Treatment For Alcohol

Treating Alcoholism – Alcohol Detox Symptoms At A Glance

admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:45:33 +0000

Each year, in the United States alone, there are about 79,000 deaths attributed to the use of alcohol. In terms of lifestyles, this makes alcoholism the 3rd leading cause of death. If you're into binge drinking, chances are, you're getting close to being part of that sad statistic.

Is alcoholism treatable? Fortunately, it is. But it's not going to be easy. While it's not difficult to find help anywhere (considering the number of support groups available at your disposal), your most formidable foe could be none other than your own body. Like most forms of addiction, alcoholism has withdrawal symptoms you need to prepare yourself for.

What is Withdrawal?

Generally speaking, withdrawal refers to the symptoms that a person experiences after the use of certain addictive substance is reduced. It's also more popularly called "detox" or "detoxing" (from the word "detoxification"). It describes the stage in which the body tries to adjust its dependence on the substance.

The severity and the length of the symptoms depend on two things:

The type of substance involved
How long the person has been using it

In most cases, withdrawal symptoms can be treated using only medication and therapy. However, you must understand that treating alcohol detox symptoms isn't the same as treating alcoholism.

Symptoms You Should Look Out For

There are two general types of alcohol withdrawal symptoms – psychological and physical symptoms. These symptoms range from mild to moderate, depending on the degree of alcohol "dependency" the body has developed (in short, how addicted the body is).

Psychological symptoms include the following:

Depression
Fatigue
Anxiety
Nightmares
Difficulties concentrating on tasks
Irritability
Jumpiness

On the other hand, these are physical symptoms you need to watch out for:

Clammy, sweaty skin
Frequent headaches
Insomnia
Loss of appetite
Excessive sweating (even in cold weather)
Limb tremors
Dilated pupils
Nausea (accompanied by vomiting)
Rapid heart rate

Most of the symptoms above can be addressed individually through the use of medication and therapy. When should you be worried? Contact your doctor or therapist when you experience the following symptoms:

Fever
Seizures
Agitation
Severe confusion and visual hallucinations (delirium)

Seeking Help: Outpatient vs. Inpatient Detox

Again, many of these symptoms can be addressed with medication and therapy. However, there are cases wherein the patient will have to receive treatment at a hospital or a major alcohol treatment facility. If you have the following problems, it's quite possible you will need inpatient care:

Any form of mental health disorder
Serious medical problems
History of violence against self and others
Failure to accomplish outpatient treatment

Alcoholism withdrawal may seem difficult at first. For most alcoholics, it's THE obstacle that's keeping them from curing their addiction. However, with proper support from family, friends and medical practitioners, you can emerge from it a stronger person and be able to conquer your alcoholism once and for all.

Self-Help Alcohol Treatment – Steps To A Sober Lifestyle

admin — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 22:11:57 +0000

Many alcoholics can attest to the fact that overcoming alcohol and staying sober can be very difficult. Others may even manage to convince themselves that it's impossible to quit drinking alcohol before they even start any form of alcohol treatment.

It's important for you to understand that you CAN overcome alcohol and you CAN stay sober. It doesn't matter how long you've been drinking or how bad your addiction is. There's a way and you CAN survive it.

Tips On Cutting Down on Your Drinking

For many people, quitting alcohol is a feat itself. Many find it difficult to follow through with their plans. By properly channeling your commitment, you can stick to it. Here are some tips.

• Start by setting a drinking goal. You may not be able to completely abstain but if your alcoholism is still in its early stages you can do it slowly. Do this by setting a limit for how much you will drink (say, weekly). Write this limit on a piece of paper along with your goal. Frame it or put it up where you can see it: on your refrigerator, bed stand or bathroom mirror.

• Keep a diary. Every time you consume or drink alcohol, write down the time and date. This will help you track how often you drink in a week or a month. As you gradually reduce your limit (see the tip above), seeing your "progress" will motivate you into moving forward with your plans of quitting.

• Stay clear of temptation. Slowly remove alcohol, bottles, bar glasses, drinking paraphernalia or even pictures of you drinking from your home or office.

• Drink slowly and carefully. Instead of taking it in one gulp, sip it slowly. After finishing your drink, wash it down with soda, water or fruit juice. Insert at least a 1 hour break in between drinks. Never drink on an empty stomach!

• Gradually increase your breaks from alcohol. Pick 1-2 days per week when you will not drink alcohol at all. After 4-5 weeks, take another step forward and try to completely stop drinking for a week. Look for other activities to take up your time. You'll be surprised by how you feel on these alcohol-free days, both physically and emotionally.

There will be moments wherein you'll find yourself powerless and weak. During those days, it never hurts to call on a friend or family member. Always remember: you are not alone.

Alcoholism Resources

admin — Sun, 23 May 2010 18:23:02 +0000

There are many resources available to those with alcohol dependency and their families. If you are affected by alcoholism you should start by learning as much as you can about the disease. Then, take the time to explore details of the specific problem and what has caused it in your case.

Internet and Library

Learn as much as you can about alcoholism. There is much information available on the Internet. Look for sites that provide information that is current. Find articles that are well-written and informative. Not everyone agrees on the best treatment plan so it will serve you well to get various opinions before making any treatment decisions.

Alcoholics Anonymous

This treatment group specializes in using a 12-step program to provide recovery treatment to alcoholics. There are chapters located all around the world and even those that specialize in teen alcoholics (Alateen). Visit a meeting as an observer to see what it’s all about. You’ll likely learn a lot in that hour!

Alcohol Recovery Support Groups

Other groups are available through local churches and hospitals. You can locate these groups by looking in the phone book or calling your local hospital. They usually meet regularly and welcome observers to come and see what they have to offer.

Therapy and Counseling

Ongoing treatment requires therapy or counseling. The alcoholic may require weekly sessions to help them stay focused on their issues and to get to the cause of the alcoholism. Additionally, group or family counseling may be helpful to keep the family together during the recovery. When looking for a counselor start by finding someone who specializes in treatment of dependencies. Once you have a list of several names you can set up an initial appointment. Talk to each therapist to find out how he or she works and to see if they will be a good match. If not, try another therapist. Remember that you will be spending quite a bit of time with this person so be sure it is someone who you feel comfortable with.

Treatment Centers

Treatment centers focus on providing in-patient or out-patient care for recovering alcoholics. Typically treatment centers range from local centers to private centers. Prices can vary widely. Start by researching each program online. Find out what the treatment consists of and how long the treatment lasts. You can send for the brochure or call for more details.

Before making a decision on a treatment center it is a good idea to visit the center if you can. Take a brief tour of the facilities and learn more about the programs and methods that are used to provide recovery.

How alcoholism affects your health and mind-the slow killer

admin — Mon, 17 May 2010 11:21:14 +0000

Alcoholism is an insidious disease because it creeps up on you in such a way that you are not even aware of it. You can start with a little social drinking and then progress to an obsession in a very short time. The progression is so subtle that you are not aware of the hold your drinking has on you until your world starts falling apart. Even then it may take a drastic happening in your life to really bring you back into reality and get you to seek help.

How alcoholism affects your health and mind:

1. You do not eat properly: because you are busy drinking and sleeping, you skip meals and get into poor eating habits. You start taking quick snacks instead of regular meals. Sometimes you just rely on the snacks at the bar. These snacks are often full of salt and cause you health problems. When you rely on snacks you usually become dependent on junk food, and further deteriorate your health. Malnutrition is not uncommon with alcoholics.

2. You become depressed easily: Because of the alcohol and poor eating habits, you find that you get emotionally upset and depresses easily. When this happens you mind starts to play tricks on you. You get paranoid and feel that people are after you and hide out alone most of the time. Your depression can get quite dangerous and even lead to suicide.

3. You cannot sleep properly: alcohol induced sleep destroys your natural sleeping cycles. When these are disrupted you will find that even after sleeping you will still feel tired. This will affect you mentally and physically. Your sleep patterns get disrupted and you feel tired and upset when you are awake. You do not function well mentally or physically. This affects your work, social life and family life. It will also seriously affect your schoolwork.

4. You experience memory loss: This is a sign that your mind is getting affected by your drinking. Alcohol is a type of drug and slowly but surely will destroy your mind. Memory loss and a decrease in cognitive thinking is a sign of this. You should get help as soon as possible as this will get worse over time.

5. You experience hallucinations: This is when alcohol is really affecting your brain. When you start seeing things that are not really there, and experiencing odd sounds and sensations, you should really get help. By this time your physical health will be deteriorating as well.

How Alcoholism Affects Your Family and Social Life

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 10:23:40 +0000

Alcoholism is a disease that can have lasting effects not only on the drinker but also on their family and friends. The alcoholic usually does not realize the impact that their behavior is having on their relationships. If they do they tend to ignore it or downplay it.

Mental health
Alcoholism has a negative impact on your mental health. While alcohol is often used as a self-medication for those with existing mental problems it can actually worsen the situation. Many people with alcohol dependency suffer from depression, anxiety and even suicidal tendencies. Alcohol can make these symptoms worse thereby affecting the family and friends as well.

Alcoholics often tend to push away family and friends if they try to suggest that they have a drinking problem. Often the alcoholic becomes removed from their close friends and family and gravitates towards those who approve of their drinking.

Abuse
Children of alcohol abusers are more likely to suffer abuse when the parent is drinking. This abuse is often both mental and physical. Family violence is greatly increased when alcoholism is involved. Children of alcoholics often develop psychological problems and may even become an alcohol abuser themselves as an adult.

Often people who would not normally be abusers become that way while drinking. Alcohol can often change the character of the person and they may do or say things that they usually wouldn’t. They can become easily enraged. Family members may become afraid of the alcoholic and may avoid being near them when they drink. If things can’t change they often must leave for their own sake and to avoid abuse of them or the children.

Social Situations
Alcohol abusers often have problems making and maintaining social relationships. Friends may no longer want to go out for social drinks knowing that the situation becomes an excuse for the person to abuse alcohol. This can lead to embarrassing situations and can even turn dangerous if the alcohol abuser gets behind the wheel. Rather than deal with the situation friends may feel better off to just avoid social contact entirely.

Alcoholics like to be in situations that revolve around drinking. This helps them to fit in and be part of the group. They may spend more and more time at the bar and less time at home with their families. Their drinking can also affect their work and they may even lose their job, putting another hardship on the family.

How alcohol affects your family and social life

admin — Thu, 13 May 2010 11:00:57 +0000

Alcoholism is a devastating disease that can destroy your family and social life. In fact it can cost you everything that matters in life. The bad part is that it is a slow killer in that it comes up on you slowly and quietly. You do not even realize you have a problem until things start falling apart in your life. The worst part is the effect it has on your family and social life.

Mood swings: You are irritable and find little things can upset you. You find yourself getting impatient with your loved ones. Sometimes moods get so bad that you are violent and start abusing your wife and sometimes even your children. At other times, usually after a few strong drinks you feel elated and ready to love anyone. These mood swings are confusing and upsetting to your family. They are especially hard on your children who see you abusing your wife. This can often lead to domestic violence.

You start to skip work: This is a dangerous thing to do. Eventually this will cost you your job and leave you with no money for your family or even a drink. You start borrowing from friends to support your drinking. Worse still because of your alcohol addiction you start stealing money to support it and will eventually land up in trouble with the law. All these things will affect your relationships with your family. Eventually they will get so tired that they will leave you. This is when you will have reached a dangerous stage in your life, as it will just be you and your addiction.

You withdraw into yourself: You no longer participate in family functions. You become a solitary individual and miss out on all the fun of family outings. When family members approach you they are rebuffed by your attitude and pretty soon will stop asking you to come with them. In fact when matters reach this stage, your family members, especially your wife will figure you no longer need them and leave. Again this will put you in a dangerous alliance of yourself and “the bottle.”

Socially- you withdraw from society: When you party you drink excessively and embarrass yourself and others around you. If you still party, you inevitably make a fool of yourself by drinking to excess and acting foolishly. It gets to such a stage that your friends and associates no longer invite you to their parties. You lose your friends and are no longer sociable. This again leaves you alone with your addiction and is a dangerous place to be.

Help For Teen Alcoholics

admin — Wed, 12 May 2010 10:46:37 +0000

Alcoholism is a disease that can affect almost anyone at anytime. This includes teenagers. In fact, teens are even more susceptible to alcohol abuse than other age categories. The teen years are ones of much experimentation. That coupled with peer pressure can sometimes be enough to start a teen on the road to alcohol abuse.

Teen alcoholics need to have the same treatment opportunities as adults. Teens may need more intervention in order to help them realize that they have a problem and to help them to do something about it. The good news is that teens are catching the problem early enough that they most likely won’t suffer any permanent damage.

Teens with alcohol problems may be more apt to hide the problem from their parents and other adults. For this reason it is important that other teens know the symptoms of alcoholism so they can recognize them in their friends. If someone knows a teen with a potential alcohol abuse problem they should let an adult know immediately.

Teens can find help for their alcohol problem in many places. To start with, school counselors are trained to deal with all types of situations including alcohol and substance abuse. A teen may be afraid to talk to their parents about it for fear of being scolded or reprimanded. Parents need to know the signs of alcohol abuse and make attempts to stay connected to their teen. Parents are the best source of help for a teen because the parent has the resources to assist the teen in getting the proper help and the parent loves the child and wants the best for him.

Another source of help for teens with alcohol dependency is a rehab or treatment center that specializes in substance or alcohol abuse. Treatment centers offer inpatient programs that combine several forms of treatment while the teen actually lives at the facility. This intense treatment helps to break the teen of drinking while using therapy to get to the root cause of the situation.

Once a teen leaves a rehab facility they will need to continue with therapy or a support group. Alcoholics Anonymous (Al-anon) has a special group just for teens called Alateen. This group uses a twelve-step program along with support from other people to help aid the teen through the recovery process. Alateen meetings are closed to adults (except for an adult sponsor who runs the meeting) so that teens can open up without feeling pressured.

Getting Family Support To Help You Recover

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 09:18:21 +0000

Alcohol treatment is one of the hardest things that anyone will ever have to go through. One of the most important factors involved in the success of the treatment is the ongoing support of family members in the recovery process. From the time that a person starts to have issues with alcohol family members are often involved. At the beginning stages of alcoholism the person may try to hide the problem from their family and deny the problem if they are confronted.

Once the person has finally admitted that alcohol is a problem they can use the support of their family. The family needs to understand that many times the individual pushes their family out of their life in order to maintain that they do not have a problem. This can carry on for a long time. Once the person starts the recovery process they may begin to understand the role of the family in their recovery process.

The family can take initial steps to understand the problem as fully as possible. This may include speaking to a doctor or therapist as well as visiting a treatment group such as Alcoholics Anonymous. There are also special groups specifically for parents, spouses and other family members of alcoholics. These groups offer lots of first-hand knowledge to help the family understand what to expect at each step along the road to recovery.

The family also needs to understand that the alcoholism actually changes the person’s personality. They need to try not to take each and every comment made to heart but instead understand that this is not the true character of the person. Most alcoholics don’t want to admit to themselves or their family that they have a problem. They often distance themselves from their family just when they need them the most.

Family members need to be confident that their unending support will eventually be noticed and appreciated. The alcoholic needs to know that they have the unconditional love of their family who will stand by them no matter what. This unwavering support will help keep the recovering alcoholic on track. With time the relationships will again become close.

Support of the family needs to continue on even after therapy or rehab has ended. Many alcoholics have a relapse months or even years after initial treatment. The family can help to keep continue the recovery process on an ongoing basis. Be sure to know and understand the signs of alcoholism in case the person begins drinking again.

Getting Family Counseling For Your Alcoholism

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:40:37 +0000

Alcoholism is a problem that not only affects the alcoholic but also his or her family as well. Treatment for alcoholism typically includes detox, medications and therapy. This treatment generally starts with intensive therapy, which continues after the initial treatment has ended. Therapy can last for months or years depending on the situation.

Family involvement is important to the initial and ongoing alcoholism treatment and recovery process. Many programs offer some family counseling in the initial stages of treatment. In addition the ongoing recovery program should include marital and family counseling. This counseling can help make the family even stronger and more united than before.

The need to include your family in the initial treatment process is imperative to a successful recovery. The family is the best support system that you have. They need to know and understand your problem and learn how to best work with you. The one thing you need from them at this time is their support. If they are willing they should go to some counseling sessions so that they can help you on your recovery path. Once you leave the treatment facility you are on your own. Your family takes on an important role in your recovery – helping to keep you motivated and sober.

Families have another need for ongoing counseling as well. Most spouses and children of alcoholics have been negatively impacted as a result of the alcoholic. When an alcoholic is not yet treated he or she seldom sees any harm that they could be causing to their family. Yet, many spouses and children are affected each year through alcoholism. Children of alcoholic parent(s) may be more apt to become alcoholics themselves.

The alcoholic typically says and does things that are out of character for them when sober. This can sometimes, unfortunately, include abuse. This abuse may be strictly verbal or mental but may also cross over to physical abuse and in some instances even sexual abuse. These situations need to be dealt with quickly, especially in the case of children.

Children who have been exposed to violent behavior as a result of alcoholism need therapy or counseling. They need to understand that the behaviors were not their fault and that the parent still loves them. Even young children can be permanently affected by being exposed to alcoholism. Children internalize many things and especially those that they don’t understand. They need immediate and direct counseling to help lessen the chance that they will have psychological problems.

Causes of alcoholism addiction

admin — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:17:19 +0000

There are several causes of alcoholism. It can be brought on by stress, relationships, job problems and even partying, just to name a few. It is often hidden in your genes whether you will be susceptible to addictions like alcoholism. Whatever the causes this is a serious condition and should not be overlooked. The longer you ignore this problem the more it will undermine your health. Consequently you should address this problem as soon as possible.

4 causes of alcoholism addiction:

• Stress: Stress is the number one cause of people starting to drink. People are under the conception that they will get relief from their problems by taking a few drinks. This is just a temporary stopgap and as soon as the euphoria of the alcohol wears off you are right back where you started. Worse than that you experience a low when the alcohol effects wear off and you are depressed as well as stressed. This prompts you to take a couple more drinks and very soon you are on the cycle of destruction.

• Relationships: Relationships are a common cause of drinking. Again until you solve your emotional problems drinking will be a temporary fix and your problems will just get worse. Some counseling is often in these cases.

• Losing your job: This is a big blow for many and can sometimes come without warning. This type of shock can easily push a person to go to the bar for some quick solace. But this is a big mistake that will lead to a lifetime of problems. You can get another job over time but you cannot get another life.

• Partying and binge drinking: This is the most insidious way that drinking creeps up on you. We all have our wild moments especially in college with binge drinking. This can upset your body’s balance and get you addicted to alcohol before you know it. Social drinking is one thing but frequent party drinking and especially binging, will lay you wide open for alcohol addiction. Once you are hooked it is very difficult to change your lifestyle and even your friends to quit your addiction.

Relying on alcohol is a way for people to drown their sorrows. However in reality this will only make matters worse. Before you take that drink, think about resolving the problems before you fall into the trap of taking “just a couple of drinks.”