CDC: Middle-aged women are fastest growing segment of addicts: Addiction centers report spike
America’s drug crisis is taking a deadly toll on a group you might not expect. A recent report from the Center for Disease and Control shows the number of “middle-aged” women who died of overdose has quadrupled since 1999.
Many of these women are getting hooked not just to pain pills and heroin, but also to alcohol. Christine Wolfe was one of them.
“I never dreamt in a million years that I would become an alcoholic. I could not stop; my children begged me to,” said Wolfe.
During her darkest times, Wolfe said she would hide alcohol in water bottles and try to hide her addiction from her family, but they were on to her.
For Pamela Aguilu, the drug of choice was prescription pain pills. She got access through them legally, through her doctors after spinal surgeries. She said initially it had helped with her pain. “I would say I got addicted right away. I was taking massive amounts of oxycodone,” said Aguilu.
Both women say their addictions destroyed relationships and their own families. It destroyed trust between them and their children and took over their lives. For both Wolfe and Aguilu, the out of control addiction started later in life.
“I did not start drinking until I was 47,” said Wolfe.
Both women are also part of a dangerous trend being tracked by the CDC right now. Studies show the fastest growing segment of addicts in the country is middle-aged women, most of whom are mothers.
“Soccer moms become addicts. Soccer moms, moms that are engaged with their children — we are just as liable to become an addict as anybody else,” said Aguilu.
Researchers call it an “evolving epidemic.” The number of overdose deaths in this population has increased by 260 percent since 1999.
Wolfe said she was surprised she is alive today.
“Very surprised. There are times I should’ve been dead. My blood alcohol was so high– like 0.56. That can cause strokes, that causes your heart to stop,” said Wolfe.
Aguilu was also grateful not to become a statistic. She said her rock bottom hit when her landlord called the cops on her for making too much noise. She found herself facing a female police officer who had broken into her home and was asking her if she was okay.
“The last thing I remember is the ER physician saying we need the Narcan now and then I was out. I was out for two days,” said Aguilu.
The big question researchers are still trying to answer: why middle-aged women?
For more https://www.local10.com/news/national/cdc-middleaged-women-are-fastest-growing-segment-of-addicts