Secrecy is a common trait of alcoholics. It is difficult to recognize that a person is dependent on a pathological craving for alcohol without knowing about the symptoms that usually appear in addicts. It is useful for everyone to know about the signs of alcoholism in order to detect it in time for themselves or a loved one.
How alcoholism develops
Dependence on ethyl alcohol is a chronic and irreversibly progressive mental disorder. The speed of its development depends on:
- living conditions;
- heredity;
- health conditions;
- character and temperament;
- the volume of alcohol consumed by a person;
- the amount of enzymes produced by the liver.
The disease develops in three stages.
- At the first stage, a person experiences emotional attachment to alcohol. It seems to him that intoxication helps him to relax and experience pleasant emotions. At this stage, a person is able to overcome the craving for alcohol himself, but usually addicts refuse to admit the fact of the problem, so they do not attempt to get rid of addiction.
- At the second stage, due to frequent alcohol consumption, the body adapts to ethanol and develops a pathological reaction: in a state of intoxication, a person feels better than when sober. The deterioration of well-being that occurs when refusing ethanol is called a hangover or withdrawal syndrome. Tolerance to alcohol is growing, so a person begins to consume more and more alcohol.
- At the third stage, physical dependence is combined with psychological dependence, so the patient loses control over his behavior. His personality is degraded, so he can deny even the obvious symptoms of the disease.
Some researchers also distinguish a zero, prodromal stage, when the craving for alcohol does not yet have a pathological character, but a person already chooses leisure time associated with alcohol consumption. The development of addiction at the border stage occurs due to the regularity of consumption, not the amount of alcohol. Since there is no dependence and increased tolerance to ethanol yet, a person is not able to drink too much: he usually starts vomiting.
On average, an addict goes from the first to the last stage in a few years. Adolescents and women face a rapidly progressive form of the disease.
The first stage: emotional craving
Timely diagnosis helps to cope with the disease faster, avoiding somatic and mental complications. But at the first stage of alcoholism, it is extremely difficult to notice clinical manifestations: a person retains a decent appearance, can go to work, take care of his future and reputation.
You can detect pathology by constantly searching for reasons to drink: any joyful or sad event is perceived by them as a weighty reason to drink alcohol. Narcologists note the frequent (in 50-60% of cases) appearance of Zavilyansky syndrome, against which a person during a conversation about alcohol:
- emotionally enlivened;
- he smiles happily;
- licking his lips, etc.
The syndrome is a mimic-taste reflex by which one can recognize a person's true attitude to alcohol, even if he claims that he does not like alcohol and never drinks.
Alcohol consumption in the first stage is regular: at first he drinks once a week, for example, on weekends. When any obstacles appear on the way to getting a dose of alcohol, he feels irritated and frustrated. Later, the number of cases of ethanol intake increases, and reaches 3-4 days a week.
At this stage, the patient still retains control over himself and can maintain the appearance of the absence of a problem. He may perceive himself as a connoisseur of alcohol, begin to understand wine and other beverages.
Second stage: physical addiction
When a person is able to drink alcohol for several days, he develops binge drinking. At this stage, alcohol ceases to bring pleasure to the patient, and he is forced to drink more and more often than to feel a strong intoxication.
A true binge is characterized by the inability to stop drinking. A few hours after drinking alcohol, a hangover begins, accompanied by:
- a headache;
- vertigo;
- digestive disorder;
- weakness and irritability.
To stop unpleasant symptoms, a person drinks a new portion of alcohol, aggravating addiction and increasing the risk of dangerous complications.
Thus, it is possible to recognize alcoholism at the second stage by the following physical signs:
- the patient can drink alcohol in large volumes without vomiting;
- he regularly faces binge drinking;
- after drinking alcohol, he experiences a severe hangover.
The behavior of a person in a state of intoxication changes: he becomes more aggressive, sexually promiscuous. After sobering up, he often has blackouts in his memory.
Due to the pronounced deterioration of health and physical inability to give up alcohol, he begins to realize that he has a problem. However, he cannot cope with the problem himself.
The reputation of a drinker is constantly deteriorating: because of binge drinking, he begins to miss work, get into debt, quarrel with loved ones. Addiction displaces other values and priorities from a person's consciousness, so he completely subordinates life to a bad habit.
The third stage: psychological and physical dependence
The terminal stage of alcohol dependence occurs 10-15 years after the development of addiction. A psychological craving is added to the physical craving for alcohol: a person gets used to the lifestyle of an alcoholic, and his willpower is not enough to give up a bad habit and return to sobriety.
At this stage, a person cannot live without alcohol. Reputation, interpersonal relationships, health and life become insignificant factors for him, since the pathological attraction to alcohol completely occupies his life.
Unlike the previous stage, he is no longer able to drink a lot: tolerance to alcohol is rapidly falling, so the addict is able to get drunk even after one glass of alcohol.
His character changes: he becomes indifferent, apathetic, his thinking is slow, and his attention is scattered. He is easily influenced by others and can commit any actions to gain access to alcohol, even commit a crime.
Diagnosis of an alcoholic at the third stage is not difficult even for a person far from the world of medicine and narcology. The patient has a set of specific external features by which it is easy to recognize an ethyl addict:
- lack of body weight coupled with a large spherical belly;
- red eye sclera and facial skin;
- pasty eyelids;
- bad breath and body odor;
- cloudy eyes with difficulty focusing, etc.
The patient's speech becomes slow, he hardly pronounces words, makes long pauses. Narcologists and psychologists working with addicts talk about the complete disintegration of personality. With long-term treatment, including the restoration of physical health and psychological rehabilitation, the patient can be helped to partially restore personality and social skills, but more often they turn out to be from treatment and quickly die due to health problems or as a result of an accident.
Forms of alcohol addiction
In most cases, alcoholism proceeds in a classical form over three stages. The specific symptoms, duration of each stage and other features of the course of the disease may differ, but narcologists distinguish several forms of dependence that are often found in medical practice.
- Binge drinking is a disease that occurs in the form of regularly occurring exacerbations. The patient drinks alcohol continuously for several days, then is able to recover and not drink for a specific time, until the next breakdown. This form usually occurs in people who cannot drink alcohol at a specific time (for example, during shift work). Gradually, the disease progresses, and temporary binge drinking turns into continuous alcohol consumption.
- The secret form is a subspecies of addiction in which the patient carefully hides his habit. Addicts can resort to self-medication in order to constantly get themselves out of a binge on their own, systematically contact drug treatment clinics for emergency care. At the same time, they constantly have alcohol with them, carrying it in a bag, hiding it in the car, in the bedroom or in the office. Statistically, women are more likely to suffer from this form of the disease, but the vast majority of hidden alcoholics fail to hide the pathology for a long time.
- Beer form is a common disease among young people, in which a person can drink beer in any quantities every day. The disease has features: it usually proceeds without binge drinking, and the addict himself is firmly convinced that he is not a person dependent on alcohol. The disease can progress slowly, but more often a person switches to stronger drinks as tolerance to ethanol increases.
- The household form is a common problem found in many countries where alcohol consumption is a tradition during holidays, on weekends and on vacation. Usually, this form is diagnosed at the first stage of addiction, then transformed into a more serious addiction, in which a person drinks without a reason and good company.
- Female alcoholism is a separate form of the disease denied by many narcologists. Nevertheless, it has features, for example, rapid development and extremely complex treatment. The reason for the development of addiction in women is usually problems in their personal life and frequent contact with alcoholics.
- Male alcoholism, like female addiction, is not distinguished by doctors, but it is impossible to deny that men drink more often and more, it is more difficult for them to refuse an offer to drink. They are also prone to bad habits due to the pattern of behavior imposed by society, according to which a "real man" should keep emotions to himself, not living through difficult moments correctly from the point of view of psychohygiena.
- Child alcoholism is a form that is increasingly occurring in society. The child starts drinking in bad company or copying the lifestyle of alcoholic parents. Due to an unformed nervous system, their disease progresses faster, but statistically teenagers recover more often and faster.
Regardless of how the disease manifests itself, the patient needs narcological help.
What to do with the symptoms of addiction?
Self-medication is an ineffective and dangerous measure. Without diagnostics, individually selected medications and psychological rehabilitation with the participation of specialists, it is impossible to perform effective treatment of alcoholism, which will lead to persistent remission.
If you find characteristic manifestations of alcohol addiction, you need to contact a narcologist who:
- will find out the circumstances of use, the experience of addiction, the characteristics of the behavior of the addict;
- will give recommendations that will help to give up alcohol;
- prescribe diagnostics, detoxification and rehabilitation;
- answer any questions.
A narcologist's consultation can be obtained only in a clinic with a state-issued license. The Premium Clinic Rehabilitation Center has a 24-hour hotline at 8 800 555-14-67.
