alisonboston.com

I don’t write much about this topic. It is one of those taboo topics. It upsets people.

Yesterday I spent almost one hour in the street with a 25 year old girl from Poland who I came across, covered in her vomit, collapsed on the street in the pouring rain. Four men - none of whom she knew - were trying to help her. They told me they had found her in the metro. They were trying to get her to drink water.

I told them to get her on her feet and walk her. They moved her out off the main sidewalk, onto the side street, into the alcove of a restaurant window, where she could be protected from the rain. I insisted they walk her, so two of them took her - and we walked her. I stood in front of her and commanded her to walk and she walked, and slowly came round to consciousness and being able to speak.

We phoned an ambulance. It never came.

We walked her some more. Three of the fellows left, and a young Spanish man and I remained with her. We got her phone out of her bag and phoned the last calls. Eventually a friend turned up to take her home. He promised he would not let her drink.

She told me she never wants to drink again; that she wants to be like me. I haven’t had a drink for 19 and a half years. I don’t think anyone ever rescued me from a pool of my vomit in the street, but there was one young man I remember putting me in taxi and sending me home. His kindness stayed with me and eventually I learned that alcohol and I do not mix.

Alcoholism is perhaps the most misunderstood illness around today. It’s a genetic problem. Either you have the gene that protects you from the kind of devastating and humiliating experience this young woman had yesterday, and as I experienced many years ago - or you don’t. I don’t have the gene, so I don’t drink. Coming to a place of acceptance and understanding of that was not easy - especially in a society that fuels much of its interactions with alcohol.

This Christmas, if you find someone vomiting, or collapsing after drinking, get them on their feet and walking. Don’t leave them to pass out in their vomit. They might choke on it and die.

If someone says they want a soda or a water, don’t press them to drink alcohol with you. And please, if you have a party, have some really nice non-alcoholic beverages on hand, and serve them in the same glasses you serve the alcohol in. The non-drinker wants to fit in. Most drinkers won’t notice someone isn’t drinking booze if they are drinking from the same shape glass.

And finally, if you get sick when you drink, or experience memory loss the day after, stop drinking. If you keep going back to it, try Alcoholics Anonymous. Chances are, you will find yourself having much in common with the people in those rooms. So many people say: “It’s such a relief to find out other people have the same problem. It’s such a relief to hear other people talk about it.”

Take care of yourself, and have a Happy Holiday.

Love Alison