A cardiac arrest, four blood transfusions and stomach ulcers so deadly she was spewing black liquid blood into the toilet – that’s how years of heavy drinking came back to haunt Kirsten McKenzie as she lay in hospital just weeks ago.
Doctors told Kirsten, a healthcare worker in her 30s, that if she hadn’t gone to the emergency room when she did, she would have died the next day.
The symptoms of the burst ulcer were so severe that he went into cardiac arrest in the back of the ambulance and, within 20 minutes of arriving at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital last month, he underwent a blood transfusion that saved him. life.
“I thought I was going to die,” Kirsten tells me. “I was absolutely terrified.”
After five days of treatment (plus blood transfusions and medications to heal her ulcers), Kirsten was discharged.
I’d like to say that Kirsten went back to having a normal life, but “normal” wouldn’t be the right word.
Although Kirsten, who lives in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, has been sober for almost a year, the damage done to her body after years of weekend drinking is irreversible.
Bottom line: If Kirsten drinks again, she will die. And even if you never touch alcohol again, you still face a lifetime of health complications.
Doctors told Kirsten, in her mid-thirties, that if she hadn’t gone to the emergency room when she did, she would have died the next day (pictured during a recent hospital visit).
“I used to love going to restaurants, but now I have to eat like an old man in a nursing home because of my ulcers,” Kristen says.
Now he can only eat soft foods, like this hospital food, so as not to irritate his ulcers.
Kirsten’s ulcers were caused by excessive drinking. What started as an occasional glass of wine with friends in their 20s turned into weekend binges on two, three, four, and more bottles of Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc in my 30s.
The alcohol had been slowly killing her and now, even after getting sober, her body is paying the ultimate price.
You will never be able to eat spicy food again (even salt and pepper could be deadly) and you will never be able to drink coffee or tea. His current diet has to be bland and tasteless so as not to irritate his ulcers.
“I used to love going to restaurants, but now I have to eat like an old man in a nursing home because of my ulcers,” he says. And if I drink again, I will die. That’s a fact.
It’s a far cry from her old life, where she called herself the “ultimate It girl.”
With her long, cascading, sun-kissed hair, her model-like figure, and her glamorous job as a makeup artist at the time, Kirsten turned heads wherever she went.
From the time she logged off on Friday afternoon until Sunday night, Kirsten spent the weekend doing what many young women like to do: partying.
“As soon as Friday started, I’d go down to the local bar for happy hour,” he tells me.
‘Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I drank bottles and bottles of wine and thought I was having fun. I wanted to keep drinking at 6 in the morning, when all my friends wanted to go home. I thought I was the ultimate It girl.’
Even though Kirsten has been sober for almost a year, the damage done to her body after years of weekend drinking is irreversible.
But Kirsten’s excessive drinking was slowly killing her and she didn’t know how to stop.
“I thought I could regulate my drinking,” he says. ‘I was very motivated during the week, I was doing my masters in social work, I was going to the gym most days and training for marathons. I even had two whiteboards where I wrote my list of things to do for the week. But when the weekend came, I was drinking bottles of wine.
In 2020, Kirsten underwent a liver function test and doctors were amazed by the results: the petite 32-year-old had the liver of a 65-year-old alcoholic.
‘The doctors told me that if I continued drinking, I would die within three months. I was too scared to tell anyone.
Kirsten tried to stop drinking. It could usually last a few months before going off the rails. Her friends begged her to go to rehab or the hospital, but she refused.
“I was completely dead inside. I was too afraid to seek help because I was worried that people at work would think I was incompetent. Friends would hide their fancy wines when I went. I went from being the party girl to shaking and throwing up if I drank. It was out of control. I didn’t want the other girls to see me like that.
Kirsten had what she calls several “backgrounds.” There was a family gathering where she was left sobbing and alone in the garden. On another occasion she found herself lying on the floor, crying among empty alcohol bottles and drinking a bottle of vodka alone.
Once admired for her appearance, Kirsten couldn’t even bear to look in the mirror.
With her long, cascading, sun-kissed hair, model-like figure and glamorous job, Kirsten turned heads wherever she went, until excessive alcohol consumption took its toll on her health and appearance.
Shannon Webb, a clinical psychologist at The Banyans Healthcare in Queensland, warns that young women develop alcohol-related illnesses more quickly than men
‘I knew I had to seek help; everyone was worried about me. My eyes were dead, my face was swollen, I couldn’t get up to comb my hair that I used to be so proud of. “I went from partying to total isolation.”
Finally, in January of last year, Kirsten discovered 12-step recovery meetings. The 12 steps are a set of principles originally developed by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and since adopted by many self-help groups that help people overcome addiction and maintain sobriety. The cornerstones of the 12 steps include recognizing that one is powerless over alcohol, making amends for past mistakes, and helping others get sober.
While it’s been a bumpy road, Kirsten has one year of sobriety under her belt. You will have alcohol-related health problems for the rest of your life, but at least you are no longer in the hell of active addiction.
He is now applying for a scholarship to study law and regularly attends meetings at Gorman House, an addiction treatment centre, part of Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital.
‘I wish I could go back in time; My regrets sleep with me every night. I have learned to surrender and know that the only way forward is total abstinence for me. There is no middle ground,” he says.
‘Do I want a life of death, perdition and destruction, or to be free from the clutches of alcohol? I choose life.’
Shannon Webb, a clinical psychologist at The Banyans Healthcare in Queensland, warns that young women develop alcohol-related illnesses more quickly than men.
“There are several reasons why women react differently to alcohol, including lower body fat, lower levels of metabolic enzymes, and hormonal fluctuations that affect how the body breaks down alcohol,” says Shannon.
While weekend ‘party’ drinking, especially before the festive period, may seem like a great way to break the ice at social events, relax or celebrate, it can soon destroy your life, Shannon tells me.
‘At Banyans we commonly see guests whose dependence on alcohol arose from small habits that escalated into a full-scale dependence. Next time you think about having a drink, ask yourself if it’s really the choice you want to make.’
Sober coach Kathryn Elliott says problematic alcohol use can affect young women without them knowing it
Kathryn Elliott, founder of www.thealcoholmindsetcoach.comis a Melbourne sober coach who specializes in binge drinking, particularly with young women who want to break free from their weekend drinking habits.
‘Problem drinking can affect young women without them knowing it. I was a party girl and binge drinker in my twenties and I thought I would outgrow it. But at 46, I still fell, hit my head, and passed out. So my warning to young women is that you don’t necessarily grow out of this.
Kathryn’s advice for worried drinkers is to reset, take a break from alcohol and learn to date sober.
‘If you isolate yourself at home because you don’t want to drink, you will isolate yourself from people. You can still participate, you can still go out, you’ll just learn to do it without alcohol.’