Alcoholism is a disabling addictive disorder. You may call it as a case of alcoholism when a person shows signs of physical addiction to alcohol (for example, tolerance and withdrawal) and continues to drink, despite problems with his physical as well as mental health and social, family or job responsibilities. Alcohol may dominate the person's life and relationships. You may have already known these facts if one of your family members is going through the same situation.
An alcoholic person craves alcohol and cannot limit his/her drinking. If someone experiences withdrawal symptoms such as nausea, sweating, shakiness or anxiety when alcohol consumption has ceased, or if there is an urge to drink more amounts of alcohol just to feel a greater degree of intoxication, then that person is most likely an alcoholic!
What can Cause Alcoholism in Individuals?
Some scientists opine that family history may contribute towards alcoholism. In other words, members in a family of alcoholics are more likely to become alcoholics themselves. This can become worse due to adversities in the environment, traumatic conditions in life, friend or peer pressure especially in colleges, and the culture in which individuals are brought up.
What are the Symptoms of Alcoholism?
An alcoholic will show some signs of physical dependence such as:
- Alcohol-related illnesses
- An increase in the amount of alcohol intake with a desire to go high or to be in the "Trans" state of mind
- Memory lapses
- Withdrawal symptoms like sadness and loneliness.
The Behavioral Symptoms Include:
- Continuing to drink even if health, work or family are at stake.
- Drinking alone.
- Initiating episodes of violence when drinking.
- Expressing hostility when confronted about drinking.
- Showing lack of control over drinking, that is, being unable to stop or reduce alcohol intake.
- Finding excuses to drink.
- Missing work or school or experiencing a decrease in performance.
- Preferring withdrawal from other activities because of alcohol.
- Needing alcohol daily or regularly to function properly.
- Showing negligence towards eating.
- Not caring about physical appearance.
- Putting up a secretive behavior to hide alcohol use.
- Shaking in the morning.
What are the Effects of Alcoholism?
- Too much alcohol can destroy the brain cells, possibly leading to brain damage.
- Alcohol greatly disturbs the structure and function of the central nervous system by hindering the ability to retrieve, consolidate and process information.
- Moderate consumption of alcohol can affect the cognitive abilities while large amounts may interfere with the oxygen supply in the brain causing a blackout in drunkards.
- Alcohol addiction may also inflame the mouth, esophagus and the stomach, and can cause cancer in these areas, especially in drinkers who also smoke.
- Splurge drinking may produce irregular heartbeats and abusers may experience a higher risk of high-blood pressure, heart attacks and other damages to the heart.
- Alcohol can harm vision, damage sexual function, slow blood circulation apart from acting as the ground for malnutrition and water retention.
- It can also lead to skin and pancreatic disorders, weaken the bones and muscles and the immune system of the body.
How can You Treat Alcoholism?
First and foremost, change cannot be brought in unless you, yourself really want to do it! There has to be a desire in you to quit drinking and to stop being recognized as an alcoholic.
- Take an initiative to explore the reasons or causes that have made you an alcoholic.
- The process of detoxification will require you to get rid of alcohol not only from your house and the surrounding environment, but also from your body system. Recovery starts when your system becomes alcohol-free.
- The withdrawal symptoms usually begin between 6 to 48 hours after heavy drinking. The symptoms will lessen as well as increase between 24 and 48 hours. Keep in mind that the body is capable of reacting in a hazardous way, so you should undergo this process under a medical supervision.
- Medical help or examination is important in detoxification because it will help in letting you know about any other medical condition that may exist. In such cases, you may need to take care of both the conditions side by side. Conditions such as irregular heartbeats, inadequate heart function, liver disease, alcoholic pancreatitis and digestive bleeding can pose problems during the detoxification process.
- Detoxification should take a few days only, however, for some it may also take up to two weeks. Some possible drugs that are used by doctors during detoxification include selected benzodiazepines, buprenophex and anticonvulsant medications. In out patient settings, where people have mild symptoms of withdrawal, carbamazepine is usually used as a substitute for benzodiazepine.
- Withdrawal from alcohol is best done in a controlled, supervised setting in which medications are used to relieve the symptoms. This supervised withdrawal, also known as detoxification, usually takes 4 to 7 days.
- After detoxification, alcohol recovery or rehabilitation programs can help people stay away from alcohol. These programs usually offer counseling, mental health support, nursing and medical care. The therapy involves imparting education about alcoholism and its effects.
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) uses a structured teaching approach and may help people with alcoholism. Patients are given instructions and homework assignments to improve their ability to cope up with basic living situations, control their behavior and to change the way they think about drinking.
Alcoholism comes as a curse for the entire family. An alcoholic person not only jeopardizes his own mental and physical wellbeing, but he also harms his family life as well. He fails to fulfill his family responsibilities as well as his obligations in his professional front. But again, it has to be noted that family support plays a vital role in the rehab process. Love, care and understanding from the family members will allow an individual to change the identity of an alcoholic!
