Holiday booze: Just don’t
It takes a lot to traumatise a trauma doctor. At 2am on Monday morning, as I ended my 10-hour shift at Auckland City Hospital Emergency Department, another set of doctors were a third of the way through their overnight shift. It was hard not to feel traumatised at the scale of alcohol abuse we’d witnessed the night before: the country is gearing up for the festive season and, on that shift, every second patient was heavily intoxicated, many unconscious and badly hurt. As much as medical staff are used to seeing the ravages of alcohol harm flow like a river through our hospitals and, at times, our morgues, during the festive season it becomes a sad and unruly flood for those of us who must clean up the mess. There are essentially four types of drinkers. Those who don’t drink; those who drink and never have a problem; those who drink and sometimes have a problem; and those who drink and always have a problem. At this time of year this column is dedicated to those in the third group: those who drink and sometimes have a problem, as that problem is more likely to happen, as workplaces hold parties and friends and family start celebrating. For many of us, that problem may be just having a few too many drinks and a headache in the morning. The headache may be because of the physical side effects like dehydration or a head injury. Then there may be the social headaches from the disinhibition, and consequently bad behaviour, that alcohol causes, such as being the sober driver. The trick is to distract yourself when others start drinking, rehydrate with a few nonalcoholic bevvies and watch as the others embark on the rollercoaster. You will start to notice the negative effects of alcohol on them and won’t want to catch up.
Start the celebrations by rehydrating
Kick off the festivities with sparkling water, a mocktail, a lime and soda... Alcohol dehydrates us (think of how often you go to the bathroom when drinking alcohol) so if your first drink contains alcohol, you get thirstier and throw in a few strategic chips and peanuts and boom! Increased thirst, more grog.
Set yourself a limit and don’t get caught up in shots or challenges