hereditary alcohol

RE: hereditary alcohol

Hi Julie,
You ask if alchoholism is hereditary? I don't think they have yet found a gene which makes an alchoholic, but the patterns of behaviourof an alchoholic has a negative impact upon family members. These can be passed on in unhealthy ways down the generations. Contact Al Anon for more information, you can get the literature if interested. There are in some areas groups for children and Al-Ateen (?).

Hope this helps
Starling

RE: hereditary alcohol

Thank you for your reply Sterling,
I hopeyou did not take offence at my question it was not ment that way at all.
My son is so like his father it is natural to worry.
Julie

RE: hereditary alcohol

Hi Julie, there is something in this theory, as results of twins studies and adoptees studies show an inherited link.[link= http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/alerts/l/blnaa18.htm ]http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/alerts/l/blnaa18.htm[/link]
To put a positive spin on this, there will possibly be social reasons for your husband's behaviour, which your son might not share.If you take the approach that forewarned is forearmed with your son, then you can help him if does start to show addictive tendencies. And he may have inherited your genes, not his father's anyway. I know many tee-totalsons of an alcoholic father, (my uncles!). And one of my clients is atee-total daughter of an alcoholic father. There are alcoholics in my grandparents generation on both sides of my family and I have a battle to resist it. But I do.
Sharonx

RE: hereditary alcohol

In my opinion and experience, alcoholism can be very much a "family thing," yes. However, that doesn't mean that your son is automatically going to be like his Dad. Everyone on my Mum's side of the family were sadly alcaholics; but I don't drink alcahol at all, nor do I wish to. I don't even remotely like it. So, although a parent may be alcaholic, it doesn't necessarily mean that their daughters/sons will be.

I hope that makes some sense!

Love, light and blessings,
Guin x

RE: hereditary alcohol

Hi sharon

thanks for your reply, it has helped a lot
Julie

RE: hereditary alcohol

One last thing-it is often the behaviours that can be passed on. The substance abuse is one thing, but there is more to being healthy, I think, than just giving up the substance abuse (be it alchohol or other drugs) -there are the causes that created it in the first place. So learning to deal with the stresses and strains of life in a healthy way is a big step to making sure your son doesn't turn to substances in order to cope.

No your question didn't offend me at all!
Starling
x

RE: hereditary alcohol

Thanks Starling
You are right
Julie[&o]

RE: hereditary alcohol

1. I have read in a book on traditionnal chineese medecine that if one of your parents was alcoholic you would "inherit" from him/her a weak liver and in turn have a "natural" tendency to become an alcoholic yourself.
2. Advanced NLP teaches that we can "catch programmes" (ways of thinking, behaviours etc) from very young, so why not addcition: people whith an addiction are people who in certain situationshave a very limited "set of attitudes / answers" and Mr grinders teaches to his patient "keep drinking untill you fond a better answer"

RE: hereditary alcohol

Hi Julie,

Just wanted to reply because I could feel how this would be a big worry for you.

My Dad is an alcoholic and his Dad before him, I've read a lot about the genetic implications, I have never drank too much and doubt very much that I ever will.

I wonder how much of the research/findings are because the children are not shown effective methods of controling stress and then a byproduct of this is abuse of one type of another, I agree with the other posts that the most important thing as with any child is showing them how to deal with the stuff life throws at you.

I do have a weak liver though!!!, good luck and Im sure your son will be fine, good on you though for thinking about things before hand.

Love Saffron

RE: hereditary alcohol

HI Saffron nice to meet you

Thanks for your reply I think everyone is right and it has certainly put my mind at rest, his dad is so weak but I don't think he is.
I'm hoping Luke knows enough about what has happened to his father to be aware of the dangers

Julie[&o]

RE: hereditary alcohol

Hi Julie,

Apparently there are addictive persoanlities and they are prone to be more likely to be addicted. This in turn can be inherited. I'd say be aware of the risk factor, but make sure your son has the stregth to say no.

Daisy

RE: hereditary alcohol

Without any clinical backup, I would say almost without a doubt that heredity could play a very large role in this. I base this on having a brother, sister, mother, grandmother, and numerous uncles who were afflicted with this. My brother (and sister) no longer drink and he has become somewhat of an 'expert' on the subject and has enlightened me on many aspects of this problem. Supposedly, 'they' have found that people with this pre-disposition to alcoholism have something in their genetic makeup called 'THIQ' which is the base cause for it. Granted, there weren't many teetotalers in our extended family, but only a few were in this group. It was also in our younger days-seems like the older we got, the less we drank. Family parties and get togethers didn't have ANY alcohol at them for years until the next generation came of age.

kcat

RE: hereditary alcohol

I doubt it, if anything its a big turn off to view one's parent out of their skull from booze day in day out, see them turn good to bad in no time at all. Of course some alcoholics are very very good at hiding their addiction,and what you see isn't always as previously said,some can even hold a job. The thing is to watch for ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOUR patterns in your children because this is usually the hereditory thing.
You are the teacher by example to your children, make sure they see that your way is the better of the two. ;)lyn

RE: hereditary alcohol

Hi Julie,

I just wanted to add that you seem like a fabulous Mum & being one step of the game as to your son's welfare is fantastic. It's not easy living with an alcoholic partner ( I watched my mum suffer for years :() but you seem strong & wise :).

I personally don't think it is herediteryas I too come from a family history of Alcoholics but I do think there is definately something in the idea that our behaviours are learnt. Ifwe learn to manage daily stresses & life in general in a healthy balanced way instead of 'hiding' in alcohol (it is just an escape from our own personal demons) then all will be well. You could try reading 'You Can Heal Your Life' by Louise Hay. It's fab atexplaining how we create our world we live in and how we manifest dis-ease in our own bodies, worth a read even if you just want a more positive outlook.

Lyn's right, We don't all go down that path though :).

Hope this helped in a little way

AG xxx

RE: hereditary alcohol

Re: Learned behaviours. While my mother was an admitted alcoholic, as chidren we NEVER saw her drink-she didn't. She knew she had a problem with it and stayed away from it. It wasn't until my early adult life that I saw her drink some at a wedding. She became ill and said she should have known better and I NEVER saw her drink again. As for my Dad, he was good for six beers a YEAR, that would be a big year for him.

kcat

RE: hereditary alcohol

Your Mum sounds like a very strong Lady 🙂

RE: hereditary alcohol

ORIGINAL: Angelhouse

Your Mum sounds like a very strong Lady 🙂

She really was in so many ways. It probably helped her to deal with her seven children.

Thank You

kcat

RE: hereditary alcohol

I would like to start in saying that while women anecdotally and scientifically proven to be more effected by alcohol, they are also less likely to be alcoholics. Men are the main group of alcoholics, most evidence seems to point to genetics being factor.

Regarding genetics I've read studies saying that some receptors are less receptive to alcohol which induces people to drink more and the other way around saying it’s more receptive.

Anecdotally I’ve seen some people who are less receptive to alcohol and other drugs than others in a way that must exceed nurture. What effect this has on addiction is hard to grasp. People who are addicts often seem to have a past that explains it, however it’s not always the case.

Wiki says alcoholic children are 4x more likely to be alcoholics. That seems to be correct enough. It’s odd to see why some people drink so much and others don’t, when you break down the fact that most people don’t have much control over their actions, it would seem genetics are the primary factor. Getting off topic I always have trouble understanding why some people have so much trouble telling why people they "love" are not nice people, yet they cannot see it. Relating this back to substance abuse, it seems more often a substance abuser can identify with it being a problem yet not stop doing it.

Without delving into the realm of pure speculation, I’d like to finish on the fact it’s that boredom is more common than we seem to acknowledge that leads to this. Which I believe is very genetically driven to result in substance abuse.

The fact that some people can be alcoholics and still have normal jobs while other cant is something that is hard to understand and makes understanding addiction even hard to pin down to a set of causes.