Alcohol Use Disorder, Naltrexone and TSM

The life of a much loved mother and vibrant woman from our school community was cut short recently. She was intoxicated and while resisting help to get into an ambulance, fell and hit her head and went into a coma.  She died two days later. The shock followed by the tittering of gossip (yes, normal) was followed by personal introspection (normal). Perhaps you are you asking yourself, "could this have been me?" I’m sure I’m not the only person who has been told that this beautiful person had a problem with alcohol.  There was no malice but it does shine a light on how our society processes that information. Out of respect for our friend, it's vitally important to dispel some common myths here. "Why couldn't they just stop?"  No one sets out to or wants to become alcohol dependent. If it was as easy as "just stopping" then there would be no alcoholics. "They must have been unhappy!"  No, it's purely an addiction.  The brain o...

The normalisation of alcohol in Australia has been happening since the First Fleet when rum was the only drink of choice. The Australian Government (who take their cut via bond) normalises it by allowing it to be advertised during sporting events when children are watching. (Of course there is gambling too - another government "sponsored" addiction!) I missed the SBS Insight program called "Wine O'Clock" and will watch it later on iView but I suspect it's going to make me very angry. Angry for all the pain and shame that people are living in when the cure is close at hand. If no one talks, no one knows...about both the problem and the cure. The promo on the SBS website reads, "Recent statistics from the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education show drinking is on the rise among mid-life women. “This is not a teenage story. These are women who are usually highly functioning, career-and motherhood oriented, who then begin or return to drink...