"High Functioning" alcoholics

My parents were such, high functioning scientists who never missed a day of work, but my late father was out cold on the floor at times, and way too buzzed. And that was the least of it.

At the time, he was considered a social drinker. By the 80s, that would be considered heavy drinking, but I think I surprised some of my family in December by saying, well, you know he was an alcoholic. I think I surprised my stepbrother.

5 fifths of Rye a week plus beer. What the hay else do you call drinking that much? Alcoholism.

You know, Kathryn, you have a very interesting point here:

"At the time, he was considered a social drinker."

Studies that outline the impact and societal changes have a real impact on the definition of alcoholism. It must have been a hard thing to say to your family. Aside from your stepbrother, how was that received?

Risks are long-term health problems, early death, such as in the case of my high-profile scientist father, Dr. Don W. Esplin, who had published more on neuropharmacology during the 60s than anyone his age in his field. He received a distinguished award for the best neuropharmacologist under 30, he was a full professor before age 35 and went from the University of Utah to McGill University.

He was a major contributor to Goodman & Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, by Louis S. Goodman, M.D. and Alfred Gilman, M.D. Eds.

I knew Goodman, University of Utah.

We met many famous scientists, and my father was famous worldwide IN HIS FIELD.

My stepmother came from Poland in 1960 to work specifically with him on a post-doctoral fellowship. She was a 35 year old M.D. from Poland, who had read about his work.

One of the things he was noted for early on was his work on epilepsy. He was among the early researchers to identify the electrical system with the electrical system in the brain, based on his work in the Navy, so his Utah colleagues have told me.

Other risks are permanently disrupted relationships with family members, such as those that occur with divorce, absenteeism due to long work hours and family avoidance, remarriage, work commitments, lack of attention to children due to alcoholism and/or sleeping pill abuse, and permanently disrupted relationships that occur after an untimely, tragic early death, such as what happened with my father in 1971, while on vacation with my stepmothre in Acapulco, the first actual non-working vacation in 7 years. He was hiking in the high altitudes in Mexico and became fatigued. He died in his sleep on December 7, 1971, after suffering a fatal myocardial infarction.

Of  course, the alcohol, two packs a day of cigarettes, presumed high cholesterol, lack of exercise, high beef diet, stress did not help.

So little was known at the time.

But had he followed a little more of an absemious path, his life would have been different, and so would have all his family members.

We are much richer for what he gave us, but his tragic, untimely death is a shadow not only for the family but also for science.

I am working on a Wikipedia entry for him.

My Dad worked, went grocery shopping with Mom and didn't drink much during the week, he was an inspector for UTC, so for a long time, it was mostly on the weekends, (when he was home, unfortunately for us, as he was very abusive, etc's...) and on every paid holiday that he had off, including four weeks of vacation time,  weekends, and the week between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We knew he was an alcoholic, we also knew he was abusive, would the people at his workplace believe it? That, I don't know, as several times when he was still blitzed after a weekend binge, my Mom would actually call him in sick. (Got him off the hook and I believe that made her an enabler, though she didn't see it that way), and to confront him, well, when sober, he really didn't TALK to us, and when drunk, you'd as likely to get slapped or worse. Yes, we learned that by doing it, and also learned to stay away as best we could.

Marilyn

He did eventually stop on his own, and years later, prior to his death, I asked him if he missed it - his response, was "Only every minute of every day of my life!", so still an alcoholic, just a non-drinking one.

Thanks for the friend-invite - appreciate it.

That sounds incredibly difficult. In what I've read about HFA during searches on guest Sarah Allen Benton, I saw a lot of mentions about a "double life" to some extent. That puts a family in a very difficult place, and as Kathryn so aptly put it, creates "disrupted relationships."

He stopped on his own, just out of the blue?

Both my folks were "functioning alcoholics". I think it was fairly common for people of their generation to come home to cocktails, wine with dinner, after dinner drinks...and off to bed, and start again tomorrow, with more on the weekends.  My folks were not exactly that type, they were more "highball and beer" folks, but you get my drift.

Myself, I don't drink except on rare occasiones, as I know the potential for addiction is Huge in me.

that sounds pretty pervasive, but that they were able to maintain.

donna, you pointed to the generational aspect, sort of like Kathryn mentioned. Wonder how much movies had to do with that? Seems to me I've seen plenty of classics where drinking started early and kept right on rolling. I'm kind of surprised when I see smoking in movies now.

I worked with someone who had been an high level executive with a major technology firm for many years.  He was bright, witty and very sociable, which probably explains his business success.  He was also the "life of the party" type that everyone enjoyed having at their social functions.

One day he was experiencing some discomfort in his abdomen and went to see a doctor.  As part of the exam they ran some blood tests and determined his blood alcohol level to be about 3 times the legal limit for driving!  He was drinking over a quart of vodka a day, and had been for years, but because he appeared to be in full control no one realized how far his drinking progressed.

The disease of alcohol plays with one's self-perception so he was able to rationalize his own drinking for the same reasons that had fooled those who knew him.  If he could work successfully, earn a high income, and be socially popular... well, he MUST be okay!

The doctor told him that if he didn't stop drinking he would be dead from liver failure in less than a year.  Even with that knowledge he didn't successfully stop drinking until his third stint in a rehabilitation facility.

Alcoholism is insidious because it is takes many forms as it progresses, and the image that many of us have of the heavy drinker on a fast track to Skid Row represents only some alcoholics, and then only those who are in the later stages of the disease.  That's what makes alcoholism so dangerous, since we convince ourselves that the alcohol isn't affecting us (or our loved ones.)  Subtle problems that may be affecting our health, our relationships and our effectiveness can be rationalized as due to many other things because they don't match our image of "classic alcoholism."

My concern is that we haven't truly recognized the magnitude of alcohol's impact on our society, despite the incredible estimates of of health costs, lost productivity, etc.  The long-standing role that alcohol has played in our cultural traditions--and day-to-day lives--effectively blinds our society from truly facing up to these impacts.

"a quart of vodka a day" ?! What?

Recognizing the subtle signs isn't easy because well, they're subtle. And as the Midmorning guest positioned it, it is easy to justify. After all, the drinker is a success on some level, right?

Mark, do you think society is evolving around alcohol use?

In his own account of his drinking, he realized that he obviously had been an alcoholic, but at the time, he was able to rationalize even that amount of drinking as "not that bad."  Once the doctor gave him his BAC (blood alcohol level) during the medical evaluation, he said that he must have been functioning at continuous BAC of well over .20 for nearly 10 years!  Most of us would be falling down drunk or close to it if we drank that much.

I do believe that our society is continuing to justify alcohol use, primarily by treating it separate from other forms of drug usage.  This attitude of "well, it's only alcohol, after all" ignores the pervasive harm that stems from excessive use of alcohol.  It's very similar to the attitude toward cigarette smoking when I was growing up in the 60's and 70's.

In my opinion, until we recognize alcohol as the drug that it is, and acknowledge the impact of its use in our society, we won't be able to effectively deal with the problems it creates.  We seem to have a schizophrenic mindset wherein we demonize the "bad" drugs and criminalize those who use them, while at the same time "pooh poohing" the excessive use of alcohol.  Neither of these extremes seems to be very effective in dealing with the root of the problem.  Only once the situation reaches a critical point for the individual, and the family involved, is there any real acknowledgement of the consequences that have been accumulating all along.

J was the husband of my second cousin N.  An exceptional truck driver, he worked as a delivery-men for one of the major Chicago newspapers all his working life. He'd get up before dawn each morning, reach for his first beer from the fridge and chomped down on a breakfast of thick spicy salami between slices of white bread, red from the Tabasco Sauce he sprinkled lavishly on it.  In his truck will be a cooler full of his favorite beer.  He'd pick up his load of newspapers and deliver them to all his appointed areas, the whole time swigging away.  Some days he'd come home and drink the "real stuff"... that's when he got real drunk and everybody knew enough to stay away.

On his regular work days when his routine included stops at his favourite bars too, he'd come home totally plastered and his wife always wondered how he found his way home without an accident.  I suspect the cops were probably complicit, too.  They knew him by name.  When he was in minor traffic violations they only gave him warning tickets and let him go.  He was a small celebrity in some ways... he was in the Olympics in his younger days and played soccer.  They respected him for that and protected their own so, he was never fired from work.

He smoked cigars, smelly stogies. Between the drinking and the stogies, he developed cancer of the tongue and cirrhosis of the liver.  It was not pretty.  He died a few years ago. But you know, he never missed a day of work?  And he only worked for that ONE employer all his life.  I think he fits the criteria for HFA.

Never missed a day of work, and drank the entire day... how hard that must have been on his health even before he was diagnosed with cirrhosis.

Did you second cousin ever address her husband's drinking, Duckie?

This is a fascinating discussion.  I'll try to return to it.