Excessive Alcohol Use Is Associated with the Acceleration and Intensification of Menopause

You are right in your rightful suspicion that menopause has been documented to be correlated with excessive drinking, mood swings, erratic changes in behavior and personality. I am going to refer you to some websites which can give you more specific, concrete examples and information for gaining a deeper insight into the relationship between menopause and excessive drinking. These websites are:

• http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/women-hormones-menopause-alcohol-abuse/
• http://www.jrussellshealth.org/alcmeno.html
• http://www.gynob.com/menopause-and-alcohol-abuse-in-women.htm
• http://www.non12step.com/articles/treatment-for-women/88-menopause-and-alcohol-abuse-another-overlooked-element-in-womens-alcohol-treatment

For the more visually and technically oriented, I would like to offer you an excellent video which addresses the complexities between menopause and alcohol abuse. This video can be found at http://www.ehow.com/video_4400912_the-effects-alcohol-menopause.html

As you will discover, sudden changes and fluctuations in a woman’s hormones can cause problems in clear thinking and moodiness. Alcohol use/abuse can ease the severity of this discomfort when women experience the stress(es) of the lives along with the onset of menopause. For many women, this life change is the first time, they have abused alcohol to self medicate themselves from the uneasiness associated with hormonal changes. One of the articles above notes that heavy drinking can hasten the onset of menopause up to five years. An unexpected factor discovered by some researches was a link between heavy drinking and cancer; specifically breast cancer. This research should grab the attention of most menopausal women who drink and who would like to prevent cancer. 

As you can see, your wife is suffering from a medical condition which she is trying to treat herself. I would highly recommend that she consult with her doctor and discuss the problems she has been having. Your wife or you need to be frank with the physician and let the doctor know that she has been using alcohol excessively since she began menopause. Additionally, she may need to consult with a substance abuse program which considers “contributing factors” to her excessive drinking, not automatically apply the “disease model” and assume her main problem is substance abuse or early stages of alcoholism.

If your wife does not receive some medical help, I do not predict your family, your, or her situation will significantly improve. Therefore, I hope the information I have provided you will provide some assistance and guidance in this troubling situation.

If you need anything else from me, please let me know at your earliest convenience.

All the Best,

John W. O’Neal, Ed.S, MSW, MA, LPC, NCC