What Is Alcoholism?
A continued, excessive or regular use of alcoholic drinks is known as Alcoholism. This happens when the person can no longer control their use of alcohol, compulsively abuse alcohol, despite its negative consequences, they have very strong cravings or a strong desire to consume alcohol.
Alcoholism is mostly caused when you consume alcohol without any limit, which results in significant mental and physical health issues.
Many people ask, “what is alcoholism?”
Alcoholism is a disease characterized by the regular taking of alcohol. The definition of alcoholism is chronic alcohol use to the degree that it intrudes with physical or mental health, or with normal social or work behavior.
Alcoholism is a disease that produces both psychological and physical addiction.
Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that reduces anxiety, and feelings of guilt. Having a large amount of doses can cause loss of consciousness and even death. Alcoholism is a type of disease that can damage essential parts of your body like the liver, heart, brain, etc.
As the disease increases, serious health problems will also progress which can occur in almost every part of your body system. Alcoholism facts describe alcoholism as a chronic disease characterized by an overwhelming need to consume alcohol in spite of the problems resulting in the life of the alcoholic and those around them due to drinking.
Alcoholics drink madly and uncontrollably which increases the amount of alcohol they drink and they get dependent physically and mentally on the alcohol. Alcohol abuse is distinct from alcoholism. In alcohol abuse, while alcohol still plays a destructive role in the drinker’s life, the drinker is not yet fully dependent on alcohol and can set some limits on their drinking.
How Do Alcoholism Signs And Symptoms Look Like?
At the start of this disease, these symptoms may be limited and hard to recognize. However, as the disease progresses, the symptoms become more bold and easy to catch, and these symptoms are clear signs that help is needed.
There are two types of symptoms:
- Behavioral signs.
- Physical signs.
In behavioral types of alcoholism, a person can do very risk-taking things, because alcoholism directly connects to the brain, and then it highly affects the person’s mood, thinking, and behaviors, it’s classified as a mental illness. Thus, many of the trademark signs of alcohol involve the various types of changes in human behavior.
Some of the common behavioral signs of alcoholism are like:
- Continuing to drink despite negative consequences.
Non-stop drinking can cause problems at your work, relationships and negatively damage your health. The person should not drink so much that it affects your personal life. There are so many responsibilities and work which we are not able to do while suffering from alcoholism. There are lots of chemicals included in alcohol that directly affect your brain, especially when you take their high dose.
- Neglecting responsibilities and activities.
Continued consumption of alcohol will highly affect both your personal and professional life. This might include missing work, can’t go to important meetings and gatherings, school, or performing poorly at your job because of hangovers or intoxication.
A person who is physically dependent on alcohol may also experience cravings of intense need or desire to drink. Not everyone with an alcohol use disorder develops a physical dependence on alcohol, but people may see some other physical symptoms because long-term heavy alcohol use can damage almost every organ in the body, if you will drink for a long period of time it can harmfully affect your body like:
Common physical symptoms of alcohol are:
- You can’t sleep or eat properly(insomnia)
- Mood swings, depression, anxiety or panic attacks.
- Upset stomach, diarrhea, abdominal pain.
- Vomiting or vomiting blood, and many more.
What Are The Necessary Steps To Recover From Alcoholism?
Recovery from alcohol problems is a process of change through which an individual achieves sobriety and improves your health, fitness, your living lifestyle, and quality of your life. When you begin to recover from the alcohol addiction, at that time you start a new journey of your life, as you will learn to lead a life without alcohol.
There are many roads to become healthy again, recovery is empowering and self-directed. Deciding to quit drinking is not easy, but it is worth doing it for our family, friends, and most importantly for our health. The chances of an optimistic outcome are much higher.
Essentially, recovering from the dynamic and complex process has all the advantages to mental, physical, and social health that can happen when someone who is addicted to alcohol gets the help they need from the doctor. Alcohol addiction recovery is a lifelong process.
There are four types of alcohol recovery Treatment.
- Detox involves going through the alcohol withdrawal process. Drug and alcohol detox is very important. If you have a drinking habit that is very heavy and harsh, then you will be suggested to go to the doctor or any rehabilitation centers, in order to manage your symptoms of alcohol withdrawal.
- Therapy is the best medicine in every situation or disease, some motivational and psychotherapy enhancement therapy can play a major role in the recovery of this addiction.This type of therapy treatment can also be very helpful for addressing symptoms of psychological conditions, such as anxiety and depression.
- Medications are also highly substantial treatment in this situation, your doctor may also suggest some of the medications which can help you to control drinking cravings and reduce withdrawal symptoms. There are some of the medicines which doctor recommends like Antabuse, Campral, etc .which may help you to reduce your habits and addiction to alcohol.
- Support Groups can also play a major role in the treatment, living with family, talking with them, playing games, watching movies, going out for a picnic. These small things can make a major difference in one’s addiction. Group therapy is also a very successful treatment in the world of alcoholism. The person can meet peers going through the same things and find information and resources that will support your recovery fast.
CONCLUSION
As we see that there are lots of people in the world who are facing the problem of addiction to alcohol (alcoholism), but there is nothing to be frightened of, there are some treatments mentioned in the above article. Which can help you to recover from this addiction problem. And you can also live a sober and healthy life.
