Drugs, Alcohol and Long Term Care  

 Another exclusive written by LTC Tree Advisor, Joe Houston.
                                      

According to one study that came to our attention a few years ago, fifty percent of the sick folks occupying hospital beds in America at any one time are there because of alcohol/drug problems or associated complications.  Many of these people will end up needing long term care services.  And our own personal, anecdotal experience in recent years has more than confirmed this statistic.          

Thus, the main health problem in America is not cancer, or heart problems, or diabetes, or obesity, or whatever…  It’s alcohol and drug abuse.  And this includes wine, liquor, beer, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, nicotine, and many prescription and over-the-counter drugs.  Some of these drugs are legal and some are not, but they all have one thing in common:  they help the user to go from feel bad to feel better.  Most of us use these “medications” in our everyday lives to relax after a hard day in the “jungle,” or as a social lubricant at social functions, to ease various aches and pains, to relieve anxiety, etc.  Where most people run into trouble is in using these drugs too much, becoming physically and/or psychologically dependent on them, at which times the drugs begin to do things to one’s body that is destructive.  For example, did you know that the number one cause of acute liver failure is acetaminophen (Tylenol)—not alcohol or hepatitis, as popularly believed.  And acetaminophen is considered a rather mild pain killer, prescribed quite regularly by America’s pediatricians for troubled infants.            

The point of all this is that—other than proven, proper nutrients—all other chemicals do not belong in the human body.  When one takes in a prescribed pain killer, for instance, it has the beneficial effect of reducing the pain, but it always has a litany of side effects, which can be minor or serious.  We know of several friends who are currently going through chemotherapy for lung cancer (caused by cigarette smoking) which has spread to other parts of their bodies.  The chemicals being injected into their bodies are pretty potent, and no one without cancer would ever consider taking them, but in these cases it’s either take them or die in the near future.       

And somebody pains are like that.  Often the pain gets so terrible that the person can’t function normally—or at all. At such times pain killers are used (hopefully temporarily), be they aspirin, hydrocodone, Tylenol, Aleve, etc.  And most often they do the job and the user gets relief.  And if the person uses them only in this fashion—not habitually using them—side effect damage to the body will be minimal or nothing.  This shows what we consider a cardinal rule of using all non- nutritive chemicals in our bodies: Put nothing into your body that is not nutrition related, except when reasonably needed to address a serious physical or psychological problem—and always keep your primary physician informed.  For example, one of the authors (a heart patient) likes to have one alcoholic drink per day, because research has show that light-moderate drinkers live longer than teetotalers or heavy drinkers.  But he cleared this self- medication regimen with his cardiologist first!     

Let us give a few examples of how chemical usage by even relatively “harmless” drugs can often go awry.             

Paul was a rehabilitation counselor colleague, who had a caseload of alcohol/drug addicted and psychiatric clients.  So Paul knew the danger of chemicals going wild. Paul had been a medic in Vietnam, dropping into war zones and tending to injured soldiers and marines.  He experienced things that we’re glad we didn’t have to.  When his service ended and he returned to the US, he reentered college and got a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling.  He soon got a job as a vocational rehabilitation counselor in a southern state. He was still single and liked to party with his buddies, often consuming copious amounts of beer.  Soon, however his drinking began to affect his work, and he was confronted by his supervisor, who had seen similar problems with his buddies when they returned from the Korean War.  So Paul, being a conscientious person, started going to Alcoholics Anonymous, and quit drinking.  But then he developed another problem: migraine headaches.  These eventually became quite severe, often so bad that he would miss work.  Worried that his supervisor would find out about this new problem, he went to doctors over the years, who prescribed all the current remedies—none of which worked.  So he eventually began taking large amounts of aspirin, which helped to the extent he could get to work.  His aspirin usage continued for several years, until one day we found him passed out on the floor of his office.  An ambulance was called and he was rushed to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with serious bleeding in his stomach—caused by the aspirin.  He was treated, his stomach healed, and his doctors eventually found new drugs which greatly lessened his migraines.  He eventually retired at age sixty-two, and no longer suffers from migraines.       

Robert was a healthy young man who began drinking socially while in college.  Initially the effects were pleasant: he was gregarious while under the influence and often the life of the party.  However, he often drank to drunkenness, which worried some of his relatives and friends.  But he kept it relatively under control for twenty years, during which time he married and had four children.  Eventually, the drinking progressed to the point that his wife divorced him.  He did not seem to understand why she did this.  His drinking continued and he lost several jobs. At some point he developed diabetes, probably because of the drinking, poor diet and becoming about 100 lbs overweight.  He did not subsequently manage his diet and weight properly, nor did he take his medications as prescribed.  The result was that he suffered a diabetic coma and wound up in the hospital, where he was treated and is now recovering at home and work.  Time will tell if he’s learned the proper lessons.      

How does this relate to long term care insurance?  All things we do in life have consequences.  Our bodies are fragile, mortal things.  They are eventually going to wear out and we are going to die.  And the consumption of most drugs do not prolong life; they may offer temporary relief or pleasure, but they rarely help us live longer.  Heavy consumption of alcohol and/or cigarettes typically shorten one’s lifespan by ten to twenty years.  There simply is no free lunch!  And worse, this abusive consumption usually leaves the body in such poor shape that long term care insurers  will not insure such people.  Thus if they don’t die quickly, their golden years are not so good and they will find themselves spending down their life's savings to pay for their own long term care. 

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