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17 Results for search "Alcohol: Misc.".

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You're likely to hear it more than once during your pregnancy: "Go ahead, have a drink -- one little glass of wine won't hurt the baby." Older friends and relatives will insist that in their day, casual drinking was common during pregnancy. "And look at us," they'll add cheerfully. "We all turned out just fine." Are these well-meaning friends right? The answer is a resounding no. It may help you t...

Like many college students, Kathy Morrison was an expert at remote learning. While her professors lectured on physics and Shakespeare, Morrison would often stay in bed, giving herself a remote chance to pass. She had her reasons for skipping classes. Sometimes she was exhausted from the odd jobs she held to help pay her tuition -- babysitter, cocktail waitress, and convenience store clerk, among ...

If you have diabetes, everything you eat and drink takes on extra importance. You have to ask yourself whether that bowl of pasta will boost your blood sugar, and naturally you wonder if you can get away with having a little dessert. You may also wonder if it's OK to drink alcohol. You probably won't find beer or wine on any official "diabetic menu," but if your diabetes is well-controlled, a dr...

What is pancreatitis? The pancreas is a small, hard-working organ that sits behind the lower part of your stomach. A center that manufactures digestive juices and enzymes (which break down food in the stomach so the body can absorb it) and hormones such as insulin, it usually goes about its business without causing any trouble. But if something damages the organ, it can become inflamed, often cau...

"God in His goodness sent the grape to cheer both great and small. Little fools drink too much and great fools none at all." -- Anonymous Ask a doctor about preventing heart disease, and you'll hear a lot of clear-cut advice. Saturated fat: bad. Smoking: very bad. Exercise: excellent. Ask a doctor about alcohol and the heart, however, and the easy answers disappear. Depending on how it's used, al...

What are 12-step programs Since 1935 -- the year that Alcoholics Anonymous was founded -- millions of people have turned to 12-step programs to help them overcome often life-threatening addictions or self-destructive behaviors. The 12-step approach combines group support with specific activities or steps that are intended to move a person closer to recovery. The concept has expanded greatly since...

If you're talking to your kid about the important issues in life, the subject of alcohol is bound to come up. In some ways, the "alcohol talk" is a lot like the "sex talk": Ideally, you'll have the discussion long before your child really needs it. Learning about alcohol at an early age can keep him or her from making mistakes and dealing with unpleasant consequences later on. But if your teen has...

When it comes to teen drinking, parents would be wise not to look the other way. The consequences -- from drunk driving accidents to date rape and violent crime -- make it clear that teen drinking is much more than just harmless youthful experimentation. The damage done Ideally, no parent wants his or her teen to drink. First, it's illegal -- and according to the U.S. Department of Justice, 131...

What is alcohol abuse? Many people enjoy drinking alcohol in social settings or to relax. But sometimes people may find they're drinking too much. And when heavy drinking leads to health, work, or relationship problems, it's a form of alcohol abuse. Experts say that alcohol abuse is marked by one or more of the following problems: continuing to drink despite alcohol-related problems; indulging in ...

Casual drinking is a common ritual in our culture -- from campus keg parties, to a "beer and a dog" at the ballgame, to a nice bottle of wine on the dinner table. In countless advertisements, fun-loving youth frolic on the beach with beer cans in hand: To drink is to be happy, the tantalizing ads promise. But while it's hard to deny the pleasures of a gin and tonic on a lazy summer evening, for mi...

The drunken college freshman managed to crawl into the dormitory bathroom, but that's as far as he got. I found him lying in a toilet stall, barely coherent, with purplish vomit dripping down his chin. As the resident adviser (RA), I had to do something. But nobody ever taught me how to deal with alcohol poisoning, and I had never bothered to find out. I wiped off his face and let him lean on me a...

In March 2007, an 18-year-old college freshman at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, went into cardiac arrest after a night of heavy drinking at a campus fraternity. Thirty hours later, he was dead. In November 2006, an 18-year-old freshman with a blood alcohol content of 0.19 fell to his death from a fifth-floor balcony at the University of Texas. Two years earlier, another Univer...

You've heard the adage that "drinking and driving don't mix." But if you've ever been in a bar around closing time, you know that a lot of people haven't gotten the message. A report from researchers at Boston University estimates that Americans take about 820 million drives each year after drinking. Almost 20 percent -- 159 million -- of those drivers are legally drunk when they take the wheel. ...

In my mother's hospital room there was a single window, and if you stood before the window, you could see the Aerial Bridge. In Minnesota this is a famous bridge, often photographed on postcards, and around the bridge stretched Lake Superior, flat and pearled and vast as the sea. My mother told me over the telephone that she had a view of the lake. I was standing in my kitchen in California and wi...

If you're over 60, you may use alcohol in much the way you did when you were younger. You may have a glass of wine at a meal, a beer or two at a ball game, or a gin and tonic at a party with friends. And if your doctor says it's fine for you to drink, there's probably nothing wrong with it. But if you've found yourself feeling tense and irritable when you're not drinking, you may have a problem....

Is substance abuse a problem among seniors? While the nation wages war on marijuana, cocaine, and other street drugs, roughly one out of five seniors struggles with a different kind of substance abuse. The drugs that have them in their grip -- prescription medications and alcohol -- are perfectly legal, but that doesn't make the addictions any less devastating to older people and their families. ...

If you look carefully at liquor, beer, and wine bottles, you'll find a warning about drinking during pregnancy. But these cautionary labels don't tell the whole story. Alcohol has many effects on a woman's body -- effects that any mom-to-be should know. Take this short quiz to test your knowledge of alcohol and pregnancy. 1. What's generally considered to be the "safe" limit for drinking while...