'I drink to excess to forget'

Doctors are seeing younger people with alcohol-related conditions

A charity's warning that a growing number of young people are dying from alcohol-related liver disease is one Vikki Morgan can relate to.

The 22-year-old, from Weston-super-Mare, started drinking when she was 14, mostly cider but not to excess.

"At first, it wasn't a lot," she said.

"I didn't like the taste of it. It was more 'look at me, I'm big, hard and clever'.

"It just escalated and I started loving the taste of it. I'm now 22 and it has got really, really bad."

Vikki drinks every weekend, downing 10 pints of beer for starters, before moving on to vodka and shots.

Confidence boost

She is always the last to leave a pub or nightclub, and she drinks so much, she often blacks out.

Her hair is falling out, she bruises easily and she has stomach pains.

It (alcohol) blanks everything out and I go into my own world. It is nicer in my own world Vikki Morgan Children 'risking liver disease'

Vikki says she has an addictive personality and has experimented with all sorts of drugs.

"It's different with drink," she said.

"It's legal and easier to get. Everyone's doing it. You see celebrities falling out of taxis."

She has tried to give up before but the abstinence never lasts, and the death of her 48-year-old father in January pushed her back off the wagon.

Vikki says she drinks to forget and to boost her confidence.

"It blanks everything out and I go into my own world," she said.

"It is nicer in my own world."

She claimed alcohol had landed her in a whole heap of trouble, with people trying to "take advantage of her" when she was drunk.

She said she ended up in hospital in August after a man hit her around the head when she refused to go home with him.

Wake-up call

Vikki said she drinks most of the weekend, and only sobers up on Sunday or Monday.

"It takes me most of the week to get over it," she said. "It is affecting my work."

My mum is the only one who realises I cannot help it Vikki Morgan

She said she did not pick up the habit from her parents, and most of her friends seem to be able to control themselves.

"It's what I do," she said. "I am always in the worst state.

"I am really frightened. I know I have a problem. I have known for ages. I won't listen to anyone."

Vikki's father died of lung cancer, and she said smoking and drinking went hand-in-hand.

"I can smoke 40 a day," she said. "I wake up the next day and can hardly breathe.

"But I am more concerned about my drinking. It is causing me more harm at the moment."

Vikki said no-one understands her "illness".

"I cannot help it," she said. "My mum is the only one who realises I cannot help it."

Vikki is so concerned about her symptoms, she is going for a liver test this week and is hoping to start rehab in the New Year.

She said the British Liver Trust's warning had been a real "eye-opener" and she was particularly affected by the story of Stacey Rhymes, the 24-year-old who died from long-term alcohol abuse earlier this year.

"I could see that being me and it petrifies me."