Cirrhosis: More men dying young
Tuesday 25th October 2011, 3:00PM BST.
Consultant gastro-enterologist Dr David Ng
MORE young people in Jersey are dying from cirrhosis of the liver caused by over consumption of alcohol than in the past.
Alcohol-related liver disease caused the death of a man in the Island who was under 30 – a situation which Consultant gastro-enterologist Dr David Ng described as being a disturbing age to be having cirrhosis symptoms.
Dr Ng said that in line with trends in the UK, a lot more younger people in their late 30s and early 40s, mostly men, were being diagnosed in the Island with liver problems caused by heavy drinking.
An appeal for funds has been launched in Jersey by Professor Roger Williams for the Foundation for Liver Research.
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Now you tell us!
We have known this for decades but there are still a lot of people who don’t know why drinking is so bad in Jersey, want to change or admit it is a problem.
There are support groups for drinkers but even they don’t know why or are willing to listen to the truth.
Good luck to you all, you will need it living in lies.
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And why are they on the P***…..despair at the spiraling cost of living.depressed by crap faux leadership that only leads their mates into new Audi’s and a feeling of disillusionment that is then slaked in the depressant drug alcohol…
No surprises there then………..
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UK drinking habits: Quantity not quality
It s far more dangerous than some over drugs like cannabis and still nothing changes.
In California they are all medicating and apparently consumption of alcohol is not the trend.
As long as alcohol is profitable, taxable : it s ok to consume. How many people lost their lives due to alcohol behavior & drink driving, health issues and so on….
I can count three dead on my side, so you can put the prices up every year, nothing will ever change.
It s all in the culture, not in the wallet, if you can’t afford a Magners, you can always get Diamond cider.
And the days the pub closing time will extend, may be some will start enjoying a drink instead of downing your drinks before you can hear the bell.
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Heavy drinking in Jersey? What a surprise! People out there, take responsibility for your own actions, nobody forces the stuff down your neck and since I can remenber, drinking alcohol to excess has always been bad for you! at the end of the day, it is a drug.
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Truthseeker #2
Your post is ridiculous. By your logic, if costs are spiralling then surely people can’t afford the costs of alcohol in the first place.
The problem is people like to drink for many reasons and some are more prone to addiction than others and once alcohol takes a hold on your mind it is almost impossible to shake. As someone who has personal experience in watching someone very close slowly die from the addiction I can assure you it was not because their mates had more than they did, it was not because they were poor and it was nothing to do with politics.
Do everyone a favour and stop using every angle you can to spout your political nonsense.
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A lot of people gravitate towards the pub in the evenings or at weekends because they are in dire cramped accomodation with nothing to do. They drown their sorrows in alcohol. This will probably escalate as the Island becomes more divided into a ‘them’ and ‘us’ society.
Drinking IS a grave problem in Jersey, as is drug taking. The authorities have always known about the alcohol problems, but as a previous commentor has said, no worries as it brings in taxes.
Jersey denied its drugs problems until it became a BIG problem – no income from that source.
So sad when people get drawn into addictive behaviour.
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lets think, sit behind a desk , day in day out , year in year out , same old thing on the screen. ( this would make me drink)
how well the island is doing , so we are told , we are all living the dream, or is it just island life drunken haze .
from 18 to 40 i guzzled the stuff, but these days drink less, far less.
the pubs have priced me out the door .
the unemployed young people , what to do all day every day, look for the job that does not exist?
or have drink to pass the day?
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some folk drink to drown their sorrows to create a false illusion.
some drink to escape a miserable existence to give them a few hours of contact with others,more so those living in digs you wouldn’t put a dog in.
If it gives them a few hours of relief,who are we to condemn them?
As the saying goes-”Let them without sin cast the first stone”
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JG 6
You are correct thankfully there is someone who knows what is going on, i have said and posted this for years, but sadly its well known and the real issues are ignored and passed over, as for Joker post 5 its this ignorance and lack of understanding of the real problems that continues to add to the problem!!
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I understand the reasons whey people drink and drown their sorrows for deficiencies in life in the present, but what people don’t seem to understand is that they have only ONE LIFE, and are on the earth ONCE, and to die and leave behind family and friends is such a waste. It saddens me to be in a position to tell loved ones that there father, brother, uncle, friend that they died as a drunk. It’s so wrong in every way to have that label as one’s final legacy. I appeal to those who have alcoholic liver disease to reflect on their behaviour and to save themselves from drink, and spare their families from the shame of knowing they died from too much drink.
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Well, people must be drinking at Home, because they sure are not doing it in Pubs.
Very rearly you go in a Pubs now days and see more than 5 or 6 people drinking, And don’t count the “Gastro Pubs” because people eat and F**k off!!
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I drink a bottle of wine every night, I don’t get plastered it just helps me wind down after the stress of a working day. I’m not alone, most of my friends do the same and judging by the amount of empty wine bottles in the communal bin area most others do also.
So what is heavy drinking? is it a bottle of scotch a day, is it a bottle of wine, or is it as we are lead to believe anything more than 2 bottles of beer. The problem is that we all know people who drink regularly and they live to a grand old age, it’s only those hammering the hard stuff that decline and die prematurely.
I’d say smoking is a much bigger problem, half of all smokers die of smoking related illnes and half of those that survive suffer smoking related issues, that leaves one in four smokers untouched, I still see kids smoking on the way to school. So please clarify, what is the definition of heavy drinking.
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Dr Ng
Who on earth do you think you are, stating “spare the families from the shame of knowing they died from too much drink”?
As a doctor you should recognise that alcoholism is a disease, and why should a family feel shame that one of their members died from a disease? Should a family feel shame if someone dies from heart disease due to being overweight? Or because of smoking? Or a heart attack brought about by jogging?
Your judgmental attitude is sadly too common in the medical profession, which is exactly that, a profession. People are not obligated to follow your advice, and many do not appreciate the condescending tone that it is often delivered with.
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Dr Ng #10
Trouble is once past a certain stage a lot of these people are no longer in control of their own minds. The person you know dies inside and is replaced by a machine that is fuelled only by alcohol. Once the personality dies, so does the meaning of loved ones and therefore any shred of will power the person may have had. Telling them to think of their loved ones at this stage is pointless because their brain only recognises one desire and one function… where can I get my next drink.
There is little support for people in such a state. Sure there’s the AA and other support groups but these are pseudo religious (the AA handbook mentions the word God more times than the word addiction) and rely solely on the afflicted persons will power and therefore only capture those in the early stages of addiction. In my opinion the law needs to be changed so that people who are assessed to be beyond self help can be sectioned (like anyone trying causing self harm) and put onto a programme to get them slowly back to a position where they are capable of making rational decisions again. Unfortunately the way the system works is once people reach this stage they receive the least amount of support and it is left for the hospital to pick up the pieces time and time again until the inevitable happens.
There will be some that will ask why should we spend tax money and bother to help these people and I have to say I can sympathise with those people. But if the state is going to tell me I can’t eat crisps, is to tax fatty foods, ban smoking, erect speed cameras, enforce cycle helmets, not allow people to dicipline children and other nanny state panderings to long to list then why not also help these people in their greatest hour of need?
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Dr Ng is to be applauded for re flagging this issue which is endemic on the island.once described as 60,000 Alcoholics clinging to a rock in the channel….numbers have risen but it’s not far off the mark…..anyone with a drink problem should contact Alcoholics Anonymous…where help from those who really know what it’s all about as they have been there and come back is absolutely free and a fantastic resource…..
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Well said Dr Ng, and being at the front of such sadness must be difficult. You must be be amazed when you read stupid comments like Truthseeker above who blames the system for alcohol abuse – this is typical of those who like to blame externalities for behaviour, when one has choice in their behaviour.
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Well said Dr Ng! There are sadly no excuses left once the life is gone.
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@ Phil No13
I sincerely hope you never require the help of Dr Ng, who is just about as far away from ‘condescending’ as any man can get.
A doctor will only tell you that you shouldn’t be drinking if you have turned up whining about problems you have BECAUSE you are drinking. Same as if you go to a doctor for say, bronchitis, and you are a smoker, do you expect them to tell you ‘yeah go on have a puff it’s fine’??!!!
Don’t be so ridiculous Phil, engage your brain, alcoholism is a disease you can CHOOSE not to increase your suffering of by continuing or not to drink!
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Over a third of the doctors in the NHS are from overseas whilst UK natives trained as doctors in the NHS at taxpayers expense often and in large numbers have to go abroad to gain positions due to the open door policy in the UK and NHS. That saddens me as much as Dr NG’s post.
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John Nettles while playing Bergerac in the 80′s described Jersey as 80,000 alocoholics clinging to a rock.
Only one thing has changed.. there are now 100,000 alcoholics clinging to the rock.
The States will never do anything serious about alcohol or cigarettes because they make too much money our of it!!! It also keeps the natives happy!
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Dr Ng – it is most refreshing that you have taken part in this thread. However, it is a problem which is a huge issue, not unique to Jersey, but most certainly a huge part of the ‘Jersey Way’ inasmuch as the perception of Jersey as a wonderful Island with no problems of this kind has taken priority over the real issues that lead to this.
Dr Ng – you should not have to tell family and loved ones that their nearest and dearest died ‘as a drunk’, but rather that they suffered from an illness called addiction.
A huge difference.
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Dr Ng buddhists have it that you keep coming back until you get it right, so there will be plenty of time to contemplate on future visits if you are sent back that is.
Many people tend to drink when they are stressed and p!55ed off with life and made to feel like failures. As with drugs more and more is required to get the same buzz as before, before you know it you are on a downward spiral which can be very hard to break out of.
No surprises then that this is becoming epidemic in Jersey, as with drugs it is a way to blot out the life enriching lives they live. Suicide levels are also higher than would be expected per head of population.
Sorting out conditions at work would help. Instead of grinding people into the abyss, make work more enjoyable for the vast majority and make the workers feel appreciated and not make them feel like a piece of toilet paper.
I blame to a large extent this capitalistic consumeristic system and its spreading of propaganda, pushing material possessions as a way to nirvana when it is the exact opposite.
Those that don’t achieve are constantly reminded of their so called failure by subliminal advertising all over the place.
Basically if you aren’t so called successful you are a failure according to modern day propaganda, when this is far from the real truth.
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Personally i would like the option to use safer drugs than Alcohol, such as Cannabis and MDMA, but of course in spite of evidence to the contrary from the ACMD (the UK Govenments Drug Advisory Panel), our all knowing masters have decided that these substances are extremely harmful, and i would run the risk of getting the door busted in by the Police at any moment and getting criminal record.
So to the Off License it is to purchase my Alcohol and Cigarettes (which incidentally kill 100′s of thousands of people in the UK) every year, rather than to the nearest dealer for my Cannabis and MDMA (Cannabis which has never directly killed anyone in history, MDMA which has killed a few hundred people since the early 90′s, with hundreds of millions of doses taken in that time) SIGH….
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Adrian – typical you blame everything on capitalism. The facts are medical advances, quality of life, life expectancy are a direct result of capitalism, and the social capitalist view. Alcohol related disease is not (as Dr Ng will agree) not related to a social class, in fact wealthy people also suffer from them – albeit a result of decent wine and champagne.
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The issue is that drinking alcohol is a large part of European culture. Birthdays, Christmas, weddings – champagne! Hard day at work? Have a pint- you deserve it. Want to thank the neighbour for feeding your cat? Nice bottle of red.
There’s nothing wrong with any of that, it’s part of who we are. The problem is that some people find they can’t stop. When they do want to stop, alcohol is all around them presenting itself as a culturally acceptable option in so many situations.
So we all have to find ways to navigate this drinking culture, enjoy it, without becoming dependant on the drug which is alcohol.
My rule for myself is to make sure that in any given week, there are more days when I don’t drink alcohol than days when I do.(OK sometimes only one more) And never get plastered.It’s embarrassing in company and downright sad on your own. That seems to work for me.
The other thing I would say is use alcohol to celebrate- fine. But don’t use it to drown your sorrows. It doesn’t work as an emotional prop, it makes things worse.
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Adrian #22
“Many people tend to drink when they are stressed and p!55ed off with life and made to feel like failures”
As many people drink when they are happy and have surplus income to spend on booze. What’s your point? Do you think the people that end up in A&E on Friday and Saturday night spend hours getting all dressed up because they were depressed and dejected?
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Clare No.18
Alcoholism is a disease, not a lifestyle choice. How many people do you actually think would choose to live that lifestyle?
What I expect from a doctor is for them to act in a medical capacity, not a moral one. Diagnose, recommend what one can do to help oneself etc, not give their views on why people should feel “shame” because one of their family members has died from a certain disease.
Would you suggest that someone feels shame because a family member died from AIDS? After all, they chose not to wear a condom or share a needle didn’t they? Your argument is lame in the extreme.
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@Tom,
The top guy at the UK Govenments Drug Advisory Panel was fired for saying that cigarettes and alcohol were more harmful than cannabis.
The worse that can happen on excess of Cannabis is falling asleep as with booze, you either die in your own vomit or end up in a fight strangled by someone who stood on someone else foot.
Some of the illegal drugs are prescribed as medicine( cannabis for cancer treatment, and LSD for Alzheimer) , and I never heard of a doctor prescribing booze as a medicine ( may be red wine for your heart/blood).
Considering that any moron can grow his own plants, the government cannot make any taxation / profit out of it, so they will never admit that were wrong.
To know that you can obviously go to jail, lose your job and your house, ending up in the hands of a dodgy drug dealer,all the shame in your family, criminal record for being court with some smoke is really off putting.
So keep drinking, still the safest thing to do.
Special offer on Foster in Iceland, Waitrose, Coop and 10% off if you buy 6 bottles or more at the wine warehouse by the way !
Happy hours in some pubs for Halloween!
If that s not going to keep Dr NG busy! Could not find a better place to work.
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@Phil,
Yes I absolutely would feel extremely ashamed if one of my family died from AIDS because they’d had unprotected sex or shared a needle and rightly so!
And your comment about doctors acting in a medical capacity, I mean Phil, you must surely see how stupid you sound, no? It is a doctor’s duty to advise you to quit drinking if that’s what’s causing your problems.
You have no argument Phil. Maybe a nerve has been hit for you with this story I don’t know, but you are making no sense. One gin too many I wonder?
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1. There are too many outlets selling drink and they are allowed to open for too many hours.
2. There is a huge problem with underage drinking, if they start at a young age they damage their organs earlier hence die younger.
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Yes Marc capitalism is so good that it is depleting world resources, and turning the planet into a toxic dump. This is a FACT.
At the end of the day why do people drink? It is because it makes them feel happier, often helping blot out life’s problems, or because they are one of the sheeple having to copy others because they don’t want to feel left out. It alters their state of mind and that’s a FACT.
joker so people drink because they are happy and have no worries? People dress up for their jobs so I suppose you think they are also happy? So I take it all the scowls I see in the rush hour are down to happiness as well?
Yes Kermit cannabis is less harmfull than alcohol and smoking but there is less profit in it for governments as it can be grown for free. Not good in a capitalistic system where making money is the name of the game.
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If someone chooses to drink to the extent that they become addicted it is NOT an illness. It is a lifestyle choice. People do not get an illness through choice ie cancer, MS, alzheimers
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@Adrian
In California,
It is profitable:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113822156
in the past year or so, the number of medical marijuana dispensaries exploded. There’s estimates of 800 or 900 storefront shops. In fact, we have reported on NPR that in some neighborhoods, there are more medical marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks, if you can believe that.
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32 HS – If someone chooses to drink to the extent that they become addicted it is NOT an illness. It is a lifestyle choice. People do not get an illness through choice ie cancer, MS, alzheimers
I’m afraid you are ill informed, alcoholism is a disease and is recognised as such by the medical profession. You do not become an alcoholic by drinking to excess, you are born with the disease which means if you drink you are immediately addicted. There is no treatment, the only way to deal with it is to abstain completely, not easy when we are surrounded by the stuff and most people partake in inbibing the liquid. It’s available everywhere and advertised so it really is not easy to get away from.
The only choice an alcoholic has is whether to take that first drink, thereafter the disease takes over and they have no choice. It’s an inherited genetic disorder, if one of your parents had it you will likely have it also, my grandfather had it, my father had it and myself and my 2 brothers have it. I choose not to drink although I’ve drank heavily for years before I understood my condition. Both of my brothers are killing themselves with the stuff and there’s nothing I can do to stop them. They will freely admit to the problem and accept that they need to stop, but it’s not easy, especially with the level of ignorace surrounding alcoholism.
Don’t take my word for it, spend 5 mins researching and you will quickly see that it is a disease. I;’m still an alcoholic because you always have the disease, I just don’t drink so it doesn’t manifest.
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Adrian #31
So what your saying is that I must be the only person in the world, according to Adrian, who has not been out on a Friday or Saturday night because they were depressed about life. How wonderful it must be for you to know what everyone is thinking or feeling (apart from me that is).
I thought I was cynical but you take the meaning of being a cynic to a whole new level. Life must be awful for you.
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For those that doubt that alcolholism is a disease.
http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/FAQs/General-English/Pages/default.aspx
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