percent are in the 21-34 age group. It is estimated that over the course of a year, incidents of drunken driving occur over 147 million times.

Only a small fraction (1.4 million) of these incidents lead to an arrest for driving under the influence. But the damage is monstrous — in 2009, there were 10,839 fatalities, of which 1,314 were children. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, 1 in 3 Americans will be affected by a drunken driving wreck during their lifetime.

Needless to say, the chances of driving under the influence increases during December as we celebrate togetherness, Christmas and the ushering in of the new year. And many who do not usually drink may have one too many and fail to realize they are legally impaired.

Alcohol is rapidly absorbed into the body and reaches a maximum level about an hour after ingestion. Physical size and sex, frequency of drinking, food intake and medications all affect blood alcohol content. As little as two drinks could be sufficient to raise the blood alcohol content above 0.08 percent, a common legal threshold.

You do not need to be an alcohol abuser or an alcoholic to drive under the influence. Because I rarely drink, it does not take more than one drink to make me feel different, and after two drinks I feel inebriated. Anyone who drives impaired has the potential of ruining his life and the lives of others. No matter how much we feel the need to celebrate, never drink and drive. While a blood alcohol content below 0.08 percent may be considered a safe legal threshold, why take the chance? Why drink and drive at all? Always have a designated driver, or call a taxi or a friend. The potential consequences are just not worth the risk.

Dr. David Lipschitz is the author of the book "Breaking the Rules of Aging." To find out more about Dr. David Lipschitz and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. More information is available at:

www.drdavidhealth.com