Know When to Say No – Rock Your Planet

Written by Samuel A. Kojoglanian, MD, FACC, FSCAI Tuesday, 29 October 2013 12:26

Jim came to my office shaking, complaining of chest pains. He was feeling ill and wanted me to “check out” his heart. He had seen me a month ago and was fine. Born with a heart defect, Jim is a senior in a university and has a bright future in business. I asked him about his whereabouts; he was with his friends at a fraternity party that lasted for two days.I asked him if he drank. “Couple of shots each day,” He said. “How much is a couple?” I asked. “Eight shots.” “And how much in a shot?” “This much,” he said, indicating the amount with his fingers, which was about four to six ounces per shot. Four times eight is 32 ounces, and six times eight is 48 ounces,” I said, “that’s at least 25… if not 50 times more than you should be drinking!”

“Jim, I’m gonna tell you a true story,” I continued. Ted was being initiated into a fraternity. They blindfolded him, and a senior fraternity brother, Ron walked beside him. Another senior brother drove a car heading towards Ted and Ron. Ron pulled Ted’s blindfold off, giving him enough time to get out of the way of the speeding car. Ron jumped out of the way, but Ted froze. The car struck Ted and instantly killed him. They were all drunk that night, but no one went to sleep because Ted died and mayhem struck everyone’s heart.” I paused, and asked, “Now, are you going to pull off something like that on me? Are you going to destroy your life and your family’s life? Are we going to find you dead on campus?”
Jim did not speak, but he did cry. His tears said, “No, I’ll never do this again.” I explained to him about the limits of alcohol, which is four ounces of wine daily or 10 ounces of beer daily, or 1.5 ounces of hard liquor daily. He committed not to drink again, and we shook on it.
I’ve never seen alcohol help anyone, but I have seen it wreck lives, cause domestic violence, accidents, and heartaches. It consumes people’s life because people think they are exempt from its deceptive charm. Know your limits. Know that you’re frail. Know when to say no. Know you are too precious to have your life or your family’s life tampered by a liquid that has no fear of you.