• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Save Lives Kenosha

Recovery is Possible

  • 3 Medication Habits
    • Discuss
    • Secure
    • Dispose
  • Learn More
    • Prevention
    • Warning Signs of Drug Abuse
    • Recognizing an opioid overdose
    • Narcan Information
    • Navigating treatment
    • Recovery Dialects & Stigma
    • Resources for Parents
    • General Resources
  • Get Involved
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Show Search
Hide Search

One Drink Won’t Hurt…Right? WRONG

September is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Month because pregnancies last ninth months.

So let me start by saying that, regardless of what you’ve heard, even from your doctor, there is no known safe amount of alcohol to drink while pregnant. This includes all three trimesters of the pregnancy, despite any messages you have heard to the contrary. In fact, the Institute of Medicine says, “Of all substances of abuse (including cocaine, heroin, and marijuana), alcohol produces by far the most serious neurobehavioral effects in the fetus.”

Here are six things you need to know about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs):

1. Alcohol – any alcohol – can damage a fetus at any point during pregnancy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), no woman of child-bearing age should drink alcohol unless she is using effective birth control effectively. (Look here for common myths about light drinking when pregnant: https://www.nofas.org/light-drinking/)

Why so strident?

2. Because half of all pregnancies are unplanned, and most women won’t know they are pregnant until after the first four to six weeks.

3. Alcohol is the number one preventable cause of mental retardation in the US, and up to 1 in 20 school children in the US may have a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) according to the CDC. For the purpose of comparison, in the US, children with Autism Spectrum Disorders are 1 in 68. Down Syndrome? 1 in 700. Zika Virus? 5 children in all of 2016.

FASD is a big deal!

4. Children affected by fetal alcohol exposure may look like any other child, but alcohol can cause the brain of the child to be permanently damaged, causing poor coordination, hyperactivity, attention and memory problems, learning disabilities and other difficulties in school, among myriad other problems.

5. Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) have additional problems that are more easily observed: abnormal facial features, small head circumference, shorter-than-average height, low body weight, vision and hearing problems, and heart, kidney, or bone problems.

6. Are men off the hook? Honestly, we don’t know. There haven’t been enough studies about how alcohol affects sperm, but we DO know that an intimate partner who doesn’t drink is the best source of support for the significant other not to drink.

No one intends to have a baby with an FASD, and preventing them is pretty simple for women of child-bearing age: use effective birth control effectively or don’t drink any alcohol. And if you know a woman who may not be conducting herself this way, start a conversation with her. Uncomfortable conversations save lives.

Narcan: Empowering Our community in the Fight Against Opioid Overdoses

By Gillian Greene, Public Health Nurse, Kenosha County Division of Health “And I would have stayed up with you all ...
Westwords Admin
November 15, 2018
Uncategorized

Recognize the Signs…Save a Life

By Gillian Greene, Public Health Nurse, Kenosha County Division of Health From 2016 to 2017, more than 66,000 deaths across ...
Westwords Admin
November 15, 2018
Uncategorized

Words Matter…Make Yours Count

By Guida Brown, Executive Director at Hope Council on Alcohol & Other Drug Abuse A recent survey indicates all of ...
Westwords Admin
November 15, 2018
Uncategorized

Levels of Care – Which Level of Treatment Is Right

by David Galbis- Reig, MD, DFASAM, Medical Director of Addiction Services at Ascension Wisconsin All Saints, Racine, and President-Elect of Wisconsin ...
Westwords Admin
November 15, 2018
Uncategorized

Our Loved Ones Are Dying…It’s Time to Step Up

By Guida Brown, Co-Chair of the Kenosha County Substance Abuse Coalition Addiction is considered a family disease because of its ...
Westwords Admin
November 15, 2018
Uncategorized

3 Medication Habits to Start: Discuss, Secure, Dispose

The Kenosha County Substance Abuse Coalition (KCSAC) invites you to start three medication habits: DISCUSS, SECURE, DISPOSE. Of course, if you’re already ...
Westwords Admin
June 1, 2018
Uncategorized

One Moment Can Change Your Life & Four Ways to Be Sure It Doesn’t

Robert Louis Stevenson eloquently said that, “Sooner or later, everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.” Sadly, sometimes people ...
Westwords Admin
June 1, 2018
Uncategorized

Four Ways to Break the Law with Your Own Prescriptions (and How to Dispose of Them Correctly)

Oh, the good ol days…when we thought flushing unused meds down the toilet was a good idea. We’ve now learned ...
Westwords Admin
June 1, 2018
Uncategorized

Four Ways to Die…by Mixing Alcohol with Other Drugs

We tend to forget that alcohol is a toxin. Heck, we even forget that it’s a drug. But both are ...
Westwords Admin
April 26, 2018
Uncategorized

One Drink Won’t Hurt…Right? WRONG

September is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Month because pregnancies last ninth months. So let me start by saying that, ...
Westwords Admin
June 1, 2018
Uncategorized

Two Problems with Opioids

No appointment with a doctor seems complete unless we’ve received a prescription, and far too many of us think that ...
Westwords Admin
April 26, 2018
Uncategorized

Prescription for Alternative Therapy

The story has echoed across the nation—“Toxic Mix of Pills and Alcohol Fuels Spike in Deaths; Prescription Pills: Addition Hell; ...
Westwords Admin
April 26, 2018
Uncategorized

The Kenosha County Substance Abuse Coalition’s mission is to support networking, encourage education, explore gaps, and realize solutions to improve treatment and reduce alcohol and other drug abuse in our community with a primary focus on families.

© 2019 · Kenosha County Substance Abuse Coalition. All rights reserved.
Built by Westwords. Powered by Pantheon

  • Facebook
  • YouTube