I awoke to an email from NPR (National Public Radio) telling of an alarming new trend. A scientific study has shown that alcohol consumption amounts the young has skyrocketed. A young man was profiled – he had turned yellow because his liver was not functioning properly.
Data came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention covering the period from 1999 to 2016. The analysis revealed that deaths from liver-related illnesses have increased dramatically, and mortality in young people rose the fastest. Although these illnesses can be caused by several things including obesity and hepatitis C infection, the rise among young Americans was caused by alcohol consumption. The number of 25- to 34-year-olds who died annually from alcohol-related liver disease nearly tripled between 1999 and 2016, from 259 in 1999 to 767 in 2016, an average annual increase of around 10 percent.
The reason for the spike is not known but Dr. Neehar Parikh has a theory:”It correlates with the global financial crisis. We hypothesize that there may be a loss of opportunity, and the psychological burden that comes with that may have driven some of those patients to abusive drinking.”
What is so troubling because people are killed in the prime of their life. Liver related illnesses are becoming increasingly prevalent. A recent study of veterans found that cirrhosis cases nearly doubled between 2001 and 2013. All of this is new – usually liver cirrhosis happened after 30 years of heavy alcohol consumption but this is showing that problems are occurring in individuals in their 20s and thirties.
The yellow skin of the young man struck a chord. Mh favorite aunt in the whole world turned up yellow and her doctor in Victoria B,C, called my during my 1980 California days. He spoke of her hardened liver.
Me: Could it be related to her drinking?
He: Her drinking???
Well apparently she had not told him about her drinking, I guess she had sort of stopped after moving from Alberta to B.C, So it was a rocky road but she quit and started to get healthy but then she got cancer of the esophagus and then of the larynx and she died in 1985, she was not quite 60. I loved her so much, so very much. She was all I had because I had such a miserable family. When she died I wanted to die. I was by the Pacific Ocean and was going to drown myself but I didn’t – obviously. So sometimes one opens their computer and reads a scientific study and one is thrown back in time.
By the way, you negative people, I am not an alcoholic. My doctor says I am not and encourages my drinking based on scientific studies. My blog of April 9, 2017 discusses the studies in some detail. I have the studies as my brilliant doctor provided me with copies. So actually I am supposed to drink as I will live longer and have a better quality of life. I care not if some of you do not believe me, it is not opinion, it is fact and you do not even know the difference between the two.
As you can see, I am in a grouchy mood. It is because it is hot out and I HATE heat. If I lived near the Equator I would become a mass murderer aa I once told a man who was going to Malaysia. He did not take me with him and has actually returned to Vancouver, just in time for the heat wave.
I sent the following email to friend Tracey. I am going to her place in Burnaby for lunch on Thursday.
Me: How I hate this heat HATE, detest, abhor. I went to the gym and trained indoors – then stopped off at VAG and then to Hy’s for lunch where it was cold and dark. I came home to an air conditioner. Stayed here in nightgown which is cooling. Cancelled my hair appointment. I will either die or in the alternative – get used to it. I am hoping for death at this moment. So looking forward to seeing you guys! Alexis
I am so grouchy that I even had a fight with Sir Richard. I got to gym dressed in a hat, tights, a short sleeved shirt and a top – all color coordinated and everything.
HeL What are you doing wearing a dress?
Me: This is not a dress and you are being rude! You should be saying something else.
He: You are looking very nice today.
Me: That is better! Thank you very much.
I was complaining about Sir Richard at VAG. A wonderful gentleman had a clever idea.
He: He probably does not have any fashion sense. No sense of elan.
Me: Why dd not I think of that? I mean, he comes from Swindon.
He: That explains everything.
I ate meat at Hy’s. There were vegetables on the plate but I left some of them. I will inform Matthew as he is concerned about my vegetarian habits. I heard today that it is so hot in the UK that to has turned from green to brown. I was thinking of emailing some UK out of doors guy and telling him that God was punishing him with bad weather because of his treatment of me. Bad Karma and all but I contained myself. Let sleeping dogs lie.
