A hospice nurse has told how she wasn’t aware of her spiralling drinking problem until she slashed alcohol from her diet.
Julie McFadden, from Los Angeles in California, made the decision to stop drinking at the age of 33 after realising she had ‘a thing with alcohol’.
She mentioned that after completely eliminating alcohol from her life, things took a downturn, which led her to realize she was a ‘high functioning alcoholic’.
Contrary to the usual stereotype, individuals identified as ‘high functioning alcoholics’ are capable of excelling in demanding careers or being commendable parents, according to research.
They — and their loved ones — are often unaware of their problem and experts have warned the phenomenon is on the rise.
Each year, 75,000 people in Britain are diagnosed with alcoholism and undergo treatment, but it’s believed that 7.5 million people exhibit signs of alcohol dependency.
In a video with over 1.7 million views, Ms. McFadden stated, ‘I always had a known connection with alcohol, but since I was functioning well, I thought, who cares? Besides, I blamed everything else but the alcohol.’
‘If I just got the right job, if I just moved to the right place, if I just met the right guy, then I wouldn’t drink that much. None of it worked.’
Julia McFadden known as ‘hospicenursejulie’ on TikTok says many people don’t realise they have an alcohol problem
After she ‘properly’ quit drinking her life ‘got worse’ she said.
‘Instead of my life getting better, doing all the things I thought I would do if I quit drinking, my life got smaller,’ she added.
‘It was harder for me to go out in public and do things, see friends, workout, have hobbies — it was harder for me to do anything.
‘I thought my life was going to flourish. It was the opposite of flourish.
‘I finally did the thing, this amazing thing where I quit drinking. But why isn’t my life better?’
It was only after she opened up about what she’d been struggling with, with friends that she discovered she was an alcoholic, she claimed.
‘They were not even a close friend, they were an acquaintance, and they were like “girl you sound like an alcoholic”.
‘I was like “what? No”,’ she told the video.
‘She was like “No my mum’s an alcoholic. She’s in a 12-step programme. She still goes 30 years after being sober.
‘”You need extra help. You need friends. You need to talk to other sober people”.
‘It took a second meeting for me to finally open up and express what was wrong,’ Ms McFadden said.
‘If you ask for help and are ready for help in a recovery programme you will get it —and that is when my sobriety truly took off.
‘I learned about alcoholism, I learned what it meant to be an alcoholic.
‘It’s not just about drinking. It’s about thinking.’
Recent surveys indicate that the typical Briton consumes about 18 units of alcohol weekly, which is approximately equivalent to six pints of 5.2 percent beer or six large glasses of wine.
Leading experts have also rowed about the harms of drinking for decades.
Researchers consistently agree that consuming alcohol excessively can lead to irreversible liver damage, increase cancer risks, and elevate blood pressure.
The World Health Organization estimate it kills three million people around the world each year.
The NHS recommends people drink no more than 14 ‘units’ of alcohol—around six glasses of wine, or pints of beer—per week.
Meanwhile, the US says women should drink no more than seven standard drinks a week and men can have 14.
