Binge drinking |  | "I'm ashamed to say it, but drink turned me into an evil bitch. I would hit someone just for looking at me." Di Allen | DI Allen admits to having been a binge drinker |
Binge drinkingNot that long ago, the sad drunk was portrayed as the old man on the park bench, his bottle of super strength cider carelessly wrapped in an brown paper bag. But today's booze addict is just as likely to be a woman, possibly in her 30s and even 20s. The alarming rise in women binge drinkers has triggered a big increase in the numbers seeking treatment for liver disease. Now, doctors and alcohol treatment centres are demanding that more should be done to protect the mental and physical health of a generation of young women. Carole's storyCarole Meharg, 38, and Di Allen, also 38, are typical of those seeking help in curing their addiction. The first thing that strikes you about Carole is her pleasant demeanour. It's no surprise to hear she is university educated, that she worked as an estate agent and that she has three children. Yet all her achievements were gained against a background of heavy drinking.  | | A brighter future after alcoholism - Carole Meharg |
"I never really thought I had a problem with drinking. "I just thought I was a heavy drinker. Quite a few of my friends were heavy drinkers so it didn't seem like a big deal... "I think when I had my third child, I suffered from depression - I only realise that now. "I started relying quite heavily on alcohol at that point - I started lunchtime drinking and when I started having a drink, I just continued." Things came to a head in 2006 when Carole was convicted for drink driving - a traumatic experience which she now describes as a "blessing":
"I felt like my whole body was falling apart... "The police officer was so gentle with me. They realised I was distressed. They could tell I was ill and I needed help."
Di's story Di Allen is another attractive, well groomed woman in the prime of life. Remarkably, for a recovering alcoholic, Di works as a bar maid at a public house in Bury St Edmunds.  | | Di Allen found that drinking "became an obsession". |
Since her teens, Di grappled with depression, drink and drugs. She hot rock bottom when she became homeless and jobless in the same night after her pub boss finally had enough of her drink-fuelled temper. Today, she says: "I'm ashamed to say it, but drink turned me into an evil bitch. I would hit someone just for looking at me...
At first she didn't know that she had a problem: "I thought an alcoholic was someone on a park bench with a bottle in a brown paper bag. I didn't think I was an alcoholic... "I wasn't aware of the damage I was doing to myself." Today Di is a recovering alcoholic and is happy with her life: "Today I'm grateful I've got a life, I've got a job, I've got a roof over my head. "I don't have to take a drink to get me through the day - and I love myself to bits."
Treatment Both women sought help from an alcohol treatment centre in Bury St Edmunds called Focus12. Its patron is the Big Brother presenter Davina MaCall, herself a recovering alcoholic.  | | Dr Martin Phillips is concerned about a drink disease epidemic |
Thanks to the group's recovery programme, Di and Carole have both stayed off the drink for some time. It's something they would have regarded as impossible just a year ago. But many other women are doing permanent damage to their health.
Dr Martin Phillips a liver specialist at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, warns that the health problems are escalating, and women are dying from what used to be a disease mostly affecting older men. "Here in my hospital I am treating women in their 20s and 30s, who are dying from cirrhosis." He fears a drink disease epidemic over the next 15 years if women don't take advice on drinking. Help at hand | | Counting the cost - an unhealthy liver |
If you, your friends or family are affected by any of the issues on this programme, help is available from Focus12:
Focus12 Alcohol Treatment Centre,
82 Risbygate Street,
Bury St Edmunds,
Suffolk, IP33 3AQ Email: [email protected]
Telephone - 01284 701702 Alcohol advice:Taking control of your drinking is the first step to stop the harmful effects of alcohol to the body. Alcohol Units | A small glass of wine(9% ABV, but many wines are 11 or 12% ABV)
= 1 UNIT A 25ml pub measure of spirit (40% ABV)
= 1 UNIT Half pint of ordinary strength lager/beer/cider > (3.5% ABV, but many bottled beers are 4-5% ABV)
= 1 UNIT |
Drink in moderation - stay below the recommended weekly alcoholic intake to avoid damaging your liver. A guide to recommended alcohol units is listed opposite. Keep a drinks diary to keep your drinking under control. Try to spread out your drinking rather than bingeing at weekends. Stay off alcohol a couple of nights each week - at least. If you would like more information on the effects of alcohol on the body then visit our web links below. Links relating to this story:The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites | 
Coming Up : Inside Out - East: Friday March 2, 2007