Alcoholism

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Alcoholism
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What is alcoholism?

• Craving
• Loss of control
• Physical dependence, withdrawal symptoms, such as
  nausea, sweating, shakiness and anxiety after
  stopping drinking

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Is alcoholism a disease?

• Yes
• It is a chronic disease, meaning it lasts a
  persons lifetime.

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Is alcoholism inherited?

• Risk for developing alcoholism does indeed run in
  families. Genes are a partial factor but
  lifestyle plays a role.
• Remember risk is not destiny.

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Can alcoholism be cured?

• No, not at this time.
• Relapse can occur at any time
• Safest course for an alcoholic is not to drink at
  all

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Can alcoholism be treated?

• Yes
• Treatment consists of both counseling and
  medications

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What medications treat alcoholism?

• Three oral medications have been approved to
  treat the disease
• Disulfiram (antibuse) acetaldehyde
• Naltrexone (Depade, ReVia)
• Acamprosate (Camprol)
• Vivitrol, long acting injectable form of
  naltrexone is available

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Does alcohol treatment work?

• It depends on the definition of success

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Does a person have to be an alcoholic to
experience problems?

• No, persons who have been drinking often engage
  in risk behaviors, DWI, drinking during
  pregnancy, other drug experimentation

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Are specific groups more likely to have problems?

• Alcoholism cuts across age, ethnic, gender and
  age lines. 1 in 12 adults are estimated to abuse
  or are alcohol dependent
• Rates of alcoholism are highest among young
  adults 18-29, lowest among adults over 65
• People who start drinking at an early age, less
  than 14 are at higher risk

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How can you tell someone has a problem?

• Have you ever felt you should cut down on your
  drinking?
• Have people annoyed you by criticizing your
  drinking?
• Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your
  drinking?

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• Have you ever had a drink first thing in the
  morning to steady your nerves or to get rid of a
  hangover?
• One yes, two yeses, three ?

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Can a problem drinker simply cut down?

• Depends but not likely

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If an alcoholic is unwilling to get help, what
can you do about it?

• An alcoholic cannot be forced to get help except
  under certain circumstances, such as court
  ordered treatment after a DUI
• Do you have to wait for them to hit bottom or
  bring the bottom to them
• Stop all cover-ups

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• Time your intervention
• Be specific
• State the results
• Get help
• Call a friend
• Find strength in numbers
• Get support

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What is a safe level of drinking?

• Moderate alcohol abuse, 2 drinks a day for men, 1
  for women and older people
• Certain people should not drink at all
• Pregnant women
• People who will be engaging in activities which
  require alertness and skill
• People taking OTC medications

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• People with medical conditions which can be made
  worse by drinking
• Recovering alcoholics
• People under the age of 21

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Is it safe to drink during pregnancy?

• No

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Does alcohol affect older people differently?

• Probably, slower reaction times, problems with
  seeing and hearing and lower tolerance to
  alcohols effects puts older people at risk for
  all types of injuries.
• Increased medications

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Does alcohol affect women differently?

• Yes, women become more impaired by drinking the
  same amount of alcohol as men. Women have less
  water than men therefore alcohol is more
  concentrated
• Alcohol abuse takes a heavier toll on a womans
  heart, brain and liver

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Is alcohol good for your heart?

• Moderate drinking
• Dont start in receive possible benefits

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What about medications?

• Stop drinking, more than 150 medications interact
  harmfully with alcohol
• Alcohols effects are heightened by medicines
  that depress the CNS such as sleeping pills,
  antihistamines, anti-anxiety drugs and some
  painkillers

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How can a person get help?

• National Drug and Alcohol Treatment Referral
  Routing Service provides a toll-free telephone
  number 1-800-662-HELP
• Al-Anon
• AA
• National Association for children of Alcoholics
• National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug
  Information

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Alcohol Withdrawal

• Abstinence syndrome that develops is medically
  more severe and more likely to cause death than
  withdrawal from opioid drugs.
• Detoxification
• Progression of withdrawal consists of several
  parts.

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• Stage 1 tremors excessively rapid heartbeat,
  hypertension, heavy sweating, loss of appetite
  and insomnia
• Stage 2 hallucinations, auditory, visual tactile
  or a combination of these
• Stage 3 delusions, disorientation, delirium,
  sometimes intermittent and usually followed by
  amnesia

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• Stage 4 seizure activity

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The 12 Steps of AA

• We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that
  our lives had become unmanageable.
• Came to believe that a power greater than
  ourselves could restore us to sanity.
• Made a decision to turn our will and our lives
  over to the care of God as we understand Him.

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• Made searching and fearless moral inventory of
  ourselves.
• Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another
  human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
• Were entirely ready to have God remove all these
  defects of character.
• Humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.

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• Make a list of all persons we have harmed and
  became willing to make amends to them all.
• Made direct amends to such people wherever
  possible, except where to do so would injure them
  or others.
• Continued to take moral inventory and when we
  were wrong promptly admitted it.

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• Sought through prayer and meditation to improve
  our conscious contact with god as we understand
  Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for
  us and the power to carry that out.

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• Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of
  these steps, we tried to carry this message to
  alcoholics, and to practice these principles in
  all our affairs.