I've had a heavy heart since this afternoon: the news of a 12-year-old girl who died of an alcoholic coma it has moved me. The excessive intake of alcohol during a bottle on the occasion of the Halloween celebration caused him to lose consciousness and cardiorespiratory arrest. This event has overtaken me, I have a son of 13, another of 10, and I know that they are ages in which it is experienced, from experimenting to abuse goes a long way, and it is not worth shrugging my shoulders, for my children and for others children who are subjected to pressures of all kinds to advance stages with all that it entails.
That any legal or illegal drug affects the brain of a minor more than an adult, is not a new fact. They are people who are in full development and are very vulnerable, not only because of the latter, but also because they grow up in an environment of "unhealthy" competitiveness in which there is more who has the best body, or who performs uncontrolled risk practices. If you continue reading, you will understand when I assure you that it is not the same to drink alcohol at 12 than at 40, and of course abuse is not safe at any stage of life, but much less before the brain has finished developing ( over 21 years).
An ethyl coma is a loss of consciousness after excessive alcohol consumption in a very short time. It is impossible to anticipate who will suffer it, because drugs are “related” to different people and cause effects, not only based on the action of the toxic substance, but also on the particular characteristics of each one (amount of fat, diet, etc. ). The symptoms are very obvious: loss of muscle tone, reduced pressure and body temperatures (cold skin), irregular breathing, etc.
The girl who stars in the sad event spent several hours in an induced coma, and the Civil Guard has opened an ex officio investigation (she was a minor) to try to find out what happened. We are talking about a very young girl, in an environment with others probably of similar ages. There are several risks: the drug, the abuse, the immaturity that can "block" a request for help, the way in which it is drunk (abusing, with competitive games in between).
Risks of alcohol consumption in minors.
The truth is that sometimes we have a somewhat unreal perception of what adolescence is: we want children to make their own decisions, but as long as they do not decide to have sex or take drugs until ... until they come of age, or beyond . But things are not like that, and experimentation is very typical of this stage, but of course what we are seeing is not that children try, but that drink beyond their body's ability to metabolize fairly quickly.
The other part of the question is that at those ages the main objective is to be one more year old, to be older, they do what the more experienced do, to be free, but is one free under the influence of any drug? well of course not, because absolutely all affect the functioning of the brain. The consequences of abusive alcohol consumption in a child range from alterations in coordination or perception, to stomach problems, heart injuries, to association with other risky practices (sex without contraception, reckless driving, etc.).
The role of the family, the school and society.
We need to overcome fear to talk to the little ones about these issues, waiting for them to be teenagers is a mistakeIt is when they begin to receive information from other sources, and underestimate the importance of parents. It is necessary to reinforce family communication, be available when they want to ask, listen without judging, etc; and of course expose our values regarding these news of interest.
Schools can propose prevention programs, invite families to cooperate. The problem is that these efforts are often minimized by alcohol advertising in which its protagonists look splendid and seemingly happy, or by adults who smile in conspiracies when they see a child ordering sangria at town parties. I want to remember here that give children to taste alcohol (so they get used to it) is a mistake, and one of the great ones.
Risk and protection factors.
This approach is very interesting, because it allows you to have a global vision of all the things that are influencing you when making decisions, in this way it will be easier influence from the preventive model. The family can protect but also predispose (giving a bad example), friends can predispose, but also protect (if the child sees the consequences in others), and so on ...
Now we know that the adolescent brain is more affected than that of an adult before the consumption of any type of drugs, this is no longer about poor school performance (which also) or family relationship problems. It is an issue that has many more implications.
Images - Leonid Mamchenkov, a4gpa, Marek otolski