The term "alcoholism" would be described as an addiction to alcohol. When a person has a strong case of alcoholism, it is very difficult for them not to drink. Some people who suffer from this are unable to feel content with themselves without consuming alcohol. Unlike cravings for food, alcohol cravings are much more potent and much more difficult to ignore for people with alcoholism. Often times, people craving alcohol feel that they need it to sustain themselves more than food or water. In worst case scenarios, people feel they can't go an hour without drinking alcohol. This results in a loss of control over body and mind in the alcoholic.
Alcoholics often gain weight as a result of constant drinking. Most victims of alcoholism don't exercise or regulate their diet as they ought to, meaning that all the calories of food and drink sink to the midsection. This can lead to health problems in the future, such as heart problems, risk of blood clots, and obesity. These consequences of drinking invariably minimize the possibility of leading a normal and healthy lifestyle. Besides the possible health issues, safety issues are also a problem, for being drunk while walking on the street is practically an invitation for muggers and the like.
Drunk driving is no accident. There were 16,885 alcohol-related fatalities in 2005 - 39 percent of the total traffic fatalities for the year. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), "A motor vehicle crash is considered to be alcohol-related if at least one driver or non-occupant (such as a pedestrian or pedalcyclist) involved in the crash is determined to have had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .01 gram per deciliter (g/dL) or higher. Thus, any fatality that occurs in an alcohol-related crash is considered an alcohol-related fatality. The term 'alcohol-related' does not indicate that a crash or fatality was caused by the presence of alcohol." The statistics reveal that most fatal alcohol-related crashes do indeed involve drunk drivers and far fewer of these fatalities involve intoxicated pedestrians or "bicyclists and other cyclists". Nationwide in 2005, alcohol was present in 24 percent of the drivers involved in fatal crashes (BAC .01-.07, 4 percent; BAC .08 or greater, 20 percent). The 16,885 alcohol-related fatalities in 2005 (39% of total traffic fatalities for the year) represent a 5-percent reduction from the 17,732 alcohol related fatalities reported in 1995 (42% of the total). The 16,885 fatalities in alcohol-related crashes during 2005 represent an average of one alcohol-related fatality every 31 minutes.
Alcohol addiction causes so much suffering in marriage. Besides being physically and emotionally harmful to alcoholics themselves, addiction is also harmful to those whose lives touch them. Addiction makes people insensitive to the feelings of those who care most for them, and they will stop at nothing to feed their addiction. Alcoholics commonly engage in their most painful habits while under the influence. Acts of infidelity are common. The fact that he or she is drunk at the time is no consolation to a grief-stricken spouse. It can require a lot of strength for children to resist peer pressure and media influences. When it comes to alcohol and drugs, the most useful weapon that your children can have is facts and knowledge, instead of scare tactics and threats from their parents. Children's trust in parents can go way up on the scale when they actually researched the topic of drugs with their parents. Many successful parents decide that one of the best ways to avoid their children being drawn into drugs, is to educate them, and learn together, rather than simply condemning the topic out of hand. If you do not want to create that taboo effect in your household, while you do not wish to condone alcohol and drugs, you should make sure that your kids know that they can talk to you about these issues at anytime they wish. Although many parents may disagree, but other say that if their kids are going to try alcohol then they might as well try it in safety at home. One advantage of this liberal approach is that in children's minds, if it does not seem like things are "off limits" then they will not be attracted to doing it just because they are not supposed to.
If you think your drinking is a problem, try following these steps: STEP ONE: Decide what your aim is. Do you want to give up alcohol altogether? Or do you want to cut down to within daily benchmarks? Or maybe you want to avoid binge-drinking and all the problems that go with it. The decision is yours but be clear about what you want to achieve. STEP TWO: Pick a day in the next week to start cutting down. Go for a day when you are likely to be relaxed and not under pressure. Plan ahead for a day when it is easier to avoid alcohol. STEP THREE: Work out how you can avoid situations when you know you end up drinking more. If you often drink at home, stock up on alternatives to alcohol, like alcohol-free beers, or lagers or wine or soft drinks. You might like to tell other people that you are cutting back, this should avoid them putting pressure on you to drink and they might even join in. STEP FOUR: Do not give up! Changing habits like drinking takes time and hard work and sometimes it is difficult to drink less. Keep focusing on the positive things you have achieved. If you do relapse, set a new date to start reducing again. STEP FIVE: If you continue to find it difficult to cut down you could see a trained alcohol counsellor to help you develop strategies or contact Drinkline for advice. Try phrases such as: No thanks ,I have had enough or I have got a lot on tomorrow. Reward yourself. Chart your progress. Cutting down requires willpower and self-control so you should be pleased with yourself for succeeding. Buy yourself something special with the money you save from not drinking. Be honest with yourself. Make sure you only reward yourself when you meet the targets you set yourself.
Alcoholics often have a difficult time deciding whether or not to give up drinking. They feel that alcohol has been a companion to them, and wonder why they should give it up when it has helped them through so many difficult times. The truth is that alcohol was probably one of the underlying causes of those difficult times. Without knowing it, drunks can become a person they never knew existed, causing tension and creating friction in places where there wasn't any before. Once sober, the alcoholic is forced to deal with the consequences and often does not know how, which is when they relapse back into drink. This is the reason for giving up alcohol: it ruins one's mind, body, and life. Once identified as the cause of the ruination, the problem can be solved, as long as the alcoholic has the will to try. Becoming independent from drinking is a very difficult bond to break, which usually makes the results all the more satisfying.
Alcohol rehabilitation centers are large in number in the United States, but few in diversity. Most rehab centers claim to be the best in the business, and yet are indistinguishable from the rest. This makes giving up alcohol more difficult, for most people require individualized treatment and rehab. A treatment plan should not be formed according to any restrictive model; it should be tweaked and morphed into a plan that actually brings results to the people who use it. People, whether or not they are alcoholics, are not the same, and therefore cannot use the same exact treatment service. Finding an alcohol rehabilitation center that is different and cutting-edge is, therefore, rather difficult. These latter centers often have individualized treatment plans, and dual-diagnosis as well. Most of them are located in Florida, where the methods are creative and exciting, giving quality care to alcoholics.
Alcohol use and abuse occurs with a tremendous amount of variability among individuals. Frequently, there is a limited distinction between "social" or "moderate" drinking and "problem" or" harmful" drinking. It is obvious however, that as the frequency of drinking and the amount increases, so does the probability of problem behaviors frequently resulting in medical and psychosocial problems. A very prominent group of individuals affected by alcohol problems to a significant degree, who develop the syndrome of alcohol dependence, are usually referred to by most people as alcoholics. different groups of individuals with alcohol problems usually require different approaches to diagnosis and clinical management.
The effects of alcoholism include the strong need to drink, a need that can be as strong as the need for food or water. Also, the drinker might not be able to stop once drinking has begun. Short-term memory loss can be imminent, as can be blackouts, where the user appears to others that he or she is awake and fully conscious - but in reality has no sense of time or action. These are only some of the early physical effects of alcoholism, which can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure, and ultimately death.
Alcohol withdrawal is a condition that follows a reduction in alcohol consumption or when an alcohol dependent individual stops drinking abruptly. In addition to a high level of distress, alcohol withdrawal is also associated with impairment in social, occupational, and other areas of an individual's functioning. Relatively uncomplicated cases of alcohol withdrawal are usually characterized by signs and symptoms of autonomic hyperactivity, and could possibly include increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, hyperthermia, tremor, nausea, vomiting, insomnia and frequently anxiety.
Studies indicate that teen binge drinking can lead to poor performance in school, difficulty in simple math or the inability to read a map. They also dispel the notion that a person could sustain heavy drinking for several years before causing neurological damage. Adolescent alcohol abuse and dependence may prove to be more damaging than alcoholism in adulthood by killing brain cells in the hippocampus, blocking brain receptors that form memories and causing protracted neurological impairments, the researchers say. research suggests that teens who binge drink may do damage to their memory and learning abilities by severely hampering the development of the hippocampus.
Family risk factors for teenagers developing drinking problems include low parent supervision or communication, family conflicts, inconsistent or severe parental discipline, and a family history of alcohol or drug abuse. Individual risk factors include problems managing impulses, emotional instability, thrill-seeking behaviors, and perceiving the risk of using alcohol to be low. Girls who drink, as well as teens who begin drinking prior to the age of 14 years and those whose mothers have drinking problems, are more likely to develop alcoholism. Teen risk factors for alcoholism differ a bit between the 14- to 16-year-old and 16- to 18-year-old age groups, in that the latter tend to be less likely to drink in excess when they have a close relationship with their mothers.
Alcohol abuse is often associated with medical illness, which frequently becomes a common consequence of heavy drinking and also may occur in the absence of alcohol dependence. Early in the course of drinking, some individual's alcohol abuse problems may show no physical or laboratory abnormalities, but as drinking continues problems begin to manifest themselves in many of the body's organ systems. Obviously, a physical examination is necessary if there is any indication whatsoever of any medical problems. This physical examination will include important information about the presence and also the extent of any organ damage, and should be geared toward examining the organ systems most vulnerable to alcohol abuse including: the cardiovascular system, the gastrointestinal system, and the central and peripheral nervous systems. The physician will also be alert to other possible concerns related to alcohol such as alcohol withdrawal or delirium, intoxication or withdrawal from other drugs, and the acute presentation of psychological problems. Other nonspecific or systemic health problems associated with alcohol abuse include malnutrition, muscle wasting, specific vitamin deficiencies, infectious diseases (such as tuberculosis, dermatitis, pediculosis, and hepatitis), and trauma secondary to fights and accidents.
In order to be successful with treatment for alcohol abuse or dependence, the abuser must be willing to admit that there is a problem and that they want to stop drinking. There is also a physical aspect of the success of alcohol abuse treatment. If the drinker is physically dependent on alcohol, treatment can take a long time. Completely stopping to drink needs to be the first step, and then treatment focuses on relieving withdrawal symptoms. Afterwards, it focuses on staying sober. Some people may need medicine that help reduce the symptoms of withdrawal. Also, counseling and support groups are a fundamental part of treatment, as it helps with the mental aspect of recovering from alcohol abuse.
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