When I was in the tenth grade in high school, I enrolled into a substance abuse class. At that age, I did not understand that alcohol abuse in truth was a sub division of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse and above all about alcohol side effects, I read a lot about Alcoholic Anonymous, their meetings, how their programs have twelve steps, and how successful the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program has been for people all through the world. I also learned a lot about alcohol rehab and the different alcohol rehab clinics that are typically available to people who engage in abusive drinking.
Negative Outcomes That are Related to Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse
Some of the detrimental end results correlated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class certainly frightened me. The ruined lives and countless serious issues experienced by most alcohol dependent people made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. In a word, I did not want to face the wreckage and ruination that alcohol dependent individuals almost always go through.
Reflect on this for a moment. What fifteen-year-old individual wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What teenager wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that consuming alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What adolescent wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related problems before he or she becomes an adult?
What youth wants to go through alcohol withdrawals when he or she tries to stop drinking? Why would a person engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause problems in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after an individual has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would a teenager want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that focuses on excessive drinking?
These issues were so meaningful that I discussed some of them in class throughout the school year. What was entirely incredible to me was the number of students who openly didn’t care about the damaging results of irresponsible drinking that I talked about. It was almost as if they couldn’t care less about reality and how these consequences can destroy their lives. For the first time in my life I started to understand something that my grandfather used to say to me all through my teen and pre-teen years: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
It’s Beneficial, Important, and Energizing to Keep Yourself From the Unhealthy and Damaging Effects of Alcohol and Drug Abuse
And even at my young age, I also started to comprehend how invigorating, important, and beneficial it is in life to keep yourself from the damaging and unhealthy effects of alcohol and drug abuse. And understanding this also led to some commitment issues, conflict, and communication problems in the friendships and relationships I had in high school.
Jennifer is a thirty-seven-year-old customer service manager who has been ingesting alcohol in an irresponsible and hazardous manner since she and her live-in boyfriend discontinued their relationship. In truth, for the past six months she has been drinking very nearly one-and-a-half bottles of wine every night, and on the weekends she also has been drinking more than a few bottles of beer all the way through the day. In a word, Jennifer has been drinking so excessively and abusively that it's a miracle that she hasn't suffered from alcohol poisoning.
After feeling depressed because she was starting to forget about the importance of her health, Jennifer finally told herself that enough is enough, that it’s time to quit the self pity act, that it’s time to stop the abusive drinking, and time to make a new start with her life. So the following Saturday morning at 10:30 AM, she came to a decision that she would quit drinking suddenly and completely without preparation or planning.
When She Stopped Drinking She Felt Awful, She Was Extremely Moody and Nervous, Her Head Was Throbbing, She Started to Sweat Profusely, She Had Absolutely No Appetite, and She Vomited a Number of Times
When Jennifer stopped drinking, she figured that she would most likely be tempted to take a couple of drinks, but she never pictured that she would feel so horrific. More to the point, roughly an hour-and-a-half after she stopped drinking, she vomited several times, she was extremely nervous and moody, her head was throbbing, she had absolutely no appetite, and she started to perspire profusely.
When she called her best pal and informed her that she had stopped drinking and that after a few hours she without any warning started to experience flu-like symptoms, Monica, her best friend, told Jennifer to call her physician and discuss what was going on.
She Admits to Her Physician That She Has Been Drinking In a Hazardous and Irresponsible Manner, That She Just Tried to Quit Drinking, and That She is Experiencing Terribly Unpleasant Flu-Like Symptoms
So Jennifer called her family doctor, informed him that she has been drinking in an excessive and abusive manner for a number of months and that when she tried to suddenly quit drinking earlier in the day, within a few hours she felt as if she had the most unpleasant flu-like symptoms that she had ever suffered through.
Her medical practitioner told her that she may be going through symptoms of alcohol withdrawal and that she should have a friend or family member drive her to the emergency room as soon as humanly possible.
As soon as Jennifer got off the phone, she got a friend to take her to the emergency room. Interestingly, all the way to the hospital, as sick as Jennifer felt, the only thing she could think about was whether or not she might be an alcoholic.
Obviously her healthcare professional had called ahead and informed the emergency room personnel to expect Jennifer because when she got to the hospital, she was met by a nurse and a paramedic who without hesitation asked her to get in the wheelchair they had with them. After getting transferred to the emergency room and undergoing two or three essential tests, it was validated that Jennifer was in truth experiencing alcohol withdrawal symptoms and was in need of alcohol detox.
An emergency room healthcare practitioner gave her some medications to address her flu-like symptoms and also administered some meds to help eliminate the alcohol that was still in her blood.
An Alcohol Dependency and Alcohol Abuse Physician Explains That She is Addicted to Alcohol and Then Goes Over What Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms and Alcohol Dependency Stages Are
After two or three hours, Jennifer was taken from the ER and transported to the recovery room. After she was in recovery for about three hours, Doctor Brosky, a drug and alcohol abuse specialist, came to visit her. He took quite a bit of time and explained in laymen’s language that Jennifer had experienced alcohol withdrawal symptoms when she quit drinking because she had become alcohol dependent.
He then stated that with continuous and heavy drinking, the drinker’s brain steadily adapts to the alcohol so that it can process things in a "routine" way. When the person then abruptly refrains from consuming alcohol, as one would expect, the brain takes action by bringing forth alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Not only this, but her healthcare professional also clearly explained the various alcoholism stages that a person who is alcohol dependent usually goes through as the disease progressively gets worse.
It is Established that Jennifer is in the First Stage of Alcohol Addiction and She Obtains a Favorable Projection For a Complete Recovery if She Gets the Alcohol Dependency Rehab She Needs
Fortunately for Jennifer, it was confirmed that she was in the earliest stage of alcohol addiction and, as a consequence, she received a favorable diagnosis for a complete recovery if she gets the alcohol rehabilitation she requires.
Jennifer told the physician that she will do whatever it takes to get sober and to reclaim her health. She also mentioned that she has an exceptional hospitalization insurance plan that will probably pay for most of the costs needed for rehabilitation. It was clear to see that Jennifer was very pleased with her encouraging medical forecast and felt at ease knowing that she will be able to get the alcohol dependency rehabilitation she needs so that she can begin the road to recovery. After Jennifer talked to her family doctor, one thing was clear: addressing her disease and wanting to pursue the healthiest route was positive for her self esteem but it also augmented the commitment in her relationships and in her friendships.
Wendy was the mother of three children. Wendy had been feeling quite anxious lately and started to "medicate" herself by having two or three cocktails each night after she put her children to bed. After approximately nine weeks of this drinking routine, she at last grasped the fact that instead of helping her ”loosen up” and cope with her difficulties, drinking made her feel less tranquil when she awakened. This, in turn, made her feel even more tense all through the day.
After thinking about her predicament for a few weeks, Wendy decided to talk about her drinking situation with her best friend. In actual fact, about ten minutes into their conversation, Wendy’s friend, Ellie, told her that she knew about an extremely supportive and competent physician at the local drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic. After talking to her friend, Wendy immediately got motivated to call the treatment facility and schedule an appointment.
Eleven days later she finally got to meet the psychiatrist her friend had been talking about. After their short introduction, Wendy explained to the physician that ever since her husband and she got divorced, she has been having a very hard time financially, spiritually, and emotionally.
At times, she felt that she was totally over the divorce. Recently, however, she has been feeling extremely depressed about the fact that she and her former husband couldn't "make it". When asked by the doctor how long her ex-husband and she went together before they got married, Wendy told the doctor that Robert, her former husband, and she went out for four-and-a-half years and then lived together for three years before they got married.
As Wendy was talking to the doctor, she underscored the point that she truthfully thought that she and her ex-husband waited long enough to know one another well enough before they got married. After the children started to arrive, conversely, their relationship seemed to go downhill. What is more, both she and Robert started to drink, and their hazardous and careless drinking adversely affected their relationship, their finances, and their love for one another.
When things became dysfunctional between them, Robert got a divorce attorney and filed for a divorce. Even though things were apparently not going well and even though she was regularly depressed, Wendy told the doctor that she did not want to put a stop to their marriage. Once she was served her divorce papers, however, she knew that their relationship was over.
The doctor explained to Wendy that the tension, stress, and anxiety that she has been going through concerning her excessive and hazardous drinking are some of the normal alcohol abuse effects and that the best solution for this state of affairs is rehabilitation for one's alcohol abuse. In fact, getting alcohol abuse treatment is extremely important because repeated drinking can get the person into even more debilitating alcohol and alcoholism problems.
After seven or eight therapy sessions with her doctor, Wendy was slowly but surely able to comprehend the fact that the real basis of her anxiety and her depression was that she had not worked through her angry feelings she has for her ex-husband who had divorced her two years ago. With these insights and with the drugs her doctor prescribed, she eventually refrained from drinking, she started to feel considerably less depressed, and she started making time for social events with her family and friends. A few months after getting treatment from her psychiatrist, she even began to date once again.
It was clear that Wendy had come a long way. Indeed, just about four months after she stopped her rehab, Wendy had finally laid the depressing emotions of Robert, her ex-husband, to rest and was starting to feel more self worth and more spiritually "sound" and emotionally “together” than she had ever felt in her life.