Addiction to alcoholic beverages has long been recognized as a serious disease.Alcoholism- multifactorial chronic pathology, which is often accompanied by mental and physiological disorders. The mechanism of transformation of a bad habit into a dangerous disease is constantly being studied, trying to determine its connection with the genetic characteristics of a person, his lifestyle and character.
According to WHO statistics, around 140 million men and women worldwide suffer from alcoholism. The disease knows no age limits. Today, even teenagers and old people drink alcohol. Alcohol addiction leads to loss of behavioral control, increased drinking, aggression during sudden withdrawal, and prolonged bouts of drinking.An alcoholiche gradually loses his family, friends, career. His connection with society is severed, his circle of interests narrows to drinking, and personal degradation begins.
Not only the drunkard suffers from alcoholism, but also his relatives. The family has to endure the inappropriate behavior of the husband and father, get used to excessive spending on alcohol from the family budget and suffer domestic violence. Often a woman becomes addicted to strong drinks. In such cases, treatment will be difficult and long, since the fairer sex is emotionally dependent on alcohol. In any case, a person with alcohol addiction needs immediate drug treatment.
Signs of alcoholism
Alcohol addiction is a progressive condition that leads to severe clinical symptoms. Noticing the firstsigns of alcoholism, they should not be ignored or expected to stop drinking on their own. That won't happen. The disease requires medical intervention - only an experienced narcologist can guide a person on the road to recovery.
The following signs indicate the development of alcoholism:
- every happy or sad event is a reason to drink;
- the need for alcoholic beverages is increasing daily;
- the dose required for intoxication increases;
- memory lapses appear after drinking;
- the protective reflex of gagging, which previously saved the body from intoxication, disappears;
- A withdrawal syndrome appears - a healthy person does not feel the desire for a hangover after a feast.
Alcohol addiction occurs much faster in adolescents due to physiological immaturity than in adults. Addiction often develops in people who grew up in a family of alcoholics and consider this lifestyle to be normal. Craving for alcohol arises in conditions of chronic stress, on the background of family or professional problems, loneliness, and in some cases due to too stable and emotionally unsaturated free time.
Alcohol addicts usually do not admit that they are sick. It seems to him that drinking is the cure for all troubles and does no harm. This is self-deception. It is important that loved ones knowhow to help an alcoholic, stop the disease before critical consequences appear.
Alcohol damage
Constant consumption of alcoholic beverages negatively affects all internal organs and systems of a person, and also reduces life expectancy. The central nervous system and brain are primarily affected. Ethanol and its breakdown products lead to the death of neurons. Cells are not renewed, the most important neural connections are disrupted. Doctors say that alcoholics develop microscopic ulcers and scars on the surface of the brain. Long-term drinking leads to deterioration of cognitive functions, loss of short-term memory, auditory and visual hallucinations.
Internal organs suffer from toxic substances. Alcoholics are more likely to be hospitalized with heart attacks and strokes, and die from cirrhosis of the liver and hepatitis. Men and women have impaired sexual function and cannot conceive healthy offspring. Alcohol causes a big blow to the gastrointestinal tract. Esophageal varicose veins appear, intestinal walls are deformed, peptic ulcers and colitis are provoked. Iftreatment of alcoholismif not started in time, the patient is doomed to die.
How to help an alcoholic to understand the problem?
If a person suffers from alcoholism, he needs help from the outside. It is important that close relatives understand that there is no need to play rescuer at this stage. You cannot put moral pressure on an alcoholic, scold him or constantly control him. Making him feel guilty for his drunken behavior will not have a positive effect on the situation. No need to try to solve his drinking problems. Such relationships are called codependent. This is not the norm.
How to help an alcoholic understand the problem? People from the patient's close circle must develop behavioral tactics that will allow them to build special relationships. In the process of communication, the alcoholic himself must understand:
- how harmful is drinking alcohol for him?
- how his drunken lifestyle negatively affects his family and work;
- how health deteriorated due to constant intoxication;
- what will happen if you don't stop poisoning your body with ethanol.
Intervention is the only real and effective way to unobtrusively and without pressure encourage the patient to look at himself from the outside. It is often used by narcologists to motivate the patient to go to the clinic for adequate treatment.
How to help an alcoholic get out of drinking?
Drunkenness is a dangerous condition. Long-term consumption of alcoholic beverages is fraught with serious intoxication. Ethanol poisons the body, its breakdown products do not have time to be eliminated by the liver and excretory system, and toxins accumulate. If you suddenly stop drinking, the alcoholic will experience severe withdrawal symptoms, which in particularly critical cases will lead to the failure of vital organs.
Relatives of drunkards should keep in mind that hangovers are difficult to tolerate. During this period, the patient is looking for a new dose. Without receiving, he falls into a depressed or aggressive state. There are frequent cases of physical violence against weaker family members - wife, elderly mother, children. Any attempt to shame him, to lead him on the path of sobriety, will be received with hostility and cause resentment.
I do not know,how to help an alcoholic stop drinking? Don't risk his health. Contact experienced narcologists who will slowly and without stress on the patient's body ease his condition, both physically and psycho-emotionally. Only a specialist can, through professional intervention, teach a patient to look at his life from a different angle. The doctor will work with the alcoholic alone or in tandem with a psychologist. An integrated approach always gives good results. Even if consent to further treatment is not immediately obtained, the process of accepting the problem of addiction has already begun in the subconscious. Often after that, the patient voluntarily transfers control over alcohol consumption to the person helping.
How to help a drunk alcoholic?
The duration of drunkenness is 4-10 days. In particularly severe cases, an alcoholic is able to drink for a month or more until his body stops reacting to ethanol. During that period, the patient does not work, does not follow the rules of personal hygiene and does not eat normally. The consequences of such a long period of drunkenness are critical, as they affect well-being, health and appearance.
How to help a drunk alcoholicand is it even possible to do it? You won't be able to deal with withdrawal symptoms on your own. Drinking plenty of fluids, sedatives, and moral support can ease the condition, but it's not enough when you stop drinking.
In a hospital or at home, a narcologist will carry out detoxification, prescribe drugs to stabilize the condition, quickly remove toxins and relieve stress on internal organs. The patient will be under the supervision of the medical staff and will receive emergency assistance if necessary. Narcologists and psychologists knowHowhelp an alcoholic stop drinking, and successfully copes with this difficult task.
How to help an alcoholic at home?
You can overcome a short drunkenness (less than 3 days of drinking) on your own.How to help an alcoholic at home:
- organize plenty of drinks - at least 2. 5 liters per day;
- introduce ascorbic acid or fruits with high vitamin C content into your diet;
- organize intake of sorbents, for example, activated carbon or preparations based on silicon;
- give the patient simple sedatives - valerian, sedative drops;
- provide a gentle diet rich in vegetables, grains and proteins.
However, even if your health improves and the alcoholic promises to stop drinking, it is recommended not to miss the opportunity to receive effective treatment in an inpatient drug treatment clinic.
How to help an alcoholic?
In some cases, the only effective method iscoding of alcoholism. Turning to narcologists and psychologists will be a real salvation from a sad outcome. Doctors will be able to find the words so that the patient can independently understand the seriousness of the situation and voluntarily decide to undergo treatment. After detoxification, the specialist will choose the most suitable coding method and radically change the alcoholic's life for the better.
The patient refuses to visit the clinic? Call a narcologist at home. The visiting doctor will perform all procedures in a comfortable environment for alcohol addicts, with a 100% guarantee of anonymity.