Alcoholic: Definition, Symptoms, Traits, Causes, Treatment
Alcohol misuse can impact every aspect of your life in ways you may not expect. Social factors such as peer pressure, advertising and environment also play an important role in the development of alcoholism. Young people often start drinking because their friends are doing so. Beer and liquor ads on television tend to portray drinking as a glamorous, exciting pastime. While the exact causes of alcoholism are not known, a number of factors can play a role. The condition is likely the result of a combination of genetic, social, psychological, and environmental factors.
Discovering you aren’t just a casual drinker and are facing an alcohol problem can be shocking. And when you’re ready, learn about alcohol detox or other treatment programs or get started with online rehab. Alcoholism doesn’t only take its toll on the alcoholic — it affects everyone around him or her, especially family and friends.
You may become more depressed, more anxious, or start losing sleep. You may start to feel sick from heavy drinking, but enjoy its effects too much to care. Many drinkers at this stage are more likely to drink and drive or experience legal troubles as a result of their drinking. While end-stage alcoholism is a dire situation, it’s not a hopeless one.
Most people with an alcohol use disorder progress through three typical stages. Unhealthy alcohol use includes any alcohol use that puts your health or safety at risk or causes other alcohol-related problems. It also includes binge drinking — a pattern of drinking where a male has five or more drinks within two hours or a female has at least four drinks within two hours. Typically, alcohol withdrawal symptoms happen for heavier drinkers. Alcohol withdrawal can begin within hours of ending a drinking session.
Early Symptoms
Labels such as ‘alcoholic’ do nothing to help a person with the disorder get the help they need. Other than the fact that someone is drinking more than usual, it might be hard to detect that there’s even a problem because outwardly the alcoholic appears normal. Internally, though, significant biological changes are occurring. If you have a pattern of suddenly feeling very sick after consuming alcohol, you may have developed sudden onset alcohol intolerance. However, certain food groups also have benefits when it comes to helping with the discomfort of withdrawal symptoms and detoxification.
- You may need to seek treatment at an inpatient facility if your addiction to alcohol is severe.
- These are similar to the varicose veins that some people develop in their legs.
- Most individuals in this subtype are middle-aged and started drinking early.
These facilities will provide you with 24-hour care as you withdraw from alcohol and recover from your addiction. Once you’re well enough to leave, you’ll need to continue to receive treatment on an outpatient basis. This is especially true for teens who attend parties where drinking is the primary activity. You might 14 ways to cure a headache without medication think binge drinking is safe when you only do it occasionally, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Rehabilitation programs are an excellent treatment option for people with severe symptoms of the condition. They remove you from your triggers and focus on helping you heal for the period you are in them.
What Is the Official Definition of Alcoholism?
They typically come from families with low rates of alcoholism. An alcoholic is known as someone who drinks alcohol beyond his or her ability to control it and is unable to stop consuming alcohol voluntarily. Most often this is coupled with being habitually intoxicated, daily drinking, and drinking larger quantities of alcohol than most.
In the beginning stages of alcoholism, drinking escalates and the individual develops an increased tolerance for alcohol. Those biological changes pave the way for the second stage, which is marked by a physical dependence on the drug. Drinking at this point isn’t about feeling good — it’s about not feeling bad and avoiding the uncomfortable sensations that accompany acute withdrawal.
Later, it can cause fatigue, bleeding and bruising, itchy skin, yellow discoloration of the skin and eyes and fluid accumulation in the abdomen known as ascites. Fluid buildup in end-stage liver disease is a particularly ominous sign. Fifty percent of patients with ascites typically die within two years if they new life house don’t have a liver transplant. It’s common at this point for alcoholics to have lost their jobs as well their friends and family. Stopping is impossible at this point without professional help because of the severe and potentially life-threatening withdrawal symptoms that would occur if they quit cold turkey.
What Is An Alcoholic?
However, referring to a person with this condition as an alcoholic has negative connotations that can be harmful and hurtful. Once detox is complete, alcoholics can begin tackling problematic behaviors related to their addiction and learn how to live sober again. Because alcoholism is a chronic disease and alcohol relapse is common, persistence is a necessity — but success is achievable.
As a result, you may have to drink larger quantities to get “buzzed” or drunk. Drinkers leave the experimental stage when their alcohol consumption becomes more frequent. Instead of just drinking at parties once in a while, you may find yourself drinking every weekend. Drinking large amounts of alcohol at one time is dangerous, and can even lead to coma or death. Furthermore, you may become dependent on the feeling you get from drinking and find that these episodes increase in frequency.
Chronic Severe Subtype
These are similar to the varicose veins that some people develop in their legs. But esophageal varices are prone to rupture, and when they do, the alcoholic can bleed to death. At this stage, the alcoholic may appear to be functioning normally and is unlikely to have performance problems at work, school or in other settings.
Physical Signs of Alcoholism
Research shows that more than 40 percent of Americans have been exposed to alcoholism in the family. Children of alcoholics are more likely to be abused and to experience anxiety, depression and behavioral problems than children of non-alcoholics. They also have an increased alcohol intervention risk of becoming alcoholics themselves. There are several organizations geared specifically to treating the families of alcoholics, including Alanon. We transform lives giving hope, help, healing to those impacted by substance use and mental health conditions.