Irresponsible Drinking Leads to Health Problems and Possible Alcohol Dependence Signs
Alcoholism is a progressive debilitating disease with four main components:
· Tolerance – the need to drink increasingly more amounts of alcohol in order to get a “buzz” or to get “high.”
· Loss of control – the inability to stop drinking once the person has started drinking.
· Craving – a strong need or compulsion to drink.
· Physical dependence – experiencing withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches, the shakes, excessive sweating, or nausea after stopping drinking.
Alcohol is a problem if it causes major issues in any part of your life. This includes your health, relationships, employment, finances, or your life at home. You probably have a problem with alcohol if you commonly drink more than you plan to, if you keep trying to stop on your own but cannot, or if you think about drinking throughout the day.
Alcohol depresses the central nervous system. In some people, the initial reaction may be stimulation, but as people continue to drink, they become sedated. Alcohol lowers an individual’s inhibitions and affects his or her judgment, emotions, and thoughts. If a person continues to drink in a hazardous manner, it can impair his or her speech and muscle coordination. More precisely, abusive drinking not only can severely depress the vital centers of a person’s brain, but it can result in a life-threatening coma.
Problems with learning, attention, memory, and problem solving are common with alcoholism, along with the lack of coordination, impulsiveness, and speech and hearing impairment. Deficits in alcohol-related learning skills can persist even into adolescence and adulthood.
Although many individuals many times assume otherwise, alcohol dependency is a treatable disease. Doctor-prescribed medications, education, counseling, training, follow-up treatment and self-help groups are ways in which an alcoholic can recover from alcohol addiction.
For alcoholics, all the willpower and self resolve in the world commonly does not help the person abstain from drinking. Stated more precisely, alcoholics are for the most part powerless to stop or control their drinking without professional help.
To a great degree, alcohol dependency is a family disease. To be sure, alcohol dependency tends to run in families and has some genetic factors that can be passed onto children, grandchildren and on down the family line.
Do you need a drink the first thing in the morning? Do you need an increasing amount of alcohol before you start feeling its effects? If you feel that you have a drinking problem and if you feel guilty about your drinking and can’t seem to control how much you drink, make an appointment with your healthcare provider so that he or she can evaluate your drinking situation.
Based on your doctor’s assessment of the severity of your situation, you may require alcohol rehab. Your alcohol therapy will commonly consist of several phases. If you have become alcohol dependent, treatment may include detoxification, taking doctor-prescribed medications to control your alcohol withdrawal symptoms, medications to help avert an alcohol relapse, individual and/or group counseling, support, and outpatient follow-up therapy.
Alcoholism treatment is commonly available in rehab hospitals, alcohol rehab centers or clinics, or residential treatment facilities. Some of the more successful alcohol dependency therapeutic programs also provide outpatient follow-up treatment that can last up to a year or longer.
Alcoholism is a disease that can be treated, but there is no current cure. Alcoholism is a serious problem that affects millions of American families. If you or someone you love has a drinking problem, get professional help now.