For several years alcohol addiction exploration has demonstrated the fact that there is strong correlation between alcohol dependency and life-threatening health conditions and mental health issues such as depression.
As an illustration, in 2005, scientific exploration and alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics showed that alcohol abuse and alcoholism cost the United States an estimated $220 billion on an annual basis. Interestingly, this massive alcohol-related cash outlay was substantially more than the cost linked with cancer ($196 billion) or with obesity ($133 billion). While it is important to highlight these facts, it is also noteworthy to emphasize the point that an interrelationship exists between all three of these health conditions.
More to the point, chronic alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction are also highly interrelated with obesity and with cancer.
Undeniably, substance abuse examination has revealed that alcoholism can boost the risk for various kinds of cancer, especially cancer of the voice box (larynx), esophagus, liver, rectum, colon, kidneys, and throat. Hazardous and recurring drinking can also lead to immune system issues and injury to the fetus during pregnancy.
Excessive Drinking Deteriorates the Individual’s Organs and Systems
Furthermore, if alcohol dependency continues over a period of years, the person’s body organs will more likely than not be affected in an unsafe manner. For example, long-term, excessive drinking is particularly injurious to the liver due to the fact that the liver does most of the work of processing the alcohol that has been consumed. Excessive amounts of alcohol kills liver cells and obliterates the ability of liver cells to reproduce. This condition leads to a progressive inflammatory malfunction of the liver that can at the end of the day lead to cirrhosis of the liver, a dangerous and potentially terminal disease. Abusive, long-term drinking not only can result in critical liver damage, but it can also lead to damage to the heart and to the brain. Physical damage this dangerous may be irreversible and may, in turn, result in severe illness or an early death.
The Significance of Alcohol Therapy
It is critical, as a result, to know how to recognize the different alcoholism symptoms and the "alcohol signs" so that the alcohol addicted person can be given the opportunity to seek the quality alcohol rehab he or she needs.
Alcohol Addiction and Technologically Advanced Brain Exploration
Fortuitously, medical investigation is constantly unearthing original and important information. Recent alcoholism research provides a high-quality illustration. More accurately, for roughly the past ten years, complicated brain-imaging scanning devices have shown that repetitive and recurring abusive drinking modifies the constitution of the brain to a substantial extent, consequently resulting in brain disease that can last months, years, or perhaps as long as the person exists.
More explicitly, medical exploration has shown that people who have been drinking abusively for a considerable length of time increase their risk for developing long-term and severe transformations in the brain.
This type of damage may be directly related to severe liver disease, to the alcohol’s effects on the brain, or might be indirectly associated with the drinker’s poor overall health.
Malnutrition, Hazardous Drinking, and Mental Disorders
As a final illustration of diverse health problems that are to a large extent correlated to alcoholism, take into consideration the fact that according to medical exploration, the abusive and repeated abuse of alcohol can lead to erosive gastritis, a medical problem that diminishes the absorption of minerals, nutrients, and vitamins.
This form of organ malfunctioning is correlated with malnutrition and to an assortment of critical mental and neurological disorders including sleep disturbances, memory loss, and psychosis such as Wernicke’s Encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome. This latter medical problem is a long lasting debilitating health problem that is characterized by continual memory and learning complications.
Thoughtless Drinking Also Leads to in Friendship and Relationship Difficulties
In addition to major health problems, irresponsible and hazardous drinking also leads to relationship and friendship problems. For example, people who involve themselves in heavy drinking often experience affairs, sexuality issues, divorce, and marital difficulties. In these circumstances instances it is important for the person to get alcohol counseling so he or she can enhance his or her loving relationships and friendships.
Summary: The Relevance of Education
It is obvious that repetitive, hazardous drinking is directly or indirectly correlated with a number of serious medical conditions that can and do result in dangerous diseases and premature death. Such information needs to be stressed and presented to everyone in our society, especially to all students, so that most people will be able to refrain from irresponsible drinking while other individuals who have a drinking problem will get the professional rehabilitation they need.
Let us look at this logically. Yes, alcohol rehabilitation is important, but alcohol therapy is something that is usually done AFTER the fact. Education, from a different vantage point, is something that is done BEFORE the problem becomes obvious. Stated a different way, whereas alcohol rehabilitation is "reactive," education is "proactive." It is stressed that both approaches are required when discussing alcohol abuse and alcoholism.
How do you identify the fact that you have a problem with your drinking? When is it apparent that you are engaging in hazardous drinking?
If you have hopelessly struggled to quit drinking or if you promised yourself that your drinking days are behind you and then you recognized that you were drinking in an abusive manner just a few days later, the probability is especially good that you have drinking problems. The point to highlight is that if you have made an effort to quit drinking and cannot accomplish this, then your drinking is controlling you, instead of the other way around.
Likewise, if it takes greater amounts of alcohol to get the same “high,” more likely than not you need to realize that you have a drinking problem.
You may be telling yourself that the reasoning for your drinking is so that you can decrease your nervous tension or get rid of the distress or depression that you feel. Likewise, you may be trying to steer clear of an unsafe circumstance and may be looking for something better, more favorable, or less sorrowful.
As you continue your drinking, nevertheless, you will realize that drinking does not bring about the same high and you will also become aware that drinking doesn’t help do away with whatever produced your pain in the first place. You may also become aware that the more frequently you drink, the more depressed you feel.
As you continue to drink, sadly, you may become an alcoholic and, as a consequence, you may add another important problem to cope with rather than becoming aware of more productive and wholesome ways of managing your alcohol produced difficulties.
The Necessity for an Alcohol Evaluation
If you have figured out that you have a drinking problem, perchance the healthiest thing you can do for yourself is to call your medical doctor or healthcare practitioner and arrange for an appointment for a thorough physical and for a review of your drinking activities.
If you in fact feel that you have a crucial drinking problem, it may be a good idea to get prepared to hear that you need to get alcohol counseling.
At this point in time, what are your alternatives? You can indisputably refuse to see your family doctor and persist with your pattern of hazardous drinking.
It truly doesn’t take a genius, then again, to realize that repeated, hazardous drinking, if left untreated, will get worse over time and in all probability lead to an early death. As a result, your healthiest alternative is to address your drinking problem and obtain the alcohol treatment you need.
The Deceit of the Functioning Alcohol Addicted Individual
It is somewhat peculiar to note the fact that many alcoholics lead busy and active lives and have vehicles, jobs, pets, houses, families, and any number of material possessions just like non-alcoholics.
Many of these “functional” alcohol addicted individuals may have never been cited for a DWI and may have been lucky enough to avoid all alcohol-related legal problems. In spite of this fortunate situation, conversely, these alcoholics need to drink in order to deal with life on a day to day basis while continuing their facade as they associate with the outside world.
Ask anyone who has seen them when they are bingeing or in a drunken stupor or ask a family member about the problem drinker’s alcohol dependency, nonetheless, and they will be quick to maintain the validity of the drinker's situation and the facts about the alcohol addicted individual’s drinking predicament and about his or her alcohol produced problems.
Why Do People Addicted to Alcohol Fail to Address Their Drinking Difficulties?
As alcohol addiction research and statistics on alcohol abuse have stressed, no matter how obvious the alcohol-related predicaments seem to those who interact with the alcohol addicted person, alcohol dependent individuals often deny that drinking is the origin of their alcohol generated issues. Not only this, but alcohol addicted people regularly blame their alcohol induced predicaments on other people or upon other circumstances that surround them rather than seeing their part in the issue. Similarly, alcohol dependent people often exhibit marital problems and divorce and particularly post divorce problems.
The origin of the problem is that alcohol addiction is a disease of the brain. Once the problem drinker has become addicted to alcohol, he or she typically resorts to denial, manipulation, and deceit as a way of coping with the fact that his or her drinking is out of control. And to make things more problematic, the experience of alcohol withdrawal symptoms typically circumvents the alcoholic’s rare attempts to abruptly quit drinking. As depressing as the alcoholic’s existence is, to the contrary, the positive news is that professional assistance is usually obtainable – if the alcoholic reaches out and gets alcoholism therapy.
Summary
Admitting the fact that drinking is triggering problems in your day to day functioning is perchance the simplest way to find out if you have a problem with your drinking. In other words, if your drinking is leading to problems with your health, at work, in your relationships, with your finances, at school, or with the legal system, then you have a drinking problem that needs to be dealt with.
If you have a drinking problem, furthermore, this means that you are getting involved with hazardous drinking.
While some drinkers may be able to identify their "alcohol signs," pinpoint their difficulties, and greatly reduce the quantity and incidence of their drinking, other drinkers, nonetheless, need to address their drinking problems by getting professional alcohol rehab. What's more, due to their penchant to deny the facts and alter the truth, alcoholics unquestionably require quality alcoholism rehabilitation for their irresponsible drinking.
And lastly, if you feel more depressed the more you drink, you will probably need to obtain treatment for your drinking problem and for your depression.
Miss Benning was a health instructor at the best known private high school in the state. Even though she had been teaching for only three of four years, she had already achieved a reputation as a teacher with teaching approaches that encouraged and stimulated the pupils in her class to think and to learn.
As an illustration, one Thursday afternoon she addressed the students in her classroom and articulated the following: “For the next few days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more broad-based standpoint and we are also going to learn about a number of the best known signs of alcoholism from a less general and more explicit point of view."
"Not all of these alcoholism signs will undeniably confirm that someone with a drinking problem is a person who is alcohol dependent, but the more signs that a drinker exhibits, the more likely it is that he or she is an alcohol dependent individual.”
Miss Benning then told the class members that each pupil would be held responsible for researching four alcohol addiction signs and then presenting his or her findings to the other members in the class via a twenty-five minute oral presentation.
The Pupils are Thrilled About Giving A Relatively Long Presentation to Their Fellow Pupils About The Signs of Alcohol Addiction
After learning about the various alcohol dependency signs for quite a few days, the time had arrived for the oral presentations. It was instantly clear to see that her pupils were wound up about the subject because the material that they presented was first-rate. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the fervor exhibited by her pupils concerning this subject could not be overstated.
The day after all of the students completed their presentations, Miss Benning passed out a sheet of paper with a list of all the alcoholism signs that were discussed and presented in the presentations and in class. Miss Benning then asked the pupils in her class to go over the list and rank the top nine alcoholism signs that were most indicative of alcohol dependency. After roughly fifteen minutes, Miss Benning collected the pieces of paper and explained to the students in her classroom that after she tallies the results, she will reveal her findings the next school day.
There was some real anticipation by the pupils while they were exiting Miss Benning’s classroom. One could swear that her pupils couldn’t wait for the next day to come so that they could find out the outcome of their in-class research.
The Pupils Compare Their Results With the Assessments From A Panel of Drug and Alcohol Addiction Authorities
When the next school day finally came, Miss Benning passed out a sheet of paper that listed the top four alcoholism signs as per the pupils' rankings. Next to these results, she added another column that was labeled “correct response.” She then explained to the pupils in her class that the numbers in the second column she added signified the findings that were given by a board of alcoholism authorities.
Miss Benning told the students in her classroom to look over the data on the piece of paper she passed out and then to raise their hand if they had any questions, issues, or concerns. Within 40 or 50 seconds, almost every student in the classroom raised his or her hand. It was evident that the students had some concerns, questions, or issues about their results versus the answers given by the experts. For instance, virtually every pupil had an issue with the highest ranked answer given by the specialists, specifically, “Do you feel extremely nauseous when you quit drinking?”
The Main Difference Between Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is the Physical Dependency That is Experienced With Alcohol Addiction and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then explained to the pupils in her classroom why this answer was the most unambiguous indicator of alcoholism. She stressed the fact that the main difference between alcohol abuse and alcoholism is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcoholism and not with alcohol abuse.
Primarily this means that when a person who is alcohol dependent abruptly stops drinking, he or she will experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Miss Benning then told the pupils in her classroom that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the brain and by the body to the deficit of alcohol to which they had become accustomed. Stated another way, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are signals from the brain and from the body telling an individual who is addicted to alcohol that something is terribly out of kilter and needs to be fixed. These signals consist of a number of painful, dangerous, and uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms that can potentially lead to a fatality if the proper treatment is not immediately obtained.
Miss Benning then listed the many diverse alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be experienced when an individual who is alcohol dependent suddenly stops drinking.
The fact that Miss Benning tried to underscore was this: an individual who engages in alcohol abuse can experience almost any and every one of the alcohol addiction signs that the students had ranked, but the one symptom or sign that few, if any, alcohol abusers ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
To state this as exactly as possible, Miss Benning underscored the point that alcohol abusers, unlike people who are alcohol dependent, are not alcohol dependent and consequently, when they stop drinking, they almost never go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Pupils Think They Have Found A Discrepancy With the Findings From The Council of Drug and Alcohol Addiction Authorities
The students also had a problem with the second ranked answer given by the alcohol dependency authorities, namely, “Have you ever had a drink the first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or to get rid of a hangover?”
Miss Benning informed the pupils in her class that this sign does not necessarily signify that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does underline the need that alcoholics have to drink in order to avert alcohol withdrawals.
After Miss Benning explained the relevance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the alcohol addicted person, the pupils started to grasp the fundamental difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction.
To add a sense of closure to the topic, Miss Benning asked the students in her classroom to take out a sheet of paper and answer the following question: “if every individual who is alcohol dependent knew about every one of the alcoholism signs and alcohol withdrawal symptoms we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would seek alcohol addiction rehab?”
After about one or two minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils' predictions. While many students believed that around 85 to 95 percent of alcoholics would ask for alcoholism rehab if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcoholism signs, most of the pupils thought that this number would not be less than 55 percent.
The Students Were Shocked to Find Out That Only 25% of Individuals Who are Addicted to Alcohol in the U.S. Seek Alcohol Addiction Rehab
To the amazement of most of the students, Miss Benning declared that according to various scientific investigations, only 25% of the people who are alcohol dependent in the U.S. obtain alcohol dependency rehabilitation. This amazed most of the pupils because they believed that exposure to the shocking facts and statistics associated with alcohol addiction would motivate most of the individuals who are alcohol dependent to ask for alcohol addiction treatment.
Miss Benning then explained that people who are alcohol dependent not only need alcohol on a daily basis in order to function but they also require alcohol everyday so they can prevent possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Apparently, the alcohol addicted person’s need to drink on a daily basis is more powerful than logic or facts. Indeed, because the thirst for alcohol is “reality” to the person who is alcohol dependent, this is difficult to counteract.
The Incidence of Alcohol Addiction and Mental Health Problems Often Leads to Problems in Loving Friendships and Relationships
Lastly, Miss Benning explained to the students in her class that it is relevant to understand that alcohol dependency and a variety of mental health difficulties such as depression are highly interlinked. Not only this but the combination of mental health difficulties and alcohol addiction commonly result in issues in loving relationships and friendships
The Pupils are Enthused to Learn About Alcohol Dependency Symptoms and Signs in Today's Society
A few minutes later the bell rang, signifying the end of the class. Based on the enthusiasm exhibited by the pupils when they were leaving the classroom, Miss Benning realized that she had inspired and encouraged the pupils in her class to stop and think about a vital health and social problem that exists in our society.
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.