Gran on 27 units a day quits booze

Feb 15 2009 by Helen Rae, Sunday Sun

And Mazz revealed she had her 23-year-old daughter to thank for getting help with her drinking problem.

Mazz said: “My daughter Paula was with me and, when the doctor asked me how much I was drinking, I lied about the amount and my daughter told the doctor how much I was actually drinking.

“Although it made me think, I think the main factor was my grandchildren.

“Every time they came to visit their nan, they saw me throwing up and associated me with being constantly ill, not realising that it was always alcohol-related.”

Mazz would often start drinking at about 11am and continue throughout the day. She always drank in the house.

She said: “Memory loss was probably the scariest part of it all.

“I would go out in an evening, have a great time and then not remember anything that I had talked about.”

Mazz’s doctor referred her to her local North East Council on Addictions office in South Shields and also a rehabilitation unit in Sunderland.

She said: “It wasn’t until I got to the group that I realised that only the alcoholic can stop drinking.

“The support I got was invaluable and the greatest sign of my recovery was when my three- year-old granddaughter said ‘nana doesn’t buy cans anymore because she’s a good girl’.”

Colin Shevills, the director of Balance, said: “The office is not here to preach to people about what they drink. It’s about making people aware of the consequences of failing to treat alcohol with respect.

“We’re here to inspire people to reduce their consumption so we have happier, healthy individuals.”

One of the first actions of the office will be to run a regionwide Big Drink Debate.