What is Alcoholism?

In its most basic terms, alcoholism is a complete dependence on alcohol. According to the World Health Association, as many as 140 million people across the world are afflicted with varying degrees of dependence on alcohol, while other sources estimate that around 4 million of those are in the UK alone. 

Alcoholism is one of the more wide-spread addictions afflicting British society, however it receives little attention from the British government. Within the last five years, only £100 million had been set aside for alcoholic treatment, in comparison to under £600 million for other harder drugs, such as cocaine and heroin. Three-fifths of dependent drinkers, as a result, are often unable to secure help and treatment.

The problem with alcoholism is that it’s exceedingly difficult to get people to admit when they have a problem, because alcohol is such an overlooked social drug. No one thinks much of drinking, and in truth there’s nothing wrong with this in and of itself. However it does mean that people often don’t recognise that they may have become dependent on alcohol, even when they binge drink. “I don’t have a problem, I can quite when I want” is often a phrase followed by a demonstration that, in fact, the speaker cannot quit when she or he wants. A glass of wine after dinner becomes several cans of beer through the evening (“I had friends round I wanted to be sociable”) and then becomes several more beers later (“It was a one-time celebration!”). After that, they drink daily in increasing volumes. To be sure, some can quit drinking, however most find themselves dependent.

Causes of alcoholism are not standard. It can be a mixture of family background, socio-economic background and even genetics. Children from alcoholic households are, likewise, more likely to become alcoholics themselves later in life.

Signs of alcoholism can include build ups of fluids and gas in the stomach area that are popularly called a “beer gut”, broken capillaries (blood vessels) in the face -- which forms the classic drunkard’s red nose --, shaking hands, a yellowish tone to the skin and a raspy voice. Mentally alcoholics can have bouts of amnesia, disorientation, mood swings and depression. The latter can lock the alcoholic in question in a vicious downward cycle: he drinks because he’s depressed and he’s depressed because he drinks.

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Be aware, however, that while it’s a good chance that someone exhibiting these signs may be an alcoholic, it’s not proof. Get alcohol addiction help at www.timetostop.net. 

Alcohol and Society

 Have you ever been woken up late one night to the sounds of drunken shouting from those besotted souls leaving the pubs at closing hours?  Where the individuals involved bellow incoherently at each other, sometimes accompanied by the report of smashing beer bottles? Such is but a small taster of some of the many social effects that alcoholism can have upon British society.

Remember that alcohol's strength as a social lubricant comes from its capacity to remove the usual social inhibitions that people place upon themselves. This is why conversation is easier, jokes are funnier, and tempers grow more unbridled. You're simply not as inclined to check your behaviour as you normally would. Half the time you don't even realise the change.

Consider, then, what effects that alcohol-induced social apathy towards your behaviour can have on a broader scale, especially to those who have become incapable of controlling their urge to drink. After all, alcohol is an addictive substance. Indeed, scientific studies have shown that alcohol is in fact more addictive than cannabis.

The effects of alcoholism on society can be clearly seen in a variety of sources. Cases of domestic abuse, for example, are often linked with excessive alcohol abuse. Families experiencing alcohol addiction frequently suffer from heightened tensions, arguments and destabilised relationships. Crime hotspots, likewise, tend to gravitate around areas where alcohol is freely plied, with cases such as assault or vandalism plaguing such areas. Alcoholism can also have an adverse effect on employment, largely by inducing an attitude that conflicts with the working ethic of the modern workplace. Due to conflicts with colleagues, poor performance and possible lapses in attendances, workers suffering from alcoholism frequently find themselves in long-term unemployment.

The effects of alcoholism also damage our children. Children living in alcoholic households are more likely to suffer from poor grades, behavioural problems, truancy and depression. Worst still, such children are more likely to succumb to alcohol addiction themselves in their future lives.

So what can you do? Fortunately there is a wide berth of support available for those suffering from alcohol addiction. Clinics, rehab centres and hospitals across the country all possess effective programmes tailor-made to deal with alcoholism, from identifying the illness to treating the damage it causes. Alcoholics Anonymous is perhaps the most well-known support group known, and there are dozens, if not hundreds, others like it. Check with your local hospital for further information.

Alcohol, the Body and You!

It's a common occurrence in today's world; when life gives you lemons, have a slice of them with a shot of vodka. Today Britain has garnered a rather unsavoury reputation for drinking, and not just drinking, but binge drinking. Let's not split hairs here; there's nothing wrong with drinking in moderate amounts, in keeping with the daily recommended limits (3-4 units for men,  1-2 units for women). However binge drinking by definition is far from moderate.

But what's the big deal, you may well ask? After all, what could a little booze-up on the side possibly do? All this sounds like the typical British Nanny State.

Au contraire, mon ami. The effects of alcoholism on the human body are extensively documented and well-studied, and very few of the effects on the body can be considered positive. Remember: alcohol is, ultimately, a poison. It's a chemical that disrupts the delicate chemical balance of your body. It adversely inhibits your cognitive ability, such as memory and reflex times, which can also lead to brain damage, corrodes the liver and kidneys, and can also cause numerous illnesses, such as dysentery, diabetes, or even cancer. In extreme cases, it can very easily kill you.

Rest assured that although it's tempting to declare that only the occasional night of hard drinking is harmless, the truth of the matter is even just a weekly binge can cause colossal damage to your system. Perhaps the most insidious trait alcoholism possesses is the ability to convince you there is no danger. To paraphrase CS Lewis: "the greatest victory alcoholism can have is to convince you it does not exist". Like all addictions, alcoholism requires the individual to recognise for himself that he is suffering from a problem, something all too easier said than done.

So what can you do? Fortunately there is a wide berth of support available for those suffering from alcohol addiction. Clinics, rehab centres and hospitals across the country all possess effective programmes tailor-made to deal with alcoholism, from identifying the illness to treating the damage it causes. Alcoholics Anonymous is perhaps the most well-known support group known, and there are dozens, if not hundreds, others like it. Check with your local hospital for further information.

How to Help an Alcoholic

How you can help an alcoholic is something that many people find themselves thinking when a family member, a loved one, friend or colleague is suffering from alcoholism. It most certainly is not an easy question to ask, nor to answer, as it is really only the alcoholic themselves who can be the one to decide to help themselves. However, there are some techniques that you can use which will encourage the alcoholic to take a hard look at their addiction, which in turn can help them seek help for their alcohol addiction sooner rather than later.

Unless someone is sectioned under the mental health act, you cannot force them to do anything against their will, this includes seeking treatment for their alcohol addiction. The best way to broach their problems with alcohol is to approach the situation as a concerned party rather than someone trying to pile on the pressure. Offering information about treatments can help the alcoholic realise that they need to look for help themselves rather than forcing them into getting help.

When speaking to an alcoholic it is best not get emotional or confrontational, simply taking a step back and speaking with information and facts instead is more beneficial. Sometimes professional intervention works best as you have others to support you and offer a bigger support group for the alcoholic themselves.

Often alcoholic will suffer from a type of severely deluded thinking and cannot see or simply refuse to accept the reality of their situation. This includes not being able to care about pleads for them to stop or sternly worded health warning from a medical professional. They will ignore them with the belief that they are in control of their drinking even though it is obvious that they are not.

Trying to help an alcoholic will most likely leave you feeling frustrated, helpless and at a complete loss on what to do. What you need to remember is that these feelings are completely normal and you shouldn’t beat yourself up over these feeling. Instead focus on not ‘enabling’ someone drinking, this means not making excusing for them or trying to ‘work around’ their drinking problem. This means that if the alcoholic comes home and passes out at the bottom of the stairs then do not move them to a comfortable position, instead leave them there.

This is because the sooner the realistic effects of alcoholism starts to impact a person’s life then the sooner they will realise that there is a problem with their drinking behaviour and the quicker they will get help for their addiction. This is far easier than trying to convince them that they have a problem.

If you are worried about someone that you love and feel they may need treatment for their alcohol addiction, then contact Timetostop on 0808 163 6005 if you want advice, support or more information about alcoholism.You can also complete an online self-assessment to see the scale of yours or their alcohol addiction on the Time to Stop site.

Addiction to Painkillers

Addiction to painkillers is often overlooked when talking about drug addiction. Prescription drugs are normally the main culprit but much pain medication is just as problematic as it is available over the counter with little or none confirmation from GPs. Just because these drugs are easy to acquire does not mean that they aren’t addictive. Instead, it means that it is even easier for people to develop a physical and psychological addiction to their painkillers as the following trainee dental nurse’s story shows.

A 29 year old trainee dental nurse has recently pleaded guilty of forging prescriptions and stealing from pharmacies throughout the county of Gwet in South-East Wales over a period of six months to fund her codeine addiction. In total she stole around 23 prescription forms from the workplace which were then forged and fulfilled at different pharmacies.

Her first theft was just eleven days after she started work at the dental practice where she worked. She began taking codeine when she began to suffer from chronic migraines and used the drug to help alleviate her problem. Her defence stated that the ‘medication she was on has had a significant effect on her rational thinking’, ‘that she shows a significant degree of remorse’ and has since had her addiction to codeine fully addressed.

Her prosecutor stated during her trial that she had ‘been dependent on the dihydrocodeine pain killers and said she was not in her right frame of mind’ but that there was ‘some planning involved in the offences as she forged the names in her own name, her maiden name, mother, sister, next door neighbour, her friends and a variety of addresses and members of the public who were registered as patients where she worked’.

Codeine in particular, is easy to become addicted to due to the feel good side effects of the drug such as elation or sleepiness. The drug is safe to take under medical instructions but taking large or frequent doses can cause severe side effects including nausea, constipation, breathing problems and seizures. Codeine is particularly dangerous when combined with alcohol or other drugs and can even result in death.

Common signs of codeine addiction include..

·         The user becoming aggressive or defensive when confronted about their painkiller use.

·         The user experiencing nausea, constipation, breathing problems or/and seizures.

·         The user becoming secretive or embarrassed about their use of the painkiller.

If these common signs seem familiar then you could be looking at someone or be someone with a genuinely dangerous addiction.

Contact Rehab Recovery for free help and advice on 0800 088 66 86 today, or send us a message requesting a call back and we’ll give you a discreet ring for a chat about your concerns.

For the full story of the dental nurse, please see the SouthWales Argus .

Confusion Over Official Alcohol Guidelines

With half of the medical world wagging fingers about limiting alcohol intake and the other half advising that a little can be a good thing for us, it is easy to see why even those attempting to drink healthily and sensibly can be confused by the messages presented by the authorities.

The government generally recommends that men drink no more than 3-4 units a day and women no more than 2-3, and that you take 48 hours off if you’ve drunk more than that. Medical students, on the other hand, learn about the curve which argues that a bit of alcohol is actually good for you…so which is the case?

Alcohol Addiction Treatment

The one upside of drinking alcohol is possible protection against heart diseases, but the risks include a significant increased risk of liver disease and even liver cancer. The downside actually very rapidly outweighs the upside, as Dr Peter Scarborough from Oxford University explains, with anyone drinking more than about a quarter of a glass of wine (or half a unit) in a day consuming more than the “opimum” amount.

"If you're drinking any more than that,” Dr Scarborough warns, ‘’Then you are not at the best level for reduced risk."

Conflicting information comes from other sources. Sir Ian Gilmore, former president of the Royal College of Physicians, says

"I think it's fair to say the jury's still out. There certainly isn't enough evidence to say people that don't drink should start drinking because of their health."

while Henry Ashworth from the Portman Group representing UK drinks producers somewhat predictably says most people drink within the limits and will be fine if they follow the government’s advice.

"Guidelines are hugely important because we want to have more informed consumers. It's really important they stay consistent because the last thing you want to be doing is chopping and changing so people get confused."

Even the two day “recovery” period in between drinking sessions is being called into question, with Dr Nick Sheron, a liver specialist from the University of Southampton, warning that this is nothing to do with letting your liver recover and is designed to alert people to signs of alcohol dependency.

"What is clear is that if you are dependent on alcohol then cutting it out two or three days a week is going to be very difficult, and actually it's a real warning sign that you are somewhere on the dependency scale."

While the government and health authorities debate over units and measures, health benefits versus risks, however, many people are unwittingly developing serious alcohol problems due to the lack of clarity in understanding units of alcohol as a safety measurement, and the conflicting messages from authorities versus drinks manufacturers and marketers.

Here the golden rule becomes the two day rest guideline – if you or someone you know is developing an alcohol addiction, attempting to cease all alcohol consumption for at least 48 hours is likely to present issues for the drinker. If you know someone who has trouble avoiding drink for even a few hours, let alone a few days, it may be time to seek help. Give TimeToStop a call now on 0808 256 3602 today for some advice, or complete our online self assessment , and you could help someone take control of their drinking and even save their life by visiting a expert London alcohol treatment center. 

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Prescription drug addiction because of GP?

Health Minister Condemns Doctors 

Health minister Anna Soubry has recently said that many GPs have caused patients to become addicted to prescription drugs through over-prescribing common medications such as tranquilisers and sleeping pills. The reliance on these drugs leaves people battling an addiction to prescription drugs. 

Prescription Drug Addiction

 The common use of antibiotics for the common cold is another type of "prescription abuse" that doctors are accused of. The long term use of anti depressants such as benzodiazepines are also starting to cause problems as this number is constantly on the rise. 

Prescription drug addiction is in fact one of the most dangerous types of addiction as patients are often psychologically incapable of recognising problems as they believe what they are taking is harmless. They think that if the doctor is giving it to them how could it possibly be bad for them?

Soubry believes that prescription drug abused has not received the right amount of publicity and it is time now that people started to realise the real dangers.  

"I think there have been some GPs who've simply not been following the guidelines from their own professional bodies," she told the BBC. "They have been overly-prescribing these drugs for year after year when they clearly should not be doing that."

"We can now see with the devolving of power down to local authorities to provide good drug treatment facilities to their communities, hopefully we can redress a great injustice that's been done over many years."

Just because a drug comes out of a packet or pill box from a pharmacist does not mean that it can be treated lightly. The things you need to look out for:

• Anyone that have a habit of visiting pharmacies
• Anyone experiences side effects from prescription drug
• Anyone that become aggressive or defensive when confronted
• Anyone that is secretive about taking their prescription drug

If you know someone that is experiencing one of the above get in touch with Rehab Recovery for free help and advice.