Knowing the Signs of Alcoholism

Alcohol acts insidiously. It begins by causing pleasurable sensations, but it often leads to disorders that can cause long term serious illnesses. After being absorbed from the digestive tract, alcohol spreads throughout the body via the bloodstream and reaches other organs whose function it changes. There are several signs of alcoholism which one should take into account, including the absence of hunger, neglected physical appearance and emotional changes.

Alcohol drinkers consumed in small quantities produces a pleasant feeling of relaxation and leisure. Individual becomes more open, confident and sometimes even more. He achieved greater ease in communicating with others. They are, moreover, changes in mood and behavior that the individual is looking for.

This performance improvement is illusory. Indeed, blood alcohol produces a slowing of reflexes. As we consume more alcohol, the concentration and judgment of our capacity decreases, while our sense of self-confidence increase.

On the other hand, on a purely physical level, alcohol works by increasing gastric secretions that promotes digestion. It causes dehydration and dryness of the tongue as the first signs of alcoholism.

We talk of a habit when drinking it regularly and under the same doses induces less effect. Quick to get the same sensations drinker is tempted to progressively increase the amount consumed. Also, he can choose to consume stronger drinks in their purest state. This increased need for alcohol is related to liver habit - which, over time, begin to increasingly eliminate alcohol faster - and nerve cells - which at doses increasingly react less to the alcoholic stimulus. Physical dependence is also characteristic to alcoholism.

In fact, an avid consumer of alcohol becomes addicted to it when cannot give up drinking even if his actions provide typical symptoms (malaise, generalized tremors and sweating) that define the withdrawal syndrome. This symptom disappears when the subject resumed drinking, in contrary, it gets worse and is accompanied by hallucinations that can progress to acute delirium, accompanied by dehydration: this is the crisis of "delirium tremens."

It is considered that addiction is installed once the drinker passes through four phases:

• 1. Increase tolerance to alcohol (ability to drink without feeling any adverse effect);
• 2. Begins to have memory problems;
• 3. Loss of control over alcohol: beverage drinker can not give up, even if it so desires;
• 4. Installation of physical and mental disorders.

Signs of alcoholism are variable and may be associated differently depending on the individual:

• Changes in personality (jealousy, irritability, sudden anger, aggressive behavior);
• Lack of interest in food;
• Neglect of physical appearance;
• Hide bottles;
• Changes in drinking;
• Repeated promises to quit drinking;
• Professional instability, frequent changes of job.

When you observe any of these symptoms, it is recommended that the person to call a doctor because only he can prescribe a treatment to treat the disease. Most of the times, who suffers from alcoholism alone is unable to quit drinking and is predisposed to a number of suffering, such as: heart disease, alcoholic cirrhosis or hepatitis. If you tried to give one to drink and found to have insomnia, severe headaches, nausea and insomnia, medical assistance of a physician in a therapeutic center is required.

The causes of this disease are: genetic, psychological, physical, or environmental. These vary from person to person. The most important are genetic factors, it was found that the risk of an individual becoming an alcoholic is higher if his family existed in alcoholic relatives. Of course there are cases in which many children of alcoholics manage to overcome this hereditary model and avoid alcoholic beverages. However, the signs of alcoholism should not be ignored.

Alcohol is able to train specific disorders: tremor, cramps, numbness, tingling. Pulse is irregular, red face and gait unstable. Ideas drinkers are often confused thinking capacity is slow and has memory problems. Alcohol, which is toxic and irritating, can cause damage to the various organs. It can cause a decrease in blood sugar levels (hypoglycemia) or increased levels of blood fats (triglycerides) that contribute to poor functioning of the heart, liver and blood vessels.

Alcoholism is often responsible for nutritional deficiencies. Indeed, drinkers eat less, requiring less calories as alcohol is almost always sufficient for its energy needs. However, this contribution contains no protein, no vitamins, and no minerals.

In the long term, regular alcohol consumption causes various diseases:

• Liver disease: severe degeneration of the liver, alcoholic hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer;
• Inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis), responsible for abdominal pain occurring in crisis;
• An inflammation of the esophagus or stomach lining;
• Location of cancers in the mouth, tongue, throat and esophagus;
• Increases the risk of heart failure, coronary artery disease (heart arteries), high blood pressure and stroke;
• Onset of neurological diseases (alcoholic encephalopathy, impaired speech and gait, alcoholic coma) and psychological (anxiety, depression, dementia, suicide).