One of my favourite actors recently left this world prematurely due to frail health caused by chronic excessive drinking. It is sad, because Warut Woratham, once the country's No.1 heartthrob, had managed to quit drinking and opted for a healthy lifestyle a few years prior to his death, but the alcohol-related damage to his health had been done. Warut was just 49 when he died.
The loss of such a talented and attractive actor is a precious lesson to many. His fate has prompted me to look at myself and check whether I might have drunk too much alcohol at some points in my life (in the past, admittedly, yes). When in my 20s, I loved to party and drink heavily twice a week with my friends. Like a number of people, whenever I felt bad I opted for drinking to drown out the feelings. The worst came when it reached a level that I hid a bottle of whiskey under the car driver's seat, and drank up my family's entire collection of brandy, whisky, vodka and gin, and then filled all the empty bottles with water to cover up my wrongdoing.
Luckily, in my 30s I managed to stop partying and drinking. And yet I fell victim to a belief that drinking one glass of red wine or two is good for one's health, and it turned out to be an expensive habit. Soon, I decided to quit my daily glass of wine. In my 40s, I occasionally drink wine, cocktails or beer at parties and never exceed my own limit of four glasses per occasion. More importantly, I do not drink when I must drive home. If I know in advance that it is a full-blown party, I do not drive there but take a taxi for the safety of myself and others.
According to the WHO's "Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test: Guidelines For Use In Primary Care", people need alcohol-use screening, because their drinking habits can cause risks or danger to themselves and others. Drinking habits range from everyday heavy drinking to binge drinking, getting drunk often and, in the worst case, alcoholism, which can cause illnesses, accidents, injuries, or even death. The WHO's test classifies alcohol drinking into hazardous drinking (causing risks but no illnesses yet), harmful use (causing physical and mental health and social problems), and alcohol dependence (excessive drinking causing behavioural, memory and physical health problems; failing to control one's drinking limits; continuing to drink despite knowing the negative consequences; and drinking and neglecting one's work and duties).
Alcohol use can cause different health, social and legal problems, as well as road and work-related accidents. Among the common illnesses are hypertension, peptic ulcers, diabetes, brain-artery disorders and depression. Alcohol use is also a major cause of oral cancer. Chronic excessive drinking can cause hepatomegaly and pancreatitis. Clinical screening procedures and lab tests by specialists are required to check the health conditions of drinkers. Those found to have conjunctival injection, abnormal skin vascularisation, hand tremors, tongue tremors and hepatomegaly need professional help.
Although many health problems are common among those with alcoholism, drinking 20-40g of pure alcohol per day can cause accidents, injuries and social problems. To gauge your own drinking habit, you need to know that a standard drink varies according to countries and cultures. A standard drink per day must not exceed 8g of pure alcohol for England, 14g for the United States, 10g for Australia and New Zealand, 13.6g for Canada and 19.75g for Japan. Generally, each 330ml can of beer contains 13g of pure alcohol. Each 140ml glass of wine contains 13.3g of alcohol, and a 40ml glass of whisky contains 12.6g of alcohol. The WHO test mentioned above sets a standard drink at 10g per day and suggests at least two days of rest (no drinking) per week.
Regular drinkers trying to quit should beware withdrawal syndromes, especially in cases when one stops drinking abruptly after at least 14-21 consecutive days of drinking 16 ounces (450g) of whisky per day, according to an article by Ramathibodi Hospital. Therefore, you need professional help if you have a serious drinking problem. No one but you can control your drinking habit. If you choose not to quit, just do not drink and drive.
Pichaya Svasti is a travel writer for the Life section of the Bangkok Post.
