“Alcohol acts on the brain to dampen and depress thoughts, emotions and behaviours,” he explains “this creates a pleasurable, soporific effect.” It is this effect that can be so appealing if you’re self-medicating with alcohol. I’d been damaging my friendships and family relationships.”. I was on a diet for 18 years. His death left me stunned and devastated, but it also left me angry and full of resentment because of how he died. At 56, he died as a result of a heart attack due to the stress his drinking had placed on his other major organs. “But I convinced myself that it was a pulled muscle from the gym.” He'd been to see a doctor six months before going to Berlin, but, once they started talking, Alex says he was "so embarrassed" he ended up asking about the symptoms of liver damage "for a friend". His friend told him to stop drinking immediately, which he did. BBC Three Both Amy and Alex say that their experiences of alcohol addiction and its effects have completely changed the way they see drinking. It’s hardly surprising, then, that though young people say they drink less often, it seems that when they do drink, they do it to excess. His messy benders were becoming more regular, and he had even started turning up for work still drunk. The number of 16 to 24-year-olds who do not drink increased by 11% between 2005 and 2015, meaning that around a fifth of young people today are teetotal. With increased awareness of how addictive alcohol can be? “Her heart just stopped; it gave up because her organs were too weak.” But the two years leading up to this moment were not so peaceful. “Some people can drink a bottle of vodka every day and not experience the symptoms of dependency, while others can drink three pints a day and experience them,” he says. I would never go back to that life for love nor money whilst also never taking being sober for granted. Her dad died a number of years ago after abusing alcohol for as long as she can remember. For doctors, painkillers do really give them enormous power to heal, and if one is not keen, the power can get into his/her head. “Our parents used to call us ‘the girls’ because we were so close in age and I feel like part of me is missing now.”, Dr Sessa says treating alcohol-related liver disease is about more than simply tending to the physical symptoms. He said: "Alcohol can cause many problems, including crime, violence and anti-social behaviour, accidents and long term illness. I am an only child and my childhood memories are happy and full of love, but our relationship in those final few months was strained by his drinking. “For me, alcohol became a way of not feeling anything,” says Alex. Last week, this issue hit the headlines again with the inquest into the tragic death of first-year Newcastle university student Ed Farmer, who died from the "toxic effects" of drinking excessive alcohol on an "initiation-style" bar crawl. "I think alcohol gives you the illusion of being connected to other people - regardless of whether you’re an alcoholic or not. I came to my own conclusion I was probably a functioning alcoholic in reality but was not able to categorise myself that way to others so I decided to say I just needed to cut back a bit! A series called Addiction was aired on The Vice Channel, where several episodes dove into the reality of addiction in different parts of the world. Drinkers conspire to enable each other and make excuses for one another. The troubling thing about Alex's story is how relatable elements of it are. This got worse until I got to the point I would drink up to a bottle of vodka or a box of strong wine every day, but the scary thing was I was so used to the alcohol that people wouldn’t be aware I was drunk. But when your body begins to tell you enough is enough you know you have to do something. And, alcohol abuse is the top cause of it across the UK. For Alex, that weekend in 2012 was a crucial wake-up call that, potentially, saved his life. Stories in Sound: Under the Influence will broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Foyle on Sunday 29 September at 12:30 BST. In Britain, alcohol is ubiquitous. However, she was not eligible for a transplant because regardless of how unwell a person is, the NHS will only consider a liver transplant for people who have developed complications of cirrhosis despite having stopped drinking - and Carys hadn’t stopped. 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