Fighting against alcohol addiction

As the loveLIFE campaign focuses on alcohol, loveLIFE Reporter Claire Jones speaks to two anonymous mothers struggling to deal with their addiction.

HEARING the painful story of a young mother having her children taken away after an addiction to alcohol is enough to make anyone question their need for another drink.

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   SUPPORT: Sian Ellyatt, Harbour’s community detox nurse

This woman, like many others, has been overcome by the overwhelming power and control of alcohol, a force that holds no prejudice and will take its hold on any walk of life.

But what happens when sociable drinking becomes dependent drinking and a sociable few turn into a binge?

Many of us can say at some stage we have been guilty of having one drink too many, or indeed too often, but at what point do we lose control?

To find out, Sian Ellyatt, a Community Detox Nurse for Harbour Drugs and Alcohol Services, agreed to take me out with her to meet two of her clients.

Both women had two children and didn’t see their addiction coming, or want to be controlled by it, yet they were.

One had her children taken away and the other needed a cancer scare to force her to take stock.

Both wished to remain anonymous so their names have been changed, and both were on day three of their five-day detox.

Sarah had been living in a violent relationship with her two children for four-and-a-half years and went to a woman’s refuge for help.

She didn’t look much different to me, we weren’t far apart in age and had been brought up in a similar part of the city – yet this woman had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

As she did her breath test and took the tablets Sian gave her, they spoke about tremors and cravings.

Looking around the room, knowing nothing about this woman, I saw pictures of happy children and their mum, and I wondered where they were.

“My children were taken away from me when I left the woman’s refuge, it was meant to be for three months but it’s been six months now,” she said.

“When the refuge knew I was drinking they phoned Social Services.

“I self-referred myself to Harbour and they mentioned a detox.

“It’s been hard and tearful and I’ve been quite stressed. I keep getting hot and sweaty but it’s so nice to be able to sleep without drinking.

“I want to go back to normality. I’m going to fight as much as I can to get my children back.”

Going from one household to another with Sian I couldn’t help but be amazed. Although she is a registered psychiatric nurse, she wears her own clothes and uses one of her own bags to carry medication so she could be anyone walking into people’s homes.

What awaited us in Laura’s house was a stark contrast as two little girls came bounding down the hall to see us. Their mum was sat in the front room and after Sian’s checks, she told me how things went so wrong for her.

Laura started as a heroin addict before getting a dependency on alcohol.

“I was injecting and went to Broadreach but relapsed,” she said.

“Then I got pregnant and never touched drugs again. six months later I fell pregnant again and suffered with post-natal depression, then my partner and I broke up after 10 years.

“I started drinking two bottles of wine a night and then went on to vodka. I used to hide bottles in my wardrobe and when I was going to my Dad’s I’d fill up Fruitshoot bottles with vodka and orange and go in the toilet to drink it.

“When I was going to bed I would take a glass of vodka with me so if I woke up in the night and I was shaking I would drink it.

“I’d be sick in the morning, bringing up bile.

“This was when the girls were in my bed sometimes, and I realised it couldn’t carry on. My liver hurt and I went off food.

“The girls got me off the drugs, so I knew they could get me off the drink, I had to do it for them.

“If I carried on I knew I was going to kill myself. I thought I don’t want to be like this, my kids are young, I couldn’t die, they wouldn’t know me or know anything about me. They probably wouldn’t remember me either.

“I had a smear test that showed I have abnormal cells. I can’t go under a general anaesthetic while I’m drinking so I have to get off it, I don’t want to get cancer.

“I went to Harbour and decided to detox. on Monday night I had the sweats, my legs were really aching and I had stomach cramps. It’s one week for the rest of your life though.”

After leaving Laura’s house I was shocked at how two women’s lives could spiral out of control so quickly.

It’s an important reminder to us all that a dependency on alcohol can appear when we least expect it.

No-one hopes to become powerless, or lose their children, or have the possibility of losing their life before they do something.

But there is help out there, so if you’re relying on a drink there’s no shame in reaching out. when women like Sian are coming to your home to help you, you’ll soon find your strength and power again.

If you are dependent on alcohol and want to stop drinking, it is important to seek medical help. the body can go into shock if you suddenly withdraw from alcohol. Contact your GP or Harbour Drugs and Alcohol Services for advice.

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