Tag: alcohol

  • Flushing Out the Lies

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    GuidaBrown
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    I count people’s drinks. I don’t mean to do it, and I’m not proud of it, but I imagine it’s a learned behavior. I grew up with addiction around me, and believing that people would adhere to the limits they set for themselves was difficult, at best. So I started counting drinks, and I’ve never…

  • #1 Isn’t Always A Good Thing

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    GuidaBrown
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    On Tuesday, October 17, Mueller Communications LLC took the opportunity to point out that the United Health Foundation’s 2023 Health of Women and Children Report ranked the state of Wisconsin “last (50th) for excessive drinking among women and fourth-worst (46th) for alcohol use among youths” (Mueller email). One day later, on Wednesday, October 18, State…

  • Defining Recovery

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    GuidaBrown
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    I am not a person in long-term recovery, but I have not had an alcoholic beverage since August 16, 2015. The last time I was intoxicated was in 2008, I believe. It was while on a wine tour in Italy, and the grappa did me in. Not a good last day in Florence, and I…

  • Luck or Fate? Do I Have an FASD?

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    GuidaBrown
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    This blog has been edited from the original. Last week I had the privilege of traveling to Washington, DC, to be part of FASD United’s Impact Week. I met a fellow Wisconsinite, and we started devising a plan for more advocacy in our state; I met with an aide from my Congressman’s office to discuss…

  • Cold Cuts, Sushi, and Alcohol

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    GuidaBrown
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    I googled the three questions below and copied the first answer that popped up: “Can I eat cold cuts while I’m pregnant?” “The safest course of action to protect your baby is to avoid deli meats until after pregnancy. If you plan to eat deli meats anyway, we highly suggest cooking them until they are steaming.…

  • The Other Face of Stigma

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    GuidaBrown
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    I recently read an article in Women’s Health magazine about a triathlete whose friend suggested she have a growth on her arm looked at. The athlete disregarded the suggestion. Time went by, and now her brothers also expressed concern about the growth. At that point, if I’m recalling the article correctly, the athlete went to…

  • Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Fifty Years Later

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    GuidaBrown
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    September is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Month, which was identified FIFTY years ago, and FASD United, the “National Voice [in the US] on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders” has asked that we take each week of the month to actively participate in bringing awareness about FASDs to others. (FASDUnited.org) Week one was to be…

  • How Do YOU Define “Party”?

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    GuidaBrown
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    For the last fourteen years or so, I’ve been doing assessments to determine whether or not people have substance use disorders (SUDs). We all know that the younger a person starts using substances, the more likely that a SUD will develop, so my assessments always include a version of the following questions: “How old were…

  • Getting Us Out of This Mess

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    GuidaBrown
    in

    Because of what I listened to from the first 2024 Republican Presidential primary debate, I Googled “How is fentanyl coming to the US?” And here’s what I found from the January 2020 DEA Intelligence Report: “The flow of fentanyl into the United States in 2019 is more diverse compared to the start of the fentanyl crisis…

  • Alcohol Testing for the Masses Or Bias Against Teetotalers?

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    GuidaBrown
    in

    In 2021, as part of the Biden administration’s $1 trillion infrastructure package, automakers were mandated to install new technology in vehicles to prevent motorists from driving intoxicated. And in December 2022 the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) began officially recommending that all new vehicles for personal use be equipped with alcohol detection devices – which makes sense…